Being a Mum the second time around (Part 1)
It still continues to amaze me how different it is being a Mum the second time around. I feel so much more relaxed and confident (most of the time), which I am pleased about given our experiences with our daughter Isabella 7 years ago (she would have been celebrating her 7th birthday next month).
Daniel will be three months old this Friday (22 Aug 2008) and even though I don’t consider myself a new Mum, I have joined the New Parents Group at my local Maternal Child Health Centre to have some contact with other Mums & babies. Today was session number 3 of 6 - the discussion was about play time with babies. We watched a video created by the Gymbaroo group that showed babies of varying ages and different types of play and activities that can be done to stimulate various developmental aspects of a babies growth.
It seems to be the done thing to attend various external activities from an early age whether it be Gymbaroo or swimming lessons or Mini Mozart groups.
I wonder though, how necessary these “extra curricular” activities really are. I admit, I did take Isabella to a few Gymbaroo classes when she was about 4 or 5 months old - she didn’t really like it & I felt uncomfortable. But I thought it was something I had to do.
The first thing that came to mind was, what did babies do before Gymbaroo was invented? Gymbaroo wasn’t around when Warren or I were babies and I think we function pretty well physically. Is the attendance of external developmental activities the way a busy parent appeases their guilt for not spending enough time with their baby? To me it seems like just another way to try and make our children into over-achievers and make parents feel like they’re bad parents if they don’t take their babies to these activities.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t do these things with your baby, just don’t feel like you have to or that you’re a bad parent if you don’t. There are plenty of great things you can do with your baby at home, it just takes a bit of imagination and the desire to spend time with your baby and help them grow.
Helena 
