Supporting the Big Kids with Caron Irwin

Our little show here has been around for one whole trip around the sun, which means that some of your babies aren’t just little babies anymore!

Some of you might be expecting baby #2 or #3 and some of you are new here, either getting ready to have your baby or they’re already here but still nice and fresh ;) 

No matter your situation, this episode is one for the books. 

Because we’re actually getting into some really helpful strategies for supporting the bigger kids - the older siblings or other toddlers/preschoolers that your little ones will be eventually.

And to help us navigate this journey, I’ve enlisted the help of Caron Irwin, owner of Roo Family in Toronto, Canada. 

Caron and I had a chat the other day about how to help your toddler or preschooler navigate big changes, like when a new baby brother or sister is expected.

We also had a chat about how to help them transition from one activity to the next - especially when the next activity isn’t necessarily something they want to do, but have to do! You know what I mean? 

Lastly, we got into a really common situation or phase that almost all kids tend to go through at some point that I bet you’ve all gone through or are about to at some point… when your child seems to “prefer” one parent over the other… This is some very developmentally appropriate behaviour in most cases but it can be frustrating or tough to navigate. Luckily Caron’s going to walk us through it… 

Questions I had for Caron:

• What can parents do to prevent or work through a sibling's potentially big feeling when Baby comes along?
• How can parents navigate when the sibling/child prefers one parent over the other? For instance, if one parent is primarily taking care of Baby/newborn so the other parent is up for putting the older sibling to bed, but the older sibling is not down for this. 
• One of my favourite posts of yours - you talked about the 3 C's for helping your child transition from one thing to the next. This is a big one because how many times are parents going to be trying to get baby ready and out of the house, but now we’re working with a toddler’s struggle with going from one thing to the next. Can you share these with us and how we can make them work in our homes?

Caron Irwin with Roo Family
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Ashley Cooley with Birth Baby Sleep
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