Hitting self on the head / running away

Michaela whacks herself over the head too, and sometimes us, but she's not strong enough to hurt (much) so we don't worry about it. I think she thinks it's funny and I figure that if she actually manages to hurt herself she'll stop. If she ever hits anyone else we'll step in but she hasn't yet (as far as I know).

For the running away, I use reins when we're somewhere dangerous (near the street, in a busy mall etc) and I try and take her to the park for a good run around as often as the weather allows.

Edited by MrsMojo

No tips for the hitting thing in regards to the running away thing though: Ashlee started to take off whenever she was out of her stroller, but it only took us a couple of times to take her hand and tell her 'you can walk around, but you MUST hold mummys/daddys hand'. She would try and shake our grip, but I'd just hold firm and tell her 'no, if you want to walk by yourself, you must hold mummys hand'. Literally, it only took a couple of times before she wasn't trying to shake off our grip and would actually say to us 'hold my hand' whenever she was free to walk! She feels a lot more independant when walking, so much so that she doesn't tend to run.

I think we only had one tantrum during that process.

Hopefully something like that would work for you?

lol at the sitting down. Jake loves the reins, he says loudly Im a dog like Tui and walks veeeery slowly, lol. And barks. lol!

Mine run away! Hence why I bought them reins! Maya never did, but these two are dynamite. Half the prob is that they're not old enough to understand the dangers of running away and they just want to explore.

And if you don't believe me, ask Mel and Kandice, poor Mel had to retrieve them from upstairs at McD's last week and couldn't even FIND one of them, and when we had coffee with Kandice on Sat poor Conor spent the whole time chasing them half way up Dressmart and bringing them back.

Finding it tough atm as they haven't really "got" the idea of the reins yet, if I try to make them go where they don't want to, they just sit down and refuse to move. Sienna sat down in the middle of the carpark at Royal Oak a couple of weeks ago and screamed coz she didn't want to get in the car. And by middle I mean right in the middle of the road where the cars drive. I ended up dumping the nappy bag in the middle of the road and dragging a gremlin under each arm to the car.

i have been known in the past when gabriel was younger to physically drag him thru the mall when he wouldnt budge, he screamed the whole way... but tough!!!!

Argh I lost my post!  Anyway, it was along the lines of...

Ella went through a phase of hitting herself in the head for attention - usually when she was already angry or frustrated, and half the time she'd end up hitting me in the face as part of it all - not a great feeling!  I used to ignore it (hitting herself - she gets disciplined for hitting anyone else), and eventually she stopped.  I don't know that it's something you need to worry about, although it does look pretty disturbing seeing them do it, doesn't it. 

As for the running away - well you just have my sympathies.  I think people underestimate how difficult it is to carry a toddler that refuses to be carried!!  Slippery lil things.  I'm pinning my hopes on the 'stop game' working one day.  One day. 

Maya wrote: That becomes tricky with two of them tho Deb! They are a menace to society and I can't really carry both of them atm. I do drag them along on their reins tho...

well i realise it may not work for you!! and even i wouldnt drag my kids on the road...

I can empathise with you ladies, but especially today - I went to our local Westfield and didn't take our stroller, BIG MISTAKE! DD was OK at first and sat through morning tea / coffee pretty well... but after that it was a nightmare I swear every other parent in the mall was staring at my demon child who just lay flat stretched out on the floor in the most awkward place possible, body rigid, screaming her head off... all because she didn't want to walk into a clothing shop with me and wanted to run up and down the halls instead! After a while I just gave up, picked her up and literally flung her over my shoulder - she chilled out a bit once we were in the car. I love her to bits and pieces but boy is she getting wilful!

I usually don't bother strapping mine into the buggy, I just put them in it, but this morning I had to tie them both down as they were trying to climb out while it was moving

RachandJack wrote: Jack spends half the time having a tantrum on the floor at the mall so I just start walking away and he gets scared and comes.

Once Michaela was throwing a tantrum in a mall because she didn't want to get back into her pram so I walked about a metre away and waited for her. I was practically within arms reach and watching her the whole time when a stranger came and tried to pick her up - I could not believe it (to quote Quincy from Little Einteins). The lady was just trying to help but talk about tunnel vision, I WAS RIGHT THERE!!

Anyway that incident freaked Michaela out so much that for a couple of months afterwards she'd run crying after me if I pretended to leave her - unfortunately even that doesn't work anymore. She's obviously much too secure for her own good!!