Hello everyone, I have recently been promoted to new dad. I was wondering when should I start bringing my baby to events ? What age would be appropriate?
I would say that would depend on the individual kid. Certainly start out easy, do a day trip and see how the kid likes it. Don't plan a whole weekend, if the kid isn't ready yet and unhappy it will probably ruin future participation.
I am leery of taking a newborn to an event, but a toddler would probably be okay. I will admit it has been quite a while since I had a little groomer, but I think moderation is the key. In other words, there will likely be too much stimulation so I think I would only take the child to an event as a spectator and then only for an hour or so.
Reenactments are full of all the things little ones should avoid - fire... sharp things... crowds of strangers... Our daughter was 11 months old when we took her to her first event. She wouldn´t settle down to sleep in a tent so we ended up going off at about 11:30pm to find a motel room. Fortunately, it was a small event in a pretty touristy town.
I would recommend a small event and day trip it. Don´t even try to camp ¨authentically.¨ When the baby decides not to play anymore, it will end up being mom who will bear the brunt of child care (even if you´re a really good dad!). People will say things to you like ¨Is she wearing authentic diapers?¨ and ¨Is that baby bottle authentic?¨ Even if they´re not trying to be annoying, it gets old pretty quickly. Our other children were 5 or 6 when they started going out and they were pretty easy to manage.
I guess I´m saying that we didn´t take a baby again, so I wouldn´t recommend it. But if you decide to - have contingency plans.
(PS - CONGRATULATIONS!!