Do babies and culture mix? Yes, says art consultant Sarah Mayhew Craddock with a big sigh of relief

At 5.50am on Monday, April 21, I became a mum for the first time. I knew that life was about to change, but I hadn’t anticipated quite how much.

After nine months abstaining from several of the things that I take great pleasure indulging in (decent wine, stinky cheese, and seriously strong coffee) I thought that things would, with a bit of planning and sharing of responsibilities, get back to a semblance of normal pretty quickly.

As yet, they haven’t.

Life has changed beyond recognition, some doors have closed (or become very stiff to open) but other doors have appeared out of nowhere, and I’m thoroughly enjoying what’s through them and helping me to remain ‘me’.

In the nine months of pregnancy I was dreading the thought of whiling away my maternity leave eating cake, drinking tea, and making inane baby chat with other mothers that I had very little in common with.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m partial to a slice of cake (though not on a daily basis), but I’ve got plenty of friends, and hoped those non-baby mates wouldn’t abandon me as soon as Sproglette appeared on the scene.

Like most first time parents-to-be, the other half and I signed up to antenatal classes. To say we were nervous about finding ourselves on a course that would force us into false friendship based upon due-dates and birth-plans is an understatement.

As luck would have it, we had copulated at the same time as some really nice people.

Oxford Mail:
Early years music and movement with Nick Cope at Fusion Arts, East Oxford

Really nice people who like to dance, sing, go to the cinema, museums and galleries – the cold sweats subsided and the sighs of reliefs were audible.

In short, and to my relief, it turns out that babies and cultural fun times aren’t mutually exclusive.

Galleries and museums are pretty easy to take on ‘avec bébé’.

The big ones, like Modern Art Oxford and the Ashmolean, are buggy friendly and tend to have all of the facilities that I’ve suddenly come to look for and appreciate (baby changing, big loos, a lift, and a spacious café), so they make for great places to experience either à deux or with our new gallery-going baby friends!

I’ve never been the choir type, but I love to sing, and it would seem that my daughter enjoys my singing too (she’s in the minority).

So we trot along to Pegasus Theatre on Magdalen Road on Friday mornings and join the other Rattle and Hum parents learning and singing songs from around the globe. It’s a fabulous class, no singing experience is necessary; I leave elated with a spring in my step and a song on the breeze, Sproglette leaves contentedly fast asleep.

I was also really pleased to find that The Phoenix Picturehouse in Jericho and The Ultimate Picture Palace off the Cowley Road run alternating, fortnightly baby-friendly cinema screenings – the films aren’t necessarily baby-friendly, but the environment is!

Then there’s dancing. Previously Zumba elicited images in my mind of a gaggle of overweight ‘girls’ thrashing around in a swirl of perspiration in a church hall.

Zumba Bump at Oxford Brookes Centre for Sport isn’t too far removed from that, only the girls tend to be overweight due to the baby that they’re carrying either internally or externally (the class has been devised for pregnant women, but mums with babies are also welcome).

Oxford Mail:
Zumba bump classes for pregnant women and new mums

Again, this class leaves me in high spirits, having learnt a few new dance moves (heaven knows when I might get the opportunity to use them outside a dance class), worked off a bit of cake, and once again, the Sproglette leaves contentedly fast asleep.

I imagine the list goes on, but those are the “cultural” activities that are keeping me mentally and physically fit at the moment and, importantly, seem to send the Sproglette to sleep. Miracles never cease!

Looking to the future, it’s recently dawned on me that soon I’ll be able to participate in all of the family-friendly activities organised by cultural organisations that I’ve always looked on with childless envy.

October 25 and 26, for example, sees families invited to participate in free art workshops inspired by alchemy (Alchemical Tree is a new piece of public art that will be installed in front of the Radcliffe Observatory in 2015) in the Mathematical Institute in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.

While on October 30 families are invited to learn how to spin scary stories in workshops with Dave Shelton, author of A Boy, A Bear and A Boat and the curiously creepy Thirteen Chairs at The Story Museum. It would seem that the fun never, ever ends; and to my relief the offer of arts activities that can be enjoyed on many different levels by all members of the family in Oxford is immense, and it’s not dumbed down for children but, like the brilliant Nick Cope’s cheeky, child (and adult) friendly song repertoire, and like all good art since time immemorial, it works on several different levels.

So, here’s to embracing motherhood, going easy on the cake, and introducing the Sproglette to some of the stuff that us culturally-inclined parents are passionate about – ready, steady, arts o’clock!

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