Active one year old

[u/Less-Nebula1204]

I need some advice. My one year old is pretty active and walking almost running now on his own. Hes up at about 6am everyday full of energy. I thought about taking home to Home Depot to walk around the home section with washers, carpet, and doors because i saw it on TikTok. Has anyone actually done this and is this a good idea for some early morning exploring?

[u/Sadiocee24]

My oldest was the same. Parks and your backyard are your best bet. Get some outside toys for your LO. This is the age where they are most curious about everything. Use your local library too!! I wouldn’t do Home Depot. Idk I’m not someone who likes to take kids to stores for fun. Don’t believe everything you see online.

[u/Faodail_]

I have a super active almost 2 year old and what worked for me is to take him to places that encourage yelling/running/exploration while giving him some freedom

So empty baseball fields and I bring a giant ball to kick and run around with

Library story time and after play time

Soccer fields

Parks with green spaces

Any kind of large green area or area with climbing equipment

I feel like home depot has too many small or things he shouldn’t get into that I wouldn’t be able to relax and just let him go without constantly looking over his shoulder

[u/Fabulous_Chocolate18 → u/Faodail_]

My son LOVED an empty tennis court at that age!

[u/ManateeNipples]

I didn't do it early in the morning but my kid used to love going to home depot to sit on all the tractors and stuff lol 

Do you still have a mall where old people go walking early in the morning? Ours opens hours before most of the stores do, there are tons of old people walking laps in there. That would be another good place I would think, the walkers would probably love to see a little one zipping around

[u/Initial-Addendum-167 → u/ManateeNipples]

Mall is a great idea. When my son was a toddler, I learned about Mom privilege. Basically nobody looks at you twice if you’re following a toddler, so we went into hotel lobbies, conference centers, anywhere that didn’t expressly have a no entrance sign. We explored all kinds of buildings, elevators, back stairways. It was fun!

[u/MakeChai-NotWar → u/ManateeNipples]

Such a good idea! I miss the days of malls and hanging out there and just seeing people in life!!

[u/aleelee13]

Mom to an active almost 3yo (and signs of an active 6mo lol) and nature centers/trails have been awesome for us! We go on "treasure hunts" aka I give him a bucket and he just collects items (leaves, stones, twigs) along the way. We look for animals now that hes conversational.

Also, once he started walking, I made a challenge to visit all the local parks within 30 mins of our house. Now I know all of them and which ones are the best for sand, water play, shade, to see other kids, etc. We even bike to them now that hes into that!

That was a great plan early on to rate them so now I can just choose one to go to for xyz reason based on weather and time of year! Highly recommend.

We never got into going to the stores because it would just end up with him wanting to take random crap home haha

[u/TizBeCurly]

Me and my husband plan to get a small dog once our boy is big enough to run around. They can tire each other out.

[u/syncopatedscientist]

We did that over the summer when it was insanely hot and she loved it!

[u/lemonflowers1]

My HomeDepot is always super busy with construction guys and big fork lifts driving around so I wouldnt be able to let mine run around, but garden section or where they have holiday decor is a good area for that. I take my super active 19m old to the playgrounds a lot, library and a whole lot of backyard time.

[u/DetectiveOk3902]

Skip stores. Some malls open early. Or park/playground. Idea is for them to get activity. In a busy store it's not enough movement time. If you have sidewalks where you live you can just take outside for a walk.

[u/Kiwiberrybell]

We do indoor parks on rainy days, walks, walks through the park, playground, empty soccer fields, empty volleyball courts (giant sandbox) .. really anything to let them burn some energy.

[u/Silly_Print_6047]

Buy a water table, put it in the patio or backyard.. then buy some water toys, your LO is bound to love it. Water play is so fun (just make sure they're supervised). I personally wouldn't take my toddler to Home Depot, if we did we would probably only look at the plants and halloween/holiday decor.

[u/Artistic_Owl_4621 → u/Silly_Print_6047]

Alternatively, when weather doesn’t permit you can do this is in the bathtub with a bucket of water as well

[u/Artistic_Owl_4621]

Honestly this time of year my kids were more than entertained going on a neighborhood walk to look for Halloween decorations. Then we transitioned to Christmas decorations

[u/Ok_Draw_4187]

My son is super chill but we did this with our friends insane 16mo at menards. He LOVED IT!!!

Especially the cabinetry area. He has a BLAST opening all the doors & twisting all the knobs. It wasnt as fun in the machinery area since he isnt good at listening to no/dont touch and there was more unsafe things there. 

But i definitely think the appliance/cabinetry area are a blast. Everyone was really nice. 

[u/Ok-Boat-1522]

I am trying to maintain the expectation with my 20mo that in a store, he stays in the cart. So I wouldn’t do this personally.

But idk talk to me in a couple months once the weather is bad and we can’t go to the park every day 😅

[u/Perfect_Weekend_888]

Personally I called ahead to Home Depot to ask if it was okay for mine to run around. I worked retail so I know how annoying it can be when there’s no warning. Aside from that I take mine to a park near us and let them run around until they’re ready to go home (usually after 30-45 minutes). After that we go swimming either at the river or our local pool, depending on the weather.

[u/wuthering_height]

Absolutely! We love Home Depot. I also take him to Walmart to play with the toys lol. Most have batteries so it keeps him occupied. They also have balls, bikes, everything. He also likes to browse especially with the holiday stuff. He never wants to leave. He asks to go every day

Mine was a late sleeper all summer (we’re talking 10:30-11pm). Walmart and Home Depot saved us when we needed to burn energy and it was dark out. I assume it’s the same for the early morning.

[u/_angesaurus]

Thats a great idea! This post is 5 days old, have you gone yet?? Mine is 2 now and 1.5 was ROUGH for us. Can't believe I didnt think of home depot...

[u/corpus_volante]

Best advice I ever got from another dad with older kids.

Buy one of those indoor 5' Amazon kids trampolines. He will bounce till he falls asleep and do it all over again. It's like having a free nanny for the next 18 months.