Babies/toddlers out at midnight?!

cnc

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 11:27 am

pause wrote:

So am I - when I am in Manhattan and see families with young children late at night.

Rolling Eyes

Yes, I was on the Coney Island boardwalk one night last week at around 10-11 PM and was quite surprised at the number of toddlers, infants and young children there or in the actual amusement parks.
I find it surprising that the OP thinks this is a specifically heimish issue.

amother

Bisque

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 12:11 pm

cnc wrote:

OP- I definitely have seen this happen in other cultures (as well as in the heimish community)

amother

Bisque

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 12:23 pm

OP here- I did not start this thread to be nosy or judgy. I understand that there are differences in parenting across cultures and that is fine. I don’t mind seeing children out at late hours if they appear rested and enjoying. I feel sad for cranky or very tired looking children out late, especially those who seem to be there as an afterthought.

amother

Tan

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 12:30 pm

amother wrote:

OP, don't forget that you specifically mentioned a 9 month old baby. Babies get tired easily. And when in a stroller, they can go to sleep easily. Of course, in a light, noisy environment, it's not ideal, but at times -- it works.

amother

Taupe

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 1:05 pm

Its the vacation mentality. Its not a cultural thing. When on vacation the kids stay up really late and the day doesn’t end until the late evening. I used to be shocked when I saw little kids up late on vacation. At the time I was still trying to put my kids to bed on time even while on vacation. My kids were hyped up and excited and bedtime would take hours until they fell asleep. And then we as parents would be stuck in a dark hotel room for the rest of the evening. It was pretty miserable. Now I learned a lesson from those little kids up late and I let my kids stay up late. We all have fun in the evening and the kids fall asleep quickly when we get back.

Go to any amusement park at 9-10pm and you’ll see tons of little kids.

Go to any hotel swimming pool and you’ll likely find a family with Kids swimming at the end of a long day.

Perfectly normal and a wonderful way to spend a vacation.

amother

Amethyst

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 2:21 pm

amother wrote:

I don't know the op's motivation, but I admit I'm often curious myself. I've been in Williamsburg and Bnei Brak late at night, and families with young children, not dressed as if they are going to or from a simcha, are out and about very late at night. I'm always curious how that works. No disapproval of different parenting methods, just genuinely wondering how little kids can be up at midnight and what that does to the next day's schedule.

Please understand that Williamsburg has 28,000 families in a radius of how many streets?

Bnei Brak has 182,000 people. How many babies were on the street at night out of let us say

a several thousand babies under three?

Also, please understand that at this point, the majority of hasidic families are home in the summer. Check out Boro Park and Willy. Check out the chadorim. They each have summer cheder/ day camp with more than 50% of student body home. The student body who is upstate are people who can afford the vacation, or must have country no matter the cost AND
a sizeable amount of children whose parents WORK upstate.

amother

Natural

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 3:42 pm

amother wrote:

If it makes you feel any better, I once wondered aloud why everyone in Teaneck drove the same minivan. (The answer I got was low price, cheap gas, and not too many people into cars.)

The Honda Odyssey is popular in many communities, not just Teaneck. Even people with smaller families might need a bigger vehicle for carpool.

sl18

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 7:02 pm

I just wanted to add my two cents..

When I first moved to Israel, I was shocked at what OP
Is describing.. however my perspective has changed..not sure about other communities,
But in Israel a big reason for little kids being out at night is because of the intense heat during the day...many parents have their kids nap during the hot hours, and when it cools down at night, you can see many parents out with their kids. This makes a huge difference when you can eliminate dehydration, sunburns, burning hot slides/playground d equipment.. There is also the general value of families spending more time together instead of parents leaving kids with strangers to look after them (or a monitor like someone else said)..not saying there is a problem with leaving kids with a responsible babysitter every so often, but here there is a very strong value in spending time with ones own kids...for example, I once took a chartered bus on a weekday to maaras hamachpela. There was a large chareading family on the bus. Some people asked the mother Don't they have school today? She answered Yes, but the point of school is to learn, and they will be learning a lot today..

petiteruchy

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 7:52 pm

It's actually only a small subset of European cultures that value children going to bed early and following strict routines, and that has been adopted by some westernized communities. Probably 95% of the world's population doesn't value kids being in bed by 6pm as much as they value family time, socializing, and avoiding the heat of the day. Just about any place where it's uncomfortably hot at noon will have this same routine of sleeping in the afternoon and going out in the evening, including most of Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. Even in the Mediterranean, there is a built in rest period (two or three hours off midday) and then late hours.

Basically, you can blame our Western obsession with early bedtime on Victorian and Protestant ideals.

amother

Babypink

Sun, Jul 01 2018, 8:46 pm

petiteruchy wrote:

This is so true! I love traveling, and in many places I've been to, I noticed that kids nap during the day and go to bed later. I don't understand why people in America think kids need to be in bed so early. These rigid schedules are a rather sad way to grow up. We wonder why the family breaks down- maybe because there is hardly any time spent together? If kids attend American yeshivah day schools, just about all they have time to do when they get home is homework, eat, take a bath, brush teeth and go to bed. It's so much better when kids aren't going to school 7 or 8 hours a day, nap, have time to go out and socialize with their parents and just enjoy their lives! That's one thing I love about Eretz Yisroel.