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I have to agree that intention is all.
I doubt lazy and irresponsible parents in this country use harnesses and reins.
It's the parents who understand the risks of narrow pavements, parked cars, stalled traffic, exciting things just out of reach that do so.
The rein/ harness set was our best child safety seller when I worked in a high- end nursery store. These were not parents that wanted to tether their kids to an outside pub table because one hand held a fag and the other a Bacardi Breezer.
These were parents who wanted their child as part of their everyday life while accepting that there were risks the child couldn't fathom.
FTR I very rarely saw a child at the end of their tether, literally.
Almost every time the reins were slack and there was very good child/ parent interaction.
I'd rather see a toddler on a rein than a >one year old in a buggy, facing forwards with no parental contact. That's not an either/ or because of the age, I just consider one to be less harmful to development than the other.
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