4 year old running off

[startwig1982]

I decided to take action today as ds almost ran into the road yesterday. So today I told him that if he ran off I would put reins on him (despite hating them). About 1 hour into a visit to a park/zoo he ran off. So I caught him and put the reins on. We timed 10 minutes and then took them off again.
He hated it so did I but it seemed to do the trick as he stayed with me and DH the whole time afterwards.
Does this sound ok? I really don't want to resort to reins but I'm worried about his safety and my peace of mind.

Sounds sensible to me! The behaviour is dangerous, and you are making him aware there are consequences to actions.

Agree, you are doing the right thing! they are small and have no sense of danger!

I'm not sure they should be used as a punishment like that, but Reins themselves are fine.

We've never used reins before so this is their only use.

I can't remember how old DS was, but we used reins for a while. We made a game out of it, saying "Whoa" and "Walk on!" pretending he was a horse.

I'd have probably kept the reins (or a wrist strap) on for the rest of the visit tbh so if it worked after 10 minutes then great. With a younger child I'd put them in a buggy if they ran off but you can't do that with a 4yo.

Sounds very sensible. We used reins very briefly from 18m to around 2, then carried them in the nappy bag and used them as a threat (in conjunction with explaining why she mustn't run off). Worked a treat!

Now she's 3.5 we threaten to go home for the reins.