So I had this little Lyndi girl who liked to dart off in the opposite direction—whenever I called her–to the end of the block, if I wasn’t quick enough.
Perhaps you’ll be horrified to see my solution. That’s right–I had a kid leash for her. Not so much for everyday, of course, but this was all I could think of when we took a trip to Disneyland. I had nightmares of her taking off into a Time Square size crowd and never seeing her again. So, we simply attached her to the stroller that the baby sister was in, thinking that would at least slow her down a bit.
One particularly assertive lady saw our set up and said, “Wow. Are you afraid of something?” and I just smiled and said, “Well, not now.” Hmph.
It was weird, but it worked and we still have our little Lyndi–to this very day.
Oh, and you’ll be happy to know that she’s been leash free for over 20 years…and counting.
Now…if we could only find that thing again…
for Miss Chompy.
:} 556
I had to chuckle at this post. My little Addie is also a darter. So prior to last summer’s trip to DisneyWorld I purchased this little item:
http://www.amazon.com/Eddie-Bauer-Harness-Buddy-Monkey/dp/B001OB9LBI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313672915&sr=8-2
You see – if you shape the leash like a cute little monkey backpack, then strangers don’t look at you like you’re a monster that’s treating their child like the family pet. lol And glad to say, we didn’t lose Addie once.
The bizarrely self-righteous don’t have the experience or imagination to understand.
I read a delightfully ignorant opinion letter in the Daily Universe this year — the non-mother went to the trouble of writing about her disgust in seeing a mother walking down the street with a child in a harness. She went on to say how when she is a mother she will *never* do such a thing! She’d just hold the child’s hand! I just laughed, and laughed, and laughed, because we all know she is going to be “blessed” with a bolter.
By the way, Lyndi was ADORABLE in her harness!
I love the pic of Lyndi! I have been tempted to buy a harness for Piper. Now that I am bigger there is NO way I can chase her down. I think you are so funny!
My April bought that very monkey for Lily—and a puppy one for Beckham–for one of their road trips. They are adorable! Oh, that we’d had such a thing back in our day. Would have saved us some odd looks–for sure! We’ll have to look into that for Miss Chompy. Thanks for reminding me. :}
And I wish her luck with that. We all know that you can hold a child’s hand painfully tight and it’s still like trying to hang on to a goldfish. Nevermind that there are likely other children that you have to keep track of as well. Some people are so silly. Sheesh…
Believe me, she was considerably less so–a block and a half away! haha! Plus, she started this dashing off thing when I was expecting Jillian. Pretty dang tough to run down the street in that condition. She still, was such a cute kid…I must say. :}
Click on Jenny’s link for the monkey harness. It was actually waaay less expensive than I thought it would be. We can’t be losing Piperoni, after all. :}
Sorry to give you so much trouble, Mom! 😉 I’m glad you felt like I was worth holding on to! 😀 Ha ha ha!
Baby Chomp is pretty good at getting away from people too… but luckily we haven’t had anything bad happen because of it. I think I might just have to let her pick out one of those cute backpacks! 😉
I used a harness for my oldest when she was a toddler. My girls were 13 months apart and shopping at the local mall was impossible. I was walking through the mall with my youngest in the stroller and the oldest harnessed in… two ladies walked by and said to me, “I don’t even do my dog like that. What is wrong with you lady?” Of course I was young and lacked the wisdom I have now… all I did was just never go to the mall unless I had some help. Put the harness in the closet and never used it again and felt like a bad mom.
I haven’t thought of that in years…. and I know now… who cares what some old lady thinks of my parenting skills!
Love this website
Bless your heart. Sheesh–how is it that some people can be so critical of our efforts to keep our children safe? We just have to ignore them and carry on. The world is a good place–but sometimes the negative folks are louder than all the people silently applauding. I hope you’ll come visit the blog again. Thanks for your comment!