Take a toddler somewhere

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:

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.