LARPs and childcare.

[hapersmion]

So, I've been really lucky having a mom who's willing to drive down and stay near site to watch SAM every event. V. v. nice. But this coming May Eclipse event she's going to a wedding instead. We were considering having wayferny and ikara_fox keep SAM, but it looks like that's not going to work out. And there's no JLC any more, so I will

Comments

[howlwhite]

I am in this exact same boat. this weekend at KG they both had something to do, so Amanda had to sit in the cabin with child (although they had a blast, I missed Amanda something fierce ).

[hapersmion]

Clearly, what we need is JLC. Can we perhaps construct an angelash bot of some kind?

[msrlapin]

Please, oh please, oh please!

This time around, grandparents came down and took the little bit. Doubt we can play that card in June. If we can't do JLC, odds are high we'll end up with Cynthia going and me babysitting the weekend. Sad in the extreme.

[raving_liberal]

Honestly? I stopped LARPing. I have found the vast majority of LARPs to be very family-unfriendly and it's really put me off them. I have never been willing to leave a nursing child for a LARP, but most of the LARPs have made it very clear to me that children are not welcome there.

[hapersmion]

We've had mixed results. KG always was very nice about it, when I had SAM in monstertown when he was really little. SI didn't work out so well.

That's why it was so nice that my mom would come down. I could go visit when he needed to nurse, and be reassured that he was doing well. (He's always been so attached to my mom that there wasn't much doubt.) Before this event, I wouldn't have felt good leaving him, so even something as far away as JLC wouldn't have worked well. But now that he's two he's been skipping his nursing times without seeming to care - even the ones I thought he'd never skip. And he went right back to nursing just the same after the event, so I don't think it hurt him to go without. I don't think it occurs to him to miss it when he doesn't see me.

It would be nice if we could do like I've heard they do in England, and have a LARP with kids, where the kids have their own adventures...that would be awesome...

[raving_liberal]

That's why I'm getting back involved in the SCA instead of LARPing. My experiences with them were much more kid-friendly and they have quite a few kid-centric activities at most events.

I brought Liam to a few events when he was little and I was a single mom, and Donovan (along with my husband) came to the final SI event so I could play Adara one last time, but in between, my attempts at getting back into LARPing have left me with a pretty bad taste in my mouth. I miss my kids when I'm away from them, but they aren't welcome at the LARPs.

Forest of Doors welcomes children, and I may be bringing the boys with me to an event, since Cosmo Maurer invited Liam.

[twelveoaks]

Cosmo is having a blast at FOD. For safety reasons she's not participating in combat and not going out of the cabin after abut 9:00 pm, but there's still plenty for her to do.

Tell us about the SCA stuff!

[silverdawnatl]

For us it depends on where the game is. Back when SI was running at FCF we would drop the girls off at Chattanooga for the weekend since Nana's was on the way. Otherwise they get a weekend with Grandma out here. We have been very lucky that there has not as of yet been a time when we couldn't go due to lack of grandparents.

As far as time goes... we pretty much started very young. I think Snark and I went to our first LARP when Ginger was abotu 4 months old. This was as much due to my mom shooing us way and playing the grandma guilt card "What? You don't trust me to take care of my own grand daughters?" At that point it was clear that Grandma wanted some kid only time to spoil the girls and we could either stay at home waiting for a call or go to KG. So we went to KG becasue otherwise we would have gone stir-crazy waiting for something to happen. BTW, nothing happened. the girls were fine. ;)

[hapersmion]

*nods*

Le sigh... My floon was all high from KG, too.

[howlwhite]

Hrmmm, I might be able to pay for one night of cabin (in addition to Pooklet's fee). Could someone or others pay for the other night?

~H

PS: On site would make Pookariah sooooo much happier about the whole thing of being away from her baby (5 year old going on 30 really, but that's another story).

[lilisonna]

Grandparents. Specifically, my mother watches D while we're away. There were a few events where she came down and kept the children in a nearby cabin when D was younger, but after about a year, we just left D with her in Atlanta. We don't really keep in touch; she has our cell phones which work intermittently, and she knows which site we'll be at if she needs to get in touch with us.

[hapersmion]

It seems the consensus is that I'm one of the more paranoid people, then, with waiting until SAM was 2 to leave him. Good to know; I always tend to second-guess myself.

[lilisonna]

Eh. You do what works for you. I'm glad of the break; some folks miss their children too much. It all depends.

If you want to pursue the idea of getting groups of parents together to watch children in cabins at LARPs, I'd start with a post on the boards. While I suspect I would continue to leave D at her grandmother's house, I'd be willing to take an hour out of my LARP (right after monstering possibly) and run a short "module" for the kiddos who are old enough to enjoy it.

[hapersmion]

It is a cool idea - most of the time I won't need it, though. I guess it would have to be something that would get put together specially each event, depending on whose kids needed it that time.

[speaks]

When we just had Cosmo, Grandma was very good about watching both kids. Now that we have 2, Grandma is less happy about it. I will admit that 2 > 1+1 where kids are concerned.

FoD will allow Cosmo to play, and in fact most of the PCs and Staff adore her (she even has an NPC she regularly plays during her monster time). Because of this, we can leave Mongasika with grandma and it works out.

I have not been to a KG this year because of babysitting issues.

[hapersmion]

I hadn't realized that about FoD. That's really pretty awesome.

[lavenderpetals]

But Cosmo is also a seriously well behaved kid. :D Fairies are glad to have her on our side. Muhahahaha! Er . . . the new wings for her should be done for the next event.

[speaks]

Thank you very much! Most appreciated. I saw them on your own blog, they looked great.