reins? should i use them? why do i not see anyone else using them?!

[jinglybits]

ds is 16mths, he is a BIG STRONG STUBBORN little boy. 90% ofthe time he refuses to hold my hand, he is so strong i have to work really hard not to allow him to yank his hand free, if he can't get his hand away he will often sit on the floor and have a tantrum! He's a very good mwalker and gets quite fed up in his pushchair. I live in central london and so i often walk instead of battling with public transport. Pre-ds my partner and i agreed that it wasn't nice to have your child on reins (like a dog!) but now i can see their merits there is a lot of traffic around here and heaven forbid anything happen to ds, even if i walk in safe areas (i.e along the canal path for example there is always the water danger) dp and i have had a HUGE row about this and although i brought some reins he took themaway from me the same night! ....I don't see any other mums with reins! I have been more aware in the last month and have only spied 2 wrist straps! Is it a terrible thing to use them, my moth3er/grandmother are amazed i'm not using them but perhaps the 'trend' has changed and its not the 'done thing' these days! please advise! If you saw me coming down the street with reins on my ds would you think i was a terrible mother:?!!

Have a gorgeous photo of ds when he was little wearing reins AND with a big fat dummy in his mouth I guess I am just common

my physio told me your better to use a hand strap as reins encourge a child to walk on tip toe.

for the term common to have so much resonance poeple msut have heard it before. i am stunned that so mnsy pepole in so many posts fixaste on that one word. i said she sjould use thme but told her why she doesnet see others in cetral londn using them and i stand by it, there is a belied amonst my peers that reins are common./ does not mean they are of couse just that many peole in london think they are

Actually Mud, I have never heard reins referred to as common before - that's a first for me.

I used them for ds1 (had an old fashioned leather harness one from Mothercare, like I had as a child) - was great, because if he stumbled I could 'catch' him - fewer grazed knees.

Ds2 - different kettle of fish - just refused to walk properly with them on and would dangle and spin round slowly on them So he just holds my hand.

Better common than squashed flat, eh?

Fairydust: interesting that there is conflicting advice. My GP friend won't use wrist straps as in her experience that put a disproportionate force onto one joint (and hence her seeing discolated shoulders resulting from them)- whereas the reins are evenly spread across the body.

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Many of my friends won't use them as they see them as old fashioned, I don't care what others think I want my children to be safe. (but then they think i am a little eccentric anyway). I tried a wrist strap with dd but she kept slipping out of it so reins were a better option.

well better to look 'common' than have your Child knocked down or taken off

Common I am then!!

I dont think they are common. Well, only in their use - i do see people using them often when walking in the local parks etc. But you dont get many of green spaces in Central London - most people go to work there or for the shopping (so for speed and to stop LO's being knocked all over the busy street people will use pushchairs in preference - its common sense - not just common.)London is a very big city to make such a sweeping statement. But, you have obviously got the reaction you wanted when posting.......

yoiu can shout me down all you like but i nkow that the use of reins can be sesn as common. i am not condoinog it nor i am stating it as something i ave experienced. i was jst answering the first question. dummies, reins, bottle fixlled with oragnce squash

I never used them as I wanted to ensure my kids, from an early age, got used to, and expected to hold my hand (not to say we haven't had occasions where I've had to manhandle them back to the house/car, because they did a sitdown protest).

I just assumed (maybe wrongly) that if I used reins, I would just be postponing the hand-holding fight. Never even crossed my mind whether they were common tho'.

I am a draconian old witch of a mother tho

Mud - stop it love!

why is your blodd thumping in your ears . i think it boils down to naything i don't personally lke and would not use is comon becaue i am obviously the queen pmsl

But dummies can harn a childs teeth long term (although I used them for mine!!)

and bottles of juice also can cause damage

Reigns are for safety

Totally different thing

sorry, meant 'can harm'

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wow longest thread i ever started! agree with crowded aspects of having a toddler in pushchair in crowded areas but i'm talking backstreets and other places in zone 1/2 of london for anyone that knows it, or indeed any large city. surely i should be encouraging my child to walk/exercise (to set him in good stead for later years)and to get places under his own steam especially as he so desperately wants to. ...is it vanity that i care what other people think?...i suppose nobody wants other people to think they are a 'bad' mother! or heaven forbid...'common'! interested mud....do your kids hold your hand? what did you do when they were early walkers? refuse to let them out the buggy? if you are a mum who walks a lot herself then how do you keep them in the buggy for long periods of travelling to for example the playground where they can get out?!...or perhaps you go everywhere by taxi...or indeed chauffeur

Jingly - -if I was a mum who walked a lot and lived in London I think my 2 would ahve been on reins

ha ha yes chauffeir driven roller that's me pmsl

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I used reins with ds - although he would swing on them sometimes. He would not hold my hand so I felt we had no option. With dd she would hold my hand at first - but then I got a wrist strap which worked well when shopping.

And dog doesnt have lead does it Mud, you carry it in your handbag whilst your flunkies keep guard

as in peers of the realm?

we use reigns for DS (the around the body ones, not the wrist ones). they are a godsend. he loves them. well, not at first. but he soon associated the reigns with a walk, and now he will put his arms out when he sees them to have them put on. (this is really cute!) and he loves walking on them. he'll still hold our hands, but the reigns are a good feeling of safety and security for us.

we live in a small village in kent and i've seen a few other parents with reigns. we get some dirty looks when out and about in bigger towns, but i dont really care... my son's safety is paramount and with the reigns, i feel he is safer than just holding our hands.....