Last year, we marked International Babywearing Week by visiting the nearby village of Sling with our son in a sling. A year on, we’re still carrying our now 18 month old son in a variety of different sorts of slings and we now live several miles closer to the village of Sling after a recent house move.
I’ve found myself blogging about babywearing several times over the last year, which reflects the fact that slings have come to be a lot more than simply a sort of ‘hands-free kit’ for carrying our son. As I’ve said here before, they have really helped me to bond with my son and helped to me to comfort him and get him to sleep on several occasions.
Here’s a look back at my own babywearing highlights of the last year:
An obvious place to start is our visit to the village of Sling to mark last year’s International Babywearing Week. To add an international dimension, I also discussed babywearing around the world thanks to the input of a great range of parent bloggers who are part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs group.
Looking back a year on, I cannot believe how much our son has grown since the photo on the left was taken. We still carry him in slings from time to time, but this now officially counts as weight training.
One of the places where I’ve often taken our son in a sling is our local supermarket and I wrote about this in a post earlier this year called Shopping with our son in a sling. It may seem like a mundane weekly activity, but it has also become a semi-regular weekend father and son bonding activity which allows my wife to take a break while we head out on a little expedition. I’m not sure if my parents took me shopping in a sling when I was a baby – the photo on the left seems to suggest that they tried to dress me in handknitted clothes that went with the shopping trolley.
Over the last year, I’ve also enjoyed sharing experiences of babywearing with fellow members of Sling Dads UK, a group that promotes babywearing among fathers.They also organized a Sling Dads Family Camp this summer, which led to me writing a post about Camping with a toddler. This post is the most popular one that I’ve written on this blog so far.
Over the last year, babywearing has really developed from being a way of getting out and about with our baby son to one which has provided a great form of bonding with him as he grows older and more aware of the world around him. Slings are a crucial tool when it comes to getting him to sleep in the evening when my wife is out. Finally figuring out how to get our sleeping son out of a sling and into his bed without waking him was one of my proud parenting moments. Most people probably manage to this before their child is over a year old, but I certainly wasn’t one of them.
I have at times wondered where my love of babywearing has come from. In some ways, it’s definitely due to my wife being very keen on slings. However, a photo that I discovered at my parents’ house when preparing a blog post entitled Like father like son suggests that the true answer may be that it’s genetic. As the photo below shows, my dad also carried me in a baby carrier back in the late 70s and early 80s. As I’m fast asleep in the picture, it looks like I quite enjoyed it!
What do you think of babywearing and is it popular where you live? Have you ever carried your children in a sling and did your parents use baby carriers when you were young? Please feel free to share your views in the comments section below or on the ‘Dad’s The Way I Like It’ pages on Facebook or Google+.
Remember that you can also subscribe to this blog by entering your e-mail address in the box on the right of the screen and also follow this blog via BlogLovin. There’s also now a Pinterest board for this blog as well, so please feel free to pin this post if you’ve enjoyed reading it.
I’ve added this post to the following parent blogger link-ups:
Dad's the way I like it 
Oct 09, 2014 @ 20:20:10
My husband (and I) carried both of our sons in a variety of slings and baby carriers when they were babies and they loved it. I didn’t know there was an official Baby Wearing Week, though. Thanks for this post, I love the old photo of your dad and you.
Oct 10, 2014 @ 03:37:34
Babywearing is somewhat popular around here in Texas, but hardly for dads. I am usually the only guy wearing a baby when I go to the store or any venue with my daughter. I don’t mind one bit and just like you, really appreciate the bonding it provides. Since us guys miss out on the whole “in-womb” bonding experience, babywearing is the perfect way to connect with our kids.
Enjoyed the post, Jonathan, happy babywearing!
Oct 10, 2014 @ 23:21:38
We did not use sling for my son but I have to confess that my husband is the one who always carries him and this went on till now that my son is 4. The varrying method evolve too. From carrying him using his hands to carrying him by his shoulders. For my son being on his father’s shoulder is the most natural thing. He just know how to balance himself and I am happy to say that they are as close as close can be =) #pocolo
Oct 12, 2014 @ 21:28:04
I didn’t realise that babywearing week existed! It actually became popular after I had Grace so I never got to experience it. Hopefully one day I will. Thank you for linking to PoCoLo 🙂
Oct 17, 2014 @ 21:55:09
What a great post! We did not get into babywearing with my daughter, but most of the parents I know did or do. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
Oct 19, 2014 @ 18:43:09
Lovely post, I wrote about my journey into babywearing too for international babywearing week. I love that your dad also carried you as a child!
I carry my almost two yr old, when he lets me – he much prefers walking but carry my daughter all the time. I get some odd comments from people sometimes, but on the whole people are pretty positiv and complementary about it.