walking round town with no reigns on my 19 month old.

[feepea]

My 19 month old son was taken out by his dad to town (my ex) I asked him to take reigns but he refused.when he came back he said he held onto him by his hood. He generally has no idea and this bothers me a lot. Am I being unreasonable?

Depends on the child. All those that say they didn't need reins maybe just didn't have the child that happily bolts at the first chance. I've got one of each and used reins with the bolter (DD1) but never needed them with DD2 as she always held my hand. If you haven't got the type of child who need reins that consider yourself lucky but it doesn't mean others may find them useful.

I had a third dog lead for the dog. They really loved running with our dog in the park. But I had to be careful in shopping centres because they would run around groups of people before I had the chance to rewind leads.

Oh What Fun

yy I have heard many a "DTs worked out that if they ran in different directions" heart-in-mouth shopping centre stories

I nearly lost DD going upwards on an escalator when I was carrying her. She was on my left arm, my small shoulder bag on the right - it got caught, dragged us both and she nearly toppled over the edge in a mall four storeys high.

I hate reigns. We've never used them.

I hate violence. DH and I have never needed to use it. Lucky us.

Is it just my toddler who thinks reins are for supporting his acrobatic aeroplane tricks? We have very limited success with them. Might have to change when no.2 arrives, but to him it is just another method of restriction. He has always hated cots, pushchairs, playpens, highchairs etc. I was the same with reins apparently, but not the other stuff. Must be hereditary... He is becoming a pretty good hand holder sometimes though, albeit with Houdini tendencies...

DS1 was very good at holding hands in crowds or on pavements so we didn't think of using reins. DS2, however, was like Houdini and could wriggle out of our clasped hands in a second and be off. So we used reins as a back up to hand holding. There were several occasions when we stopped him bolting into the road with the reins after sliding his hand out of his mitten.

FFS!!!!! Hasn't heard about Jamie Bulger as well? How easy it is to let go of a littlie for just a second and lose sight of them. He sounds an idiot.

YADNBU!!!

Fell asleep before I posted but YANBU - if DP feels the need to hold his hood, then one of those bag pack things that someone mentioned would be safer.

Thanks for that, ShylaMcClaus

Well, I did reign over my DC when they were toddlers but I never used reins.

Sorry misfitless is quite right. Didn't make my point very well at all. I may have fallem asleep myself I recommended the backpacks. They are brilliant.

The bottom line is that every child is different.

For those saying 'never had to use reins ever' well that's lovely for you. But some children are bolters and if you are struggling to get around the shops then for some parents, reins are a necessity.

I bought reins but didn't need to use them for DD but then when out with my friend and her DD, she didn't have any reins and she was forever chasing after her child because she refused to hold her hand. It made for a very stressful shopping trip for all of us. She could definitely have done with reins.

If you need them use them if you don't need them, don't.

OP, YANBU, holding the hood is very dangerous. I had to yank DD's hood once in the park to move her out of the way of a dog that was chasing a ball and we walked into it's path, the neck part of the coat left a nasty red mark on DD's throat and she was very upset.

Catsize attach a dog lead then there will no more acrobatics.