Howdy ho!
Time for another FYBF Featured Flogger – Vanessa from Babbling Bandit!
Never short of an honest, authentic opinion, Vanessa can be as controversial as they come with her addiction to overshare but she writes with the same purpose that many of us do; for therapy.
Please welcome her into the FYBF spotlight and leave lots of comment love.
And afterwards, feel free to catch more of her candid, off the cuff stuff on Twitter and Facebook.
Harness or leash? It’s a personal choice really
I’ve noticed a few judgey FB conversations lately about parents who put their kids in toddler harnesses. There was also an article on iVillage this week on the same topic. It’s a personal choice to restrain your child on a leash and one I made without a second’s thought.
You see Ned was a bolter. From the moment he started walking he was off! At daycare they called him the Energizer Bunny and his carers in the nursery would look at me with sympathy as I tried to round him up at the end of the day.
I knew the toddler harness was controversial but I thought, stuff it, I want an alive kid on a leash rather than a squished one on the road. We live right on the edge of the Sydney CBD. There’s a lot of traffic. And there’s no way I could always contain Ned in a stroller – he had energy to burn!
There was one incident, however, that my little boy on the leash sent flushes of red across my cheeks: Meeting a friend for lunch at a city foodcourt Ned and I lined up to order a sandwich. With the leash in one hand I was focused on ordering when I felt a tugging around my wrist. I turned around and at eye level saw two young men in suits looking down with smiles on their faces. Looking down to see what was so funny I was mortified to find my little boy on the leash on all fours, licking the ground and panting with his tongue hanging out, the occassional bark coming from him. He was playing right into the hands of the toddler harness naysayers!
While embarrassing at times, that leash allowed Ned to run around our neighbourhood for fun and for exercise, while keeping him safe from the road and my anxiety to a minimum.
What do you think of the toddler leash harness? Use it or no way?
Ned and me in Hyde Park
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