As a follow-up to Thursday’s post, I wanted to pass along this real-life story.
Brian recently went on vacation with his 2 1/2 year old daughter. It was their first “real” vacation as a family, complete with a roadtrip and a touristy stop or two. In planning for the event, he and his wife realized their daughter was in an odd stage-the stage between strapping her in the stroller full-time, and letting her walk like a real-life grown up. What to do? Their solution surprised them, and a few bystanders…
We bought a kid collar.
I know that’s not what it is really called – it was actually a plush poodle that clipped around her chest with a cloth rope (the ‘tail’ as I called it) attached to the back. I always said I wouldn’t put my kid in a collar, but there we were in Red River, New Mexico, walking down the street to get ice cream with Audree wearing her pink poodle and daddy carrying the tail. I was just starting to think that, ‘Hey, this isn’t as bad as I thought,’ when my wife told me that someone waiting in line for ice cream made a snarky comment about “I’d never put my child in a collar.”
Even though maybe only a half-hour before, I felt the same way, the comment really offended me and I had to resist the urge to go back inside the store and ask this lady why she thought it was necessary to make unsolicited advice on our parenting skills.
What are your thoughts on the kid collar or kid leash? Any more pearls of wisdom out there? 
My comment is this, I rather know that my child is safe and with me, with a collar on than you think that they are beside you and they are not. Plus it gives the child room to roam with out actually leaving mom and or dad.
I always said that I would never put my kids in a collar, but when i my son started walking it was important for us to get one. He is 3 now and we can still go places and he trys to run off. We can’t seem to get him to stop! I would much rather have him in one of these then for something terrible to happen to him.
We have used this type of product on all 3 of our kids. Now our youngest (23 months) has the monkey one and he loves it. If he sees it in the car he wants to put it on, he would much rather have it on than the stroller. He is so independent. I even thought about putting it on him when we go to the water park. Once those little feet kick into running gear he’s gone! This makes an excellent baby shower gift for any Mom or Dad.
What is wrong with ensuring your childs safety? It’s not like your putting your kid in a striped jumped suit and have chains around their ankles so they can’t go anywhere! And it’s not like you have a dog collar around their neck with a dog leash! Most of the people that make snide remarks like that are the same people that usually have their snotty nosed kids running around stores knocking things off of the shelfs. Do what you are comfortable with as a parent and don’t worry about what other people think.