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When my daughter first learned to walk we tried to give her as much freedom as we could so she could learn how to stay with us in the store, at the museum, and at all the other places we went to. She did have a tendency to run away once in a while, but she would only run so far until she would turn around and make sure I was still standing there waiting for her. She was exerting her newfound independence, but she was still making sure she was safe.

Then came my son. He took a little longer to learn how to walk, and so when the time came to give him a little independence he took it and ran with it…literally. If we’re in the store and I give him the chance to walk instead of going into a cart he takes off, laughing the whole time and not even looking back. Seriously, this kid is fearless. Consequently, I have to be a lot more careful with him and sometimes I just keep him in the cart because I don’t feel like running a marathon in Target. He doesn’t like that at all, but what else can I do?

He has been doing a little better lately because he’s figured out that if he runs away he gets put into the cart immediately. The other day we were in a church administrative office and he tore away from me and started running toward the staircase. I knew that it was a relatively safe place for him to run away in so I let him go to see if he would stop and come back, but he didn’t. It’s not even as if he was familiar with the place and was comfortable, but he still had no fear. He made it all the way up the stairs and to the dead end at the end of the hallway before I caught up with him.

Maybe my kid needs one of those leashes?

Tags: child leash, kids' fears, running away