Advice re a boisterous 1yo

[Mamabear04]

My LO is 16mo and has always been an absolute firecracker. She's very noisy and always running around or into something. She's a lot of work but I like that she's boisterous and adventurous because she's a lot of fun too. Today, when we were at the park she was running around and shouting (having fun but also just generally being noisy) and I clocked that another mum was explaining to her kid who was about 3yo why she was being noisy because the little girl looked scared. Is this something I need to be careful of? My LO wasn't shouting at any other kids or barging past them - she's still really small and knows her place but now I'm a bit worried she might be scaring other kids just by being herself. I've tried telling her to speak quietly etc but she's just too young to understand that yet. Do I need to be careful? Has anyone else had a rowdy toddler? How do you deal with them?

The other mum sounds weird tbh. There are lots of places where you might want to get your DD to quieten down like a restaurant or on a plane but a children’s playground really isn’t one of them. Kids running around and making a lot of noise at the park is completely normal isn’t it?!

‘knows her place’

My DD was a very cautious, shy toddler. She was often quite nervous of boisterous toddlers. Nothing wrong with her, nothing wrong with the boisterous toddler. I did have to sometimes reassure her but I was never annoyed with the boisterous kids, nor was she, just wary of them.

My second dc is a boisterous toddler 😁
I am mindful of telling him to give shy ones space though as I know from dd that they might find him intimidating.

@Reinventinganna yes "knows her place" in that she is still very small and needs to be careful when playing with bigger kids

I should point out that my DD was wary of boisterous toddlers, I wasn't 😂 in case that wasn't clear.

Sounds like the older girl was just a bit sensitive and doesn’t like loud noise, or she could have sensory issues. If another is uncomfortable due to your child’s normal behave then it’s polite to encourage her to be a bit quicker because the other child doesn’t like it. But no sane parent actually expects you to be very successful at it.

@Shelovesamystery this is good to hear! I wouldn't want my LO to upset another kids and I always make her wait her turn etc but she is just so loud!

You don't have a rowdy toddler who needs to know her place. You have a toddler. That is all.

What you describe from your child is completely normal. Don't attempt to take on responsibility for other children/parents responses and reactions.

@Thatwentbadly yeah I just don't want her to scare other kids! She's good at waiting her turn but will basically run around the play park shouting 'ahhhh'. She is honestly the loudest and smallest kid there!

@activitythree I just meant that she knows she is the smallest in the play park and needs to be careful because the other kids are bigger and can move around easier. She waits her turn etc. I didn't mean she should know her place and shut up.

Three year olds can be stroppy and sensitive, chances are that three year old woke up the wrong side of the bed and decided they were scared. Mum then had to manage that. I wouldn’t worry!

She sounds ace! And yy to the PP who said three years old are stroppy.

My youngest was a thumper for the first two or three years of his life - he would intuitively lash out at any child who came within thumping range and so I had to hover ready to swish him away from the other bewildered children at any sociable gathering/park/softplay. Mortifying.

He grew out of it thankfully and is a well adjusted cheerful non thumpy 11 year old now but I remember having "that" child.

Noisy and energetic is fairly normal I'd say so don't worry. You can't manage other people's children so keep an eye out but not all children are going to get on, just like most adults!