The primary reason why parents buy baby monitors is for safety. They can put their baby to sleep safe in the knowledge that they will easily be able to hear them should they awaken in the night. Even if they are watching television downstairs the presence of the parent unit next to them will alert them to any noises or stirrings from baby’s bedroom.
But the name ‘baby monitor’ tells us nothing about another wonderful aspect of these items. You see, they also come in very useful when you have two children who are perhaps three or four years of age. If they share a bedroom and they have gone to bed for the night – or perhaps they are playing in there while you are putting washing away in another room – you can keep an eye on them by listening to what is going on.
In fact, many parents start to discover the entertainment value of such a unit at this point in their children’s lives. One set of parents we spoke to have a two way unit, enabling them to speak to their child and vice versa. But the best part is that the kids tend to forget that their parents can hear them. And of course this means you can sometimes be privy to some wonderful conversations between young siblings.
Children have a very different view of the world to adults, and listening to their conversations can be very enlightening! You get to ‘see’ how they role play, have talks together and witness their personalities starting to come to the fore. Many people who buy baby monitors don’t realise that these delights are waiting for them further down the line, but when that time arrives it is one to be savoured and enjoyed.
As such, keeping an eye on your kids in this way – if you have more than one – has several benefits. You can make sure they are playing nicely and intervene if they are not. But the nicest aspect is simply listening to their observations on life and how they play together. This is an aspect of ourselves that we tend to lose, so it is nice to have a reminder of it from our children.
It is good too to realise that we will get more use of a baby monitor than we might have expected at first. As such it makes our choice of baby monitor even more important, since we know that it needs to last us several years. Check the guarantee that comes with it as well, and try and get the longest one that you can.
So when your young baby has grown into a toddler and you are wondering whether your days of using a baby monitor are coming to an end, think twice. As we have found out from many different parents, there is a ‘second life’ you can enjoy with your monitor. Make the most of it and be a part of your toddler’s life when they are growing up.