If you’ve got a toddler, you know you’ve got to get out of the house. Like I said in my review of Naptime is the New Happy Hour, author Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is totally on board with the spirit of this site– which is that you’ve got to do activities, but they don’t all have to be kid-centric destinations.
My friend Nikki in LA takes her not-quite-two-year-old son to a lighting store on a regular basis. He has favorite lights that he likes to go check on. A decorating prodigy? Maybe, but I think his parents are the geniuses for realizing that a lighting showroom serves as a toddler fun house.
Most of the ideas below are already somewhere on RookieMoms.com, but I understand it is too much work for you to read the whole site. To make your life easier, I am sharing with you Stefanie Wilder-Taylor’s list of good places to take your child within a few miles from your house. (Her book is hilarious if you like a healthy dose of sarcasm with your Cheerios, by the way.)
1- The Bookstore – Think of a bookstore as a giant maze of secret passages.
2- The Grocery Store – If you want to get your errands done while entertaining your child, let your kid ride in the basket of the cart.
3- The 99 Cents Store – Even if your child runs around the aisles breaking crap for a half hour, you’ll still end up spending less than what you would on a Happy Meal.
4- Crafts Stores – Boy and girl children alike will browse colorful beads, construction paper and ready-to-paint figurines with more enthusiasm than a starlet browsing Oscar de la Renta’s collection for a dress to wear to the Emmys.
5- The Park – Children are like puppies. They need to run and jump and trek sand and poop into your house.
6- Anywhere with Trains – Kid’s love ‘em. I don’t get it, but I don’t need to.
Related links
> Read more from Stefanie
> Other Rookie Moms favorite outings for toddlers:
