Let’s say you have two school-aged children, and you’re expecting your third baby in several weeks. You aren’t having any luck coming up with a name for the baby. Should you ask your older children for their input?
On the one hand, their suggestions might help steer you in the right direction, or get you excited again about the naming process, or even be good enough to take as-is and use as the baby’s name.
On the other hand, if you don’t take their suggestions, they might get upset. If you take a suggestion from one but not the other, the left-out child will probably feel slighted. If your children somehow convince you — with the sweetness of their voices, perhaps — that a bad name sounds lovely, you might agree to use it without thinking things through.
Is asking older children for baby name advice a good idea, or is it a can of worms not worth opening?
6 Comments
I totally think kids should be involved. If they are old enough, you have all family members contribute names to a list and then vote a few times to narrow it down to a few names. I’m a big fan of taking two or three names to the birth and then waiting to see which one fits the best. Plus, kids can have more than one name. If you are truly concerned about them feeling left out, try to use one name from each child.
If we had taken Sophia’s suggestions, Maeve would have been named “Hot Dog Baby.” But some of my friends have had better luck.
Hot Dog Baby! I love that. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t consider it. :)
My cousin let her son name their youngest. Course baby #3 is now has the same name as a historical president Alexander (last name too). But it isn’t as cool as Hot Dog Baby ;)
I know of a couple who went with the name their three year old daughter had chosen. Throughout the pregnancy she kept saying “Jordan”. When asked who’s in her mother’s tummy she’d say “Jordan”. Is it a boy or a girl: “Jordan”. So it was only logical that it’s now her little brother’s name.
I think it’s a great idea to involve older children! I was 5 years old when my younger sister was born. My parents called from the hospital stumped on a name and asked me, I said “Samantha” which wasn’t even on their long list… 22 years later I still love the fact I got to name my little sister! Now I’m pregnant with my 2nd child and my 5 year old daughter has decided on “Natalee” :)