why do parents feel they cant go to appts with children with them? its just life, surely???????

[nailpolish]

when i go to the dentist, for a smear, getting my bikini line waxed, whatever, i just take dd's with me

there ARE a couple of folk i could ask to watch them while go alone, but i dont bother

maybe if i had a 3hr appt at the hairdressers, but thats because they would get bored. in that case i would have appt on a saturday so dh could watch them

[moljam]

i got told i shouldnt have my 5 year old ds1 in swimming pool changing room recently because it was female.there was him,me and my dd,dh was at home with lo so i couldnt go in mens and wouldnt leave a 5 year old.he wasnt doing anything other than changingsome people should keep there noses out!

[beatie]

It depends on the appointment and how old the children are.

I had to take my 11 month old with me to the dentist this week whilst a filling was replaced. She thought the whole experience was hillarious.

[Flamesparrow]

DD bounces... she bounces in a behaved way, but she bounces - off walls, furniture etc. She also suddenly announces "I'm scared" for no reason, and tries to climb back inside me. The thought of that whilst trying to have a smear/filling etc is pure hell.

I do try and book things when either DH or my mum can have them though so I am not asking non-family too much (and even with hairdressers etc it is normally that my mum sits with them in the hairdressers with me so she has the minimum to do iyswim).

[beatie]

moljam - that's terrible.

At a swimmingpool near me there is a sign on the ladies changingroom saying boys up to 6 years old are allowed in. BUT there is also a family changing room.

[eidsvold]

fact of life for me - dd's come too unless dd1 is in kindy - not always possible. Dd2 will be coming to antenatal appts with me as dd1 did when I was pregnant with no2. Don't have anyone to leave them with.

Sometimes I can schedule late doc appts and dh can sit with them otherwise - they come with.

[TinyGang]

When we go to the dentist we all troop in en masse. I think it's good for them to see me having my teeth checked too.

I go to the doctor alone - I prefer that, because with three children it's hard to talk to the doctor without interruptions. Often there's a very long wait too. I also have a theory that doctors waiting rooms are good places to catch things, so the less time my lot are in one the better

I'd rather go alone to hair appts etc because I like to switch off from the children then. Not sure I could take all the interrogation and curiosity that taking them to a bikini wax would entail - I get little enough privacy as it is!

[BudaBabe]

Have taken DS to appts with me when necessary.

At chiropracters when I had to take off my top he announced - "Oh Mummy you are nudie"

At appt with fertility doc when asked if he would like a little brother or sister he said he wanted 2 older brothers and a little sister.

At hair appt he kept saying my hair was horrible.

At another appt with fertility doc he wanted so sit in chair with stirrups and wanted to know what everything was.

All totally normal but sometimes not what I need!

Although I did have to take him with me for a breast ultrasound which proved very useful when he needed an ultrasound to find out where his testicles where.

[nailpolish]

taking lo's to antenatal appts is lovely IMO

i will be taking dd's to my smear test next week

they just sit on the other side of the curtain and play with the toys/stethescope/drs chair

[Bozza]

I agree that I take them to some appts and not others. I take them to the dentist for checkups but not fillings. To the doctors for basic things but not smears. I have my hair done at home with friends and we share out the watching of the kids.

[beckybrastraps]

The receptionists at our doctors' surgery look after the children during smear tests if you have to take them with you. They're lovely!

[beckybrastraps]

We definitely all go together to the dentist. He always looks at their teeth at the same time, and now ds has progressed to lying on the big chair. He feels very grown up.

[TinyGang]

Blimey Becky, how lovely - ours would turn you to stone if asked to do that!

[morningpaper]

I have taken mine to smear tests - I think it's important for them to know that Doctors can look at your body and it's professional and acceptable

I would be uncomfortable with the bikini waxing demonstration because I don't want to normalise extreme treatments in the name of beauty .

[marthamoo]

I took mine to the optician's the other week - that was fine, they liked laughing at me wearing the silly metal specs the optician slides the lenses into.

I did take ds1 to a smear test once, when he was about a year old - he was crawling around the floor wrecking the place so he sat on my tummy when the nurse did it. He looked over his shoulder (he was facing me) and went "ooooooooh!" in the most astonished voice.

I wouldn't take them to anything 'intimate' now - they are 9 and 4.

[Wordsmith]

I take them to the dentists/opticians etc - book their appointments at the same time. Don't think I'd let the DSs (6 and 2) accompany me to a smear test though - or a bikini line wax (wouldn't even take myself to one of those) - they'd get worried!

[beckybrastraps]

I know. I couldn't believe how wonderful they were when we first moved here. The ones at our old place were the stereotypical gorgons.

[feelingunloved]

waxing, no way. its too personal, and its me time.
hairdressers, theyd get bored.
doctors surgery. they love it. its getting them back out thats the problem
dentist, of course
changing rooms, well, i dont let my 9 year old go to the mens on his own. but they do have a family changing room.
some people try to make life as hard as possible for themselves

[beckybrastraps]

Well, I couldn't take them in to a smear test with me because it's hard enough to "relax" as they tell you to whilst they're inserting enormous contraptions without the hassle of keeping an eye on what the children are getting up to.

[nailpolish]

you know, i hadnt thought about having a ds, because ive got 2 dd's

think i may have a different viewpoint if i had ds's (older ones)

and re the changing rooms - i dont know what dh would do if there were no family changing rooms at our pool. theres no way he would take dd's into the mens

[SoupDragon]

Because during a 45 minute hair appointment, BabyDragon cooed angelically for 5 minutes and screamed like a banshee for 40 whilst being pused/carried up and down the shopping centre by assorted salon staff. Consequently, my hair hasn't been cut for about 10 weeks.

[Wordsmith]

Boys over 8 aren't allowed in the female changing rooms at our pool, but I know some places where it's 6. My 6 year old DS wouldn't like to go in on his own if it was somewhere he was unfamiliar with, and I would feel a bit iffy about it myself to be honest.

[desperateSCOUSEwife]

i wouldnt take my kids for a smear or to the docs
i dont want them seeing my foof and legs spreadeagled
shudder at the thought tbh