Wednesday October 9, 2024 // Morning
I’m five years into this whole parenting thing. One of the best pieces of advice I stumbled upon was to prepare your tiny human before an activity. Give them a heads up of what they’re going to do and what’s going to happen there hours, if not days, beforehand.
I don’t always remember to do this. Life gets in the way and of course surprises pop up. But we adults know a lot of the stuff that will happen – regular doctor appointments, activities, playdates, trips, houseguests, car repair, etc. These kids are creatures of habit. Getting them comfortable with change is a different topic (and something we adults, especially myself, still need work on). We can control this though. We can give them the information they need ahead of time. Let’s do a few examples.
Doctor appointment:
Kid is going to get a shot at their yearly physical? Let them know ahead of time. A day or two before start preparing them mentally. It might hurt a bit but it’s for a good reason (explain the reasoning the best you can for a [whatever]-year-old) and afterwards you can watch Bluey the whole ride home if they want.
Trip:
We’re going to take a plane trip to see Aunt Tonia in Michigan. On the plane we wear a special seatbelt. The plane sometimes bumps around but that’s okay – it’s the wind moving us around because we’re flying like birds. For trips we start the preparation process weeks in advance. My kid typically starts packing a small bag of toys that he’ll want to take on the trip and that gets him excited for it.
Playdate:
This afternoon we’re going over to Charlotte’s house. They have a dog but they’re going to put him outside. He still might try to say hi though but we’ll be there to shoo him away if he gets too close.
From a logistical POV, each Sunday evening I go through the calendar for the upcoming week. Some months back we got a Skylight and I’m a big fan. But for years before we had a monthly whiteboard that worked just fine. I get my kid’s attention and talk about the upcoming week. You have music on Tuesday, swim on Thursday, after school club on Friday, and we’re going to Olivia’s birthday party on Saturday afternoon. He’s old enough that he knows how a week works so I can give him this information ahead of time. Every evening we’ll mention what’s going on the next day. Then in the morning we’ll give another heads up about what’s going on that day (e.g. swim after school). That way when he gets home from school there’s no big surprise that he only has 30 minutes to play before we gotta get changed into our swim trunks. He doesn’t always want to do it, but he knows it’s going to happen.
I don’t recall one instance where giving my kid information ahead of time has backfired. Has it caused some unnecessary early anxiety? Yeah. But we have time to work through it before the actual event so that when the event comes the kid is ready.
That’s my unsolicited parenting advice for the day.
– Josh // Prepared
Related Reading: Newborn vs. Toddler Fatherhood Challenges