New Baby Survival: "We have a runner!"

In a recent episode of Modern Family Cam and Mitch attach a baby leash to their 3 year old daughter, Lily so she won't run away on a trip to Disneyland. Since I've been a mom I've noticed more babies in general and on the streets in NYC I've seen plenty of babies on leashes. In the show Cam and Mitch feel very self conscious about having Lily on a leash, but I think its a very practical idea. My one year old is definitely a runner. We open the door to the hallway and he bolts to the elevator and bangs on the door to go down. There are also stairs, behind a door adjacent to the elevator, and this kid has no sense of any fear. He loves stairs and will beeline toward them so if you're not quick enough that's where he's headed next. He doesn't take after me at all. I was always very careful and scared of dangerous thing, loud things and heights taller than me (still am). On the street he's very fond of cars and will pull you toward the street to get a closer look. He loves loud noises and gets very excited when we turn the vacuum cleaner on. He tries to out-scream it (and we have a very loud vacuum). Like I said no sense of danger or fear. Climbing onto high surfaces like a 3.5 ft couch table and then trying to walk off is his idea of a great time (luckily so far we've always caught him!) For a kid like this strapping him in a stroller or on a leash in non baby proof or public places is a very safe and necessary idea if we want him to survive to age 2.