Very friendly and active 15 month old

I'm wondering if anyone has some advice for me. I have two kids, ages 3.5 and 15 months. My 3.5 year old has always been super cautious and a very good listener. Ever since he learned to walk, I told him that he always has to hold my hand when we go near a road and he is never allowed to walk on the road himself. He always listened. It was never an issue with him at all. My 15 month old learned to walk about 3 weeks ago. And now, within 5 seconds of putting her down when we get outside, she starts running to the road. When we go to the park, she runs away from me and doesn't even look back to see where I am. I am really not used to this behaviour at all! It's so strange because my 3.5 year old still constantly wants my attention and wants me to watch him play every minute, but in the mean time, my 15 month old is running away and I obviously have to watch her more closely. She's also the type to go up to a random person and wave hi and smile, etc. I see how it's a bracha that she's so happy and friendly, but at the same time, I'm really worried about how she's so comfortable wandering around anywhere and would gladly go up to a stranger. Other than keeping my eye on her constantly, does anyone have any tips for raising such a child? The difference between her and my son is so huge that I'm really not sure what to do!

Would you try using a harness?

My DD is the same way, but at that age I really enforced the carriage when we went out on the street. She would throw little tantrums because she wanted to walk on her own but calm down once I started walking.

Now at 26 months I let her choose between sitting in the carriage or running in front of me on the sidewalk. I make sure to keep up with her and ten seconds before we reach the corner I let her know that we're going to cross the street and she has the option of holding onto my hand or onto the carriage. The first few times she refused, I simply picked her up and carried her. She didn't like that at all. Now she always holds onto the carriage while we cross the street. But your DD is definitely too young for that kind of reasoning and self-control.

Maybe get one of those bikes that have a long handle attached. It's a novelty and may ensure that she enjoys sitting in it. Here's one that even comes with a harness: http://www.littletikes.com/kids-toys/little-tikes-3-in-1-trike

The park - my DD at that age also didn't even care if I was watching her. Now, while still friendly to strangers who smile at her, she insists I follow her around the park. These things come and go in stages.

About raising an outgoing child: while it is important for children to learn about stranger danger, I think that it is equally important not to make them paranoid. An extreme distrust of strangers can be crippling in adult life.
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Diamond Member Joined: May 10 2010 Posts: 3026

This.

Gold Member Joined: Jul 14 2009 Posts: 2094

you basically described my dd. She walked up to a huge guy on Purim dressed up as a black person w/ face paint & dredlocks.....& asked him to pick her up! We got her a harness to walk with, she liked the monkey backpack part & I couldn't take my eyes off of her for 1 min or she would seriously disappear! once she got really lost, I was almost crying & when found she didn't even realize she was lost! There's not much to do other than stay light on your feet!

Diamond Member Joined: Mar 17 2008 Posts: 3561

Teach her to hold your hand, or keep her in the stroller when you're just out walking.

As for the stranger danger...she's too little to learn about that now. Give it another year or two at least.

OP here. Thanks for all the responses. I've been trying to emphasize the importance of holding my hand when we walk on the sidewalk or in any potentially dangerous open area. She seems to be putting up less of a fight lately. I'm really not a fan of using a harness, but I guess I'll consider it if her wandering gets worse. It's just hard to follow her closely all the time when my 3.5 year old constantly wants my attention. How horrible is it if I do let her go far from me at the park as long as I can still see her? Like yesterday, she really wanted to walk around a basketball court beside the playground and my son wanted to play in the playground (maybe 100 feet away). There was no one else on the court so I let her do her thing, laughing away as she walked back and forth and I just kept an eye on her as I played with my son. Is that awful parenting?