A discussion on Twitter among different gamer parents have sparked this blog, in particular, about gaming with babies or toddlers and how to deal with the distractions. First, we’ll talk about gaming with infants, since toddlers are a whole different story and needs different tips.
Gaming with Infants
Surprisingly, the younger they are, the easier it is to game, at least in my experience. When they are just a couple months old, they sleep, alot.
My husband held our son in a football hold while he slept during many game nights so I could get a break. Or, we had him in his bouncer while we gamed.
If my son did need to be fed or changed, we either just fed him right at the table or had someone take over our turn. Our gaming friends are quite comfortable around other kids and didn’t mind waiting (and still don’t mind waiting) for diaper changes and other game distractions.
If you have a game group that complains about this, you need a new game group. It’s important for parent gamers to have friends that support them as parents and help them out whenever needed (even if that’s sitting patiently while the baby goes down for a nap).
Quick Tips:
- Play Co-op games as one parent can step away from table and game can continue
- For longer games, try to plan around naps and bedtime.
- If you have a baby carrier, wear that and game, so hands free!
- Utilize grandparents, uncles, aunts, if gaming at a big family event to help watch over while gaming
- Be Flexible! As parents, you need to be flexible. If you baby is sick, teething, or just having a bad day, cancel game night, or take turns taking care of baby while playing.
Gaming with Toddlers
This is a whole new ball game. Your kid can walk around, can reach the table now and attack everything! If they are 18 months or younger, it can be hard explaining to them why they can’t have all the meeples.
When my son was this age, we found him a plastic Uno card set we had. He played with them, chewed on them, and felt “part” of it.
This really helped in that phase where he didn’t understand no. He was also taking 3 hour naps at the time, and going to bed at 7 pm (still does), so we played during naps/bedtime.
For 2 and 3 year olds, you can start saying “no, that’s ours, don’t touch” and they should be able to understand. We’ll put on a show for my son and give him a snack while we play. Or, we’ll bring out his Haba Sailor Ahoy game, so that he can play while we play.
Quick Tips:
- Offer a show, toy, snack to keep the toddler occupied while you play
- Wait for naps or bedtime to get heavier games in.
- Get your toddler their own game, I highly suggest the “My Very First Games” series by HABA and Spot it! ABC/123 by Blue Orange Games.
- Have grandparents or other caretakers watch your toddler overnight so you can visit an FLGS and try new games there, or invite friends over to play a longer game.
