I’ve got a question for those of you have have been through eye of the hurricane, out the other side and made it through alive. I’m looking for advice on kids. Specifically, I’ve got a 2 month old and an “almost” 3 year old.
My wife and I are talking about attending Rockygrass again (just 1 day) but are worried about the kids. My son has attended twice. It wasn’t too bad when he was a newborn - we just left him in the car. KIDDING! But last year when he was two, it was awful. I asked around and was given advice to bring a shade tent, find a spot and let him nap. It didn’t work at all. Too much activity. The entire afternoon was full of crying and very little music. Now, with the addition of our daughter, we have even larger misgivings.
So - that being said - I would LOVE to hear feedback from those of you who have done this. How did you make it work? What ages did your kids stop making the festival miserable? How old do you think they need to be to enjoy themselves for the whole day? It would be nice to camp and have a spot to go when they need a break - but that can’t happen this year.
I suppose my wife and I can get a sitter - but something about leaving my kids at home for Rockygrass just seems wrong…
Lots of shade and space to throw out a blanket and nap by the river behind the vendor tents along the river… I have a great photo of a daddy and son sleepin on a blanket under the trees. My favorite spot, by the river away from the crowd under a big tree…ewwwww SUMMER i can feel it creepin in.
Hey Pen,
I feel your pain! We started taking our boys (now 17 & 19yo) at those ages, and just muddled through it, because I couldn’t bear not going. Now, we always camped on-site, so had more control over the stimulus level (by returning to our pop-up camper when melt-down was imminent).
But basically, one of us spent the entire time on the beach, in the water, in the back running after the kids, etc., while the other one enjoyed watching the fingers fly on stage. We used all the regular safety precautions (sunscreen, hats, lots of fluids, favorite snacks, toys) to stave off toddler-induced exhaustion as well. And, they often crashed on the tarp for the evening sets. I think having the shade tent would be essential since you aren’t camping this year. Eventually, your older one will need to crash. You might end up under the trees way back by the Wildflower though too. I was also known to give pediatric Benadryl to help encourage naptime
I think at those ages, you just have to do what makes them happy, and consider any music you see/experience a bonus…they’re just too young to be deliberately trying to ruin your good time, and they will get more resilient as they age and are exposed to the fabulous Festivarian family.
When our kids got to ~age 8-9yrs old, we let them each bring a friend because it totally ratcheted up their “fun” level, and gave us a break from constantly attending to their needs. They’ve both had a friend (or GF) along since then.
I guess it was well-worth it for us, because we’ve only missed a couple RGs in the last 18years, and our young men consider it part and parcel of the summer now (along with several of their friends who’ve attended with us). It’s my favorite family-week of the year!
Good luck, and stick with it, brother!!
Ann :flower
Pen my theory here for keepin things managable, tire the lil bugger out. Engage him till he drops dad!!! :lol This could be a work out :lol The river is so shallow and fun for the kids. I love to watch them play at the beach area :sunshine It will get easier I promise :flower
Soon they will be drivin you to fest big guy :medal
I’m wondering about some of the same issues. We’ve attended RG for years, and last year was our first year with little Sadie. At the time she was 5 months old and could sleep through anything in my arms.
I’m aware that it’s going to be a lot more work this year with a 1.5 year old and the thing I’m the most concerned about is sleeping at night. We have onsite camping passes and I prefer that for being close to camp during the day. But onsite camping at RG is SO loud some nights…I worry that she (and I) won’t sleep a wink with all the noise. Are there parts of the onsite that are quieter? We usually camp near the entrance to the backstage area, but I’ve never paid any attention to whether it’s a bit quieter back by the river. Thoughts? Advice?
Well, I don’t have any Genius advice, but we are in the same boat. We have been attending both Lyons festivals for the last few years, our boys are 6 and 2. We do set up a shade tent in the family area, but neither of our boys have ever been the type of kid to sleep in the shade tent.
So what has worked best for us (and our friends who also attend with small children) is to take turns. I’ll go in the morning and set up, and then my wife and kids will come for a few hours. We’ll hit all of the kid activities - beach, tubing, craft tent etc. Sometimes we’ll divide up the evenings based on who’s performing.
Sometimes we’ll hire a babysitter for the evening and we’ll both actually get to watch some music together.
Having friends there helps, both for having extra eyes to watch the kids, and to have other adults to hang out with when the other spouse has the kids.
We will definitely have a shade tent up this year, so you and your family are most welcome to come by if you need to get out of the sun or the rain.
I would like to meet you as well as Miki (again) at the festivals this summer.
Brian and Rachal - I haven’t camped on site but I would say avoid the spots along the walking path that lead into the festival (to avoid the late night lineup for line numbers)
My kids ar 6 and 9 and have both been to 2-3 festival’s a year since they were born. Telluride, Rockygrass
and a couple others we would rotate.
#1, 2, 3. EAR PLUGS, ear plugs, ear plugs - espesally for the little one. Cut down full size foam one’s to fit and use medical tape to keep them in. A must… Our Dr. use to tell use “ask yourself when your at the show, if this was twice as load, would I be comfortable? that’s what your baby’s hearing”.
We would put them in and don’t mess with them, the kids began asking for them, and reminding use they needed them. Help’s in the show and back at camp for sleeping, naps camp noise. Keep them in as much as possible. We would put them in and leave them all day and night for sleeping, them in the morning take them out till show time again. Change them daily. Bring saline drops for the kids nosees, the dust can be very bad.
Have a good solid camp to fall back on (on-site). I don’t know any kids that can do all day without falling apart. Come and go through out the day. Pick your shows and plan ahead. Naps before shows to prevent the meltdown helps and use the river as much as possible. The west side of the venue (under the trees) always has shade, the heat can be an issue. Too your left as you enter the venue is the tree’s.
We use to have a pop-up that we would take but it’s become too much trouble in the last several years,
but a van or somewhere to get the kids out of the air/rain/heat and camp noise helps alot.
Naps naps naps, keep them on their schedual or your looking for trouble. We would take turns going into night shows and watching the kids at camp since the kids rarely made it through the later night sets.
If your not on-site camping make a friend or several. If you need a home base let me know we have a very large camp close to the venue with plenty of room for a couple more folks’ if you need the help.
We normally have as many as 6+ kids depending on the year.
Goodluck and enjoy the shows. The kids do get better, and are better for having gone in the first place.
Hmm that’s a tough one. I’d say next year, get a camping pass, that way you’ll have a home base and somewhere for the kiddos to sleep and all the comforts of home (food, toys, etc). When you do that - here’s some advice not previously mentioned - buy a noise machine that runs on batteries. Helps a little. Also - last year we found a monitor that runs on batteries that had a really long range. We put our 1 year old down to sleep in the tent and my husband and I went in and enjoyed the music. We could hear the noise machine in the tent and knew that he was asleep (plus we had some reasonably sober campmates in the general vicinity if he happened to wake up). Earplugs too if you can keep them in. And yes, wear them out in the river so they’ll nap. If you have bikes or wanna take the shuttle, there’s also a really cool playground in Lyons over by the parking lot. But for one day, if the kid’s gonna be miserable and you’re gonna be miserable, I’d hire a sitter.
Okay- Been there, done that… My boys have been to TBF every year. They are now 12 and 14. They year the oldest was 1 1/2 and the little one was a 5 week old newborn was not too bad…LOL We used a sling for little one and backpack for older- this was essential for the evenings… they just fell asleep and we could see the night acts…
The days were harder and I must admit that there were lots of tears ( from the grownups the years that they were 1 and 2 and 2 and 3). We always had a shade tent but we also set up a little one person tent for the kids… In there we stocked lots of toys and the also napped in it. Oh and bubble guns are a must…LOL
We did spend lots of times in the kids tents then and basically we just took turns. One parent spent time with kiddies while we gave the other a chance to listen to music…
Our hardest years were the years that they were both mobile for the 1st times- seems like we were constantly trying to get one or both back to blanket.
You will just have to hang in there. It does get better. But, you will just have to expect a DIFFERENT festival for awhile.
It’s what Grammas and Grampas are for.
This year Gramma and Gramps are coming down to hang out with our daughter and we’re campin and pickin’ all night long.
Yes! and quite looking forward to it too!
Reposting this part of my post above to see if anyone else has any feedback…
We usually camp near the entrance to the backstage area, but I’ve never paid any attention to whether it’s a bit quieter back by the river. Thoughts? Advice?
Backstage is definatly loader throughout the day/show than the forward part of the On-site. Along the river can be hot in the afternoon but the front part of the On-site is loader “overnight” than the back.
It’s a trade off. Bring ear plugs.
I haven’t camped on site but I would say avoid the spots along the walking path that lead into the festival (to avoid the late night lineup for line numbers)
Daniel here from the Deep Fried Pickle Project. I would like to personally invite you and your family to attend our Kids and Family performances and playshops. There will be a new stage this year, with all sorts of activities. We will be involved in music programming throughout the festival. I have not played Rockygrass before, but I know there was a great vibe for kids when we performed at T-Ride in '04.
My son, Cooper, who is 6, doesn’t exactly make friends easily. This year was definitely difficult for him (and us). Next time we are going to try to bring a friend of his along for the week, as having an established buddy to share the day with will make it much, much better.
As an aside, little ones can be pretty hesitant to using porta-pottys, and the ones at Rockygrass are beyond nasty!!! They need to be cleaned at least twice as often. One evening the toilet cleaning crew was over 3 hours late!! It really does affect the experience. If you experienced this too, please help bring attention to this and request they address this - for everyone’s sake.
Well, we survived Rockygrass with a 1.5 year-old and she did really well! Slept in the tent in the backstage onsite camping for 4 nights without making a peep! Makes for a very happy mama. Tricks that worked for us.
we made sure our tent was in the shade so naps could still be on schedule in the tent
earplugs and a battery-powered white noise machine in the tent
Calms Forte 4 Kids, a homeopathic that works well for restlessness
bathtime/showertime before bed every night also helped calm her down.
Overall, a great success. Hope Folks Fest goes just as well.
LOVED the Deep Fried Pickle Project! Thanks guys!
Has Planet Bluegrass ever considered designating a Family Campground like you have in Telluride? It is tough to have kiddos sleeping with all the festivation. I would love to be in a campground with other families where folks are going to bed earlier (or at least being quieter at night) and getting up earlier.
I brought my kiddos for the first time this year (8 yo boy and 5 yo girl) for Friday during the day only. They were pretty bored on the tarp, but thoroughly enjoyed the kids activities, playing in the river, and dancing and hooping. I was able to get them to listen to the tunes, and they were fascinated with watching the bands play live on stage.
I didn’t venture into keeping them on-site overnight, in spite of there being plenty of kids around our campsite. However, we didn’t quiet down as the kids settled in, and my munchkins (albeit older), would not have gone to bed and would have been teary-eyed in the evening and grumpy in the morning.
Personally, I wouldn’t bring kids - but that’s because I am not in a specifically kid-friendly camp.
I did hear a few crying babies, but I am sure that their parents were more upset by their noise than I was - I can tune it out like only a mother can.
