Feb. 13, 2000 - Sunday
We took Harry this evening to visit some good friends who have two young children:
2.5 years and 9 months. Being with other children was a new experience for Harry,
as was the additional noise and ado that older children tend to make compared
to infants of Harry's age. It's hard to know what he made of it all, though
for the most part he seemed oblivious to the added entertainment. Every now
and then he would seem ill at ease, yet evening is generally the time for a
little crankiness on his own time anyway.
Regardless, exposing Harry to more people and more young children now seems
like a good idea and probably will be an asset in the future as he begins to
interact with others. In a previous discussion, the father of this family related
an unfortunate tale of a 6-month old girl who came to their children's daycare
without having spent time away from her parents and with others and, with a
major dose of separation anxiety, cried for two weeks straight. Her parents
were eventually told to find other daily accommodations. Since it's natural
for kids, and people in general, to fear what they're not used to, getting Harry
used to others sooner rather than later seems a good idea.
Of course, as ambitious new parents we're trying to do that with every aspect
of Harry's possible future life. His mother needs to eat all kinds of food so
Harry's milk will expose him to new tastes. We play a wide variety of music
for Harry: classical so he can be a genius, popular music so he can be a regular
kid, and jazz so he can have fun. We read to him so he'll like to learn. We
show him pictures and the Baby TV to
stimulate his brain. We provide a stimulating interact environment. And, we
need to find others for him to be around to make him comfortable with people.
This sort of thinking can drive a neophyte crazy with anxiety about doing the
best thing for a baby. Hopefully, we'll do more good things than bad things
and Harry will grow up a good person.
