Putting the wild child on a leash!

[LoriAnn630]

Thank God! Everyone is saying yes! We planned on using one for the first time. I was worrying what other people might think. Im more worried my son would get away from us and get hurt, lost or worse.

 

[CEDmom]

You do what you need to do. When it comes to my child's safety and my own sanity I don't care what others think. We used one for DD when she was between 1 1/2 - 2. You know, the age when they want to explore outside of the stroller but don't yet understand limits. It worked well because she knew it was either that or sitting in her stroller.

 

[barb45]

When my kids were little (and not at all wild) I liked to know that they were beside me at all times. We had velcro wrist bands that were attached by a curly phone cord. I don't know if they still sell these. They were great because it never really yanked on the child. We would have been holding their hands the whole time. Think about it. It is more comfortable to be attached by a cord than to have your arm straight up in the air the whole time. If you look at it from the child's view you will see that holding an adults hand can't be very comfortable. My kids didn't mind this at all and I used it whenever we would be in public places where hand holding would have been for extended periods.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We used to use them at the airports as we had the 3 ds 4 and under and only 2 of us parents. We just got back from disney and did see 1 little boy on a leash. He was definetely a special needs child. I didnt think anything wrong of it. Disney is such a big place with so many nooks etc. We lost our 14 year old in epcot like 3 times. We have even suggested it to a church family whose son is autisic, non verbal etc. The dh said to my dh, so you think my son is a dog? Sigh, sigh. The poor child has jumped out the window of church and home, ran down street, found on top of copy machine etc. Do what makes you feel safe for your child. No one is walking in your shoes. Its your decision.

 

[billwendy]

I would say use it...its better to have peace of mind than to worry the whole time!!! How many people have lost their children and gone through a panic attack. Those littles wrist bands may do a lot to help you enjoy your vacation!!!

 

[sha_lyn]

One point I would like to make that I wanted to on the other thread (sorry I hope it doesn't lead to that mess again)......
Try walking around with your arm held above your head and see how long that is comfortable. For a child this is what they are going through when holding our hands. IMHO it is more comfortable for the child to be wearing a harness than it is to have their arm raised above their head all the time. It also frees up their hands.

 

[wdwdvcdad]

Don't do it. Put yourself in the child's place. How would you feel? I know you love your child & this is not meant to disparage you, but I find it dehumanizing. Think about it & do what is best for you, but I think it is the wrong way to watch a child. how old is the child. If he/she is a tolder, kepp him/her in a stroller, & give time out of the stroller with your close supervision. If he/she is older, go over & over the rules, expectations, and consequences for behavior. Good luck.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Originally posted by wdwdvcdad
If he/she is a tolder, kepp him/her in a stroller, & give time out of the stroller with your close supervision. If he/she is older, go over & over the rules, expectations, and consequences for behavior. Good luck.

 

[LSchrow]

viewpoint from one without little ones ~
i 'm glad to see parents who love their kidlets more than strangers (& VERY thankful after walking thru WDW with a broken toe getting repeatedly mashed <YEE-OUCH!! > by "isn't my child the cutest when he/she acts like a banshee, awwww").

kinda like: if one's child was about to run onto a busy street, would one be more concerned for his/her safety, or would the parent be more concerned about what onlookers think & "hope for the best"?

simply put, you love your child enough to keep him/her safe, IMHO

 

[HollyJoy]

I say that you do what you feel comfortable with to keep your child safe. WE don't know your child, you do.

 

[Ambassador]

We may put the smallest delegate on a leash during Memorial Day. We have never visited that time of year, and don't know what to expect of the crowds. Mr. Little Delegate is a very fast runner, thinks that dashing away from the delegation is a chase game, and has become ingenious in his mastery of camoflage and concealment.

Not surprisingly, he's a little Houdini also. Hopefully, we only need show him the harness to encourage good behavior.

 

[NotUrsula]

It's a good decision, you are putting safety first. Life happens, and sometimes it happens to grownups, too. People who are against reins (what they are really called, BTW) almost never think about what would happen to the child in a crowd if something happened to unavoidably distract the accompanying adult.

I'll give you a real-world example that happened to my mom. (Apologies to those who have read this story before.) Mom was walking along a very busy street that happened to be on a slope, when suddenly she tripped and fell, knocking herself out and breaking her ankle. My sister was 3 (on reins) and my brother was an infant in a big stroller. Mom lost her grip on the stroller, and it careened straight into traffic and caused several accidents, though by some miracle, none of the cars actually hit the stroller, and my brother wasn't hurt. However, the stroller had rolled so far that no one realized where it had come from, and the police took him to a different hospital than the one my mom was taken to. It was hours before she found out what had happened to him. By contrast, my sister, wearing a harness and reins that were around Mom's wrist, could not go anywhere, and stayed right by Mom's side while an ambulance was called.

 

[liznboys]

NotUrsula-wow, what a story!

We used a leash once on our first son when he was 1.5. We went to an amusement park and thought it would be a great way for him to feel some freedom instead of being strapped in the stroller. And of course we thought it would make us feel more secure and therefore relax and enjoy the day. Well............. He hated being in that thing!!!! And I felt like I was holding a big dog on the leash who was constantly trying to run away. Most of us have experienced that before, ANNOYING lol. We got so many stares and dirty looks from people. I was surprised that people cared so much! I felt like saying, "YES people, he is strapped onto this leash, get over it!" LOL!!

Anyway, we abandoned the leash, never used it again. We felt much better about either having him in the stroller or letting him walk but always holding hands.

This has probably been stated already, didn't read the other replies... but you should definitely try it out before you go. Good luck!!

Edited to say: We had the harness style one where it goes around their torso and the leash part comes off their back.

 

[CEDmom]

Originally posted by sha_lyn
One point I would like to make that I wanted to on the other thread (sorry I hope it doesn't lead to that mess again)......
Try walking around with your arm held above your head and see how long that is comfortable. For a child this is what they are going through when holding our hands. IMHO it is more comfortable for the child to be wearing a harness than it is to have their arm raised above their head all the time. It also frees up their hands.

You're right, the harness kind is the best to use. What we did with DD was put the it on top of her onesy and then put a t-shirt on top of that. All that was showing was the leash part coming out from under her t-shirt. She'd forget all about having the harness on until she'd try to move too far away for us.

 

[Schmeck]

And now it's time for Schmeck to do her spiel:

Don't use the stretchy leash harnesses! A short, non-stretchy cord is much safer. You don't want your child to be able to get so far away from you that someone can get between the two of you, and trip over the cord. While the person who trips may get hurt, the child at the other end of the leash will get dragged down as well. I've seen it happen twice at WDW - once when a stroller-commando pushed through, and once when an adult tripped over a very stretched out, long cord.

End of spiel.

 

[Billmel]

My DD and my DGD are going with my DH and I to WDW in a few days....my DD is scared to death that she will turn around and take her eyes off of her for a minute and she will be gone. She is so nervouse that she doesn't want to do anything with just her and her DD she wants us around all the time. DGD is 11 months old and just now walking, so her walking off is not the issue. DD is afraid someone will just pick her up and walk away....My DD is 19 and worries alot about the baby. I suggested buying a harness that attaches the baby to her wrist, or the stroller to give my DD a little more confidence so she is not so nervous. She is such a good mom, I would hate for her to be so nervous that she misses the enjoyment of her DD first trip to WDW, and our DGD first trip. Any suggestions????

 

[sha_lyn]

on another thread some mentioned an electronic devise that attaches to the parent and child. It the child gets out of a certain range an alarm goes off. Maybe that would work well to give her some peace of mind. Hopefully someone will post here that knows more about it.

 

[sha_lyn]

Don't use the stretchy leash harnesses! A short, non-stretchy cord is much safer.

ITA

Also from experience I learned the harness is safer than the arm strap. If (when LOL) they decided ot try to run off with the arm strap they usually end up losing their balance when they get ot the end and they whip around and fall hard and don't have that hand to help catch them.

 

[epjenk]

I'm all for using the rein. We used it with DS when he was 3 and we had our 1 1/2 year old. As far as people looking at you, they are not the child's parent and they are not responsible for keeping him safe in this world- you are! I wouldn't use it for a 5 year old, but I find the idea that it is "dehumanizing" a bit extreme. Having to sit in a stroller where you can't really see what is going on and get the exercise that little bodies crave seems far more cruel to me. I can't tell you how many exhausted parents came up to me in the parks and asked where I had gotten the strap for my son. (I got mine at WalMart)

Glad you posted this thread- it reminded me to pack the strap for my my now 2 1/2 year old!

 

[LoriAnn630]

We bought a harness yesterday. We are only going to use it in Disney World. We were going to get haircuts. DS usually has to stay in his stroller, which he hates!! He usually cries and makes everyone uncomfortable. You cant take him out of the stroller because he runs as fast as the wind. Its very hard to keep up with him!! Before you know it hes into something he shouldnt be. Then your saying, "NO!" and cleaning up his mess or washing his hands...ect...and as soon as your done doing that hes into something else!! LOL We put the harness on him to see how he was going to react. HE LOVED IT! He was able to walk around the waiting area with my DH. He was happy and semi-quiet. We are still going to teach him his boundries, what he can do and cant. After spening all this money for Disney World we want to make it as pleasant as possible for everyone!!
We are still practicing holding hands and walking at home.

43 more days to go!