Re: babies at Pennsic

[Caitlin Cheannlaidir <caitlin@phosphor-ink.com>]

Poster: Caitlin Cheannlaidir <caitlin@phosphor-ink.com>

At 03:27 PM 6/10/99 -0700, April Dwiggins wrote:


**If I were you I would think long and hard about doing that.  I
>do not mean to seem the doom-sayer, but you may find yourself with a
>very grouchy infant on your hands.  Pennsic is big, loud, hot (or
>alternately wet)and you are generally at the mercy of the elements. 
>While we as adults accept this as being simply part and parcel of the
>whole Pennsic gig, an infant isn't going to understand why bugs are
>eating at him the whole time, why he can't seem to be cool, why he is
>soaking wet from a leaky tent and why those barbarians over there won't
>shut up so he can sleep.  In the end, I think that the poor child will
>end up having a simply miserable time.  And that translates into you
>and your husband having a simply miserable time.
>
>I believe that you should consider instituting the time honored
>tradition of the summer vacation at grandma's for the baby, while you
>and your husband pamper yourselves with a little time away and without
>responsibility.

I would take a different tack here.  My nine-year-old daughter will attend
her tenth Pennsic this summer.  At her first War, she was 2 1/2 months old.
 We stayed less than the whole time (I think she was there for about four
or five days), had a good War, and we have had a good War with her every
year that she has gone (and every time after the first has been for at
least 10 days, and generally for both setup and war week).  She was at Mud
War, at hot Wars, at cool Wars.  She has also attended virtually every
camping event that I have attended during that period.  She has slept in
her own tent since she was three.  As a result, I have a child who will
camp happily in any weather; who will sleep anywhere; who will eat
anything; and who takes discomfort and inconvenience in stride as part of
the price she happily pays to play in the SCA.

It does put a responsibility on parents, especially when you have an
infant, to make sure that they stay hydrated, that they sleep warm, that
they have enough sunscreen and so on.  But babies are closer to nature than
we are, and they can handle it if you approach it in an organized way.

As my daughter Kindra says, you should bring them when they are young, so
that when they get old (like her<g>) they'll "know what to do and all."




--Caitlin Cheannlaidir
  caitlin@phosphor-ink.com
  http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/7249

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