Hellobee Boards Topic: When to expose LO to other children?

Hellobee Boards Topic: When to expose LO to other children? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:53:23 +0000 honeybear on "When to expose LO to other children?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-to-expose-lo-to-other-children#post-648913 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:16:59 +0000 honeybear 648913@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We waited a bit longer. LO started preschool just before turning 2, and that was really the first exposure to other children he had beyond the casual contact at the playground or when we were out and about. LO was interested in seeing other children around 1 year or so, but only just recently (at 2.5yo) started playing/interacting with them, and he has never been a shy kid! (Kind of a ham, actually...) ;) Do you listen to the local news/talk radio? That might help to lay the foundation for the rhythms/sounds of the language. And as to the getting sick part of school: It's totally true, unfortunately. loveisstrange on "When to expose LO to other children?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-to-expose-lo-to-other-children#post-648889 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 03:55:45 +0000 loveisstrange 648889@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Do you have indoor play gyms there? I know they're big here since the weather is so wretched. Or maybe a baby music or sign language class? C and I are starting a sign language class the first week of April. We've been doing baby play dates since C was a newborn. She was exposed very young. She has a lot of baby friend who are all about around a month in age of her and they are just barely starting to actually play together, rather than playing in the general vicinity of each other (they are 10-11 months old). SugarplumsMom on "When to expose LO to other children?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-to-expose-lo-to-other-children#post-648884 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 03:48:41 +0000 SugarplumsMom 648884@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @VanillaBean: Thank you for sharing your insight! @Weagle: @Maysprout: I'll try my luck with the local library, although I'm not sure they have anything special events for children (it's so small) although I know the larger one, a little further away definitely has a story time. The weather's getting better and it could be a really fun adventure for her :) Maysprout on "When to expose LO to other children?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-to-expose-lo-to-other-children#post-646887 Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:05:02 +0000 Maysprout 646887@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I took her to the library a lot around 8 months and she loovved other kids at that age. She'd crawl over to the train table and pull herself up with the big kids and be so proud of herself. Weagle on "When to expose LO to other children?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-to-expose-lo-to-other-children#post-646335 Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:03:22 +0000 Weagle 646335@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My expertise only goes as far as my experience, but LO is 10 months old and loves to be around other children. She has been in the church nursery since she was 12 weeks old, and we have regular play dates. She doesn't really play with other kids at this age, but she does like to observe them and just be around them. Especially older kids. I do think she's gotten sick a few times from the nursery, but she's going to get sick sometime. It's just part of life and being a kid. VanillaBean on "When to expose LO to other children?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-to-expose-lo-to-other-children#post-646328 Sat, 16 Mar 2013 07:50:52 +0000 VanillaBean 646328@https://boards.hellobee.com/ At 8.5 months, your dd is more likely interested in the things around her, you probably noticed that she is curious about her surrounding and is exploring things when you leave her on the ground. She might noticed other children but there's not sense of "i want to play with another child" yet at this age. Social interaction between children vary from one child to another. Some children will begin as early as one years and for others, it isn't until they have language to articulate to carry on a meaningful play interaction. Since your dd is at an age where she has strong separation anxiety, you might want to wait on it. I have observed on many occasion, young babies starting daycare at her age and you will witness her carrying a bit (anywhere from a day to a week or so) when it is time for the parents to leave; however, with distractions (toys, music, etc...) each child was able to adapt in time to being in daycare and eventually formed an attachment with a specific caregiver. Now with regards to illness, you child will get sick once she is exposed to other children. It happens and it will build her immune system to prevent future occurrences from taking place. The choice is either now while she is young or you can wait until she is older to start daycare. As for exposing your dd to language, I would suggest having her be around other adults who speak the home language if you are going to make the choice of keeping her out of daycare. Perhaps, get together with more friends, family members and being around an environment where she will hear more of it will help (library). Being around others will reinforce what she is hearing even though she may to have the ability to articulate yet. So it is more important that she hears it more often, it doesn't necessarily have to be from various people, if that makes sense. Good luck with your decision! SugarplumsMom on "When to expose LO to other children?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-to-expose-lo-to-other-children#post-646230 Sat, 16 Mar 2013 02:37:04 +0000 SugarplumsMom 646230@https://boards.hellobee.com/ DD is 8.5 months now and I'm starting to think about daycare as a means for her to get some interaction with other children. We live abroad and daycares here won't even accept a child under 1 years old, but that's just in a few months! Finding play dates is close to impossible and I don't know of anyone with children, so daycare would be her only opportunity to be around other kids. It should also help with her language skills as well. We're bilingual, but hearing more people speak to her in the local language (not just my husband) should accelerate her learning. Those are the pluses, but there's a few things that concern me as well. For instance, DD was extremely sensitive skin, she breaks out in hives fairly easily. We still haven't figured out all of the things she's sensitive to. There's also the usual things like an increased risk for illness and most importantly, will she be ready? She is extraordinarily clingy right now and her separation anxiety is really extreme (only from me, not DH). To help me weigh out the pros and cons, I'm most curious about when is it truly beneficial to expose children to other children? I'd love to hear all your thoughts and suggestions! Oh, and the daycare's up the street, if that affects it in anyway. It was one of the pluses when we chose our house.