Rein/harnesses for children

luxor4t

I always used reins and then a wrist link. With three children within 5 years, it was too easy to get distracted. I think sales shot up after what happened to James Bulger - DS2 was born the same year.

londonsurrey

mumonashoestring wrote: »

Definitely agree. Our front door opens right onto the street and there's plenty of narrow pavements on busy roads and parks without gates around here. As long as you're responsible for the safety of a tiny crazy person with the attention span of a gnat, the coordination of a drunk and no understanding of danger I think anything that evens the odds is a good thing

"Tiny crazy person" :rotfl:

gingin_2

I had one who very definitely needed them and one who didn't. I always smile when you see little toddlers stomping along with them on, like they have all the freedom in the world and not yet realising that Mum or Dad are really in control.

MissKeith

I like the backpacks you can get, they look fun and practical too. I think I'll be using reins of some sort when my little monster is toddling.

My middle step daughter was taught to walk close and not run off but one day when she was walking back from the shops with my partner when she was a young tot something possessed her to dart suddenly into a busy main road. My partner, with his hands full of shopping bags, had one instinct and that was SWING! Yes, he clotheslined his small daughter to catapult her backwards away from the road. She caught a face full of bread, fell hard on her bum and had one hell of a shock but if OH hadn't acted so quickly, or even stopped to think, she would have been knocked down. After that she was on reins but funnily enough she never did it again. :rotfl:

Desperado99

I used reins once and only once with DD. She much preferred hand-holding. We had gone to a cafe (one where you take your tray from the till to your table) so I had DD in one hand and tray in the other. DD just wouldnt co-operate and chose that moment to fling herself on the floor kicking and screaming (every child does it once, don't they )

So I managed to not spill everything and retrieve said toddler off the floor......... all the time being tutted at by two old biddies who at no point thought I could have done with someone standing up and taking the tray off me for 2 seconds.

But hey ho..... now she's nearly a teenager I get to embarrass her just by breathing

Cash-Cow_3

view wrote: »

Do people agree?

I don't have kids, however, always think it looks a little, um, barbaric.I'm not judging, I'm really not but just always wondered what people thought?

No I hate them. My children were little for such a short time I wanted to hold their hands not some cord from Mothercare.

luxor4t

Desperado99 wrote: »

......... all the time being tutted at by two old biddies who at no point thought I could have done with someone standing up and taking the tray off me for 2 seconds.......

I longed to ask women like that what life was like with the perfect children they so obviously had produced....:o

peachyprice

I used them with my twins, it made going out for walks much more enjoyable, they weren't stuck to my side and had the freedom to use both hands to explore.

I didn't use them with my DD, she wasn't very intrepid and would rather hold hands, which was fine too.

pulliptears

Cash-Cow wrote: »

No I hate them. My children were little for such a short time I wanted to hold their hands not some cord from Mothercare.

How lovely.
Do you think mothers who use reins flatly refuse to interact with their children then? Or is it perhaps that trying to do 5 things at once and keep a toddler safe is a little easier occasionally with that piece of 'cord from Mothercare'?

As much as we'd all love to be Superwoman it doesn't happen in real life does it?

valk_scot

I preferred a wrist link but reins were useful when we wanted to tether our toddler when camping, we used to attach him to a pegged out guyline on the shady side of the tent so he could play without running off. (Hubby was keeping an eye on him btw, he wasn't there on his own.)

If you're trying to push a buggy though a wrist link works better, you can loop it shorter round your wrist, get the toddler to hold the buggy too but the link will stop the toddler if he lets go and runs off. Ditto you can loop the wrist link up out the way when holding hands but if the child slips your grasp, he still can't run out in the road. So it's a sort of failsafe in these circumstances. I was never fast enough to chase an escaping toddler and if you've got a buggy with a baby as well you can't just leave it on the pavement while you take off after the other one.