Local outings with young children
Your young children will love going out with his mum and dad. Be prepared to make endless stops to look at anything that catches your child's attention.
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By the time your child is walking you may find that your greatest problem is keeping him safely restrained and happily occupied when you go out. You'll also have to be prepared for very slow journeys with endless stops to look at the many objects that take your child's fancy. Most parents continue to use their pushchair, although reins, back-packs and bicycle seats are useful alternatives and can sometimes be more fun for your child.
Using the pushchair for local outings
As your child gets older he won't be happy just sitting in the pushchair, but will often want to walk along with you. This may be inconvenient, especially if you are shopping, and you will have to do your utmost to persuade your toddler to stay in the chair. In my experience the best way of doing this is to take along one of your child's favourite toys as well as a snack.
If your child is so restless that he makes shopping impossible, you could take along a pair of reins and put your child in them. He will feel a sense of freedom and independence, but you know that he can't wander away from you and get lost. A wrist link that's securely attached to the reins will prevent your child becoming separated from you.
Using a bicycle seat for local outings
If you have a bicycle you may find it fun to take your toddler on the back. There are two kinds of bicycle seat - front-mounted and rear-mounted. These lightweight plastic structures fit neatly and securely on to the bicycle frame and can accommodate a child of up to 22kg (48lb). Make sure that your child's feet are well away from the wheels and that there's a strong safety belt for your child. If you decide you do want to use this method of transport, both you and your child must wear protective cycle helmets.
Shopping with a young child
As soon as your child can toddle you'll be faced with a new problem: how to keep an eye on, and occupy, a lively young child and concentrate on what you have to do. The only efficient way of getting about, especially when shopping, is to take your partner or a friend along with you. In this way, one adult can get on with the shopping while the other occupies the child. (There is also the added bonus of another pair of hands to help carry shopping home.)
The most important tip is to keep your toddler on reins so that you can concentrate on what you're doing without having to worry about what he's doing. It also helps to sit your child in the supermarket trolley so that he can't run away. As you go around the shop ask your child questions like “Can you see the baked beans?” “Which is the largest tin?” “Which apples do you want - the red or the green ones?”. Most children love being involved in this way and you can even let them choose a few of their favourite foods and put them in the trolley.
My supermarket solution for keeping them quiet was to let my children put anything into the trolley as we were going around and then take it all out at the end (unbeknown to them): it was time-consuming, but more peaceful.
If you aren't going food shopping but, say, clothes shopping instead, still keep your toddler on reins but take along his favourite books. When you go into the changing rooms sit your child on the floor beside you and encourage him to look at the pictures, maybe telling you what's in them or what the story is about.
Shopping with toddlers
- Encourage your child to become familiar with shopping. Give him the wrappers or boxes of things on your shopping list and suggest he finds them for you by matching them up with products on the shelves.
- Toddlers can get lost in shops. Dress yours in an easily spotted coat or hat in a bright colour.
- As soon as possible, teach your child his name, address and telephone number. In the meantime, insert a label with this information inside his coat in case he does get lost.
- I used to use a referee's whistle on a string round my neck to summon my children. We had a code: one whistle - come briskly; two whistles - run; three whistles - emergency.
- Any outing can be a lesson in disguise. In the supermarket you can teach your child about healthy eating (that beans are better than tinned spaghetti hoops) or best buys (that large tins work out cheaper than small ones).
- It's a scary prospect but you can make sure your child could find his way when he's near home by giving the same running commentary as you approach your house. “And here's that big tree on the corner, now we turn right, past the post box, and here's our road, and our house, the fourth on the left”.
Special excursions
Going out to the shops or to the park will probably be part of your toddler's daily routine but there will be occasions when you want to plan a special excursion like the zoo or a boat trip. In your plans, take your child's personality into account. What's his attention span? Is he very active? If he is, don't plan to go anywhere where he's going to be confined to his pushchair for long or you'll ruin everybody's day. If, when the day arrives, your toddler's in a bad mood, postpone the outing; similarly, if you no longer feel like it. Take enough snacks for the whole day and include quite a variety of them.
New Babycare
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley
Text copyright © 2009 Miriam Stoppard
Posted 03.11.2010
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