Welcome to another parenting tales from the sofa hangout with myself and Beckie Whitehouse where today we are discussing how to prepare your child the the arrival of a new sibling.
Preparing your kids for the arrival of another baby in the household is something that needs to be done over a period of time in order for your older child(ren) to be involved in what will be their changing family unit. Both myself and Beckie have experience of this as we both have more than one child ;-)
Some of the advice we cover in our discussion include:
- Talking to your child. This is very much dependent on age as a 6-7 year old may be a lot more interested than a 2 year old would be. Be sure to answer any questions, and there may be many. Some may not understand what is going on but books such as “Mummy Laid an Egg” can be very helpful
- Involving your child in your unborn baby. Allowing them to touch your tummy or talking to the baby will help
- Explaining what will happen and what arrangements have been made for when baby comes such as: who will look after then when baby comes ( and they often do in the middle of the night!) and where they will be. What arragements have been made if there are complications
- Your child regress in their behaviour at the thought of a new baby arriving into the family as they will not understand what is going in. Now is not the best time to start potty training or moving into a new bed. Starting a new school is not a good idea but this cannot always be helped around due dates ;-)
- Taking present for the older child when baby comes so they do not feel left out. It’s easy to lavish attention on a new baby and for an older child to take a back seat. Remind visitors to give attention to your older child too.
- Encouraging your older child to help when baby comes home and being mummy’s special helper
Take a look at the video for even more suggestions:
Do you have more than one child? How did you help him/her to adapt to the new addition to the family?
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!