Oh the tantrums -- toddler moms, please help!

PrettyInPearls23

I thought I'd switch things up a bit around here and ask for some parenting help. DS will be 2 on NYE and his tantrums are slowly getting to be much, much worse. To the point of being embarrassed in public. When we're at home, I have no problem letting him roll around all over the floor, ignoring his antics, until he gets it out of his system. Obviously I can't do that in public -- although I was thisclose to letting him roll around on the floor of a rest area on our 11 hr road trip over the weekend. He wanted to be carried, and I wanted him to walk so he could stretch his legs. It was like WW III. So embarrassing.

 

So I guess my question is this -- what do you do when you're in public? I don't want to give in and teach him that he can get what he wants when we're in public, but I also don't want to be that mom who just lets their child scream and ruin things for other people. I can't always remove us from the situation (i.e. the rest area. I had to go to the bathroom!) so I guess I'm at a loss.

 

Suggestions? Books on how to deal with toddlers? Experiences?