My 2.5-year-old daughter is incredibly independent. She is incredibly smart, but she is speech delayed. She understands you but most likely will not reply. My 2.5-year-old daughter can walk, but most often when allowed to do so she runs. She runs for the hills, she wants you to chase her, she runs into the street, she runs into the lanes of a parking lot, and she runs into the store down every aisle as fast as she can. She is not afraid of many things she probably should be by now.
She doesn’t yet understand the danger in running into a street, not for lack of me trying to teach her but for lack of her caring. She lives in her own little world and if you are not talking about something that truly interests her she does not soak it in.
So perhaps she is too old.
Perhaps she is too old to still be sitting in a cart at Walmart. She definitely is just about too tall to fit in the actual child seat in that cart. She is most often sitting in the basket. This also proves to have its own challenges. Like when she stands up as I’m moving, when she tries to sit on the side, when she could easily fall backwards or seriously hurt herself.
Perhaps she is too old to be in a stroller.
She can walk, and she does know to hold hands. She does actually hold hands for a short time. She’ll be good. Walk along my side, hold my hand, until she decides she wants to run.
At that time, she gets put back into the stroller or cart, even though she may be too old.
Why do we feel a need to judge others? Perhaps you were able to get your child so beautifully trained by 2 to walk with you, hold hands, and not touch things, not run into the street or run into the parking lot. If you were, I applaud you on either your master taming skills, or on your amenable child.
When my child cries from being put in the cart at Walmart I get tired of looks that say “Why don’t you teach your child to behave?” “Why don’t you discipline your child?” When in actuality she is being disciplined and that’s why she’s crying.
If my daughter cannot continue to hold my hand and stay with me in the store then her discipline is to be put in the cart. She hates it and it some point she will begin to understand how it won’t happen. She keeps holding my hand and she will not be put in the cart. If she continues to walk with mommy, she will not be put in the cart, but like I said, if she’s not completely interested in something she does not soak it in well yet, she is only 2.5 years old.
So, until that happens I let her walk while she is able to hold hands and when she hits that point of, “I can do it myself mom” “I’m going to be independent mom” “I want to run mom” then she gets put in the cart and she cries.
I admit, it is a little bit of added judgment from others with my daughter.
Why? Because she’s 2.5 years old but the height of a 3-4-year-old. She’s a tall kid. I admit it, that’s confusing to people. They see a kid that looks much older than she is and she’s not talking yet, they see a kid much older than she is and she’s running for the hills as mommy yells for her, holding her little brother, and trying desperately to catch her before she’s hit by a car.
Let me take this moment to remind you, do not judge others by your observation only, you do not know the situation. My daughter throws fits in the store because she cannot tell me yet what she wants and gets frustrated when I don’t understand. My daughter throws fits in the store because she will not stay with mom and is put into the cart. My daughter throws fits in the store because she is 2.5 years old and sometimes the world is confusing and emotional.
You may not know she has a speech delay.
You may not realize she’s only 2.5 years old, and you definitely may not understand that she’s crying because I am trying to teach her how to behave in a store. I will not isolate her because she will not learn if she’s never given the experience and you just do not know us. So, do not judge us.
Sarah
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