Small Children

Walking with your babies, being warm and other tips.

When I had my children and even when I was pregnant I would walk and walk and walk.  I loved to walk and I still do, so when the babies were little and in a pram or stroller I would walk with them everyday – it didn’t matter if it was really hot or snowing, we would walk.  When my son was a baby, we lived in Orange in country NSW where it gets very cold and sometimes snows.  It was not uncommon that the temperature would get below zero degrees C – not cold in many countries, but in Australia that is cold!  Sometimes it used to snow, but we still walked.  I would just rug up my baby boy so he was nice and warm.  I even made little quitted sleeping bags for all of them and these were great to put the baby or toddler into and then put them in the pram or stroller.  I would use these same sleeping bags when we went out to dinner so they could sleep on the floor or when we visited someone’s house.  They always had their own little sleeping bag and bag of toys so they would feel comfortable and relaxed.

I always put a hat on them – sun hat for the summer and beanie for the winter – I learnt that children lose most of their warmth through their head so when it is cold it is best to have a beanie on.  I am so often dismayed to see young mum’s and dad’s with their little ones out in the cold without a hat.  I often see tiny little babies in a parents arms or in a backpack (or baby sling) with their little arms and heads exposed to the cold.  I believe that as humans we are all able to cope with anything that god has created – so that means the weather.  Sometimes you just have to prepare for it more than at other times, but I figured if people in really cold climates could manage to take their children out then so could I.

So we would walk.  With my son we would walk up to my daughter’s school which was maybe one and a half kilometres from our house.  On the way back we would all go to the park and have a little snack that I would have brought with me.  In Orange, we would go to the big park and feed the ducks.  This was one of my now, eldest daughter’s favourite things to do and many years later when my son was about sixteen we went back to the same park and he remembered the duck visits with fondness, only this time I had another daughter to introduce to the ducks!

If it was really cold, I would put a hot water bottle into the pram or sleeping bag to warm it up first.  Before leaving the hot water bottle would come back out so that there was no danger of it burning my child but the sleeping bag would be nice and warm for them to snuggle into.  Sometimes it was just too cold to go to the park on the way back from school so we would go to a warm coffee shop for a hot chocolate treat.  There was a great “mothers room” (would now be a parents room) at the bottom of the shopping centre in Orange where you could feed your baby and have a cup of tea and biscuits.  This was a great place and as I breastfeed my babies we would go there often and all sit in the little cubicle and have our cup of tea and biscuits.  Our cubicle became a secret place as only the three of us would go there during the day when my husband was at work - it was always warm, quiet and comfortable even if it was only tiny.  There was always an older experienced mother on hand to help you if you couldn’t manage  and they would help with a gentle word or a practical idea to calm both the baby and the mother.  It is probably long gone now to make way for some money-making business or to give more car parking space, but I am sure missed by many young mums and dads.

We had moved back to Sydney when I had my youngest daughter and by this time  I was a career person on my third relationship, a little older and hardly expecting to have another child!  However, another baby was meant to be.  So once again we started with a new area to walk around and explore, but by this time the two older children were at school, they were both older and didn’t come on these excursions with us too often.  I would walk from Crows Nest to North Sydney, probably a good two kilometres each way.  We would go to the shopping centre and have a coffee and cake before walking back again, just the two of us.  It was great!  I was never worried about breastfeeding in public – it is normal after all, so I would just sit in a quiet place in the coffee shop and feed my babies when required. 

I am a pretty organised person and I always like being prepared so I have always taken something with me as a “just in case”.  On our walks and when going anywhere with children – I always take a small bottle of water, some fruit and maybe some nuts – “just in case” someone gets thirsty or hungry.  About two years ago, my then eight year old granddaughter came to stay with us in Sydney.  I had just purchased a very smart set of refillable water bottles.  Each 250 ml bottle came with its own design and a special rack to put them into for chilling in the refrigerator.  So, the first time we were going out I picked up one of the bottles out of the fridge and put it in my bag ready to take.  Seeing this, my granddaughter asked if she could have a bottle to put into her little bag.  She picked out one that she liked and there it continued to be packed every time we went out alongside her lipstick and hairbrush!  After that, she would use the same bottle when she came to our house, calling it “her bottle”.  She now has the bottle herself so she is also ready for those “just in case” moments when she is thirsty.

Walking with your babies and children is so good for all of you – take dad along too!  My children were pretty healthy when they were little and didn’t get the usual sniffles and colds that many children get.  Of course they did get sick, but I think that they were much more robust as a result of getting outside and experiencing all kinds of weather.  So get out there, walking is such an adventure for children and so good for you!

Tantrums and small children

My first child was probably the worlds best tantrum thrower!  She would throw herself in the air, do a half turn twist and then land on the ground face up ready to do the best kicking and screaming I have even seen.  As a new mum, I was horrified and wondered what I was going to do to stop this behaviour.  I didn’t have much of an example of good parenting to go as far as my upbringing was concerned, and I was living in a regional country centre in NSW without the normal family support network that many young parents have.  My idea’s of cuddling this lovely little baby were pretty much shattered once the tantrums started as I struggled to come to terms with being a parent.

I remember one day going to the supermarket in a large shopping complex with my daughter.  Going through the checkout in those days meant going past the lollies and children’s books to get through with their grocery purchase. Continue reading »