Posts Tagged "interaction"

Question Time: Forward Facing or Parent Facing?

Posted by cafebebemama on Apr 9, 2010 in Little Miss Adventures, Motherhood, Pushchair Queen | 13 comments

Stokke Xplory

As many of you know (and perhaps hate me for!), we now own a gorgeous and sublime Stokke Xplory (thanks to a competition on Stokke Lovers).  One of the brilliant features of the Xplory is that you can put it either in Forward Facing or Parent Facing mode.  Since Little Miss has been only in Forward Facing pushchairs since she graduated from her Graco Travel System to our Baby Jogger City Mini, I assumed that she would HATE Parent Facing mode.  She’d want to see the world and see what’s coming right?  Well, not so much!

On Monday, Hubby and I took Little Miss out for the afternoon in the Xplory.  Little Miss had fallen asleep in the car on the way to our starting point so when I set up the Xplory, I put it in Parent Facing mode as I thought I could install her and keep her asleep.  In Parent Facing mode you can recline the Xplory to a lovely, horizontal sleeping position.  Little Miss had other plans though and woke up immediately.  I kept her in Parent Facing mode, however and found that we had a really lovely walk.  She wasn’t bothered by not seeing what was in front of her and in fact, seemed far happier facing us as we travelled.  Little Miss and I went out and about yesterday and again I put her in Parent Facing mode.  As it was just the two of us I found that MY walk was that much more enjoyable because I could interact with Little Miss constantly.  She was talking to me a lot more and I could HEAR her because she was facing me.  I could hand her snacks and her drink easily and clean her up when she needed it.  I could also see when she was getting weary and could instantly recline her to make sleep a bit easier.

Now, obviously most pushchairs are Forward Facing and don’t have the luxury of switching to Parent Facing BUT what is your preference?  If you have a pushchair which is both Parent and Forward Facing, which way do you use it?  I was surprised that Parent Facing could be so useful for a 22 month old…it’s usually the newborns that you see in Parent Facing mode isn’t it?  Would you choose a pushchair that has both options OVER a forward facing only pushchair (if budget was not a factor)?  There have been articles out there in the past promoting the benefits of Parent Facing pushchairs and almost guilting parents into parent facing mode.  Your child will never get their GCSE’s if they’re forward facing you know??  Stuff like that!  Share your thoughts…I would love to hear your experiences!

Wee Little Miss in her Graco- Forward Facing

The Nursery Question

Posted by cafebebemama on Feb 10, 2010 in Little Miss Adventures, Motherhood | 34 comments

Thank you Lyle's Golden Syrup & Fleishman-Hillard

I have been struggling with the thought of Nursery lately and would love to know what you do.  Little Miss is 20 months old and does not go to nursery.  In fact, she’s barely out of my presence throughout the week.  The idea of sending her to nursery a few months ago gave me the chills.  I don’t like the idea of her being in nursery for some reason.  It’s probably my controlling nature and psychosis wonderful mothering.  However, I’ve been wondering if I’m doing the right thing for her lately.  Due to circumstances beyond our control and the cycle of friendship, we don’t have a great deal of social opportunities with other children any longer.  We used to attend classes at our local Sure Start Children’s Centre and had a small group of Mummies and Babies who would get together at least once a week.  That’s dwindled off now and Little Miss and I are left with each other.  We still have our best mates to see every so often and we go swimming once a week now but I worry that Little Miss isn’t getting enough interaction with children her age and enough time away from her Mummy.  She’s a very independent young lady who most certainly is not tied to my apron strings (if I wore an apron).  On the rare occasions when I do leave her with family, she had no separation anxiety of any sort however, I have yet to leave her with someone she doesn’t know well or isn’t family.

Little Miss’ best mate is now attending one of our local nurseries 2 mornings a week while her mummy is in some workshops that are put on by the Children’s Centre.  They pay for her to put her daughter in nursery (creche) while she’s in the workshops which is brilliant.  The only way I could take advantage of this is if I attended the workshops and I don’t know that I want/need the workshops.  What I do need is a few hours to myself.  But I come back to the real question here…Does Little Miss need more?  Am I giving her enough?  Is she missing out on social opportunities because of my issues?  What do you do?  We really can’t afford to have her attend nursery even one morning a week as it would cost us between £20-30 for the morning.  There’s a vague possibility of some PAID work for me in the near future and if that happens, I may seriously consider having her attend once a week to start.  I’d love to know what other stay-at-home-mum’s do?  How do you afford it?  Have you seen benefits from your child attending nursery?  Do you regret sending your child to nursery and why?  I am eager to see the response and advice here.  Cafe Bebe is open for suggestion!