Hey, all! I'm not entirely convinced about using a harness, but she's been walking since 11 months, and at 14 months doesn't want to hold my hand *at all*. She's ok with the stroller for a little while, and being carried for awhile, but gets bored quickly...plus is pretty heavy considering i'm 5 months pregnant.
My mom said she used a harness on me, and had a great experience with it....I'd love to hear other people's experiences.
Thanks in advance!
Re: Talk to me about your LO's harness...
Don't you mean a leash?
We're going to buy one this summer when we go to the beach on vacation. I'd love to hear some experiences as well...
We have a harness for DD. It is actually a monkey backpack with a "leash" attached. I really thought I would get a lot of negative feedback from people on the street and was hesitant to use it, but I actually get a lot of people asking where they can get one. DD loves wearing it because she calls it her pack-pack. I bought it on zulily about 6 months ago.
We have this one from Sunshine Kids; we bought it from Meijer. We may eventually get him one of the backpack ones -- they're really cute! -- but since we weren't sure if he'd take to it well, we thought we'd save the money and buy the cheap one. We really like that we can just fold it up and toss it in my purse, DH's pocket, or the diaper bag, so we may stick with the basic harness we have.
I was a harnessed kid because I was a wanderer. I think I'm probably alive today because my parents had the presence of mind to tether me instead of letting me run around. DS has been walking since 10 months and LOVES to explore. He doesn't like being in the stroller, will let us carry him for a short time, but he really just loves to walk around on his own. We've taken him to parks and most recently the aquarium where the harness was a total Godsend. DS could wander right next to us, having some freedom to be independent, but all the while we are in control. He had a great time and we didn't have to exhaust ourselves chasing him down or have to apologize a million times to other people for him running up to them or in their way, etc. Also, since he gets to walk around instead of being in the stroller, after outings he is exhausted and sleeps like a dream!
We use the harness ALL THE TIME and DS loves it.
I'm curious to know what your hang-ups are about the harness use.
We have this one:
Ds actually loves his back pack. I use it when we travel and he wants to run around the airport. I like that it's soft and has a little pocket on the back to stick something in if needed.
Hmmm...as for a hang-up, I think I have the very common one of a mother misusing a harness, or the child being unhappy with it....I can't think of a particular episode of seeing this, but every time I thought about getting one for LO, I just remember having negative feelings about it...but what is parenting but flexibility?
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