Michael Arnold
Wear Your Baby
Comfy ways to carry your little one
If you’ve heard of Attachment Parenting – the movement founded on the notion that babies thrive on physical contact and closeness with their parents – you’ve probably heard of “babywearing.” As parents explore natural ways to nurture their children through touch and a sense of closeness, many of them are rejecting strollers and choosing to carry their children close to the body, where they can be lulled to sleep by the sound of their parent’s beating heart. According to second-hand baby items trader Karen Patterson of NU2YU Baby Shop, here in Beijing more and more parents are beginning to inquire about slings, wraps and other babywearing products. Karen invited American mom and babywearing expert Liora Pearlman to teach tbjkids about some of the many different ways you can wear your baby.
World’s Best Kids’ Brands
Beijing parents share their brand knowledge with expat moms and dads
When it comes to purchasing items for their kids, foreign parents in Beijing rarely take advantage of low-priced local brands – safety comes first when junior’s concerned, and many parents prefer to spend a little more on imported brands they know they can trust. Of course, Beijing’s expats hail from all over the globe, and different folks are loyal to different labels on the international market. We conducted an informal survey of the city’s families to find out which brands experienced parents seek out, and where they do their shopping. Here’s what we found.
Wake Up Call
Sleepyhead kids get the royal treatment from softhearted moms and dads
If anything can be considered a universal heart-warmer, it’s the sight of a sleeping child snuggled underneath his blankets. No matter how rough the night before, no parent can stay grumpy in the face of that totally relaxed, utterly innocent expression worn by a child absorbed in sleep. Oh, if only they were always like that! Inevitably, however, the sun slips over the horizon, and the little ones must be reeled in from dreamland. How do Beijing parents deal with this sometimes heartbreaking task?
Every morning, local mother Shen wrestles with her conscience when it comes time to rouse her 3-year-old, Keyi. “All kids need more sleep than adults,” she says. “If I have to wake her up, she will cry – it wastes a lot of time and it’s hard to get her clothes on.” Grandma’s old-school approach is to apply a cold towel to baby’s face to snap her out of sleep, but this is a practice that Shen disapproves of. “A better way is to play her favorite music from low to high, and then she will wake up with a smile,” she says.
Buckle Up – Even in Beijing
Don’t let safety standards slide when driving in Beijing
The art of not wearing a seatbelt is so well-perfected in Beijing that many expats here eventually shrug off the dangers and pick up the bad habit of riding buckle-free. Leaving all common sense at the roadside, we sit in the passenger seat unfettered and fearless as our madcap taxi drivers weave between cars and swerve around jaywalkers at frightening speeds.
It’s one thing to take risks with yourself, however, and a whole different thing to take them with your kids. Then again, if you’ve ever tried to convince a taxi driver in Beijing to help you fit a car seat in the rear of a cab – assuming there are seatbelts installed back there in the first place – you’ve probably already come to the conclusion that car seats and Beijing taxis just don’t mix.
Overbundled Joy
Beijing's cold winters cause heated debates between parents and ayis
Nothing gets parents and their ayis hot in the face like Beijing’s cold winter days. Mom turns her back for just a moment, and junior’s buried under yet another layer – take it off, and ayi’s face sours, letting mom know she’s wondering if Western parents really do care about their children as much as Chinese parents do. It’s a classic clash of cultures, a battle that often leaves both sides convinced that the other has no idea how to look after a child.
