We have all seen the child leashes and from my experience people seem to be either really for them or really against them. Personally I LOVE ours. We took the back piece from the Elmo harness you can get at Wal-Mart and made it a "bracelet" for our daughter. It is hot pink and she LOVES it. Anytime I have her in a grocery store or the mall, before she even gets out of the car I tell her it is time to put on her bracelet and she will put up her hand for it.

I have been stopped and told how horrible I am for doing so, or that I offended someone, you name it. Once security even had to be called because some random guy was evidently so offended by it that he wanted to remove it from her wrist himself! Others have stopped me to commend me, retailers thank me for not allowing my daughter to destroy their store, and you name it.

Why do I tell you both of these? Because the fact of the matter is no matter what you do: IT WILL OFFEND SOMEONE! Get used to it! I was kidnapped at a very young age, my mother found the woman putting me into her car at the mall. I was lucky! My mother realized in time that this woman had literally snatched me out of the aisle.

While I personally do not remember this occurrence, I do know that to this day I cannot be in a crowd, and if I am with a group I MUST have the keys or I am a total basket case. And I am 32 so the world has gotten significantly crazier since I was 2!

Caroline's "bracelet" allows me to look at a couple of things while I am walking, while still knowing that she is within 2 feet of me. It also allows me to keep control of her when she starts to venture too far, no I am not saying that I yank her across the store or anything absurd like that, but she learned very quickly that if I say no, she will not get close enough to whatever it is I don't want her touching. She also has independence with it as well. I am not limited to confining her to a cart when we are in a store, she can actually walk and explore while knowing she is safe and with me.

Personally I love using it and can honestly say that I do so at least 4-5 times a week. If you feel more secure putting a "bracelet" or I have seen the "Pet Pal Packs" on a couple of boys, use it! Who cares if the random person you may or may not pass in the store agrees with your choice? Everything I will write about on here will come back to that simple concept. "It is your child, and your choice as to what you want to do."