Reining in my child ? To do or not to do ?

tinytot_2

Sometimes 4 and 5 year olds are in buggies for a reason, as my five year old is.

I often get looks from people such as you assuming that he should be walking at his age, try not to judge a book by the cover.

Sarahsaver

Welcome to the board.
Ok didnt mean to offend you as seems the case. I was not being judgemental. I am fully aware that some peoples kids need to be in a buggy, but not as many as there are! I think the whole underlying theme here is that people are judgemental about parents, the original poster wanted to know what other people think about reins, rather than necessarily what was best for their individual circumstances.
My son has to occasionally wear bandages for a skin condition so I know what its like to be judged. Someone once asked me what I had done to him. !!!
And I had to borrow a buggy from my littlun's nursery to put my son in when his feet were bad and he was unable to walk on them.

Queenie

Sarahsaver wrote:

... I have 3 kids with a short gap between the last 2 - impossible to hold hands with all of them.

I can empathise - I had 3 under 3yo at one point. In the early stages, I had a twin pushchair for the older 2 and a sling for the youngest and the handles had to take the weight of my shopping bags up a very steep hill; this progressed to, twin pushchair for youngest 2 and eldest had to hold the handle of the pushchair, which then lead onto, single pushchair for youngest, older two had to hold the handles. I'm so glad those early days are loooooong behind me LOL

Sarahsaver

i went out once with one in a buggy, one in a baby backpack and one on reins!!!

jellyhead

buggy boards seem quite popular these days for if you have more than one tot. i just had my boy and i think reins saved his life many a time. i see countless babes in shopping centres running wild and think that reins could stop them being kidnapped while their mothers are shopping.

Edinburghlass_2

jellyhead wrote:

buggy boards seem quite popular these days for if you have more than one tot. i just had my boy and i think reins saved his life many a time. i see countless babes in shopping centres running wild and think that reins could stop them being kidnapped while their mothers are shopping.

When Jamie Bulger was kidnapped my local shopping centre introduced a free system of borrowing reins while you were in the shopping centre, excellent idea as you don't aways remember to take reins with you or intend to be shopping long when you leave the house.

trafalgar_2

Sarahsaver wrote:

i went out once with one in a buggy, one in a baby backpack and one on reins!!!

Now that's what you call multi-tasking:)

jellyhead

edinburghlass wrote:

When Jamie Bulger was kidnapped my local shopping centre introduced a free system of borrowing reins while you were in the shopping centre, excellent idea as you don't aways remember to take reins with you or intend to be shopping long when you leave the house.

i always had reins in the changing bag but i suppose some children are toilet trained earlier than mine was. shopping centres are dangerous places but reins might not always be needed if you live in a rural area and know how safe your child will be. i will use reins for my baby but i live in a town next to a busy crossroads.

Jay-Jay_4

people are judgemental about parents, the original poster wanted to know what other people think about reins, rather than necessarily what was best for their individual circumstances

I had absolutely no idea that there was a stigma attached to reins

Is it a case of "you obviously can't control your child if you need to resort to reins"?

In my case I never needed to use them for my eldest because she was a very late walker and would happily hold my hand (I remembered that I bought them to use as a harness for her Tripp Trapp highchair) but my youngest is learning to walk and will not hold my hand, furthermore, she needs her hands to balance while she masters walking.

It's so strange, I would never think twice about using them if I felt like they were necessary, after all whos back doesn't feel like it's about to break after stooping to hold a tiny childs hand?

weird!

Sarahsaver

???
I'm bemused too but people do seem to frown on reins, but also tell you off if your kids are more than 2 inches away from you. Can't win!
either there are a lot of short people or a lot of tall kids! mine wouldnt hold hands even if our heights had been compatible;)