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If the idea of a British online parenting magazine sounds appealing, you'll be glad to know that such a thing
exists. One that seems to get good recommendations can be found at: http://www.babyworld.co.uk
and we'd be glad to hear about any other site that parents of babies and
toddlers would recommend to others.
Speaking of doing things the British way, we were visiting
a family aboard a small yacht, recently, having been invited for afternoon
tea, and wondered how they could manage, with two adults and three small
children in such a limited space.
The main trick is, apparently, to be flexible and
adaptable, so that a space being used for one thing in the mornings may be
used for something else entirely in the afternoons, another activity in the
evenings and as sleeping quarters at night.
Children will sleep absolutely anywhere, and under any
conditions, provided you get them used to the idea right from the
start.
"There is no 'my bed' or 'bedtime' aboard this
boat", explained Marianne Wells, "the routines of the daytime are
fairly fixed and they're partly geared towards making sure that the the kids
will be tired enough to want to sleep at night without having to be
persuaded!"
After lunch, the children are always required to lie down
for an hour or so, whether asleep or awake and the only rule is that they
must not disturb one another. No attempt is made to reduce noise levels
aboard the boat during these nap times, as Jack and Marianne Wells believe
that it is important for anyone, but especially sailors, to be able to sleep
through noise and movement. Jane, the eldest, at four, takes a picture book
with her. Sam, who is two and a half years old, has a toy train that he
likes to play with and the baby, Joe, is too small to want any entertainment
beyond whatever goes on in his mind, as yet, at three months.
In order to avoid territorial squabbles, and to make it
easier for the children to sleep at sea, they do not have their own specific
sleeping quarters but go to bed wherever they are asked to when they have
agreed that they are tired and would like to sleep. Jack and Marianne will
not insist on a regimented hour for sleeping at night because both remember
being sent to bed too early every evening and how they resented it.
If the weather and circumstances permit, hammocks above
decks are popular - we spotted a child-sized hammock slung very low to the
deck and with a foam mattress beneath it, just in case!
"One of the good things about living aboard a small
boat is that your children can see the logic of owning few possessions,
right from the start", Jack says, "so we don't have the problem of
acres of cheap plastic toys cluttering our home up, unlike a great many
modern parents. I'm a great believer in giving children toys that require
them to do something - building bricks, felt shapes, that sort of
thing."
"If you start children off with particular rules,
they don't seem to have any trouble living by them", adds Marianne,
"I can never understand why some people wait until their children are
at school age to start expecting them to learn good habits. When Jane has
finished with something, she is expected to put it away, so she always does.
Sam is growing up with his sister setting the example, so it has probably
been even easier for him to learn to do the same. We try not to berate
the kids too much for getting things wrong but we make a big fuss of them
whenever they do the right thing, and that seems to work really well."
What about school, when the time comes, we wondered, did
they have a plan? Both parents laughed when they heard the question and told
us that they have spent many a long hour discussing the matter and were
still undecided. Jack thought they should educate the children aboard, using
a computer and distance learning material. Marianne wondered if the children
would miss out on the social scene and group activities.
"What, like spraying graffiti on the school walls and
ganging up on some poor kid who is slightly different, you mean?" Jack
asked, and we had the impression that he was only half joking.
"We aren't that 'up' on computers and all that",
Marianne concurred, "but it does seem possible to give the kids a
decent academic education, at least, without sending them to school. We have
a laptop and I'd like to find out about programs for small children, so that
they start getting used to using the computer as young as possible, so I'd
appreciate any hints and tips going!"
That sounded like a challenge to us, so we will be gathering
information for this page for the next issue of MarineZine. If you know of
any good material for parents of small children to use, especially freeware
or inexpensive shareware, we'd love to hear about it!
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