‘Don’t let her lick that – it might have pee on it’!
These are the words that assailed me as I wandered across a local park this morning. The item in question was a bright orange plastic cone. The person in question was my daughter Annabelle.
A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that my toddler had assumed the position. Slight crouch, arms outstretched, neck angled forward, tongue extended. Never mind the fact that her face was already covered in dirt (her snack of choice).
Cue the quiet but furious utterance of a word I can’t repeat here. Then I sprint. I am not a natural sprinter. When it comes to physical finesse and fitness, I am from the shallow end of the gene pool. Therefore my running style is highly entertaining, or so I’m told. Picture a red faced woman, wild of hair, glasses askew, balancing her morning cup of tolerance (coffee), moving across the grass with about as much grace as an elephant on ice.
Once I had extracted my daughter from the potentially pee covered plastic cone, I attempted to recover my dignity. I delicately dabbed at the coffee now spattered across my chest whilst discreetly hitching up my pants (Annabelle is always pulling them down when she’s cross; it’s horrifying).

I peeked out from behind my (askew) glasses and saw a small but amused audience. I brightly smiled at them all whilst internally cursing them and their pee free mornings.
I have two daughters and their ability to embarrass me in public is second to none. I think they have secret meetings during which they come up with new ways to increase my humiliation and consequently their amusement. I am endlessly proud of my girls, don’t get me wrong, but their complete disregard for my dignity is astonishing.
We three ladies are quite capable of creating a spectacle wherever we go. Both my girls are what I call ‘runners’. They both have a huge desire for independence and freedom. They also possess an uncanny ability to sense danger and they use this ability to take flight at the most risky of opportunities. Car parks. School crossings. Parks full of unleashed dogs. Any shopping centre, indeed any shop. The Great Ocean Road (I aged 10 years after that one).
Top Comments
My daughter was a clinger as a toddler so highly unlikely to run away but I still used a harness in crowds to allay my own fear of her getting lost. I have friends with “runners” and it is truly terrifying - they just go off and I can see them getting hurt or worse. U are doing the right thing with the harness imo. Let them loose at the park and open spaces they can explore with no danger.
They are a great idea.. My sister spent her first couple of walking years in one.. And could probably still use one on occasions to this day..
Besides ... Do you really care what other people think?.. Other people are very likely mostly wrong!