Awww Tegan. It's hard isn't it. I totally understand how you must feel (as one who has BTDT!).

To be honest, I avoid places like the supermarket etc as they set Jacob off. Well that's not quite honest - if I know I will only be in there for a matter of a few minutes to grab a couple of things, then that's fine, but I definitely DON'T take him on the major grocery shop each week because that IS asking for trouble. For him, it's boring as and he's been confined to his carseat on the way there, then confined to the trolley, then confined to the carseat again on the way home. So I look at it from his perspective, i.e. it's not very nice to be couped up and have loads of stuff to look at (lots of temptation IYKWIM....supermarkets are full of choccie frogs, fizzy drinks, bright lights, lots of people etc) but not be able to touch and run around to blast off that energy.......

So the end result was avoiding taking him on the major shop, and going it alone. I still do this where I know that there will be situations where he can't have a bit of space to explore/run around - he simply doesn't handle the environment well. Short appointments (I've had to take him places with me before obviously!) are ok, but anything that may require an extended stay in a confined space and no freedom to explore for him is unfortunately not a good situation and I do my best to work around it as much as I possibly can (sometimes it's unavoidable!).

Where I need to take me with him to more 'adult' environments, I try to do it first thing in the morning, or post-nap and ensure that I've got adequate snacks/drinks for him as a bit of a distraction.

Also, I personally don't see "if you don't stop, this will happen" as a threat, it's more about teaching little ones that there are consequences to their actions IYKWIM? It's hard for them when they're exploring and learning new things and as far as they are concerned, the world is all about them. Teaching them about consequences is really important and I think helps with setting a few boundaries IYKWIM? It's all VERY hard work (as you've probably seen by some of my other posts! ) but I do believe it's important for Jacob to appreciate that there are consequences to his actions that can/do involve other people/things apart from himself.....