You’re on a family outing, everything seems to be going well and then suddenly your child throws an almighty tantrum. It’s fine, kids have tantrums, move on, nothing to see here. Right? Wrong. There are certain places where these moments make you vow never to return there again out of fear that some random member of the public will somehow remember you and your kids.
I never had many problems with my eldest when it came to tantrums. She was never the full-blown tantrum-in-the middle-of-the-supermarket type and more of a “oohh-let’s-run-around-the-supermarket-while-mummy-and-daddy-try-to-do-the-shopping” type, which is still annoying, but much easier to deal with.
Then my second child came along.
Any feelings of relief at managing to avoid dealing with awkward toddler tantrums dissipated and I discovered that toddlers really can be arseholes.
They can’t help it of course. After all, tantrums are mostly a normal part of a child’s development and all that. But god, there have been days where I’ve had to try not to lose my shit.
So if, like me, you’ve had a shitty day of dealing with an unreasonable toddler and feel like you need to read about someone else’s experiences, then here you are.
Here are a few of the most awkward toddler tantrums that my littlest one has ever had.
Car Park
One of the biggest challenges with small children is getting them to actually sit in a car. No matter how much my 3-year-old wants to go somewhere, for some reason, he will still refuse to get in his car seat. This isn’t too much of an awkward situation if you’re at home in your driveway and don’t have to be anywhere in a rush (which most parents usually are).
In a packed car park, however, it’s a nightmare. And if your luck is anything like mine, the random person who is parked next to you will just happen to return to their car at the exact moment that your child is refusing to sit in his seat. Your car door will be blocking their way to their car door, resulting in lots of awkwardness.
After a few muttered apologies and a further five minutes of awkwardness, the 3-year-old still refuses to get into his seat and then throws a tantrum when we try to put him in it.
Eventually, after about ten minutes (but feels more like an hour), he sees sense. the random person gets into their car and drives off and I breathe a sigh of relief, hoping that I never ever see them again.
A national trust historic building
National Trust sites are a great place for the family, especially the grounds. If you have a toddler though, the historic houses can be a challenge. We decided to explore one during our first proper family holiday last year. Big mistake.
It was very busy and we drifted away from each other during the tour, with the grandparents and husband ending up with the 2-year-old and me in another room with the 5-year-old.
Now it’s hard enough dealing with a tantrum when you’re actually with your child, but it’s honestly just as embarrassing when you HEAR a tantrum and realise with horror that it’s YOUR child making the noise.
Then you walk around the corner and locate your screaming child, who is trying to drag the poor grandparents and daddy back into a room that they’ve just explored because he wants to touch the nice, shiny displays again.
And then you walk past them, pretending that you don’t know any of them while tutting loudly.
We avoided going back there for the rest of the holiday.
A museum
Similar situation to the National Trust building experience but much worse. On the same holiday, we visited a railway museum that had a section with some wonderful replicas of tiny Victorian houses.
And by tiny, I mean minuscule.
Cue the entire family trying desperately to get back down the tiniest set of Victorian-style stairs that you’ve ever seen with a screaming 2-year-old in tow. Even the 5-year-old was embarrassed. After what felt like hours, we managed to get out and awkwardly move away from the buildings as a member of staff mumbled “oh dear”.
The shame.
Yeah, I know, I should have learned by then that toddlers and historic houses/museums don’t mix. I’ve since decided not to visit any more until the 3-year-old is at least ten.
Toy shop
Definitely one for triggering awkward toddler tantrums. No matter how much you explain to your toddler that he cannot take all the bears off the shelves and start role-playing with them in the middle of Build-A-Bear, he just doesn’t listen.
The Supermarket
The ultimate trigger for awkward tantrums. So much so, that there’s even a whole post about it.
I now try to spend as little time as possible in the toy section.
The bakery
Similar to the supermarket situation, except the bakery is about five times smaller.
I still cringe when I think about me desperately attempting to prise my 3-year-old off the floor of the tiny shop while people were trying to peacefully browse the sausage rolls and pasties.
Hopefully none of the people present in all of these situations will remember this frazzled mother and her unreasonable toddler’s tantrums.
I can guarantee that I’ll still be thinking about it years later though.
And will hopefully laugh about it!
