You're in a cafe at a garden centre. Your two-year-old has some fruit (his favourite kind of snack) and some toys. You have a cup of tea and a piece of walnut cake despite the fact you're meant to be on a diet, but your period just started and you're knackered because the child woke in the night and fidgeted for a couple of hours. Anyway, back to the point. The toddler keeps going to the slighly ajar door into the outdoor bit, squeezing through whilst giving you the cheeky, 'I know you don't want me to do this' look and running off.
Do you:
a) decide your child is too difficult/spirited to take to cafes and avoid them.
b) keep dragging him back, tell him he's a naughty boy and withhold something he likes to teach him a lesson.
c) follow him out of the door and run around after him making sure he's not in any danger or about to break anything, while your tea goes cold.
d) find some ingenious alternative solution that allows you to drink a hot cup of tea and allows the child to be his energetic and inquisitive self.
If anyone knows what (d) entails, please let me know because I'm leaning mostly towards (c) with occasional exasperated outbursts that, while not quite reaching the level of (b), are not the approach I want to take.
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d)attach bungee cord to child's trousers so you can ping him back when he gets too far away.
ReplyDeleteMy only other suggestions involve chloroform and duct tape, but I'm not sure social services would like it...
D = packet of quavers and a can of coke?
ReplyDeleted= takeaway tea!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know d) too! Last time I took my boy out to a cafe he crawled off under the tables and was rifling through an old lady's handbag before I could reach him! Lucky they thought he was cute.
ReplyDeleteSomething to distract from going outside up front? i.e. something to fidget at which is sufficiently riveting as to preclude escapist tendencies?
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, choosing teashops with gardens where you can just sit outside and know he can't actually escape, but can bugger about where you can see him...? Either of the above seems to be our approach; if there is a genuine D out there, though, I too would love to know it.
I think I'm mostly (c), but I try to find places that have something to amuse little ones. Ikea is brilliant because they have loads of stuff for toddlers to play with while you sit back and sip free coffee. But it helps if you live near an Ikea.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ideas. Not sure about the quavers option, I was thinking more pickled onion flavour Monster Munch... And yes we do live near Ikea Warrington, which is very handy.
ReplyDelete