How do I stop kids running?

[Bess21]

I take my ds (3) to pre-school in the mornings with his 2.5 year old brother and they just want to run, apart from telling them constantly and battling with them I don't know what else to do. Some days they are really good, other days not. We only have to walk a few streets away with no busy roads and they always stop at the roads to look for cars and wait for me. Then when we get into school they still run and the 2.5 year old ends up getting very frustrated because i'm trying to keep him beside me. I also think I worry too much what other mums think, I always think they must think of me of the mother who can't control her kids. Should I stop worrying what other people think so much?

Don't try and control them, put a pair of trainers on and run with them!

I threaten to buy a collie to round them all up, they find this amusing. They won't when I do it and it bites their arses [mwhahahaha]

I trained them to stop at roads and let them get on with it.

Why do you want to stop them running? As long as they stop at roads, I don't see the problem. DS does this. He has set stopping points before any roads, where he waits. If I try to make him walk he dawdles along, and we'd never get there! Hmmm, maybe I am that mother that can't control her child?

Thanks for your comments, I feel so much better about this now, I think I do worry too much what other people think. They are boys after all. I also think the reason I was worried because a lot of the other kids seem to walk with their parents and don't run although the majority of them only have their pre-school child with them and not a toddler in tow.

I use a wrist strap for my ds so he can't run off. My ds is 3 and the school run can be hell, I also have a dd 10m in the pushchair so to try and get through all the other mums to get to my ds is a nightmare. I do let him walk alone now and again but as soon as he ignores me and runs off he goes back on the wrist strap.

If it makes you feel any better they won't be watching you anyway, they'll too busy watching aghast at me and my brood. I somtimes have four of them. One walking normally, one chasing the other in a vain attempt to rip out her hair whilst the other is barking like a dog and the final one runs behind them not quite sure what is going on. They screech a fair bit too.

DOoinMeCleanin, very funny, this makes me feel a lot better, i'm just glad i'm not the only one out there that hates the school run, I think I stress about it too much. Twinklebum, I think he'd be a nightmare on a wriststrap, we used to use one but he just lay on the ground or tried to get it off most of the time.

My ds 2.10 is a runner too. My mum said to me the other day 'ds can't walk can he' It's true, he can't. He runs everywhere, even in the house from toy to toy. Drives me mad!

Yes, boys are like dogs - give them plenty of exercise and a full belly and they're easy

Let them run, the only boundary should be to do so safely.

buy two wrist straps, and leave half an hour earlier. Go via a park or a big field.

And I must point out it is easier to have two running than it is to have one that hares off and one that dawdles and whines. I feel like Stretch Armstrong sometimes

If they won'twalk on the wrist strap, stop dead and refuse to move until they agree.

As you have runners, you refusing to move or let them move will be the worstpossible punishment you could inflict. Boredom