Fair Observations
Posted on August 31st, 2007 – 2:09 PMBy Kay Krhin
May & I spent mid-day Wednesday walking around the State Fair and sitting at the Strib booth. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet any Cribsheeters. We did, however, hand out a LOT of maps, moist towelettes and made several motherly observations while we sat there on Carnes Ave:
Leashes:
They didn’t seem as prevalent as in years past. But kids on leashes are usually spotted at the Fair. The sight used to make me cringe pre-kid. Now as a parent, it still kind of does, but now I “get it”. All it took was one harrowing moment at a store when Ben dashed under a clothing round and I couldn’t find him for a split second. That heart in my throat panic feeling really made me “get it.” Luckily our guy is still content in a stroller. The first thing we saw when we entered the grounds was a little girl with a “kinder, gentler leash”. More like a stuffed monkey harness. (see this link from - SF Gate’s baby blog “the Poop” had quite the discussion last year on the topic here. Stuffed monkey harness and all. What are your thoughts - tether or not?
Strollers:
We saw just about every version of stroller stroll on by as we sat at the booth. Umbrella strollers, wagons, dual sit-stand, dual facing eachother, dual side-by-side, dual stacked on eachother, the Bjorn/stroller combo. We even saw a stroller used for the sole purpose of food and condiment holder. Tubs of ketchup and sauce lined up - and of course those cup-holders come in handy for mini-donuts and the cups o’ fries. Also not a bad place to put the huge animals you spent $75 to win at the Midway.
Rides:
We saw many rides that we would not go on. Me, I was glad to have a built-in excuse not to. May, said she would bungee, or go on that big scary spinny thing in a previous life. But not now that she has kids. Hmm, maybe the big slide…
Miracle of Birth Building:
Of course we headed straight to this building as our first field trip. Walking through this barn - (btw: leave your strollers OUTSIDE it gets crowded) May and I both felt great empathy for the heavy breathing livestock. We could relate to the throngs of people watching us labor and deliver. I swear I had 12 interns on step stools shining a spotlight on my downstairs. And May had many relatives, doctors and nurses swirling around the room with her. The sheep and cows, they get crowds sitting in bleachers as they bellow and pant. No epidurals for these gals. We saw one ewe definately having contractions and doing some serious Lamb-aze breathing. It is an educational building - we learned gestational periods for various animals, and gosh a sheeps stomach sure is big. I don’t know, I think I’d rather just see nature specials than watching these births live and in person.
Butterfly House:
A sweet photo on the front page of the Strib featuring a butterfly on a little kid’s face intrigued me and I wanted to visit. But then I read the discussion on buzz.mn of it. I changed my mind. I thought the butterflies were lovely in theory but- best not to see the carnage. I’ll leave the Broken Wings to Mr. Mister. (sorry I will take any and every opportunity to make a bad reference to 80’s music).
We don’t have our photos yet but I’ll post them as soon as we get them. How about you any additional parental observations or tips you’d like to share from the Fair?
10 Responses to "Fair Observations"
Leashes - tricky one, I agree. We used a harness thing for our son when he was one year old and wanted to be able to walk to the store and back (about three blocks each way). Our take was that a harness wouldn’t hurt, and was better than the risk of him running into the street. I wouldn’t use a wrist strap leash thing though.
If I had to use a leash with my son to make sure everyone had a good time, I wouldn’t go. My tip for going to the Fair, get a babysitter!
Well, guess what my daughter wore today at the fair? The somewhat-taboo “stuffed monkey harness” that you mentioned. She’s three. Now, in a perfect world, she would walk right next to us and happily hold our hands and never run away. Or she would be content to sit in a stroller all day long. However, the “leash” was used because my daughter loves to run and explore and it’s the only way to keep her close. In a place as busy as the fair, I think it’s a good compromise.
I’m curious why the idea of a harness is so bad? It’s allowing a child to have a bit of freedom while keeping them close. We don’t all have perfect children.
I don’t think it is about a harness being a good or bad thing, I think it is about word association. When I hear the words leash or harness I think of a dog, not a human. When we are in busy places my son has 3 options: hold my hand, sit in the stroller, or leave. After having to leave places/activities a few time, he now chooses to hold my hand or sit in the stroller. That is what works for us.
Funny this topic came up, just yesterday my husband and i agreed that we definitely have to get a harness/leash for our youngest. He is a total runner–just takes off whether holding my hand or not. Obviously we got a sitter (grandparents) for the fair. He would have been a goner for sure. Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of grandparents at our beck and call, and for outings and errands for which there is no sitter–it is definitely going to be the harness…in fact, i am going to google one right now.
I’m still leaning towards not taking my kids to the fair until strollers are long outgrown. I witnessed one mother with a double stroller trying to cross a street. She finally got a crazed look in her eye, barged across the street and nearly took out a few elderly in the process. From the looks of it, she wasn’t having any fun. We also ran into some friends at the fair with kids. They were all crabby after missed naps and greasy food, and the memories of the day were getting tainted by crankiness as the day wore on. I’m definately learning what to do and not to do for my first trip with the kids someday. I’ll stick to baby animals at the zoo for now.
This strand about kid leashes ties in nicely to the blog you guys did last week about kids on the campaign trail. I had a little snicker to myself when I imagined a candidate or spouse sharply yanking the leash of a 3 yo trying to escape the stump speech!
Is it just me or has the fair gotten way too expensive?! We took all 3 kids this year and I left after a couple of hours with the youngest. This was fine because I had gorged myself on a previous trip (and the little one got in free), but I think that’s why families feel like they have to stay so long (past when it’s really fun) — you need to get your money’s worth on the $11 admission!
I’m not for or opposed to the leash idea, but I do have these observations from the Fair this year. First, it’s extremely difficult to maneuver a stroller though the crowds of people if its busy. Second, we found a lost 3 year old RUNNING as fast as he could down a street in the fair and I would guess that it took about half a second for him to get away from him parents in the crowd and about 2 seconds before they noticed and he was long gone. He thought it was fun to run as fast as he could. When we finally caught him, it was obvious that he thought it was a game. A leash on this kid would probably have worked well…I wonder why people are so judgemental about these things. Is a leash in the form of a teddy bear backpack really going to traumatize your 3 year old? More than getting lost? And what’s wrong with bringing your kids with you to the Fair? It’s fun for them! Different strokes for different folks…if it works for you, then use it. If not, don’t.
I’ve always planned to get a harness for my children when I had them. Now that I have a baby who’s starting to enjoy his mobility, that viewpoint hasn’t changed. A little freedom, with some restraints…everyone is happier. I would MUCH rather know where my child is AND have him feel the freedom of being able to explore rather than locking him in the stroller.
People have been using leads on children for hundreds of years for a reason!
