Walking harness/"leash"

[5 Little Monkeys]

Yes, with him being older he should definitely know that when you yell "stop!", he needs to stop!

When we go for walks with no harness, stroller or wagon, I'm just naturally more anxious lol so I have to say, I do prefer the harnesses. However, now that they all bigger, it just isn't a need for them, but it does calm my nerves! We live in a fairly quiet area with lots of bays but I live on a BUSY street (and near a super busy corner) and it's a nerve racking couple minutes until we get on the side streets haha.

Blue rose...I can remember my brother (8years younger) having the wrist leash but my husband's family didn't have those types of things and when they'd be up at their cabin, they just tied him to a tree!!! LOL He has no memory of it so it obviously didn't scar him lol

[Lee-Bee]

While I can't stand them I can see the value of them at times.

I really don't like them and I think that they allow lazy parents to just be lazier, rather than be the adult and train the child they just tie them up and yank them in.

But, I do recognize that in a group setting sometimes the caregiver really doesn't have the means to teach an otherwise untrained child and they have other children to focus on too. And I also try to remind myself when I see a parent out with one child on it that the child may have special needs that makes them an actual flight risk.

But, I think there are very few cases where it is actually needed. It is up to the adult to train the child to never leave their side...it takes time and patience but we need to train the children at a young age so they just know this.

At some point all children outgrow the harness and if they haven't yet been trained how to function in public then there will just be a bigger problem.

I'll note that my husbands family were farmers. His mom, and her sister and brother grew up on a large working farm (with extra hired workers). His grandma was recently telling me that she used to tie his uncle (now in his 60's) up to a tree on a large rope so he could play outside while everyone worked. The imagine in my head makes me laugh (and cringe). But, I think all generations and all situations just kind of use the means they have at hand to survive day to day!