🌧️❄️ Baby carriers make life easier when it’s raining or cold! ☔👶😊

The Wet & Cold Season is moving along fast. I love supporting you as you support your clients in their babywearing journey. Let's dive into practical and realistic ways to share how babywearing - and using baby carriers - can make everyday life easier for your clients.

I live in an urban environment - NYC, so some of what I would share with those I serve might look different than what you would share in a suburban environment. This is a crucial point. Any 'tip, advice, information' needs to be context-specific to be both relevant and realistic. After all, what good is it to talk about snow boots to a person who lives where it rains but never-to-rarely snows? 

When you share about navigating everyday life with a baby, you're helping your clients to imagine a near-future event or scenario that might happen to them. It's like they have a guide who points out all the beautiful things to explore on a tour but doesn't tell you what to do or when to do it specifically. This allows your client to decide for themselves the best ways to integrate this new information into their daily life. 

Imagine you see someone who came to your babywearing group classes out at the grocery store. You typically used your carrier to move through the store quickly, and they have the car seat in the grocery cart. You two stop and chat for a moment. During this encounter, they mentioned that with the rain, it was too much to deal with to use the carrier for a quick trip. 

What would you do or say? How will you support them in this moment?

Might you say,

"I hear you! It took me a while to get to a fast and easy use of my baby carrier - especially for quick trips like this. It looks like you have it figured out to me! If you're interested, at the start of next month's group session, we'll be exploring a few baby carriers that are easy and fast for just these kinds of moments - you know, the 10-minute pop-in, lol. It was great to see you!" 

There are so many ways this could go, of course. You could mention a blog or social media post you wrote. Or a class you offer. And if you don't have any of those things - now you have an opportunity in-hand and can see a gap in what you currently provide. 

When you pull back and look at the larger picture of life with a baby, it's easy to see how someone ends up not using a baby carrier. You're the difference for the people you serve. By creating space for them to discover what it might be like to use a carrier in different day-to-day scenarios, you continue to support their journey. This time of year - the Wet & Cold time of year - offers many opportunities for insight and example.

Some scenarios that come to mind are:

• Dog walking - what is different about walking the dog with a baby in tow when it's raining? What about when it's snowing?
• Shopping in a walkable area, a drivable area, or a mall (are there still malls?) offers different considerations for navigating the day. 
• Outdoor events: i.e., apple picking, trick or treating, or the long-time classic favorite, taking the toddler out for puddle jumping. 
• Large-crowd events - like school shows or recitals, church events, parties, and any number of these types of scenarios. 
• Muddy and slippery spots... you get the idea here, I hope.

I'm confident if you brainstorm, you can come up with at least ten more examples where using a baby carrier might make the everyday moment easier. You only need to look around you!

Looking for more ideas and tips on sharing this info with your clients? Check out this post on providing proactive cold weather babywearing education.

Thanks for all the questions and comments; by the way - it's what prompted this post! I love to hear from you.