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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

My MIL just bought my baby a set of reigns and I am horrified. What to do?

297 replies

BumblBeee · 29/01/2008 14:56

I think they are horrid?!

OP posts:
nailpolish · 29/01/2008 15:30

everyone is different tho

dd2 seems to like to run about in shopping centres, mind you. the other day she dissapeared and i had to search for her for w hole 5 mins beofre a man came out of the sofa shop and informed me my child was hiding behind the suites in the leather section

yurt1 · 29/01/2008 15:30

DS3 walks musch better with ds2 - likes to hold his hand. It was the ds1/ds3 combination that was particularly hard. DS1 needs to be held onto the entire time he's outside the house, and ds3 had a habit of running off. I ran out of hands. So either or both would/do go on reins. DS3 is just 3 now and has some understanding of road safety but that's only recently. So He hasn't been on reins for a while. Would still use them with ds1 though.

nappyaddict · 29/01/2008 15:30

gosh i'm definitely planning on using the buggy til ds is 4 if he'll let me. i like the fact i don't have to carry my own shopping

mrsruffallo · 29/01/2008 15:31

{sigh} I didn't sat all children were like mine, I was giving my reasons for not needing/liking them

nailpolish · 29/01/2008 15:31

no of course not belgo

but i d ont walk at 70mph

i am not here to fight, i have my opinion and i know everyone is entitled to theirs too

Teuch · 29/01/2008 15:32

roffle @ Goat!!

shoshe · 29/01/2008 15:32

I know I ve posted this before, but here I go again.

My brother refused to use reins on his chldren, saying as the OP that they wernt dogs.

And said that nephews always held his hand so he didnt need them.

They went shopping in a very large shopping centre. And as he said nephew held his hand.

They went into a shop, brother had to let go of nephews hand to pay at the desk.

Nephew was missing a hour and a half.

He was 2.

It was two weeks after Jamie Bulger went missing.

It is not only along a busy road that reins keep a child safe.

AND believe it or not he still didnt use them and lost his second son at a busy market!!

Brother is a Policeman !!!

nailpolish · 29/01/2008 15:32

gawd i hate buggies. found them a right PITA

belgo · 29/01/2008 15:34

I like anything that keeps my children safe and make my life easier.

mrsruffallo · 29/01/2008 15:35

nailpolish, I agree- if i go at my ds's pace I find it easy to be on guard

belgo · 29/01/2008 15:38

yes it is relatively easy to keep 'guard' with just one child. With too small children it's near enough impossible to do that safely.

We have narrow pavements with busy cycle paths (also used by motorbikes) and of course the road adjacent.

Very hard to walk safely without reins.

Lubyloo · 29/01/2008 15:39

I posted at the beginning of the thread. Just read what has followed and I'm amazed..... I never realised that people had an issue with reins!

moljam · 29/01/2008 15:39

i was very againgst them.dd and ds1 were very good at holding hands so we didnt need them.but ds2 is hard work!he has one of those reins with bag on which he loves to wear as hes got his own backpack.
if you dont like them andhave no need for them-dont use them.

belgo · 29/01/2008 15:40

my point about the car seats is that they also restrain children, as well as keeping them safer during an accident. In some cases, it is appropiate to restrain a child.

mrsruffallo · 29/01/2008 15:41

I can see why you have them then Belgo. The part of London I live in doesn't seem particularly hazardous to me- even when I have both my dc with me, they usually walk

YeahBut · 29/01/2008 15:41

With dd1 and dd2, I did not need them. Now I have my lightning quick Houdini-esque ds, I use reins a lot! Depends on the child, I think.

mrsruffallo · 29/01/2008 15:42

belgo, is you point that everyone should use them?

nappyaddict · 29/01/2008 15:43

mrsruffalo - why don't you like them? do you really think they make you treat your child as if it were a dog?

nailpolish · 29/01/2008 15:44

i live in a city and i have 2 children 24mths apart - ive not really had a problem

i hate all stuff like this - playpens, bouncy chairs, highchairs, reins, buggies, dummies - but not car seats cos you are in a car at 70mph not ambling along the street at 0.4mph

but hey ho everyone is different and i certainly dont judge

belgo · 29/01/2008 15:44

no, my point is that everyone should do what they feel is necessary for their children without the judgements of others (having been on the recieving end of 'walking the dog comments).

nappyaddict · 29/01/2008 15:45

you hate highchairs? how did your babies eat?

louii · 29/01/2008 15:45

I personally don't like reins but i can see they have a use for some children or if you have more than one.

DS holds hands when we are out, if he refuses he gets put in buggy or taken home, doesnt refuse often as he knows the consequences.

annoyingdevil · 29/01/2008 15:45

Depends on the child. Ds seems quite happy to hold hands. DD was/is another matter! she held my hand for the first time at 2.5 and still does it very grudgingly

nailpolish · 29/01/2008 15:46

belgo comments like that are unfair and unkind
i would never say that to anyone

i friend of mine called my chidlren "feral" cos i let them walk unrestrained

Blandmum · 29/01/2008 15:46

ds would have been run over more times than I can think of without them.

If you have a quiet, bidable child, vount your blessings