Taking a toddler out in public

One of the riskier things you will ever do in life as a mum is taking your toddler out for a big day in public. I’m not talking a trip to the local shop, I mean an all day, unfamiliar location, exhausting day out. I recently did this with my 3 year old and at 40 weeks pregnant it didn’t take long for me to come up with a list of things I would do totally differently should I ever feel like the need to do it again.

On the train...

Biggest mistake of the day was not having anything to entertain my little man on the train. I crazily thought that just watching the world pass by out the window would be enough distraction but it lasted about 4 minutes before he decided that jumping all over the seats would be much more fun. Not too hard to manage on the way there but add to this a long day, a krispy kreme doughnut and being waaay overtired and I’m sure you can imagine what the trip home was like!

Another mistake was not taking a pram. I figured that he would cope fine with the 10-15 min walk the website assured me the location was from the station... I forgot to factor in the detour for lunch and the extra 20 mins it takes me to waddle my way around.  Turns out chasing a hypo toddler through city crowds kind of takes some of the fun out of the day.

I would also recommend to do some research into kid friendly places to eat. I left this decision up to hubby and it landed us in a Chinese restaurant..... Not so kid friendly menu wise or cutlery wise. Mr 3 was left to eat steamed rice with a Chinese soup ladle because the only other option was chopsticks. Also was very embarrassing and frustrating when he had an “accident” at the table and no one understood hubby’s pleas for some towelling or something to clean it up. Although the food was nice I would have eaten a cheeseburger to avoid the drama.

 The saving grace of the day was once we got to our destination it was totally packed with kids They were all as hypo if not more than Mr 3.So here is my biggest piece of advice, go somewhere theres lots of kids, because no matter what sort of mood your kid is in there will always be another one there that’s naughtier!