How did your bird' handle the first child?
 

As a bird' owner and soon to be father, I often catch myself wondering what my bird might think about this new love soon to be in my life. Will she notice the lack of attention? Will she notice the lack of 87 octane? Will she notice the flat spotting on her trailers tires? Will she understand?

Actually this is just a round about way to ask......what can I expect having a newborn and a boat? I know most of you guys have families what pointers can you give me as far as newborns and boats.

We already have the infant life jacket. Roll Back isle in wallyworld.

LC

Congratulations!!! :evilb::evilb: as far as what to expect, I imagine your first year will be a little less boating, some family days and a few testosterone days with da boy's, bye year two if you will be back into the swing of things, As far as recommendations if the boat does not currently have one go get a bimini made, believe me they have their place :lolhit:

Did you just say "go get a bimini made"? Didn't someone get banned for than?

Thx

LC

:lolhit::lolhit::lolhit::lolhit:ban me if you want, the 303 came with one, and we really don't know how we ever went W/O one... gonna enclose it next year for the long weekends, even if I never use it it will be nice to have just in case, besides makes mine look longer:lolhit::lolhit::lolhit::lolhit::lolhit:

http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/r...7-28164652.jpg

my one yr old loves it, falls asleep while doing 60mph and no silent thunder...

Ditto it does put them to sleep,

How old does a new child need to be to go boating-no poker runs just fun rides at the lake. 5 months?, once baby can hold her head up?, 1 yr?. I was born in may and my parents had me on dads 233 on the forth of july-but back then people didnt get so upset about things.

LC

Who cares if someone gets upset. Just be smart. At 4-5 months don't go beat it up in rough stuff. Been on boats as long as I can remember. Just use common sense.

Some of my fondest memories as a kid were when my Dad would wrestle me down, put a life jacket on me and take me out in the boat. We only had a 25 Horse Johnson tiller on a 14' Vee Hull Aluminum but I was with my Dad in the boat and I loved it.

You have a lot to look forward to...

Congrats! But I see no reason why anything has to change. You might not be able to stay out all day, but no reason you can't be out there every weekend. Will only change if you let it.

I was born June of 84, and my parents had me out on the families 19ft center console aquasport when I was only weeks old. My sister was July of 94 and was out with us on our 20ft Four Winns when she was only a few days old.

Create's that bond with boating and the water at an early age. Credit it to my love of boating that I have now. No better sleep aid then boating. The sound of the engines and water along with the steady rocking is better then a sleeping pill.

I have a photo of myself when I was 1yo in a car seat in the cabin of my fathers old 233 on the way to Martha's Vineyard. 26 years later still running with a formula except I don't have the car seat any more

Kaama,

We have pics of me and my sister in one of those mess sided cages for kids in the cock pit of my dads 233.

I have thought of the car seat idea but only modification would be to have it attached to the boat some how for the occasional slug boat that just plows around.

Thanks for the info guys, we dont want much to change-we love our boating lifestyle but just dont want to do too much with a new born next season.

LC

My daughter was 2 weeks old when we strapped her in the car seat and wedged it in the cabin. Obviously we stuck to flat water and kept speed down but we started both our kids early. They absolutely loved it.

Have you found the 292 to be the right size or too small for kids in the cabin?

When we started with my daughter, we have a Chris Craft Scorpion 210. Small buddy, but we could wedge the car seat in there just fine. With my son, we had a '93 271 SR-1 but did the same thing with the car seat on the floor of the cabin. Should be able to find a way to do it with a 292 as well.

Definitely, the earlier, the better. Get a bean bag chair and put that on the cuddy floor right by the cuddy door. It's stable, absorbs bumps, the baby can still wear the life jacket and not be "wedged" into a car seat. Spend the extra $$ and get the Mustang PFDs -- they're worth it. My son was born in March and we had him out in June.

We have sooooo many pictures of the kids (a little older, like 4 or 5) crashed out asleep on the back bench after a long day of swimming and jumping off the swim platform. There's nothing like the sound of the engines to put the kids to sleep after playing all day.

Enjoy!!

Congrats on the baby.
We were boating with the baby as soon as we could get in the boat; dry docked for a while. Used the car seat and infant PFD's and the baby slept a lot at 2 months old. We kept the ride smooth but kept on going.
I like the bean bag idea, but we haven't tried that.

I have pics of my oldest tubing with me at 5 months. She played with the water splashing until she fell asleep in my lap while tubing.

My girls love the water. I think the oldest was 5 yrs old when she was diving off the dock in 6' water and digging up mussels. <--spelling?

The world is never short of critics; so what!

Babies and boats are good and have a great season with the little one; great memories.