OK, DS has been a little bugger lately, doing runners when you least expect it and almost running onto roads. He is just over 2 yrs. We were at the park the other day, and then all of a sudden he just bolts for the road. I have to run so fast to catch him before he gets to the road. Gives me a heart attack! Then he did it again yesterday at my mothers. We were standing at her doorway, and DS decides to do a runner down the driveway, almost onto the road again! I had to crab him by the shirt to stop him. He's so bloody fast - or I'm so bloody slow! I tell him at the time STOP! DANGER! And try to explain its not safe to run away and go on the roads because of the cars. Has your toddler been like this? What did you do?

yeah DD I used to say she'd get runover and squashed (which worked), Noah said that too it took him longer to get it. Sam I tell all the time.

http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/forums/ind...;#entry14506167

my DS 18month is exactly the same

theres a few different things you could try

1) get a harness which is ok but you can't really use it when he is at a park I didnt use one but alot of ppl on here have them so they must work

2) walk him around the area in which he is allowed to go and then if he goes out of that put him in a pram this is what we did he got one warning and then we sat him in the pramfor a bit, which he hated. We then gave him another chance and if he ran again we would take him home.

We also practiced Stop and Go in the backyard.

If i could avoid it i never chased because it turnedd it into a game.

He had to hold our hand ALL the time. Even when I went to answer the door

I'd say at over 2 they can definitely understand more (at 18mths it would be harder). I'd be putting in the pram & going home if he goes on the road. Maybe one chance if it's just running off in the playground/shops. So so dangerous so you have to be tough.

My DS was about a meter from getting hit by a car today. I let go of his hand for one second to get my keys and he was on the road. Just pulled him back in time before a car came.


Great ideas PP. hope they work on my DS.

Pat does this sometimes when I'm loading his nappy bag/my handbag in the car before lifting him in. He will run around the car then down the street. I have started "accidentally dropping" my keys. I the. Ask him to pick them up for me which gives me time to shove the bags in and thank him profusely while putting him in. Works every time. The park is a hard one, but with you friends house I always hold Patrick's hand until we are in the door.

Its so hard isn't it? My first son bolted all the time and the worst thing about it was he used to laugh like it was a game. I used to get so mad!

Anyway I think putitng in the pram is a good idea I will be trying that with my second son. And practising stop and go sounds good too.

Good luck

DS started bolting at the shops recently. I got out a wrist to wrist strap that someone had given me. The next time we were due to go out, I showed him the "special bracelets" we would have to wear if he ran away from me. I explained that he needed to stay near mummy so I wouldn't lose him, and if he wouldn't hold my hand, he would have to wear it.

That day, he did attempt to run away. He got one warning, then he did it again, so I put the wrist straps on. He hated it, and kept telling me he was "trapped". I explained that he was trapped because he ran away, and we talked about it a few times afterwards. He hasn't attempted to run away since, and when he sees the wrist band, he says "that's for when I'm naughty and running away from mummy".

I hated the idea of it, but it worked, and I was really concerned for his safety when he was bolting in a busy city shopping mall.

As for the road, we actually saw a man get run over when he ran out onto the road a few months ago. It was awful, and DS still remembers "when the man got squashed on the road". Thankfully he doesn't seem traumatised by it, but he definitely knows not to run on the road.