What do you do with a "bolter"? (23mths)

[Caz10]

DD will be 2 next month and she is a feisty little madam! A total joy but knows her own mind...

Anyway we are having real problems with her atm taking off and running - she's not too bad in town etc, think she is actually quite wary re cars etc which is good, but put her in any wide open space and she's off like a shot - fine if we are at the beach, but not so fine e.g. across the giant Ikea cafeteria...

I don't know how much she understands when I tell her not to do it, and of course I don't want to turn it into a goos fun game...any advice?!!

have you tried a micro scooter
ds2 now scoots to most places school run etc and that has stopped the bolting he is 2.5
although the other mums were laughing at me as he scooted down the hill on the way home from school and I was running after him like a mad woman shouting slow down slow down

Ahh, DD was a non-bolter but DS is shaping up to be a true bolter, I have read all these tips and am storing them up. It's like a little peek into my future.

DS is a bolter too (and an escape artist and a mountaineer but that's another thread really) and I have a back pack for him with a very useful handle for grabbing him as he runs off - the leash rarely gets used TBH.

He used to hate the back pack. NO!!!! NO!!!! NO!!!!!! But then I put a packet of tissues, a broken USB stick (favourite thing), a set of old house keys and a drink into it and this, somehow, magically transformed it into a desirable object.

Now he won't take it off... NO!!!! BACK PACK!!! MINE!!!!! MUMMY NO!!!!!