STMs- question

[sweetmelissa5]

We've never done anything big to try to get the kids ready for a new baby; we just tend to refer to the baby a lot, and once we find out the sex, we talk about how they're going to have a new little sister. So far, all of my kids have been really good about each new baby, no major jealousy issues, and they all love taking care of "their" babies.

[rory5280]

I've been curious about this too.  

My son will be a 4 when the baby arrives, so he's a bit older and I do think he gets the concept right now.  But I would like to try and help him prepare for what that means for him our family as much as possible.  

A week or so after we told DS that he was going to be a big brother, we just happened to be watching Daniel Tiger.  Well, it's not one of our usual so I had no idea one of the more recent seasons are dedicated to him becoming a big brother. We watched a few episodes and DS thought that was pretty cool.  He's been talking about how he'll help out a lot when the baby comes like Daniel does.  

So not really preparing advice...but the episodes are sweet and generated some excitement with my son.

[robinbird]

I'll definitely be following this. Brody will be around 2 years and 2 months so I don't expect him to understand much. I'm going to take him to the sibling class at the hospital though.

[dashook]

My LO will only be 22 months when this one arrives so I'm not sure he's going to understand much at all. But he already loves babies and is so sweet and gentle with them at daycare! I might get him a babydoll to play with when I'm closer to my due date; I bet he'd like that. And I assume by then he'll have slightly better language skills and we can kind of hammer the "look at the tiny baby" and "you're a great big brother!" concepts in a little bit when he's playing with it.

[peanutmuse]

I am just going to talk about it a lot. My son is the same age as yours. That's what I do with literally everything, talk it through a lot. It works well. I'm not doing anything special or specific, I guess. Nothing planned, anyway.

[hangry]

I also just planned to talk about it a lot. I just read this article the other day and it gave a whole new perspective to becoming a big sibling. Basically it says that it is also important to recognize and respect that they may not be happy about it, and that's ok. It was an interesting read.

www.janetlansbury.com/2015/03/navigating-the-new-sibling-with-confidence-and-love/

[LizInFL]

Mar 16, 2016 17:05:27 GMT -5 peanutmuse said:

I am just going to talk about it a lot. My son is the same age as yours. That's what I do with literally everything, talk it through a lot. It works well. I'm not doing anything special or specific, I guess. Nothing planned, anyway.

This is us, too. DS will be about a month shy of 3 when 2.0 makes his/her appearance. 

I think we'll probably get some sort of gift for DS 'from the new baby' that he can open at the hospital when the time comes.

[blondie]

I asked Jo if she wanted a sister or a brother. She said sister. I asked her if she knew what a sister was and she was like uh.... Otherwise I talk about the babies she sees at daycare and if she would like to take one home with us.

[calindi]

My kid is 14 months. This is going to be the biggest surprise of his life! Haha, I mean, I already tell him there's a baby in Mommy's tummy, but I really doubt he's going to grasp it in any meaningful way before the baby is here.

[CoffeeNow]

My daughter will be 10 when this baby is born. She's been asking for a brother or sister for a few years so she'll be excited, but we haven't decided when or how to tell her yet...

[elliecat17]

As a teacher that works with the younger age groups I've given many parents some info on this. At 3 they are a little young to tell so early, because it's a long time to wait and they just don't understand the time aspect. Once you start to show or start getting things for the new baby read them books about it, talk to them about it, point to other babies you see around, encourage them that you will still love them.
I would strongly suggest "On Mother's Lap" by Ann Herbert Scott, "My new baby" and "Waiting for Baby" by Rachel Fuller, Joanna Cole does one for big brothers and one for big sisters. Also let them help pick out something to give the baby.

[LizInFL]

Mar 20, 2016 20:48:00 GMT -5 elliecat17 said:

As a teacher that works with the younger age groups I've given many parents some info on this. At 3 they are a little young to tell so early, because it's a long time to wait and they just don't understand the time aspect. Once you start to show or start getting things for the new baby read them books about it, talk to them about it, point to other babies you see around, encourage them that you will still love them.
I would strongly suggest "On Mother's Lap" by Ann Herbert Scott, "My new baby" and "Waiting for Baby" by Rachel Fuller, Joanna Cole does one for big brothers and one for big sisters. Also let them help pick out something to give the baby.

Thank you for the tips and book recs. I love this idea, too.