What was I going to do? Little blond heads darting everywhere. Just as I stopped one, the other would dart away. I was frantic!
I was in a tiny parking lot next to a very busy highway. Both my 2-year-old foster “twins” somehow thought I was playing “chase.”
The scene was so horrifying that a few onlookers had stopped to watch in terror with their mouths open as a red truck drove past us in the parking lot, nearly hitting one of my toddlers.
Once I finally wrangled my two little fugitives into the door of the establishment, one of the onlookers said to me: “I was about to come help you…” (I think I might have mumbled a thank you)
Later that week I saw a backpack/safety harness at Target!
My toddlers LOVED the monkey backpack and would argue over who would get to wear it.
It gave me peace of mind in the parking lots; but once inside, the monkey would go into the diaper bag.
However, my peace of mind was short-lived.
“THOU SHALT NOT RESTRAIN!”
A foster care trainer reiterated during our next training session. These “LEASHES” are also called safety restraints, thus, against the Child Protective Services rules.
My mind was thinking: But what does a car seat and high chair do???
After a verbal reprimand by CPS, the monkey leash was sentenced and sent to spend the rest of his days in a crate in the attic somewhere, and won’t be used in our home again.
This week Good Morning America did a story on Extreme Parenting about leashing your kids, which featured adoption advocate, Kristen Howerton, of Rage Against the Minivan.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/06/extreme-parenting-to-leash-or-not-to-leash/
