Monday, November 5, 2007

Shopping With an Antsy Toddler

Here are some good tips from Baby Center to help keep your high energy toddler from driving you crazy while shopping. They're common sense ideas, but sometimes the obvious logic gets lost in the midst of running errands.

For example, go with someone to help you watch him. This is especially valuable if he's insisting on getting out of the cart or stroller. Currently, my tactic is to grab what I need (e.g., at Target), then browse. If he gets really unruly, we can just leave. If we're on a walk and we go into a store to browse, his threshold is much lower. As a result, I don't do much shopping or browsing, which is fine because I'm not a big shopper. It's for the best, isn't it.

Another good tip they suggested was to take your toddler to the playground before shopping. This will get more of that high-octane energy out, so he'll be more likely to sit in his stroller for a while. This might not fit into a tight schedule, but if you'd just like to get out and do a little shopping for yourself, this might buy you some time.

Take what you can get.

Now, if MetaBaby ends up becoming a drummer like the article said, we might be annoyed. We might have to channel his energy into quieter pursuits like dancing. Hmm...that might not work if he has MetaDaddy's Irish dancing legs. Eh, we'll see.

1 comments:

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

Funny, my toddler only seems to have high-octane energy once he's IN the cart. :O