Will your LO sit still?

[starrynight14]

Will your LO peacefully sit still? Does your LO cooperate with your longer errands and events?

LO thrives off exploring his surroundings and being on the move. I can manage to get him to sit still at meals or with a phone/iPad, but that doesn't always last long. Yet I see so many other kids his age that will sit still. I recently saw a LO sit still through an hour long soccer game, in a stroller. No toys, no screen, no problem. That would never fly with my LO.

I realize every LO is different. I just am curious what the norm is here.

[briarrose]

I would say that with my DS, it depends on his mood. He does fine for most shopping, riding in the cart, although that has been more iffy than usual lately because he wants to run around. We are renovating our kitchen, so had to be at the hardware store to order stuff twice in the past tow weeks and he was having none of that, particularly yesterday.
During story time at the library, he will sit if all the other big kids are sitting, but if one of them is up and messing around, he is too.

[inaya]

Nope. She's even starting to get antsy at the grocery store and asking for "down" instead of being happy to sit in the cart and try to grab every.single.thing she can reach, either off the shelves or out of the basket.

She's not a fan of the stroller for very long, but I think part of that is because our stroller at it's most upright setting is still pretty reclined (Britax B-Agile). Babywearing is my best solution if I need to take her somewhere where she can't just run amok.

She does fine at restaurants, because the food is a good distraction. Screen time doesn't keep her attention for very long although she does like animal videos, especially if they have Yorkies. She's pretty much in constant motion.

[ice61313]

Nora does pretty good while out and about so far. We don't let her use phones/tablets ever (yet... not planning on it ever but never know when you're desperate lol). I doubt she'd be fine in a stroller for an hour watching a game, though. We are constantly asking her questions or trying to show her stuff (like balloons at Wal-Mart while waiting in line).

[weeklyplanner]

Depends.

At home, no way unless I put on specific show. His idea of playing is grabbing toys and running in circles around the house. Or sitting with the LP farm, school house, etc. for 2 min tops. Then it's up and running with his baby stroller or whatever.

At a restaurant, he will usually give us 45 min with snacks, crayons, meal (French fries!) before the phone with Elmo on YouTube comes out. However, if he's in a bad mood, he won't even get in the high chair and we order takeout, ha!

In the stroller or a cart, he must be moving. If I stop for 2 seconds he starts screaming and making "ugh ugh!" sounds as he tries to escape. It makes shopping almost impossible. However, I can go for 4 mile walks (about an hour) and he's happy to sit there and check out the world. I tried to get an eyebrow wax and figured he'd be happy to check out the salon from his stroller, but nope. The stroller must move!

I know what kind of kid you're talking about. My niece was that kid. I never saw tantrums and she sat quietly at things. Then she turned 3 and holy hell....so maybe there is a bright side!

[weeklyplanner]

Mar 9, 2016 16:27:42 GMT -5 inaya said:

Nope. She's even starting to get antsy at the grocery store and asking for "down" instead of being happy to sit in the cart and try to grab every.single.thing she can reach, either off the shelves or out of the basket.

She's not a fan of the stroller for very long, but I think part of that is because our stroller at it's most upright setting is still pretty reclined (Britax B-Agile). Babywearing is my best solution if I need to take her somewhere where she can't just run amok.

She does fine at restaurants, because the food is a good distraction. Screen time doesn't keep her attention for very long although she does like animal videos, especially if they have Yorkies. She's pretty much in constant motion.

[br



What carrier do you use? I haven't worn DS since October, but maybe I should.

[bobloblaw]

Yes and no. He will sit still for a meal, especially if we are out and about. He loves to show off for others.

Will he sit still at home and watch tv? Nope. Will he sit still at the pediatrician? Nope. Not even with Elmo or snacks. He's 50/50 at the grocery store.

I think he's appropriate to his age but it's sometimes aggravating!

[Deleted]

He will sit still for a show, but its usually right after he gets up or while we fix dinner and he is tired. A phone or tablet helps him too. Stroller, car seat, high chair usually involve lots of loudly shouted "get downs".

[peachesncream]

It is hit or miss right now. Sometimes she'll sit in the cart okay, others she wants to "help" me push the cart. She has been better about being worn in a carrier outside on walls but she usually hates carriers in stores. She does still love Signing Time on Netflix so if I am alone and need to make dinner or something I can put that on and she is usually mesmerized enough by that and/or the iPad to sit still.

[frodabaggins]

Mine is definitely according to his mood and the location. He asks for Elmo, but then won't watch more than 5 minutes of the show before he's up and off doing something else. Only thing that really keeps him in one place is reading books to him and you better have a big stack ready! At the grocery store he does well as long as he's snacking, and other errands if he has a basketball/soccer ball/any other sort of ball, he's happy to sit peacefully holding the ball and occasionally talking to it but sometimes my husband tells me that they get home from daycare and the boy just wants to sit on his lap and look out the window and be quiet/decompress.

[cdseno]

No. I if he gets a cookie at the grocery store I can get through without screaming, but I can't wander. I have to get in, get what I need, and be done. If the checkout is busy I'm screwed. Then I resort to opening all the foods to keep him busy.
If we go to the mall he will sit in the stroller for maybe 30 minutes without flipping out and that's if he has a smoothie.
He hates to be restrained. All he wants to do is run free. He won't even hold my hand if I let him walk on his own.
Restaurants are basically a crap shoot. We get about 1 out of 5 times when he will sit nicely and eat. On Valentine's Day H actually threw a giant fit because Max was freaking out in the restaurant and I wouldn't leave because I knew he would be fine once his food came. But the screaming really ruins an attempt at a night out. Multiple times we have just had to pack up our food and leave ASAP before it gets really bad.

[gratefulgirl]

DD1 would. At this age she would sit happily in our laps through part of church until we were ready to take her back to the nursery. If the house got quiet she could be found paging through a book sitting on the couch. It was a mixed blessing. On the one hand - easy. On the other hand, given her gross motor delays and low tone, I actually had to work to get her out and moving and motivating her was hard.

DD2 will not. She fusses pretty quickly into an errand. We take her pretty much straight back to the church nursery. She's up and out and all over the house and into stuff (on Monday she dumped a pile of cocoa all over the floor because I must've left the pantry a crack). As soon as she is done eating she starts screaming to get down and very little will soothe her. At home we try to make her wait to some extent, but restaurants are a huge challenge.

Oh, and my easy sit still DD1? At 3.5 we got our comeuppance for having such an easy toddler. Just like weeklyplanner's niece. Seriously, every kid has their hard age. I'm kind of excited DD2 is getting some of hers over now. Maybe almost 4 won't be such a nightmare.

[sweetpies]

If he can make noise and squirm whike sitting, we stand a chance. So sitting in his stroller for sporting events, the mall, walks, etc is fine. But if he has to sit quietly, for say church, it's like we're torturing him.

DS will watch Sesame Street for about 5 minutes before he's up and running around, throwing glances at the tv. He will sit for about 15 minutes and read books with us, if he's in the mood.

[greysonsmom]

Without lots of snacks or some sort of distraction he does not want to be contained and forced to sit still. He is not a fan of walks in the stroller, if I want to go for a walk with him I'll put him in the wagon or his trike, he seems to enjoy either of those.

[brachysira]

My son will sit still if he's confused or shy, like storytime. At home, never. My older child hit 1 and never would sit still at a class, but she always would sit still at home for reading.

[Courtniko]

Never. She will never sit still. Shopping she wants to be running around grabbing things, no sitting in a cart for her. We generally do not put the tv on for her, but the few times we have tried she has no interest at all. We tried to entertain her with a tablet when we flew cross country, that lasted maybe 3 minutes.
She will not sit in a high chair unless she is eating.
She will sit in a stroller IF we are on a walk and there are interesting things to see, and she is tired.

[annapunkalunka]

Pretty much no. She'll sit in the cart to shop but you'd better damn well know why you need and get in and get out like it's your job. Otherwise... Go, go, go!
She hates to be restrained. The stroller is ok for short walks as long as you have food or there are really interesting things to pull her attention to. And apparently the Chicco Nexfit is made of hot lava. At least that's all I can come up with for an explanation as to why she screams when she's in it... Well I'm exaggerating a bit there, but still. It's a freaking 10 minute car ride!! Chill out!!

[starrynight14]

Ha! There are so many responses that are dead on with my LO. It looks like I'm not alone! DS1 was somewhat like this, I just don't think he was as vocal about it.

[greysonsmom]

Mar 9, 2016 21:42:50 GMT -5 annapunkalunka said:

Pretty much no. She'll sit in the cart to shop but you'd better damn well know why you need and get in and get out like it's your job. Otherwise... Go, go, go!
She hates to be restrained. The stroller is ok for short walks as long as you have food or there are really interesting things to pull her attention to. And apparently the Chicco Nexfit is made of hot lava. At least that's all I can come up with for an explanation as to why she screams when she's in it... Well I'm exaggerating a bit there, but still. It's a freaking 10 minute car ride!! Chill out!!

I feel your pain. I just bought a fourth car seat because the struggle was getting out of control. You would think I was strapping him into a seat filled with shards of glass. Finally I think we found a seat that isn't the worst thing ever, he doesn't love it but it's not a total meltdown every time we have to go somewhere.

[vk]

lol. no

[swim]

Nope. Maybe while eating buy she's always wiggling everywhere else. Luckily she's still good for errands but wiggles in the stroller

[IvyMagic]

Nope, he never would really sit or lie still from birth, haha.. I don't do too many errands with him on my own. Usually we go somewhere as a family in the evenings or on weekends... DS runs around the store to his heart's content and goes exploring with his Dad while I get the actual errand done.

[gahorseygal]

Not really. Haha! Just like most others she has moments where she will but for the most part she is go go go! She's not super difficult though, we have tricks we use when we need to get her to sit still. But if she wants to be moving - like at a restaurant - H or I will take her for a walk if we are just waiting on our check. Usually she can make it through the meal but we also only go to kid friendly places that are quicker.

[puffandstuff]

Nope, unless she surrounded by strangers than she'll sit with us.

[inaya]

Mar 9, 2016 16:44:12 GMT -5 weeklyplanner said:

Mar 9, 2016 16:27:42 GMT -5 inaya said:

Nope. She's even starting to get antsy at the grocery store and asking for "down" instead of being happy to sit in the cart and try to grab every.single.thing she can reach, either off the shelves or out of the basket.

She's not a fan of the stroller for very long, but I think part of that is because our stroller at it's most upright setting is still pretty reclined (Britax B-Agile). Babywearing is my best solution if I need to take her somewhere where she can't just run amok.

She does fine at restaurants, because the food is a good distraction. Screen time doesn't keep her attention for very long although she does like animal videos, especially if they have Yorkies. She's pretty much in constant motion.

What carrier do you use? I haven't worn DS since October, but maybe I should.

I have a couple of wraps, but usually for errands I bring our Tula or our mei tai (from Mei Tai Baby). I'm not in love with the Tula, I don't think it's a great fit for me, but it's comfortable enough and quick enough. I'm also planning to sew two more carriers, kind of like the mei tai, which is my favorite but it's getting a little small for us.

[lucilleaustero]

Bahaha, no. I mean, every great once in a while when the sun, the moon and the stars are aligned.

DD was much easier with this stuff and I was lulled into a false sense of security.