F/U to poll about holding hands with LO

march2008

Last week, I made a poll asking if your LOs will walk beside you out in public while you hold their hands. My DD would fuss and pull away and I would end up having to either carry her or put her back in the stroller. I realized after the poll that this is a learned behavior and something that I would have to work on.

I just wanted to give a follow-up about this because I was surprised at how well it went. It only took one day of trying while we were at a store for her to get the concept. I can now set her down and tell that she must hold my hand if she wants to walk around. When she fusses and tries to pull away, I put her back in the cart/stroller/my arms. I had no idea how easy it would be for her to catch on. I guess I should have had more faith in her intelligence!!

CarlaAndJames

great job! I'm always surprised about the things I think Lexi won't do...then she turns around and does them. They definitely understand a lot more than we give them credit for!

milesc

Great to hear!

Yeah, its only took a day or two for us as well- 

amypogg6

Good job!!! We're all learning right along with our LO

mamarazzi528

Good job!  I need to try working on this with LO too!

LexGator

That's awesome--smart girl! My DD loves to hold hands, so I didn't have to deal with that, but that's great that she caught on so easily. No matter where we go, my DD grabs a hand. If I say, "let's go change your diaper," we trot off to her room holding hands. I am soaking it up because I think it's so cute, and I know it won't last for long.

SarahKate31

I've been thinking about this the past few days too. We normally carry LO out to the car or in parking lots, etc and lately he squirms, kicks, wails, etc because he wants to walk. But we are nervous about letting him do that because he is not great at holding hands. I just said to DH yesterday, maybe we should offer him the choice and then maybe he'll learn to hold hands better?? I'm still nervous about parking lots...

CarlaAndJames

SarahKate31:

I've been thinking about this the past few days too. We normally carry LO out to the car or in parking lots, etc and lately he squirms, kicks, wails, etc because he wants to walk. But we are nervous about letting him do that because he is not great at holding hands. I just said to DH yesterday, maybe we should offer him the choice and then maybe he'll learn to hold hands better?? I'm still nervous about parking lots...

We did it in really controlled places first, like the hallway at daycare, sidewalk in front of our house, etc. We didn't do parking lots until I was pretty confident she'd obey. And I still don't do big parking lots like the grocery store or anything, I just don't trust her not to bolt! 

Turtle143

LexGator:

That's awesome--smart girl! My DD loves to hold hands, so I didn't have to deal with that, but that's great that she caught on so easily. No matter where we go, my DD grabs a hand. If I say, "let's go change your diaper," we trot off to her room holding hands. I am soaking it up because I think it's so cute, and I know it won't last for long.

These little ones are quite smart! Liv surprises me a lot too.

We also hold hands even in the house going to her room or the kitchen. I love it!

Andie_83

That's so encouraging to read! Zoey can be quite the terror in a store when she wants out of her stroller, etc. I am definitely going to try this technique next time!

kimbo1216

I agree!  She doesn't get to walk if she won't hold one of our hands.