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Had to laugh today as my daughter in law, son and grandson went on a trip. First time flying for the little one.
DIL said he was great on the plane but a terror in airport as he kept wriggling out of their hand holds and would take off running.
Told her to use a harness in situations like airports, told her I always did, better safe then sorry.
She found them on Amazon but feels she will get strange looks. I said why would you care as long as your son can not dart away.
When my kids were little a harness was quite common, especially in the city.
Just wondering how today's parents feel about them.
Most toddlers are not controllable with a look or tone of voice and it keeps them close and lets them feel they are free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life
It will be interesting to see if the OP's daughter decides to use a harness, even thoughshe was reluctant to, since her mom apparently used one with her.
Just to clarify, he reluctance didn't appear to be related to the fact that her mom used one on her. Her reluctance was getting "strange looks"
Not every occasion is a teachable moment - sometimes you just have to get something done.
I had reins for my child - rarely used them as she was generally compliant and my teachable moments had borne fruit. However, I took her to England (on my own) a couple of times when she was a young toddler and then an older toddler. A 25-hour flight (from Australia) - busy international airport, lining up at cattle-class check-in with 450 other souls - heavy bags that you had to hoick onto the scales yourself (needed two hands to lift), passports and tickets to produce, and questions to answer and info from the clerk to listen to. Did I use the reins on those occasions? You bet I did. I expect some people were aghast (don't care) and thought I probably used the reins wherever I went with her (their thoughts are none of my business).
I also used them when taking her to the duck pond. She would ask me to take them - she loved to get up close and personal with the ducks, but didn't want to fall in the water. The reins gave HER peace of mind.
Over here, we don't call them leashes. Reins or harnesses.
Did I use them on a day-to-day basis? Nope.
I didn't use them after she turned about three. No need for them by then.
Since someone asked how long people used a tether, I used one for one kid for a few months around the age of two. She was a sweet affable kid even at that age, but for a while she was at the top end of the normal developmental window in terms of physical development and motor skill milestones, and at the bottom end of the normal developmental window in terms of communication milestones. So she was basically Baby Hulk, except instead of being triggered by anger, she was triggered by DOGGIE DOGGIE! (Or whatever grabbed her attention.) Like, it's cool if you had the option to explain the situation to your toddler, but I'm pretty sure most speech sounded like the Peanuts parents to her at that stage.
As perfect timing would have it, this kamikazee phase coincided perfectly with her newborn sister coming along. So now I'm also slowed down by a baby and a bag.
So yeah. Tether. One of those cute backpack ones.
IDK, maybe I was terrible at childrearing, but the kids survived and are lovely young women now and their level of self-control is fine, thanks. And no longer communicate solely in hulk-speak.
I have to say, I don't wholly understand all the hating on "lazy parenting" here. There are always going to be parents who suck at toddler-wrangling despite their best efforts, are kinda lazy, or are both kinda lazy and suck at toddler-wrangling. I'd rather they leash the kid than lose the kid in a pond or something. At least they're taking the kid to the park or wherever, so they must not be totally lazy.
I'm also not 100% convinced that this emphasis on having a small toddler TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL AT ALL TIMES is a great thing. Part of those early years is exploration and developing independence.
Since someone asked how long people used a tether, I used one for one kid for a few months around the age of two. She was a sweet affable kid even at that age, but for a while she was at the top end of the normal developmental window in terms of physical development and motor skill milestones, and at the bottom end of the normal developmental window in terms of communication milestones. So she was basically Baby Hulk, except instead of being triggered by anger, she was triggered by DOGGIE DOGGIE! (Or whatever grabbed her attention.) Like, it's cool if you had the option to explain the situation to your toddler, but I'm pretty sure most speech sounded like the Peanuts parents to her at that stage.
As perfect timing would have it, this kamikazee phase coincided perfectly with her newborn sister coming along. So now I'm also slowed down by a baby and a bag.
So yeah. Tether. One of those cute backpack ones.
IDK, maybe I was terrible at childrearing, but the kids survived and are lovely young women now and their level of self-control is fine, thanks. And no longer communicate solely in hulk-speak.
I have to say, I don't wholly understand all the hating on "lazy parenting" here. There are always going to be parents who suck at toddler-wrangling despite their best efforts, are kinda lazy, or are both kinda lazy and suck at toddler-wrangling. I'd rather they leash the kid than lose the kid in a pond or something. At least they're taking the kid to the park or wherever, so they must not be totally lazy.
I'm also not 100% convinced that this emphasis on having a small toddler TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL AT ALL TIMES is a great thing. Part of those early years is exploration and developing independence.
And that's all well and good. But I don't think we need to be sacrifice endangered species and other innocent animals to kowtow to today's free range trend.
And that's all well and good. But I don't think we need to be sacrifice endangered species and other innocent animals to kowtow to today's free range trend.
Mine are grown, but I remember a friend 30+ yrs ago, flying back to SoCal from Ohio for a visit...her boys were 1 & 2 y.o. at the time & she was traveling alone...the younger one was in a backpack & her wildchild 2 y.o. on a tether.
The world is a more violent, more crowded freakshow now...so I say go for it...
I realize also that it is her DIL, so not even her own daughter. My bad.
I have a feeling I know which option she will pick. LOL
I don't know - or care - what she chose. I only hope she is confident enough to choose what she feels is the best choice for her family instead of feeling and reacting to peer pressure based on receiving disapproving looks from strangers. That'd be an unfortunate way to make parenting decisions.
When I was 18 months old, I had full mobility and several thousand words in my vocabulary (I started teaching myself to read at 22 months). One day, my parents bought a harness for me. Before they could ever put it on me, I took some shears, cut it into pieces and tossed it into the fireplace. They were so stunned by my decisive action, that they didn't say much about it to me and certainly never tried anything like that again. In fact, in later years, they would brag to their friends about how I had done that.
When I was 3, I began going places by myself, such as the public library, the zoo and parks. I never got into trouble and always got back unhurt. Sometimes, they never knew that I'd been gone. At age 4, I cut a trapdoor in the floor of my closet, going to the crawl space and an outside opening. I covered it with a piece of carpet and they never discovered it. That was the year I started training daily to be a distance runner, so I was going out from home often. It took some work, but I was eventually able to train my parents to leave me alone and let me raise myself.
Actually, scratch that. Mine is a child. Yours is a pet. Carry on.
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