Harnessing Toddlers

I used to think this was like leashing an animal. I have however changed my views. With the amount of kidnapping these days I would highly reccomend this for saftey reasons. The child does not have to be strapped to let the child wander away from them. Even with the child in a grocery cart anyone could snap a child up when your back is turned for a moment or bent down to pick something up. A tug at the strap would grab your attention and possibly prevent this from happening. Children should be taught to stay close to parents and not be out of control but this takes time and effort on the parents as well. I would not have the harness on all the time but when you are running errands and you do get distracted this could be beneficial to you and your child. What are some of the precautions you take with your child while in public? I keep my grandchildren in my arms or a tight hold on to the hand. With my 11 year old I never take my eyes off him when he is allowed to walk away from me.

When my wife and I are at the mall with our 3 kids we sometimes put a wrist strap on our 4 year old because I'm carrying my youngest. The length of the strap isn't long, just enough to let my son stay 3 feet away if he wanted. It's not that we don't trust him to behave, but to be sure noone tries to pick him up and carry him away without our noticing.

I think harnesses are a good idea - it allows the child the freedom to explore the world, but also allows the parents some control, and to keep them out of harm's way. My mum used to use them on me and i turned out ok lol

yes they can be if you child likes to walk, especially in very crowded place. it also prevents them from running into traffic.

i think they are a fantastic beeficial thing for mboth mum & child.At the age they are so energetic & everything is still so new to them.They get to explore, but with restrictions as to how far they can go. This can avoid them getting lost, as they can't wander away, or worse, be stolen!

I do agree we need to keep our kids safe but I don't really like the harnesses. When my neice was little, I helped raise her, we had more like the wrist straps. We were very happy to find them and they were great. It had velcro wriste bracelets on each end and a telephone cord between them. This way both the adult and the child are connected the same way. It allowed the child to move about but not too far from the adult. This way a parent can keep track of the child and the child can keep track of the adult. It was a nice system and one I recommended to many.

I would have to say that harnessing toddlers is infact a good idea, not because the parents were lazy in teaching their kids the proper behavior, but because you hear way to much about child abducting going on that it's hardly worth the risk of letting them free. If people find harnesses/wrist straps demeaning than I think it would be a good idea to have your child in your shopping cart...any measure that keeps their kids right there with them would be good.

I am one who does not believe in using a harness on a child and the only harnessing I have used is a seat belt in the car or the strap that goes across the pusher, other than that no I have not. But guess it is about choice and whether one feels the need to use one, but for me I would not!

give them goals to strive for and expect the best that is my method