Saturday, October 24, 2009

Lily's "Leash"

I'm clearly desperate. I bought a kid leash. I am determined to teach Lily that she must walk with us, no matter how distracted or obstinate she's feeling. The kid leash is a little backpack (and Lily adores backpacks with their reassuring weight on her back), but it has this convenient clip-on leash that allows me to pull her along when she starts the 'walk behind us' game.

I tried it out today on another Fall scavenger hunt walk, and what I underestimated was my own embarrassment at using the leash. I was afraid the court of public opinion would view me harshly ("look at that mom with her kid on a leash!"), so I usually resorted to holding a different part of the backpack to keep Lily walking on pace with the rest of us. Lily, for her part, decided that screaming, crying, and going limp was the best way to fight back, so there was a stretch of our walk that was ruined and I'm doubtful the public opinion court much enjoyed watching my kid get dragged along during her limp stages.

But we'll get there. I'm convinced that with a little "walk training" Lily will learn that she'd rather choose to stay with me and her sisters rather than be forced to stay with us. And even if this takes a year, the end result is that I can freely take all three kids anywhere, without strollers or leashes or any other kind of restraint, and we'll all enjoy the outings a lot more.

So here's a photo of the backpack (errr, leash system) - Claire wanted to show it off for the camera ...

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