Secure Hand Holding

July 24th, 2023
kids
When Lily as about three we were waiting at a crosswalk and traffic stopped for us. As we started across the street a driver that had been waiting to turn left misinterpreted the situation and, thinking traffic had stopped for them instead, tried to turn through our location. I tightened my grip and ran, pulling her through the air. The car stopped, about five feet past where it would have collided with us. Everyone was fine, but we were very shaken. And I was glad we'd been holding hands securely.

When we're walking around at the park or another relaxed environment there are a range of ways I'll hold hands with little kids. A common one is that I'll extend a single finger, and they'll wrap their hand around it. But when we're crossing the street, climbing stairs, or I otherwise might suddenly need to hold them up entirely, I additionally wrap my fingers loosely around their wrist:

Another angle:

The specific hold isn't that important: what matters is that it's comfortable for you both and if you had to you could really hold on. Julia finds that with the smaller size of her hands a different grip works better:

I suspect many of you are thinking "of course, how else would you do it?" Many parents end up doing this pretty naturally. But if you currently are choosing between a friendly but weak companionship grip and securely holding their wrist this could be a nice thing to try!

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