Mommy Tip: Leash Backpacks

I know I mentioned these in the Aquarium post, but I wanted to get into detail a little bit.

When I first saw these before I was married I thought that they were horrible. People should just learn to control their kids or keep them buckled in a stroller! Oh silly me...

A couple years later, our nine month old baby was walking! Now if you don't know, a nine month old doesn't understand the words "no" or "come back here!!!"  I still was against the leash thing, so we kept him buckled in a stroller, which wasn't as much fun, because if we wanted Tim to see something or get up close, we would have to unbuckle and then wrestle him down to buckle him back up. But we did, because that's what I thought should be done. "Kids aren't dogs!" I would say...

Well, add another baby and a trip to Casper, where we wanted to go to a lake, but it was full of rocks, so a stroller wouldn't work. My wonderful mother-in-law convinced us to go to Walmart and get a leash. I was kinda upset, but I went along with it, because I hate confrontation and would rather fight inside my head. We go to the lake and snap Tim in his Monkey Backpack (This is how I could feel a little better, by calling it a backpack) and wrap Michael up in a blanket and set outside. Tim of course was wanting to go to the freezing water and we would let him put his hands in while Jon held his other hand and leash. We all start talking while Tim is throwing rocks in the water, his wet hand slips from Jon's grasp and Tim is falling head first towards the water. Jon, luckily, still had the leash around his wrist and he was able to pull Tim back, just as he was about to hit the water. That's when I became a believer.

Now that Michael is older and pretty stable on his feet, we bought him an owl backpack for this trip to the Aquarium. This isn't a life saving story, but there were multiple times where his little hand would wiggle it's way out of mine and he'd be off. Not everyone is courteous in crowded places and makes sure kids are going through the crowd with their parents. If I didn't have my arm connected to his backpack, I could have lost him in the crowd.

I love these backpacks and think it's a must have for going places like the zoo or a lake. I am, however, against using them as a crutch at a store, where the kids are running around crazy and knocking things over. I make my boys and the kids I babysit hold onto the cart, and if they let go and start grabbing things, they don't get a treat or TV time or whatever is coming up in the day. 

Anyways... Animal backpacks are great!