What is the most (supposedly) un-childfriendly thing you have ever done with your dcs?

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

And was it successful?

We have several times taken our 4 year old and his siblings to the viewing for an antiques auction (china, glass, fragile stuff) and it has been all right so far and he was very interested in the chamber pots.

what inappropriate things have you done with your dcs and did it all go horribly wrong or was it brilliant?

I took DS to Glastonbury last year when he was 14 months old, which was commented on negatively by a few people.

He had a great time, slept better than he had ever done before, and will be going again this year- though this time we'll also have a 4 month old.

michelin starred restaurant with dd1 aged 2 (and a couple of times since)
chef sent his regards when she ordered the squid
i'm sure dd2 (only 14 weeks) will grow up to be a restless child who only eats KFC to punish us.

Took ds1 aged about 20 months to dh's grannies funeral at the crematorium because others in the family thought he should be there as the oldest grandchild.

Was all going fine till the organ started up playing the opening music, and ds thought it was the birdie dance and started singing and dancing along.

Removed him before too many people noticed. She would have laughed but one side of the family definitely wouldn't .

I love seeing children at funerals, you were probably right to take her out though!

Charlotte - we have a foodie dd and a few times when we have been somewhere very wacky we have thought 'DD would enjoy this!'

children and festivals definitely mix. It will be lovely if you carry on going when they're old enough to enjoy it.

Taken DD (then 4) to live on an environmental protest site - the sort with treehouses, dogs-on-strings, all that.

She had a whale of a time.

Queen

that sounds like absolute heaven for a child - and presumably would be a great community so she would have the benefit of pottering around talking to other adults.

All my DC and their cousins have attended family funerals from baby/toddler age right up to teens. I have never taken them to the grave side as little ones but have let them decide on that one once they were 12ish.

I did take one as a 10 yearold to the chaple of rest to see her grandmother. I really took some convincing on that one but DC was fine......she coped better than me!

Yes I like children at funerals too, but it was just the one side of the family that would have thought it was disrespectful - not the granny. She would have thought it was funny, but it's not a day to piss people off really.

well quite Greedychops.

I took dd to my great-aunt's funeral when she was a couple of months old and went into the vestry to bf her; afterwards someone said 'There was no-one there who would have minded if you'd fed her' but at the time it seemed better to go out even though I am normally quite militant about my right to feed in public.

took my 2 and 4 year old to their dads funeral

there were some comments that I ignored politely and secretly made rude hand gestures to them in my head

took gecko to the cinema when she was just two
she loved it, sat agog the whole time

We went to the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam with DS when he was 8 months old. We were stranded there with no luggage due to the stupid icelandic volcano, so went with DS strapped in a front carrier in his pajamas. It was great fun, he grinned at everyone, the staff loved seeing him, and we got extra beer. Best of all, the guy on the admissions desk felt sorry for us so let us in for free!

sethstarkaddersmackerel - she loved it.

It was what I did for some time before I had DD, and then after several years of doing the mum-thing I felt the need to get back to it.

She wasn't the only child there in fact, and they roamed free together, fuelled mainly by honey sandwiches It is wonderful being part of a community when you have children. I was a single parent at the time so having other adults around who kept an eye open and had a good tale to tell (and were generally less frazzled than I was) was good for us both.

I do tend to think children should be included in experiences as much as possible though - how else will they learn how to behave? Funerals, weddings, restaurants, meetings, parties, protests, festivals, classes - DD went anywhere I could get away with taking her. I suppose being a single parent (with no support from her father) meant I had to include her a lot of the time too if I wanted any semblance of a life of my own.

trinity how could anyone think it inappropriate for children to be at their own father's funeral??

Some years ago a Mormon temple was built not far from us. Once consecrated non-mormons would never be allowed in but before that time could attend guided tours.

I decided DCs should see this so, in the future, they would be able to look back fondly and remember this once in a lifetime experience. How misguided was I?

They are grown-up now but they still laugh about me thinking they would appreciate it. The highlight was the organised song singing whilst in the big queues waiting for tour guides.

Mind you. I enjoyed it :o Was really interesting

DS1 (21m) has been to 6 music festivals, his first at 5wks old. We do 3 festivals each year and thinking about a fourth we fancy this year. We have DS2 (4wks) now and will take them both. With the exception of 1 negative comment everyone we met was really positive and we were constantly stopped by people who wanted to talk to him,ask about him or take his picture!

I took my DDs with me when I went for a smear. I couldn't get a sitter and I thought they would play with the toys in the corner of the nurses office. It was not successful. I had to strap them into the pushchair and make it face the wall because they were fascinated...

The nurse clearly thought I was an idiot, so I tried to brazen it out with 'normalising their attitudes to their bodies' which was less believable when I said it than it sounded in my head...

Ummm... have taken DS to a wedding at 8 weeks, funeral at 14 months, various restaurants and pubs. But this is normal, no? Also take him to galleries, have him with me at meetings sometimes. Am impressed and inspired by the tales of festivals with tiny ones. :)

I took my then 7 year old dc on the back of my motorbike to my friends house in France (12 hour drive), he had the correct gear on and loved every minute of it. We did have to stop at one point so he could have a decent sleep (which ended up being 8 hours - so we were later than expected). On the way back I got my then boyfriend (now husband) to meet us at the ferry because it was dark, wet and cold in the UK at the time and he took my ds back in the car whilst I took it easy (very wet and windy).

Without doubt I would take him, or my other dc when they are older. Best way to travel.

!0 days unplanned camping ( in 2/ 3 man tent for 3 of us) on bicycles abroad. DS was 14m - brilliant fun, he slept loads in trailer and was playing well into the evening.

Numerous hockey tournaments and training events, he hangs out with the other teams waiting their turn while we both play. Now age nearly 5 he has pretty good ball control.

I took my ds 1 when I went for a leg and bikini wax as we were off on holiday and dh stuck in traffic. He just sat jiggling around in the buggy (not at the goal end).

Took him camping to Guildfest he loved it at 8 months and 20 months.

Helicopter in st Lucia - funnily enough he was sick in the minibus which was the way we went from our hotel to airport at the end of the holiday, but not in the helicopter.

Work - ds sat quietly all Xmas eve morning building a lego model with his music on.

He is a cool kid.

I think there are some very cool kids and parents on this thread.

It is reminding me of why my favourite baby book was Libby Purves 'How Not To Be A Perfect Mum' - she actually talks about how to do stuff like camping and sailing while still having children, rather than talking as if all you will be doing is staying at home staring at your baby and taking it out on carefully planned child-centred outings to stimulate it.

I have some friends who are very hardcore hillwalkers and their 8 year old did the Fairfield Horseshoe last summer.

I also took 2 DC (eldest barely over 2yo) to a smear test (sigh). The surgery then had a policy that you could ONLY get same day appointments, and you had to start phoning at 8:30am to try and get them (I kid you not, even for something routine like a cervical smear test). So I phoned up, got the appointment and went in with 2 DC, because it was absurd to ask DH to get the day off with no notice.

DC were well-behaved on the occasion, but surgery soon changed their f policy about only allowing same day booking for appointments.

I don't dare take them into visit churches, though .

Anathema Did you see the lady who gave birth at Glastonbury this year?

By the time DD was 10 weeks old, she'd been to a funeral, a wedding, on holiday to France and to my choir rehearsal every Monday evening. She still comes to it, although she's going to stop soon as (at 8mo) she's too mobile and keeps trying to pull herself up the keyboards

One of her first BLW experiences was steak and chips at the local pub.

We really wanted to take her to V last summer, as it brought me and DH together 5 years before but the tickets sold out too quickly. Maybe this year instead though

Job interview.

The theory was that they would see how I operate under pressure.

Took DTs (3ish) to Yo Sushi. Never ever again