Does your kid suddenly hate being strapped in? Here are some survival tactics for when you have no choice and need to get a move on.
Does your kid suddenly hate being strapped in? Here are some survival tactics for when you need to get a move on.As a mom of three, Terrie Malcolm has experienced pretty much every toddler phase—the good and the bad—at least once. The “hating the stroller” period—where a toddler just won’t stay in the stroller—is one she’s lived through three times. Her daughter Rebekkah was especially anti-stroller for a while.
brother, Rebekkah wanted out so badly, “she actually tried to chew through her five-point harness,” Malcolm recalls.It’s fairly common for toddlers to freak out in the stroller—and it makes sense developmentally. “Toddlers are just starting to gain control of their bodies. They really want independence, and they want to explore and learn about the world around them,” says Tanis Shanks, a parent educator from the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute in Saskatoon.
Above all, remember that this is just a normal stage of development, depending on how active and curious your toddler is. And while every parent of a toddler knows that sometimes just getting out of the house can be a marathon, try to give yourself extra time so you can get from A to B without anyone melting down—including you.Subscribe to Today's Parent's daily newsletter for our best parenting news, tips, essays and recipes.