Once your child is out of their push chair and walking well, its time to consider how to make sure that your child isn't tempted to wander off when out and about. The Clippasafe Wrist Link is something that having bought for use during that 'I'm still only little but I want to walk everywhere phase' we have rather mixed views on.

The Clippasafe range of products are well respected and offer all kinds of solutions to the kinds of things parents need to consider with a growing child in the household. We have used several of the Clippasafe range and have found products to be well priced and of a decent quality.

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The Clippasafe Wrist Link is now priced at £3.99 and comes in a range of colours. You can buy it in a mainly navy with white trim option, a pale girly pink shade and a nice multi coloured red,green, yellow mix. Each coloured wrist link is made from a long lasting webbing type material that is both strong and secure when in use. We thought the link was well made and easy to fit on securely.

Although the wrist link is made from durable and strong materials and is in principle a great way of being able to keep track of your child, we have had reservations about the product. At times when we have seen children almost dragged along by these things, the whole system of strapping something like that to a childs wrist seems to be a rather dubious way of ensuring you can keep an eye on your child.

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After all holding your childs hand has worked for many a parent, ourselves included before the invention of the wrist link. I feel that unless the Clippasafe Wrist Link is used very, very carefully and thoughtfully it can be something that may do more harm than good. We used the product with great care at all times and as such it proved to be useful to us, but wasn't something we totally relied upon.

I would 100% recommend that your child gets used to the feeling of wearing the link before setting off. Our child didn't like the sensation or the idea at first and so we had a little practice with it at home first, so that both we and our child could get used to the way in which the product would work when out and about.

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In the right hands the product can and does work well. We were very careful with the wrist link and used it more as a way of allowing our child a little freedom to walk seemingly on their own, in less busy situations. Of course they were at all times attached to the wrist link, but once they learnt to get along with it, they were able to walk as if freely which our child did enjoy.

Once we hit busier and more crowded areas we reverted to relying more on holding our childs hand at all times where possible. We still kept the wrist link attached as a double fail safe, as we found that sometimes our child would still pull away to look at things, but with the wrist link attached, we didn't ever lose contact with our child.

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Having seen some children pulled back sharply when attached to these wrist links for no apparent reason, other than that the parent themselves was not paying attention to what was going on, I do think that there are many arguments for and against the wrist link.

On the one side these can be a great way of teaching your child to walk along side you with the feeling of having just a little freedom from mum or dad, which children do enjoy. The wrist link does ensure that your child is never too far away and you are always in contact with each other. But when these things are used to keep in check a child that has wandered a little too far because mum and dads minds are otherwise engaged, I do cringe at the way people use these to bring their child back in check so to speak.

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I have included here some of the highlights and pointers from the instructions we had with our wrist link, as I do feel its very important to follow the makers guidelines when using the Clippasafe Wrist Link with your child.

Instructions for fitting and use :

Step 1: Pass your child's hand through the wristband and adjust the band to fit their wrist comfortably.

Step 2: Make sure that your child's hand cannot slip through loop at all.

Step 3: Attach the wristband to your own (the adult's) wrist by passing the end of the strap through the 'D' ring.

Step 4: Secure the wrist band using the 'hook and loop' closing strips, making sure that the full length of the soft/ looped strip is engaged well to the rough/ hook strip .

Step 5: Adjust the length of the rein to suit the conditions. In crowded areas you are recommended to shorten the link as much as possible.

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As with any similar product that is used in this way, the product is only as good as the adult who has control of it. Even though the Clippasafe Wrist Link is very well made, it can be abused when not used following the correct guidelines and a lot of common sense.

I can recommend the idea of the wrist link with caution. My rating for it is a midway level of 3 stars and this reflects more than just the quality of the Clippasafe product which is very good. Due to the nature of the product I have to also consider the way in which the product can be used and abused and as such once again I feel that when you weigh up the good and the bad, a 3 star rate seems about right.

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NB: Clippasafe do say that the wrist link is only suitable for children from age 2 upwards.

You should never clip the link to a push chair or similar item. You should never try to extend the length of the reins that come with the link beyond what it can already extend to. Its not safe to leave a child unattended and still attached on one side to the product.

The product is washable in warm lightly soapy water and can then be drip dried outside. It should never be tumble dried or washed in a machine.