Some kids don't like to hold hands. And what do you do with a 1yo who is ambulatory but not fully rational in a reasoning sense?

I had a hyper younger brother. He climbed out of his crib and dislocated his hip before he could even walk. He climbed onto the top of the fridge using drawers and flour cannisters as steps when he was in the crawling stage. Mom was out one day hanging laundry when he was just starting to walk. She was folding a sheet, turned around, and there he was about 100 ft away, petting a cow's leg - in clear danger of being kicked to the moon. One minute he was beside her, the next he wasn't. Needless to say, there was absolutely no way of keeping track of him in certain situations without a harness and leash. Mom didn't use it all of the time, and it wasn't for very long - maybe a year or so until he could identify some dangerous situations himself - but it was the only way to keep track of him in crowds or situations where the adults might be distracted for a moment and danger was perhaps nearby. There was no forcing him to sit in a stroller for longer than 10 minutes, and you couldn't hold him for more than 5 minutes without it turning into a squirm-fest. The harness was by far the most humane thing for him, kept him safe, and allowed him to explore to some degree.

Until you've been exposed to a hyper kid like that, it's hard to imagine what life is like. Mom said if he had been the first, he would have been the last. ;)

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