What is the problem with reins?

[lucyellensmum]

?????

Who said reins are chavy?!!

I use one of those back pack / ruck sac things with a lead attached to the top of the ruck sac with DD2. I absolutley couldn't give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks of me using it! It's helped me so much. And as for 'oh you just hold their hand', yes well when you have a buggy to push that's not so easy PLUS this back pack thing gives my DD a little bit of freedom and independence without me having to have a tight grip of her arm while keeping her safe at the sme time.

I used it in the aquarium with her the other day and it meant that in a crowd she could run around and explore but not get lost. I could take my eye off her for a sec to see to my DD in the buggy. It was wonderful, everyone was happy.

What's 'thick' and 'chavvy' about giving your child a little bit of fredom, making your own life easier and keeping your child safe?

If that thick/chavvy line is one persons opinion they are welcome to it. Like I say I couldn't give a toss what they think.

I could not have managed without them for dd, she being the sort to fling herself under wheels of cars to 'rescue leaves'. Road safety in theory and road safety in practice where two different things to her. Not to mention all the harbour walls, cliffs, river banks over which she would long ago have plunged.

My dd is just getting the hang of walking outside.
I use harness/reins and also encourage her to hold my hand.
As long as we are both safe and happy, I don't really give a monkey's what people think

bloody hell! i didnt realise people gave a fishermans fart about them, ive never been aware of disapproving looks and i live in alphamummyville.

i guess i will have to buy little chardonnay some pink frilly skirts and frilly topped socks to go with them

I take it those who object to reins would also never dream of restricting their child by strapping them into a highchair or a car seat and never ever use a prison-like cot instead of a bed!

lol, hatwoman

I have a friend who is a doctor who told me that there was research that shows that if your child wears reins it can inhibit their development of balance - if, when they fall over, they are pulled upright by the person holding the reins.

I like the idea of the wrist strap tho...

who uses reins like that, though? it's about not getting run over by a car more than never falling over imo.

i have a dog lead that I've attatched to the buggy for when dd2 wants to walk. it is FAB - not a big fanof holding my hand but it's qauite a novelty to hold the rope

Re pulling DC upright when they fall, don't know about anyone else but if my child fell over I give them a chance to get up for themselves and if they stay put I'd pick them up and give them a quick cuddle. The ruck sac thing I have for mine wouldn't enable me to pull her upright anyway, but even so I'd never pick her up from a fall in any other way.

they are great for teaching DC's to ski.

Sleepisfortheweak - I would be very surprised that a child wears reins for so long that it inhibits their development in any way - and I wonder how they did that research in the first place?

dd1 14 held hands really well so rarely used them for her, dd 13 was a complete nightmare no riegns = dd running into road or into crowds of people. dd 4 didn't walk till she was 19 months so by the time she was walking any distance she was a bit older and wasn't really a runner anyway - still isn't but have used them at places like disney. ds a complete nightmare and have tried to keep him strapped in pushchair as much as possible. He has been much better recently and will walk with you or a little in front.

Some children are completely unpredicatable.

I have had comment in disney last year they were 2 & 3 about them being dogs on a lead. tbh I couldn't care less, the one day they weren't on reigns we lost sight of dd - scared life out of me.

OH come come...it's not that they are 'running off'
It's merely Baby led walking
Wrists straps are for pussies...get them in a full bridle that's what i say

I have the full ones tried walking wiht J wihtout and he kept running off/toddaling off, so we use them - least I know he's safe then, and if that makes me some sort of a chavvy think parent then so be it on this occassion

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DS3 has sensory issues that mean it actually hurts him to hold hands and he screams

We dont want to put him in a pushcahir, seems like such a step backwards when we've already had enough of those (such as losing potty training after several months out of nappies)

hence, the reins- backpack ones, so much safer and better!

I used a harness rein on my DD (and was congratulated on this by XMIL ) as I used a wrist strap for my niece once and she chose to run under a broken bit of fence, nicely trapping me on the outside part unable to free myself until I could persuade her to come back. It was either that or cut my arm off .

we used a wrist strap until the stitching let go when we crossing a busy road

After that I swore never again- at least reins have several points of attachment

when my ds was small we never needed reins, (reins were for lazy mothers) he always held hands nicely. we never needed a stairgate, nor a playpen. I had socket covers but i didn't need them. He never climbed anywhere, he never ran away. He was always perfectly behaved and i can count the number of times he cried on one hand. I can also count two tantrums in his life (he's now 10). i was always incredibly smug about this.

erm, well that was until dd came along. once i could persuade her to wear reins she was IN them! she's a loose cannon, totally unpredictable and in mid tantrum (which is often), her favourite trick is to throw herself into the road. holding hands was impossible, she slipped out of my grasp every time, if i'd held her hand any harder i would have crushed it. she tries to run away often. reins were necessary for her and i dont really care what anyone thinks. different kids need different things.

nothing wrong with reins. When ds was little I had reins and attached a wrist strap to the handle so that if he escaped he would only be able to run the length of the wrist strap. but it was strapped to the reins and not his wrist. And then he held my hand, so wasn't running free - he learned to hold my hand from the beginning. the reins were a safety net. I cannot see, and therefore if he had run off, I would not have been able to run after him, and when he started walking he was too young to understand not to run away iyswim.

Once he was old enough to understand I stopped using the reins and he just held my hand.

hardest thing I ever did in my life was letting him go in a public place knowing that he could run and I couldn't see where he'd gone.

I really don't like them, but I can see that they have their place. We had some for DD but didn't use them much - when we did we made sure we help her hand as well, so we were teching her to hold hands, and the reins were a back up. DS is only 14 months, so I'll wait and see.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people where I live who really make reinds look awful. They seem to hold the reins up in the air, really tight, so the child has no slack at all, and it looks very controlling, and , sorry, but like they are training a dog. I've also seen people use them in the strangest of places - eg, in a fenced playground where there are only a couple of other children playing, or in ikea (on a very quiet morning), and in both those case the children seemed to be bimbling along at a reasonable pase, not racing about wildly. I think its sad in those situations not to give kids some freedom to wander.

Not all children can be given freedom to wander and its impossible to tell those who can from those with no ense of danger

Hate them , looks like you're walking a dog.