Slingivanders

“You’re a parent, Daddy.”

The look of shock and amazement on Dan’s face as he was handed his first child was something not even a photograph could fully capture. Thankfully, a few months ago he had been taken to a special place that only parents knew existed called Practic Alley. Dan’s parents became his guide and gave him the key and special instructions he needed to enter this place. He wanted them to come with him but this was a trip he had to undertake by himself, especially seeing as his pregnant wife was too pregnant to come too.

As he entered Practic Alley, through a doorway so secret it can’t be revealed here, he was met by shop upon shop filled with every single item a parent could ever need, and probably more. He was told by another parent friend that he must visit one shop, and he had specifically come on this date to go to this shop. It was only open every other Thursday and every other Saturday, so it was a very special shop indeed. (editor – we’re open most days of the week these days!)

He searched for the shop, called “Slingivanders”. It was run by a lovely lady called Rosie and some of her friends came along and helped too. He didn’t see the shop at first, as it was being swarmed by so many parents that the noise was the first give away. Dan found it to be a happy noise though, one that he was drawn to in some way.

He made his way through the crowds into the shop. As he entered he couldn’t quite believe his eyes, for every surface was covered in slings of every colour and design. There were ceiling to floor shelves with boxes and boxes of different slings, which seemed to jump with the excitement of being chosen to carry a special baby.

As he rubbed his eyes, Dan was greeted by Rosie. He knew this because of the large name tag she was wearing. She didn’t need to ask, for she knew by the look on Dan’s face that it was his first time in Practic Alley and his first time as a parent. She walked with him over into a corner of the shop labelled as “stretchies”, picking up a demonstration dol as she went. She explained the process to Dan as she walked and by the time they had arrived at the slings Dan knew that it was not the case, as people thought, that the person chose the sling, but actually the sling that chose the person, and indeed their baby.

To Dan, the sling that he was presented with looked like a giant, stretchy length of cotton. However, after a few minutes of tying and tugging this fabic was now gathered around Dan in such a way that the doll was snugly attached to his chest feeling weirdly real.

Rosie and Dan exchanged a smile as Dan knew that this just felt right. He couldn’t wait to show his wife this when he got home later, and certainly was desperate to wear his real life baby in a few months time.

As Dan carefully unwrapped the sling to return to Rosie she became busy, looking up and down all the boxes and bags of the different sorts of stretchy slings that she had. Her eyes hovered over and then stopped at this one bag. It was a cotton drawstring bag and inside it was a bright green coloured stretchy sling. Dan exclaimed in amazement that that was his favourite colour. As Rosie handed it to him, the sling seemed to glow and sparkle, but Dan rubbed his eyes again and thought he must have imagined that.

Dan knew this was the right sling, and so did Rosie. She explained that he would have to return in a few months to exchange that one for a more sturdy one as these worked best for newborn babies and there was a wide choice of different ones for older babies and children. Dan was handed her card and told that he could return at any time, especially with his wife and newborn child to come and see Rosie, the slings and the other parents.

As Dan went to pay he noticed for the first time how many children of all sorts of different varieties were in the shop with their parents who were sitting around happily chatting over a cup of tea and biscuits. It felt like a happy place and Dan thought to himself how much at home he felt here and how much he would enjoy returning again.”

Lucia and Dan did indeed love their green stretchy wrap and are still happily carrying their big girl, two years later, in their trusty Manduca and in arms!