Toddler leashes

[christineka]

We're going to disneyland. I plan to bring a toddler leash for just in case for ds2 who will be 3 shortly. He's a good kid, but has a lot of energy and his sight isn't so hot, so if he got separated from us, he doesn't have great tools to use to find us again. This is not a debate on whether leashes are good or bad. I'm just wanting to know if any leashes are designed better than others. I have one...somewhere. It is simple and I haven't figured out how to use it as it was freecycled. I can't locate it anyway. I need something I can buy in a store.

 

[mommy2env]

Target sells some, for about $20 I think. They have a cute little bear on the back.

I would also write on the inside of their shirt, or pin something with your contact information. Disneyland can get so crowded, and with so many little ones to keep tabs on, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Once I took my nephew, and took a ball point pen and wrote my contact info on his forearm.

 

[Qarin]

Disneyland is great with lost kids- every cast member (employee) in the park is tasked with identifying and helping them... oh, here's an article which details the procedure:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/akrock/akrock7.htm

We lost my oldest DD once, when she was around 5... or, well, it turned out we had, we hadn't noticed! I was with my parents, and we had split up for a few minutes and gotten confused about who had which child, and nobody had DD1. And the parade was arriving into the area we were in, so it was quite crowded. So I'm done with whatever I was doing, and was probably doing a scan looking for whoever had DD1 and saw... a CM, at the curb, as the parade was going by, talking to DD1. Wha'?? Apparently DD1 had scooted to the front of the crowd to watch the parade, and then realized that nobody was with her and looked confused, which the CM spotted immediately- they were in the process of exchanging names and starting to scan for DD1's adults (me and my parents) when I spotted them and we were reunited. DD1 never even really knew she was lost, and was never scared.

Disneyland rocks. Seriously.

Anyway, all that said, I think the animal-backpack leashes look the least annoying, and always make sure you know who's got what kid, with positive handover. "You've got DS"+"I've got DS." Writing contact information on them is also a really great idea.

 

[DisneyWorldNanny]

Once I took my nephew, and took a ball point pen and wrote my contact info on his forearm.

I do the exact same thing with all the kids I take to the parks...I have been known to take a sharpie to a kid at the water parks...They know to find someone with a Disney pin and ask them to call me. Sometimes I will put my lanyard around their neck under their shirt and it will have my ID and my business card with phone #....the kids know to show it to an employee only with a pin. It works great! :thumbsup: I always put my card in the kids pockets and write my number on their arm- hand gets washed off...

I also place it somewhere in the stroller... I always fold strollers up also when we park them for a ride- I feel that it's less likely to be mistaken for someone else's/moved/stolen and of course not so bad if it gets rained on :twocents:

Just for fun- something funny they taught us in training-
"There is no such thing as a lost child in Disney World- only lost parents"

The manager stated that each time a child is reunited with a parent the parent is the one in hysterics- the child is usually found completely fine checking something cool out and often hadn't hit them that they were "lost" yet!...

 

[Logan's Mommy]

I was just at Walmart the other day and they had the monkey-backpack kind, but they also had one that was Mickey Mouse! It was so cute that I almost bought it even though I have no use for it. It would be perfect for Disney. Only $15.

 

[veggiegirl228]

Yes Target/Walmart/BRU has the backpack style. They are cute and super easy to use. The one's at BRU looks like a backpack while the ones at T and W look like animals, i.e. dog, bear, and monkey.

Target

BRU

Walmart

 

[Dillipop]

We have the monkey backpack from Target. DS loves it! He'll ask to wear it in the house and have his brother hold onto the tail (the leash). When we're somewhere really busy, we'll have ds wear it but tuck the tail into the pocket. If he gets out of control and won't stay with us or it gets really, really crowded, we'll grab the tail.

 

[vonfirmath]

We have 3 leashes -- the Eddie Bauer Teddy bear backpack one, a generic blue backpack one, and one that is just a harness. personally, in the airport, etc. I preferred the one that was just a harness. He could sit in the stroller with the harness on, then jump out anytime he wanted to walk /go check something out. And it dind't have a bump in his back to make sitting uncomfortable.

The backpacks are not big enough to put anything in, really.

 

[Athena]

My DD1 really wanted the doggie one at Target when she saw it. I don't think she knew what it was, but I do think she would have been more likely to wear it because she liked it so much. If I ever need one, that's the one I will get because of that.

Given that experience, I would take DS with you to pick it out. If he picks the color/animal/design, he might respond a lot better to it. If your DS is strong willed like my DD1, that matters.

ETA: Although the PP makes a good point about the bulkiness of the animal ones. The only time I've considered a harness, DD1 was not going to be in a stroller, but if she was, I might go with the simpler design too. I'll have to remember this.

 

[mom2juliarose]

DD had a backpack one, but I'll warn you, if your kid is energetic and likes to play games, they might do what DD did--she'd run full force until the leash part got taut, then fall down, laugh hysterically, get back up and do it again. It was SUCH a game for her. We didn't use that thing for long...

 

[hsjwmom]

DD had a backpack one, but I'll warn you, if your kid is energetic and likes to play games, they might do what DD did--she'd run full force until the leash part got taut, then fall down, laugh hysterically, get back up and do it again. It was SUCH a game for her. We didn't use that thing for long...

My eldest did that with just the regular harness one. Did I ever get some looks for that, lol.

 

[ketchupqueen]

My kids won't keep the backpack ones on. I have back closing ones (with Elmo on the front. Got them cheap from Learning Curve.) Work great.

When you get to Disneyland, what we do is go in, and set up a meeting place if the adults get separated and for some reason (lost cellphones or whatever) can't call each other.

Once that's done, we go find a cast member/employee. We show our kids the mouse-ears badge. (The employees are always very accomodating about showing the special badge to our kids.) We tell our kids, "if you get lost go to someone with this badge and tell them "I can't find my parents." If you can't find anyone with a badge, find a mommy with her children and tell her, "I can't find my parents. I'm supposed to find someone who works here. Can you help me?" Then stay with the person with the mouse ears badge. They will help you find us."

We go through this every time we go. We ask the kids to repeat back to us who they're supposed to go to and what they're supposed to say. A few times through the day we review the procedure again.

We also take a cell phone pic of each of the kids at the beginning of the day. That way if they do get lost we can show an employee exactly what they are wearing and what they look like, even if we are too upset to remember.

 

[christineka]

There weren't any great ones at walmart. I'm going to hunt for the one I have just in case- no need to buy another boring one. I will try target maybe tomorrow. I think ds would resist the leash less if it was a cute, fuzzy backpack type thing. I'd love to find that mickey one in a store. Maybe we should try walmart near disneyland.

 

[ketchupqueen]

I don't think Wal-Mart will have the Disney ones. BRU and BB&B have them online. I don't think I've seen them in store but some may. Oh, Buy Buy Baby and Amazon have them too. And some online toy store. Looks like around $25 is standard price. They're called "Disney Baby 2-in-1 Harness Buddy." Looks like there are Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Pooh Bear, Piglet, and Tigger.

 

[christineka]

I guess I'm going to target for t-shirts and will look at toddler leashes. I'm also supposed to go to trus for potato heads and will check there. Hopefully ds will like something. I liked the idea of a disney one to be his souvenir from the trip.

 

[MikeM]

If you don't want the bulk of a backpack, there are wrist leashes too.

We used this one and liked it well enough. I *think* we bought it at Babies-R-Us.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Kinderkord-Child-Safety-Restraint-System/dp/B001JKIG4W"]Amazon.com: Kinderkord Child Safety Restraint System: Baby[/ame]

 

[stephcali]

I just wanted to 2nd (or 3rd ) how good Disneyland is with lost children. We go there all the time, usually 2 or 3 times a month (we were actually there today ). I've never lost one of my kids, but I know if I did that of all places to lose them Disneyland would definitely be one of the best (don't worry I do try hard to not lose my kids ). They take them to the baby care center to wait for their parents and more than once when I've had to take a baby in there to nurse or change a diaper, I've seen them waiting with a "lost" child and I've never seen one of these kids crying. They really know what they are doing to keep a child calm in these situations, they even have a TV in there for them to watch

But I've used the animal backpack leash with my DD and she has done pretty good with it. But like someone else said sometimes she does think it is a fun game to see how far she can run before she falls down

 

[christineka]

I went to target and let ds pick out the backpack. He had the choice of a monkey or a puppy. He chose the puppy.

 

[Mommy2Marcus]

I went to target and let ds pick out the backpack. He had the choice of a monkey or a puppy. He chose the puppy.

That one is CUTE! We have the monkey one & Marcus 's that thing. He wears it around the house ALL the time.