Toddler Tuesday: 5 tips for a stress-free visit to the park.

Going to the park is simple right? Right. Well, yes, as simple as anything is once you have a toddler to consider. Parks are a great place for kids to get exercise, socialize and get fresh air, but they can be a source for a lot of stress as well. With all of the benefits come stressful hazards like keeping your toddler hydrated, watching out for bullies and the inevitable small scale injury. Besides keeping some hand sanitizer and a bit of antiseptic spray in your diaper bag, there are a few more things a parent can do to make a trip to the park more enjoyable for everyone.

1. Bring back-up toys.
As the name implies, these special "back-up" toys are not the only ones. Give your little gazelle her choice of one toy to bring to the park, then slip a couple more into the bag. This way she is more focused on the one toy that she specifically got to choose to bring to the park instead of wanting to bring the whole nursery. Also, if there is a problem at the park later, say another kid has a sand shovel, and she really wants to take a turn, but the other kid is not sharing, then you can produce a shovel from your bag. Some basic back up toys are: a shovel, pail, truck, doll, ball and a box of sidewalk chalk. The sidewalk chalk makes a great distraction if there is a situation where your toddler is trying to take away another kids toy, or having trouble sharing her own toy. A nice big box of sidewalk chalk generally has enough pieces in it that everyone can have something to color with, and whatever the issue it was that caused the disruption is quickly forgotten in the light of an opportunity to deface public property with parental approval.

2. Bring a snack and 2 drinks.
Even if you are not going to be at the park that long, chances are that you will just get settled when another child at the park will start to have their snack. Nothing inspires hunger in a toddler like watching someone else eat. You don't need to bring much, a baggie of little crackers, a box of raisins and a banana are generally enough to satisfy any sudden cravings. The reason I recommend bringing two different kinds of drinks is that if your child is watching another kid drink juice, then water is hardly going to be what he wants, so one of the cups should have some diluted pure fruit juice. Then, by the time you are getting ready to go, it will not matter what other kids are drinking, he will probably just be thirsty, and nothing is better for pure thirst than fresh clean water, so your second cup should have water in it. I generally discourage parents from bringing milk to the park because it can spoil so quickly, but if you have a cooling pack and an insulated carrier to place the milk in it should be fine.

3. Bring the umbrella stroller.
You may not need it on the way to the park, there is no reason to keep your toddler in there because chances are she would much rather walk. But, after an hour or two in the sun it may be your best bet at getting your exhausted little munchkin home without having to carry her. I use my umbrella stroller to carry the diaper bag on the way to the park, which is extra helpful because the extra drinks and snacks make that bag pretty heavy. The back up toys can go in the stroller too, and if your little helper needs something to do, she can always help push. I particularly like the umbrella style for a quick jog to the park because it is light and easy to maneuver, and if I run into sand or mud, I can just pick it up.

4. Apply sunscreen before leaving the house.
Getting out the door to go to the park is tough, and many parents forgo the application of sunscreen in an effort to save time. However, once your little ping pong ball sees the park with all of the fun waiting to be had, holding still long enough to get a thorough coating of the protective lotion is going to prove to be a struggle at best and a total meltdown at worst. It is much better to have the smaller shorter struggle at the house before you leave than to risk the frustrating wrestling match I not-so-lovingly refer to as "greasing the piglet".

5. Wear appropriate shoes.

This goes for both you and your little Tarzan. If the park you are going to has grass, a shoe with a little bit of tread is good. For sandy or wood-chip covered parks, I recommend socks and sneakers. I know that you might think that sandals would be best, but with all the running and climbing your little spider monkey will be doing, the friction caused by a few grains of sand or a couple wood chips inside a sandal can get very uncomfortable. Also, unless you are very familiar with a park and are confident in its cleanliness, do not let your child go barefoot in the sand. I have found everything from rusty nails and broken glass to poisonous spiders and used drug needles in the sand at parks, just waiting to skewer an unsuspecting little foot. For parks with the rubbery stuff, sandals are fine, as long as they are snug and have good traction for playing on the climbing structure.

Trick: Use a timer when it is time to go.
Since leaving the park can cause quite a fuss, I have found it is much easier if it is not my "fault" that it is time to go. When you go to the park, set an alarm on your phone, or bring an egg timer with you. Explain to your toddler on the way to the park that when they hear the bell it is time to go home. Then when you are ready to go, set off the alarm. Your toddler still might not like the idea of going home, but he will be much less likely to fight it. Also, letting him push the stroller for a block or so before you put him in it will give him something to do to keep his mind off the fact that you are leaving the park.

Trick: Bring a blanket.
Now the sun may be shining down as hot as it has ever been, but bringing a blanket to the park is still a very good idea. On hot days sometimes the sand gets too hot to sit on, but you can spread a blanket to sit on quite comfortably. Also, swings can be too hot, slides, teeter-totters or just about any surface that your little fire-walker might want to play on. A blanket makes a great easily adjustable barrier for any of these. And if the weather takes a sudden turn, you can bundle your baby beluga against chilly breezes. Then, when it is time to head home, if you have an awning on your stroller, you can drape the blanket over it for a bit of added sun protection.

An outing to the park is a wonderful activity on a nice sunny day, especially if there is one fairly close to your house. Hopefully with these tips you will have a couple more ideas for how to take the stress out of an otherwise fun day in the sun with your little one. If you have found these tips and trick helpful, please forward them to any new or expecting parents, or parents of toddlers you might know. Questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome. Happy parenting!

5 tips for choosing the right stroller.

Whether you call it a stroller, pram, baby buggy, carriage, perambulator or a pushchair, picking the baby-mover that you will trust to carry around your most precious cargo is no small decision. Should you get a light little umbrella-style, or a heavy-duty ATV looking job? What about a jogger or one developed by some young cutting-edge designer? There are so many different choices available today that a parent can get to feeling quite overwhelmed with the amount of research there is to do. Here are a few things you can do to help you narrow down your search more quickly.

1. Get a car seat-frame for the first few months.

For the first few months your baby will spend a lot of time in a car seat. Those car seats are heavy, bulky and hard to handle. Taking your baby in and out of a car seat can be difficult and frustrating for you both, so you may want to get a stroller frame that you can simply attach your baby's car seat to. They are lightweight and inexpensive and can save you both a lot of time and effort.

2. Evaluate your lifestyle.
If you are the type of parent who will be heading out for long outings on a fairly regular basis, you will want a stroller with a big basket, and easy turning capability, if you are more of a fashionista, a cutting edge design will suit you better. If you are really outdoorsy, an all-terrain style will be best, joggers will benefit from a jogging stroller (obviously) and impulsive families who like to travel a lot or run out for a quick visit to the park at a moments notice would be better off with a lightweight umbrella-style one. Of course it is possible to find strollers which straddle a few different categories, but if you take a good look at how your stroller needs to fit your lifestyle before you start shopping you will save yourself a lot of confusion.

3. Prioritize your most desired features.
There are certain features that most parents look for in strollers, like awnings, easily collapsible, weight, size, food tray, cup holder, fully recline-able and quality of construction. Some of these features are available on at least a few types of every style of stroller, but not all of them, so it is good to know which ones are less important, and which ones you cannot live without. For me an awning and fully recline-able seat are paramount because napping is so much easier with these two features. For many parents a food tray may not be very important because they don't anticipate needing to feed their child while she is riding in the push-cart. Whatever your personal list of important features are, if you have the ones which matter most to you in mind while shopping, it will greatly simplify the process.

4. Shop within your budget.

The perfect stroller is almost always available for hundreds of dollars. It sometimes seems that the more perfect it is the more expensive it is. However, with a sharp eye for the most important features, and a preferred style in mind, staying within your budget should be completely attainable. Besides the top designer brands, there are knockoffs available which nevertheless have a wide range of features and styles to choose from. You don't even need to sacrifice style in many instances because there are several sites where people sell covers for all kinds of strollers made from beautiful and creative fabrics.

5. Let durability be your deciding factor.
I think the single most important thing to keep in mind when shopping for a stroller is durability. Durability translates into monetary savings and safety for your precious little passenger. If you can find a stroller that will grow with your child as well, it will also save you money, but only if it is durable enough to last through the abuse that it is likely to suffer as it is tossed in and out of trunks, tumbled through the airline baggage system and taken on countless excursions through every type of terrain. A quality brand I can recommend which is on the less expensive end of the spectrum is "Safety 1st", they use high-quality materials, and have a fairly good range of features available as well.

After you have a short list of a few contenders for the title of burp-buggy-extraordinaire, you might find yourself at an impasse between two similar push-carts. This site http://strollers.baby-gaga.com/reviews.php is great for helping to differentiate between similar strollers in your price range. It rates strollers on durability, has honest parent reviews and makes quick easy comparisons between strollers based on size, weight, price and design. This site is the best resource I have found for choosing the right stroller, though there are more out there, as well as many review blogs and of course Consumer Reports. I hope these tips prove helpful (for my personal choice in strollers look here). I've received so many requests for stroller advice over the last couple of weeks that I wanted to give parents some really good tried and true ideas for how to make the right decision for them when it comes to strollers. Please share these tips with any new or expecting parents you might know, and feel free to leave questions or comments. Happy parenting!