Getting your toddler in their stroller
We’ve all been in this tricky spot: it’s time to leave the mall or playground and make the trek back home or to the parking lot, and your toddler won’t get back in his stroller.
This happened to us at a mall in Denver, where we let our then- 21-month-old son walk around freely. Like a lot of toddlers, he wanders where it suits him and won’t hold our hands or follow us. We can’t bring him in stores because he will grab whatever merchandise he can. We had to return a pair of shoes and then go to the parking garage, but when we tried to get him in his stroller he twisted this way and that and whined so much that any passerby might have thought we were torturing the poor boy. Even with two pairs of hands, we could not wrangle the willful child into his stroller.
And then daddydoh had an idea – coax him outside and maybe the blast of cold air and removal from stimulation would shock him into submission. Cruel, or brilliant? Well, our little stroller-evader immediately slipped into his cozy stroller with the furry lining without a struggle and we were able to go back into the mall, return our shoes and exit gracefully without getting arrested for child-induced shoplifting. So, we’re thinking: brilliant.
Now, if you’re outside, the weather is warm and there’s nowhere to go to escape the lure of the swing set, what is a desperate mom or dad to do? One must resort to bribery. A bottle of milk or sippy cup of juice, a treat, a toy – anything to distract and keep busy hands busy until that stroller strap is firmly in place. And then, make haste. If all else fails, pick up kicking child, hold him in the airplane position, push the stroller until you’re out of view of other parents, whose judgmental stares might make you feel like someone who can’t control her child, and try again.
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