Two and a half yo ds hates buggy and reins!

[VJayazzle]

Ds is 2 and a half and hates his buggy, he will wriggle out of the tightest restraint. I have the back pack reins for him which he loved but now won't walk unless he holds the lead bit. So I'm either dragging him along or carrying him while he wriggles an screams. He also won't hold my hand. Any advice?? Going out with him is a nightmare just now.

What about a buggy board ?

www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Kiddy_Buggy_Board__5108604

DS stopped going in his buggy when he was around 20 months old. He's now 2 and the height of a 3 year old which I think was part of the reason he hated being in a buggy.

Is there any way you can just talk him on foot if you're only going a short distance to stop the tempers and flare ups he has when he's in the buggy? Sometimes I used to just let DS walk as it was less hassle than fighting with him to get him in the buggy.

If he's 2 and a half then I'd explain to him, "DS we're going to such-and-such a place, you have to hold my hand otherwise you won't get any sweets or whatever reward you like." If you tell him this in advance of you going out then it might help him take your hand and co-operate....

I say all this and have to admit that with DS sometimes it works and he's an angel, sometimes it doesn't work and he still tempers.

Do you want him to go into the buggy or are you just wanting him to behave easier when walking by holding your hand or using reins? I think that is the big question.

You could try putting reins on him and then clipping the reins onto the buggy instead of using the buggy straps - I think most reins have little clips for this purpose?. Just an option to try as he might prefer the feeling of not being strapped down to the buggy so much but it would still keep him safe (ish - DD1 could almost hurl herself out when I did this and would sort of dangle over the side so I did have to keep a very close eye on her).

For the walking, have you tried clipping an extra lead onto the backpack so there's one lead for him and one lead for you, that might satisfy his wish to hold it. Or will he go on a scooter or a trike with a parent handle?

reins are for dogs, not people

does he have to hold your hand all the time when walking? Dd is 2.2 and will happily walk alongside me, she knows not to go near the road, and occasionally I have to remind her. And she knows she has to hold my hand crossing roads.

A trike? DD stopped using the buggy around 18m and would either walk or go on her trike(one of those with the handle) and DS is turning out to be the same.
.
By the time DD was 2.6/3yrs the scooter was used instead.

We havethe same rules as headfairy. Our son refused the buggy from a very young age and so we have just had to teach him road safety. He now tells us to look left and right when we reach a road and to walk near the wall not the road! Scooters/balance bikes also work well to get from a to b a little quicker.

Dd2 is now just 3 and has hardly gone in the pushchair for the past year. She has to hold hands in busy places and crossing roads. otherwise she wants to and is allowed to be free range like her big brother.
Scooter is magic when in a hurry.

Thanks for all your replies, Zimbah I've thought about another lead.
I've also thought about just teaching him to walk beside me rather than running all the time and will try and teach him road safety.
Will look into getting reins that will clip into his buggy.
Thanks again

Will look into the trike idea too, I know he'll love that!

We have this with 2.5 year old who was a nightmare on the school run up until recently. Once he realised walking was an option he constantly challenged going in the buggy. As we have to do 2 drop-offs and it's 25 minutes there and back, I needed him to be in a buggy, esp in the winter. I had tried sometimes letting him walk and sometimes buggy and that was a disaster because he was constantly testing the boundaries each time I asked him to go in the buggy and ended up screaming all the way there. So then I decided we had to be completely consistent. He always had to go in the buggy and was allowed to get out and walk at the same point (bus stop) on the way home. When it wasn't school run, I sometimes let him walk and just worked on the 'holding hands' thing. So I praised him constantly at first when he was walking nicely.

Now that he's got the idea I can be more flexible i.e. sometimes I can now let him walk on the school run, when the weather is warmer and we have plenty of time. And he's flexible enough that when I need him to he will still go in the buggy nicely. And he gets it that sometimes he needs to hold hands and sometimes he can roam! If he does need to go in buggy I often say, 'sit in the buggy and then you can have your snack or other reward' and give him some grapes or something. But he doesn't get the reward until he has climbed in and sat down and been strapped in! I find it better to wait calmly whilst he climbs in than try to lift him in.

That was a bit of a long winded reply, sorry!

Thanks peanutbutter that is exactly what we're going through, and I think that is the route we'll be taking with him, he's just got to learn. I never had this with ds1 so a bit of a shock .

I've just been looking at trikes, they look a lovely fun idea.

Perhaps I should look at trikes too! Which ones have you liked the look of so far? We have scooters and there's an old mini micro waiting for DS2 but he can't do it yet. I feel sorry for my other 2 DCs who can no longer ride their scooters either because now DS2 wants to copy and when he can't manage proceeds to have meltdown When is your DS birthday by the way? My DS is an August baby so Sept 2013 could go to school! Seems unbelievable that his behaviour could be modified to that of school child by then.

this is what I've been looking at smart trike
Ds is a September baby so starts school in 2014, he just misses out but I think the extra year will do him good, though I will probably be grey

Just a thought, my DS at that age was the same until we stopped using the restraint straps but will happily now climb in and sit quietly without climbing out. Maybe it helps him feel more in control or something?! I also heavily bribe with apple juice

We had a similar issue with DS at around the same stage. He would basically refuse the buggy (and in fact has never used it since). The way that we tackled it was that we explained to him that he either walked alongside an adult using reins and holding our hand or he went in the buggy.

He wanted to walk so much that he complied - not always without tantruming and trying to get away even on the reins, but he eventually learned. I think it helped that we had allowed him to walk (whilst on reins), basically since he starting walking at 16 months.

He is now 3.1yrs and we actually rarely use reins any more, only when we are going somewhere particularly crowed (e.g. Cental London). He is quite happy to walk holding hands, or to walk very close by without running off.

It is something that improves with age and training ! Like ipanicked I walk down the road now with DS saying repeatedly hold my hand or I'll go back and fetch the buggy. Stupid thing to say really because we've left the buggy at home and there's no way I can go and get it, but it still works every time!

trike, trike, trike definitely!