bringing 2 1/2 yo to wake

babybrielove

My husband's great aunt passed and he is out of the country on business.  We live a couple hours away but I wanted to make it to the wake with my two year old.  My mom can watch her while I go but a coworker told me i should bring her so people can see her and she can lighten the mood there.  I feel it's probably not appropriate when I have babysitting options but wanted to see what others have done.  Thoughts?

Helenahhandbasket

We took DD to a wake last summer (she was ab 18 months old) because we didn't have anyone to watch her.  If I would have had a babysitter-- she wouldn't have come.

Not because I don't think it's proper, but because I could have done without chasing her around a funeral home.

If your LO is well behaved (mine isn't really) I do think it might lighten the mood, and it will give relatives that you don't see often a chance to visit with you both.

pdh2008

We took DD to two funerals in November when she was just over 2.5. The deaths were of my grandmother and uncle, so all of my family (babysitters) were also there. DH wrangled DD so I could spend the time with my family and grieve. Had I been alone with her, it would have been really difficult. If you have family to watch her that have no intentions of attending the funeral, I would plan on that.

Maebb

I took DS to my grandmom's wake in September (he was 10 months), and everyone loved seeing him. I wasn't able to talk with some people as long as I would have liked because I was on baby duty most of the time, but I was glad I took him because I only see some of those people once every several years.