How do you use the "leashes"?

Hi, I just recently purchased the animal backpacks with leashes at Target (from Eddie Bauer). I gave them to the kids to wear around the house to get used to them. My DD loves her and has worn it two days in a row. My DS likes his, but doesn't want to wear it all of the time.

We live in a very busy urban area and have no yard. Last night we went for our first walk around the neighborhood with my DH. We each had one child and worked on teaching them to stay on the sidewalk and stop at crosswalks. I was a bit nervous, but neither of them tried to go out onto the road which was a relief (we stayed away from streets with heavy traffic).

My conclusion...I loved them. It was wonderful to (safely) take a walk as a family!! It opened up a whole new world. yay. They looked like they were having a blast.

If you have these, where do you use them? Can you take them out by yourself? Do you ever walk to a park? What if they don't want to go home? I usually manage that by sticking them in the stroller or wagon. I'm afraid to try it by myself right now.

Any other tips or suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Beth

 

We use them as backup if they drop our hand mostly. If I'm walking with a kid holding each hand, each leash is wrapped around my wrist, just in case they bolt off.

But welcome to the leash club! I think they're awesome. Just wait until your two decide to be silly and crawl through the mall barking with their leashes on.

 

I just ordered ours, so I dont have them yet. Our plan is to focus on hand holding, like pp mentioned, and use them if they dart off (which they will). I plan on using them to take them for walks by myself and other places. If they dont want to go home I think I will have no choice but to carry one and kind of drag the other by the hand...thats really the only solution I can come up with because we wont have the stroller.

 

I mainly used them in the Mall. When I am with the kids without a stroller, I tell them we are leaving in "x" amount of minutes. And then up date them every couple of minutes. It might be rough going at first, especially when they don't understand but doing that has made departures a lot easier in this house.
Good luck!!!

 

:rotflmbo::rotflmbo::rotflmbo:that's hilarious! and yep i guess more then embarrassing as the parents!

 

We haven't had much luck with ours (the kids want to hold the leash part) but I want to try, try again after reading the other positive posts!

 

My kids used to like to wear them backwards so they could "hug" their animal backpack.