[Ansteorra] OT?: SCA baby

[Elisabeth B. Zakes]

The best advice I can give is: children of active SCA folks should go to
events. At any age. If you leave them at home with babysitters all the time,
they'll never learn what the SCA is all about, and they may learn that the
parents care more about events than about the children. (You know you're in
the SCA when you teach your daughter how to peel a potato safely by telling
her, "Hold it like a crossbow!")

You've probably already realised that even one child can double the amount
of stuff you take to events.

When you go to events and the children are small, one of you should be with
the child as much as possible. This means you'll probably have to work out
who gets to do what at an event. When Tivar and I were both fighting, we'd
decide who was going to fight that event, or make sure that one of us was
off the field while the other was on it. Sometimes I'd run a list with the
baby at my side while he was fighting or marshalling. Sometimes he'd be the
baby-tender while I ran around as deputy steward or head cook or something.
You just learn to take turns so no one gets shorted on what they want to do.
If you're a single parent (which includes parents where the other half
doesn't go to events), try a cooperative with other parents or single
parents. Group parenting, if you have the same ideas about child-raising, is
wonderful, and the kids have companions.

Get a body-harness leash for the toddlers, especially for large events like
Gulf War. You'll probably get some grief about it, but the value of being
able to ensure your child cannot disappear in the blink of an eye is
incalculable. The child feels a lot of freedom, being able to explore a bit,
and you have control over the child's distance from you. You also know the
child cannot slip between two people and vanish.

Have a patch with your arms on it applied to the child's clothing, perhaps
with your name embroidered on it as well. If the child cannot remember your
SCA name(s), anyone even remotely adept at heraldry can match the arms to
the banner at your campsite or pavilion.

There are plenty of wooden toys that will do for "period" looking. Try to
keep the modern stuff in camp, though that won't always be possible. I've
seen nice wagons you can give them rides in (and kids love helping out on an
ice run!).

I'm sure others will think of more things.

Aethelyan Moondragon
Bryn Gwlad

On 7/10/07, Natasha Brown <texas_roberttash at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Those with advice please do post.  I am returning to the SCA with a wife
> and 1 yr old I didn't have when I played before and have been trying to
> muddle through the whole baby at an event thing myself.
>
>   Thank you,
>   Gorm
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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