Teddies, Trolleys and Tantrums

By Morander @notreadbooks

The Illiterate Infant has been on a bit of an excursion, guest posting over at the Woolworth Baby and Toddlers Club. Rather than talking about my gifted child raising skills I decided to stay with what I know which is; talking about my failure to heed good, well researched advice from Mrs Illiterate Infant.

For anyone who’s had seen a Dad struggling with an overly enthusiastic toddler at the local supermarket, this will be a good insight into what is actually going on.

As the dad part of a parenting partnership where I work in an office and my wife works in the home, it has taken me a while to appreciate that the advice she gives me isn’t made up. No, this advice comes from three years’ experience of dealing with the complex requirements, behaviours and unpredictability of a toddler.

Like when she says I always need to know where Teddy is. Seems simple and, to the inexperienced, a little bit silly, but if you’ve ever spent 10 minutes wrangling a frenzy of arms and legs into a car seat to then be asked ‘Where’s Teddy?’ you’ll know what I mean.

‘It’s ok, Sweet. Teddy doesn’t feel like coming shopping today. He wants to stay at home, have a cup of tea and read the paper,’ just doesn’t cut it for a toddler joined at the hip to a stuffed animal. As much as I try to reason with her, it never takes long before I’m trudging back into the house to reunite them.

My wife has another piece of advice that is invariably correct; you need to feed toddlers. Especially when you’re off to do the Saturday morning food shop, solo-parent style.

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