Lifesavers Conference & kids

Hi everyone,
I need advice from those who have attended the Lifesavers conference. I am attending this year and I have my 2 kids to plan for.... hoping to bring both and a sitter on Sunday, but need to know if anyone else has brought kids, how did you manage with them, was it accepted, etc.... my oldest is very good, has gone to meetings with me before; the younger will be more work.... any ideas on if it is OK to bring them, how others have managed, etc would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

Hey there! It's Jenny. Looking forward to seeing you again at Lifesavers. I know Tiffany (papooses) brought her daughter to the last Lifesavers and she did very well, hopefully she'll chime in.

I took my DS at 6m but not to the sessions, he did once go in the exhibit hall in a sling and it was fine, otherwise he stayed w/ my sister in the hotel room. The sessions are 1 1/2 -2 hrs and IMHO it's not appropriate to have the kids with you, they are somewhat professional.

That being said Tiffany's DD was FABULOUS and extremely well behaved, although had to be bored out of her mind , but I don't think she is the average child either

I brought Leah at 10 weeks (wasn't too bad, but I did spend more time than I wanted to missing classes when she'd squeak)...and at 14 months (and Jodi's sister kept her most of the day ). I noticed some older kids running around the conference hall and people seemed to be annoyed by them...plus the seating can be tight in popular classes... I wouldn't bring any of my kids now, personally

I think bringing bf babies is OK if you're willing to keep them quiet . Tiffany's dd *was* awesome, but I know Tiffany was very stressed out by trying to come up with things to do to keep her busy and keep her quiet.

Personally, I view the conference as a professional meeting and don't want kids (with the exception of bf babies--IMO, bottlefed babies or bf toddlers can be babysat somewhere else) in the sessions. There were a lot of families last year because it was Chicago and a lot of people brought their families with them for a few extra days of play in the city. The conference was also in the hotel itself and not in a convention hall, like it has been in the past few years. Besides, if you're concerned about what your kids are doing next to you, how much are you going to learn? The speakers move fast in these sessions. Let's not forget the calculus lesson we had a couple of years ago .

Anyway, if you can't arrange a babysitter in your hotel room, I'd consider not bringing the kids. CPS is only a part of the conference, not the entire conference. I strongly feel we need to maintain a professional image there :twocents:.

Last year my son was about 6 months old, exclusively breast-feeding, and I was attending the 2 day special needs course before the conference. That being said, I could not leave him at home with dh or other family members for that long, living in Alaska it took almost 2 days to get there and back, so that would have made for well over a week I would have been without my baby. I paid for my sister-in-law to fly with me from Seattle to Chicago and take care of my son while I was at the special needs course and the conference sessions. Since my hotel costs were covered with the grant funding we had to send me, all I had to pay for her was her flight (much cheaper for her to fly from Seattle than for my dh and older son to fly with me from Alaska). She and ds went all over Chicago every day while I was busy and they had a great time. She had to fly back to Seattle a day before I did, so I only had to worry about keeping my son with me that last day, but that wasn't too bad because there weren't any sessions that I absolutely wanted to go to without any distractions. He loved to be worn in a sling or wrap of some kind, so most of the time he was just snuggled up against me with no problems at all. At lunch that afternoon I sat with all the other techs from Alaska and everyone wanted to pass him around, so I didn't have to hold him by myself the whole time.

This year, I'm leaving everyone at home and going all by myself to the conference! I am very much looking forward to it. We were supposed to all come down as dh has family in Portland and we were going to go out to the Oregon coast after Lifesavers, but dh wasn't able to get the time off from work and plane ticket costs have gone through the roof from here, so our plans had to change. I would not bring my kids with me to the conference sessions the ages they are now. They would be totally bored and I would not be able to learn as much as I have without them there. It's like taking a kid with you to college classes or to the CPST course, it's not fair to the kid or everyone else that is paying to be there.

There are people there at the conference who aren't just CPST, there are police officers, public safety personnel, highway/traffic engineers, etc. The majority of people there are being sent by their employers and look forward to the chance to network and catch up with people they only get to see at this conference each year. I know many of them don't appreciate having a bunch of kids running around being a distraction.

If you absolutely must take your kids with you, be prepared to sit in the very back of the session or miss out on sessions to attend to their needs. Otherwise, arrange a sitter to spend the days with them or leave them at home. It's just inconsiderate for those attendees who have made other arrangements for their children.

Sorry if this is rambling quite a bit, I'm on very little sleep right now as I've had sick kids this week.

My Esther! Finally!!! Meet your kids, in my siggy! lol

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the advice!! I am working on getting childcare all arranged for the 2 of them... Jenny, look forward to seeing you too!! Does not sound like bringing them would be a good idea; I really appreciate the feedback from everyone!!!

Yes, I think the 9yo would probably be okay, but the 3yo would be a challenge.

Are you as excited as I am?!?

I think we need Tyler there for one day, just to check him out in the seats. Bekah could stay home with Rachel.

murphydog77 said:

I think bringing bf babies is OK if you're willing to keep them quiet . Tiffany's dd *was* awesome, but I know Tiffany was very stressed out by trying to come up with things to do to keep her busy and keep her quiet.

Personally, I view the conference as a professional meeting and don't want kids (with the exception of bf babies--IMO, bottlefed babies or bf toddlers can be babysat somewhere else) in the sessions. There were a lot of families last year because it was Chicago and a lot of people brought their families with them for a few extra days of play in the city. The conference was also in the hotel itself and not in a convention hall, like it has been in the past few years. Besides, if you're concerned about what your kids are doing next to you, how much are you going to learn? The speakers move fast in these sessions. Let's not forget the calculus lesson we had a couple of years ago .

Anyway, if you can't arrange a babysitter in your hotel room, I'd consider not bringing the kids. CPS is only a part of the conference, not the entire conference. I strongly feel we need to maintain a professional image there :twocents:.

Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

Plus, some of the sessions can be standing room only, though this isn't usually the case. I would also consider bringing a child to a session as an absolute last resort. I know my kids would be constant interruptions for those around us if not the whole room lol. Granted, some adults do the same :-(

On the other hand, bringing a child through the exhibition hall or to one of the receptions shouldn't be a problem unless they are very strict on badges for entrance.

As a reminder, the Car-Seat.Org and Internet Advocate Reception at Lifesavers will be on Sunday night after the conference reception in room C120-122 at 6:30 PM. It may be followed by pizza and refreshments at another location.

I've got a schedule all written up for my entire trip, including shopping with my cousin on Saturday, and the C-S.org reception Sunday night. I'm so excited!

murphydog77 said:

Tiffany's dd *was* awesome, but I know Tiffany was very stressed out by trying to come up with things to do to keep her busy and keep her quiet.

Click to expand...

:happy-wavehello: Yep, I brought my DD who was barely 5 at the time.... She grew up coming to work with me at our family's Orthotic + Prosthetic warehouse as well as to other such O&P conferences that were similar enough to Lifesavers that I wasn't *too* worried.

My stress was actually related to the fact that my monthly cycle came earlier than anticipated (& this was when I was still hemorraghing) which seemed to have triggered a minor flare-up of my Crohns So, all in all, without my own medical issues, it would have gone off without a hitch. But, there were a few times when I was running low on creativity/stamina, whatever you wanna call what it takes a parent to keep up with their kid but we managed to make it work (thank goodness for Becky & Jen with whom we shared a room: they helped us a lot outside of the lecture halls )

My DD actually didn't pay much attention to the activities I brought for her, other than the new Gameboy Advance (with age appropriate games) & the free stuff collected at the show Her favorite things were modeling carseats & playing with the talking robots, LOL

My original plan had been for her to stay with my parents, but that fell through after I'd aldready earned the scholarship access & had already bought my train ticket (it was easier to add another for her than it was to cancel). I'd also had another local family lined up to provide childcare, but that fell through at the very last moment, too. I did consider in-hotel child-care service, but since that caused some anxiety for kiddo, I let her test the waters by joining me with the obvious alternative being trapped in the room with some stranger under hire of some service through the hotel

Basically, what I'm getting at is that it was a very worthwhile experience for both of us because I some more self confidence as a [single] mom & kiddo was also VERY interested in the crash test videos shown, etc. + she continues to look back on the experience as a means of proving to herself that she has what it takes to tackle other situations in which she is required to have quiet patience (like when she has to come to my college classes on occasion!)

Esther, I have a game boy and game boy advance! You think he would care? I never know with that kids!!

Thanks everyone!! I got childcare covered; will bring DS Sunday to check out seats (he's a budding car seat junkie himself ... the other days I will just be there.... Judi, I don't think he could handle the Gameboy... if it gets to standing room only he will sit on the floor nearby. He has been in meetings and conferences with me before, so he should be fine.

Well, forgot to tell you at the house. The game boy, you can draw on in it, like he loves doing on my palm pilot.