tips on how to stop a 2 and 3/4 year old whilst shopping.

[foxy1]

my son will be 3 in march and he is a nightmare when i go shopping, he hates going in the pram and it is a battle to get him in the trolley and runs away alot. how can i train him to stay next to me. any tips. thank you foxy

reins.

I have a wrist rein in my bag. DS is 3 and is rarely in his pushchair nowadays but quite keen on running off in supermarkets when the mood takes him.

If we are outdoors wrsit strap goes on if he doesn't come straight back to me. If we are in a shop he goes straight in chair if he doesn't come back when told. Show him he gets one chance only. Also put a treat in your bag that he can have if he sits in the trolley seat!

reins or a wrist strap thingy. Also, keep shopping trips short and if in a supermarket, plan your list so that if poss he has something to find down every other aisle

Yes I find ds helps me really well down the fruit and veg aisles, then he loses interest annd I get the bribe out!

www.tesco.com

If shopping is no fun, don't do it for now

NB the first time you grocery shop online it takes FOREVER. After that, you just go to "My Favourites" and go down the list going tick tick tick tick tick for all the stuff you buy every time. I do a fortnightly shop in about 20 minutes.

you could draw him a list of fruit and tell hiom he can sit in trolley and look for items or walk with you and look for items and try to make it fun

congratulate him when he finds it and lots of praise for being good boy

wrist strap

try having him push the trolley.

If your supermarket has scan and shop he might enjoy using the scanner to zap the bar code on each item. This has been the key to ds actually liking the supermarket - sits in trolley zapping away and also likes dealing with the shopping list - he remembers some stuff we need and then has to tell me when he sees those items.

online shopping

if the internet had been invented i wouldhave had online shopping.

hoever when my willful toddler acted like this - i turned it into something indutrious. "oh get me some bananas - you're so helpful" "gosh, i wonder where i can find shampoo? i wish someone could help me"

that kind of thing

the other thing my toddler liked was being ithe trolley basket itself and kneeling forward like a racing car and i would make the noises. I think there are some parents a bit arsey about this though -in that children should be strapped n or something - i personally dont think i am going that fast as to need a strap and i would shout if he stood up.

i am a firm believer in boys needing to be industrious.

so yes - mad woman in Asda oldham circa 1992/3 - was me

saw a woman yesterday shopping with her little boy and he had brought his own shopping trolley! (just a plastic opne from elc or somewhere) and he had his own list.

Thought it was genius idea! boy was about 3ish and his list had pictures on rather than words!

i too put small children in the actual trolley bit and not the seat
i also give them a carton of juice off the shelf and give the checkout person the empty carton to scan

leave him at home with dp, granny, friend etc...?

I find internet shopping to be the best solution.

Alternatively you make him useful. Give him tasks like getting something from the shelf and putting it in the trolley, giving him a little shopping list etc. This doesn't work for very long, and obviously makes it take longer, but is a good distraction method.

Duct tape. Available in most good hardware shops

Do online shopping for most/all things then you only need do short sharp bursts for other stuff-fresh things.

Put him in the trolley & go straight to the fresh bread counter/fruit counter & let him choose something (within reason) One of those half baguettes or a large crunchy apple used to last mine ages & was a real treat (deprived kids ) & meant they'd stay still. You can keep the wrapper & pay for it at the end

Failing that duct tape is good

thank you everyone! will try internet shopping and then maybe try short trips to supermarket. x