About babies and the Olympics?

[curiousgeorgie]

I really don't understand why parents have taken tiny babies and toddlers to the Olympic games.

Last week I went to beach volleyball, and the crowd was very rowdy and lots of audience participation, and loads of people had babies in slings and toddlers with them who were subjected to the rain and cold with no shelter and huge crowds.

At Athletics the couple behind me had a baby I think was probably about six months.. Very calm for most of it, but everytime the crowd cheered and screamed (especially as lots of GB competitors) the poor baby jumped and screamed, clearly terrified.

At water polo / football / rowing & gymnastics it was the same.... Children who were too young to be there, and were clearly not getting any enjoyment out of it.

Leaving wembley stadium after the football is the scariest crush of people for even an adult... Being jostled through that crowd trying to stay with my friends I just felt so sorry for the poor children who's parents had subjected them to this. (and absolutely packed tube after tube with a buggy / pram?? Madness!)

I have a 22 month old DD, and wouldn't for a second even think of taking her to something so busy and loud. The scope for getting lost or injured or just being scared and having a rubbish time is too great.

AIBU to think people with these young children were being irresponsible abd even selfish to take them to the Olympics?

And also - I agree that you do weigh up whether certain events would be appropriate, and personally, for my two year old DS, or both my children as babies for eg, I wouldn't have taken them. But it's interesting reading about the families who did take small children who loved it, because I know I could err on the side of not doing things because I think it will "probably" not work out, which isn't always a good thing either.

We did weigh it up. We had general admission tickets for the canoe sprint, took DS (12weeks) the pram and the sling and had a great time. The biggest problem was that we'd had very little sleep (due to early start) whereas he'd slept all the way there, so the grown-ups had headaches by the evening, but that could have happened without DS there. And the security crew loved him.

DS was sunblocked and mostly in the shade (put a blanket from my shoulder to his feet). I breastfed standing (leaning on DH) and he slept for most of it. There was a moment just before the races started when I was worried he wouldn't settle. Walked him about for 2 mins then he slept for the next 2 hours.

We were worried about crush at the end, so we sat on a blanket and chilled for a bit and took some photos so the crowd could die down. No problem at all.

Took our 3 year old to the Triathlon and it was very successful. Travelled from Scotland, stayed overnight in London, arrived at Hyde Park at 9.30am, had plenty of time to walk/ play beforehand, watched event and left. No-one was traumatised and at no point was she hysterical. Sometimes people just know their child better than onlookers do. I would never take her to those Baby Disco type events aimed at her age group because she hates loud noises in enclosed spaces. However, crowds do not phase her.

Actually it was once in a lifetime for DH and I. It is unlikely that the Olympics will be back in Europe for a long time and they won't be back in the UK in our lifetime. We are sports mad and wanted to be part of it. We finished our trip with a visit to Hamleys and bouncing on the trampolines in Hyde Park Live. Pretty good trip for all concenrned.

I didn't take my toddler, but I saw quite a few babies at the Stadium and in Olympic Park the other night. I think your assessment of the risks is totally out of whack. I've seen more dangerous crowds in a kid's Clarke's store on a Saturday.

It was hot and sunny certainly, so sunburn an issue - but no more so than at any park. It could be loud, though a baby next to us slept through even a GB gold medal, so perhaps that's about tolerance of individual babies. Toddlers could get lost, but there were staff and volunteers around to help out than at Peppa Pig World, so probably one of the safest days out from that perspective. And the crush was easily avoided by simply waiting a little. A parent could push into the middle and crush their baby up against the mob, but only if they actually wanted to. It was in no way a necessity.

As it was, parents got to go to a once in a lifetime event and babies got to stay with their primary caregivers while seeing lots of new things.

Toddlers sound like hard work to me, it's a similar deal but with more risk you'll have to miss something you want to see because the toddler's too tired/overwhelmed etc. (which is why we didn't try to take ours). Most toddlers are probably a little too young to be inspired by what they see, but you never know. My brother was inspired to take up swimming by a competition he saw when he was 3.

There are, of course, parents who don't put on sun cream, don't care if their child is uncomfortable, and blow fog horns next to their baby's ears. But they will be thoughtless/selfish/unresponsive parents anywhere. It isn't the Olympics that makes them that way.