Toddlers & Appointments

If you have kids and have ever taken a toddler with you to an appointment you will know how very important it is to have items for them to stay entertained while waiting. It doesn’t matter if the appointment is for you, for them or another family member. It is important that you keep toddlers busy at appointments and here’s a few ways I have learned to do just that.

Scheduled Too Many Appointments in a Month!

If they are NOT entertained you will pay for it and so will everyone else inside the waiting room. I decided that I would get all doctors (eyes, physicals, check ups) and dental work done for the month. It seemed like a really clever idea, I mean I am Mom hear me ROAR right? Not always are our best intentions well thought out.

This is just a small screen shot before I filled it up with the rest of the appointments and March looks very similar. I did add some doodles on there so no one can see everything we are doing because hey that’s how people are stalked, I should know. Almost every SINGLE day is planned with one event, a class, birthday party and of course all the appointments to tie in with them.

I wanted to ensure I did everything needed as a mom before SoccerBoy turns 18. By the way he turns 18 at the end of March so you see why I crammed everything together. I know there are single moms and dads out there that do this type of stuff all the time, but I have found it so much harder when you have 5 kids and try doing it. So to everyone that books things like this my hat goes off to you because it is no easy task. It isn’t like you can ask someone for help, it is just something you have to get done and you will do it.

Now lets make this a little easier. First I want to show you what it looks like to have a friendly dentist/doctor’s office. A doctor’s office/dentist office should always have something for the little ones to do, even if they only have a few board books/paper books for them to read. Mine is really cool because they have more than that.

At my local dentist office they have a little garden area, okay not really but the children’s area is blocked off by a 3 foot tall white picket fence. The walls are painted with vines and flowers around the area and there are plenty of toys, toddler furniture and two small picnic tables for them to sit and read a book (plenty of board books and children’s books) or play with the toys on.

The little room has two small road map carpets where the kids can race hot wheels around which definitely help to keep toddlers busy. In the corner of the room, hanging from the ceiling is the TV which is subscribed to Netflix so they can watch cartoons. I love this place. The eye doctor also has a smaller area for children with a few chunky toy vehicles to scoot around the carpet, wooden puzzles and books to read. The only issue I have is it is a really tiny area as in two seat space.

Toddler Entertainment Suggestion:

My suggestion to keep toddlers busy at appointments would be to bring a pad of paper, pencils, crayons with you any time you know you are going to an appointment. Insider your purse or diaper bag make sure to bring one chunky toy, a hot wheel or toy, Barbie doll/action figure and a book for them to read. All of these things are included in my bag, the next thing on my list to find is a small wooden puzzle because he is showing more interest in them.

Keep in mind that others may see this and want to play too if there are no toys in the area. He also likes to play with my kindle to watch his favorite cartoons on youtube while we wait but when there is no wifi he is out of luck. My last suggestion is to have a bag/bowl full of dry snacks so they can come up and get a few at a time and not leave the room a mess.

Do you have any suggestions for parents of toddlers?