I feel absolutely terrible, my 3yr old is horrible to take shopping he wants to be Mr Independent but lately he's started to become more abnoxious and either rans off, doesn't follow or hides. All you can hear through the shopping centre is me saying his name over and over again. He now thinks he can get a toy everytime were there so theres about 30 mins of him screaming on the floor so it takes me about 2hrs just to go to Aldi's and kmart. But today I lost it after an hour of him playing cat and mouse with me I just grabbed him and dragged him through the shopping (westfield). I feel horrible not only for him but everyone that would have seen that. I already feel isolated but this just makes me feel I can't even take my kids anywhere.
6 Replies
Online shopping :) Saves me so much trouble. My 2 yr old is the same.
And also what I've learned is that she will be patient for a time but after a while wants to get out of the pram/trolley and all she does is run. So now when I go to the shops, I only go to 1 shop per trip. So if I need to go to Coles and then Kmart, I will only go to Coles and go to Kmart another day. She is too impatient to let me go into 2 shops so I just spare myself the pain and leave after 1.
Start FAKE shopping. So find an easy shop, like a small 7day and only go in when it's quiet and you need one item. Do it as often as you can but enforce holding hands or a harness. I know some people hate harness' but much better than loosing your child. Just buy one thing, like milk or whatever. Don't what anyone thinks. Most people are secretly cheering when they say a parent following through with an expectation.big he throws a tantrum don't engage with him. Just complete what you need to do and get out of there. If you keep practicing it does get better over time.
My son is 6 he still sits in the seat if a trolley (he does have autism though) tell him straight you don't walk with me in to the baby seat you go. The longer they are in their the better it is. Oh and don't worry about weather he screams and carries on like a pork chop ignore the behaviour, ignore the looks and ignore the comments. Your proving how much of a good parent you are when you say no and stick to your guns. He will learn in time he's only 3 and 3 yr olds aren't perfect.
My kids where really bad at this till I bought them a portable white board and wrote our shopping list on the board. It's their job to mark off the items on the list it keeps them occupied and helping
To be honest, when I am out in public and see a child pushing the boundaries or having a tantrum, I very much appreciate seeing the parents who discipline/say no as opposed to the parents who don't try to calm their children down/continue to let them run amok. Every parent will experience public meltdowns. Don't feel bad mama, you did what you had to do xx