Child-to-Adult Safety Harness for larger toddlers or someone with Special Needs such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD and Down Syndrome
The Child-to-Adult Safety Harness is a harness for anyone of any size or age. It can fit toddlers, older children, teens or adults; anyone in the "child to adult" age/size range. The design is extremely secure yet comfortable enough to wear all day without hindering your child. Top quality construction ensures this harness can take years of tugging and pulling from your child as they learn to walk by your side.
Child-to-Adult Safety Harness
You can watch a demo video of me fitting one of my Child-to-Adult Harnesses on my 6 year old.
The Child-to-Adult Safety Harness is the harness of choice for taller or larger toddlers who are rather strong for their tender years. It is also the harness of choice for anyone with special needs; those on the Autism spectrum, with ADHD, Down Syndrome or other neuorologic disorders that inhibit their behaviour or judgement regarding safety when out in our communities.
The Child-to-Adult Harness has 2 chest straps that comfortably hug larger bodies to securely hold onto your child. Adjust the shoulder straps and chest straps to fit over winter layers and growing bodies. The detachable lead is 5 feet 8 inches long to allow for plenty of freedom. Order your harness with a permanent handle to keep your child at your side in crowded places or for short walks to the car.
Increase the security of the Child-to-Adult Harness by adding any combination of my Accessories; buckle covers that fit over my regular buckles, you can have your harness made with locking buckles instead of regular buckles (the locking buckles require 2 hands to open, and for ultimate security cover the locking buckles with buckle covers), order crotch straps for wearing with the harness.
Most of my customers wear their Child-to-Adult Harness every day, all day, year after year. Wearing the Child-to-Adult Harness means a degree of freedom for them and their families that did not exist before. Visit my Testimonials page to read what some of my customers have said about their Child-to-Adult Harness.
Child-to-Adult Safety Harness Main Features
You can watch a video of me talking about the main features of my Child-to-Adult Harnesses.
The two essential features of the Child-to-Adult Harness are it's quality and it's comfort. A harness is useless if it breaks and it's useless if it's too uncomfortable for your child to wear. Customers whose children have worn their Child-to-Adult Harness every day for years, have told me their harness surpasses both these requirements.
The Child-to-Adult Safety Harness has all of the following features:
- top-quality construction you can trust
- custom made to fit anyone; toddlers to 92 yr olds
- 2 chest straps circle the torso
- extremely comfortable to wear all day
- adjust the harness to fit over more layers and growing bodies
- reinforced stitching on all seams
- 500 pound weight capacity metal O-ring
- industrial strength snap hook for the detachable lead. My standard lead length is 5 feet 8 inches long.
- lead can be any length i.e. 18 inches to 15 feet or longer
- order multiple leads of different lengths
- order a permanent handle to hold onto when you need to keep your child right by your side
- order buckle covers, locking buckles, and/or crotch straps to increase security
Child-to-Adult Safety Harness costs ($Cdn = $USD)
The Child-to-Adult Safety Harness should last your family for years. Provincial taxes apply to Canadian orders. Shipping is extra, as usual. I charge a nominal handling fee to help recover a portion of my packing supplies.
- $65.00 if the chest measurement is 26 inches (66cm) or less
- $85.00 if the chest measurement is over 26 inches (66cm)
- $5.00 (at cost) for each snap hook
Accessories to order with your Child-to-Adult Safety Harness
Your harness can be made with a permanent handle. Since I started offering this option, it has by far become the most popular Accessory of choice. Use the handle to keep your child right by your side when walking short distances or in crowded locations.
To increase the security of the harness, you can:
- add buckle covers at $3.00 each
- have your harness made with locking buckles that need 2 hands to open ($4 each) rather than regular buckles
- for ultimate security, order buckles covers to go over your locking buckles
- add crotch straps for $10.00 each
To keep your child seated, use the harness with the following Accessories:
- have one lead as a tie-down, $5.00
- order a chair strap for $12.00 each
Financial Assistance if the Child-to-Adult Harness is for a person with Special Needs
Many of my customers are on the Autism spectrum, have ADHD, Down Syndrome or other neurologic disorders that inhibit their ability to make good decisions about strangers and safety when out in our communities. For these customers, the Child-to-Adult Harness is a basic and essential piece of Special Needs Equipment that is required to keep them safe in public and educational settings. If you are a special ed teacher or case worker shopping for a harness for a child under your care, further information you may require is on my Info for Schoos & Community Orgs page. If you are a parent on a tight budget shopping for a Child-to-Adult Harness for your child, you may be able to receive funding for your harness through your Medicaid program or your child's case worker.
The Child-to-Adult Safety Harness can be classified as;
- special clothing
- medically necessary for the person's safety in the community
- a necessary assistive device, in school for example
- required for safe travel to and from doctor's appointments
Contact your local community resources and/or your family doctor to find out if you are eligible to receive financial assistance with your purchase.
Description and Features of the Child-to-Adult Safety Harness
My Child-to-Adult Harness is a modification of my Child Harness. The design was first suggested by one of my customers who asked me to make it for his 9 year old son with ADHD who needed more security than my Child Harness offered.
The Child-to-Adult Harness has the following features:
- the top chest strap circles the person under their arms
- the bottom chest strap circles the person approximately 3 to 3.5 inches (7.7 to 9cm) below the top chest strap, depending on their shoulder-to-waist measurement
- together, the 2 chest straps give the harness a very secure and very comfortable hold around the person's torso
- the harness is put on and removed in the same manner as my Child Harness; over the head, chest straps under the arms, buckle up at the back (see How to use the harness)
- the 2 buckles at the back of the harness can be covered so if the buckle is squeezed, it does not slide open
- if more security is needed, the regular buckles can be replaced with locking buckles. The locking buckles need 2 hands to open; the buckle must be squeezed and the small tab pressed in order to release the clasp.
- for ultimate security you can order buckle covers to fit over the locking buckles
- the shoulder straps are stitched to the chest straps at the front of the harness. The spacing of the shoulder straps is determined by the person's chest measurement.
- the shoulder straps pass through metal rectangle rings at the back of the harness. This allows the shoulder straps to be adjusted.
- the top and bottom support loops and the lead are attached to a metal O-ring at the back of the harness. The O-ring has a smooth, welded seal. The quality of the weld determines the strength of the ring and these rings are rated at 500lb weight capacity.
- a long 5 foot 8 inch detachable lead allows the person a sense of freedom. You can order additional leads of different lengths. Some customers order a 15 or 20 foot lead for use at the park or beach for example.
- the detachable lead allows the child to wear the body part of the harness at all times. When it's time to leave the car, leave the house, change classrooms, etc., it's fast and simple to attach the lead to the metal O-ring at the back of the harness.
- a permanent handle ($8) can be sewn to the back O-ring if you wish. This handle is most often ordered by parents who at times need to keep their child right by their side, or by special ed teachers who escort the child to different classrooms during the day.
- re-inforced zig-zag stitching on all seams to ensure strength and durability
- each harness comes with a mesh storage/laundry/stuff sack for easy storage and to keep the harness contained while in the washing machine
- available in black, dark denim blue, red, army green, purple and pink
How to adjust the Child-to-Adult Safety Harness
I show you how to adjust your harness in my video of me talking about the main features of my Child-to-Adult Harnesses.
Adjusting the fit of your new harness is a simple matter of moving the black sliders back and forth to shorten or lengthen the straps.
Just like shortening the shoulder straps on a new backpack, or lengthening the strap on a camera case to wear across your shoulder, the webbing moves back and forth through the sliders and through the buckle pieces.
The same method is used to change the length of the shoulder straps and the chest straps.
You will receive your harness adjusted to the chest measurement that you gave on your order form. And since you measured your child when wearing a light t-shirt, their new harness will be ready to be worn over similar clothing.
This works great in the summer time!
But it's not always summer...especially here.
The webbing between the two sliders on that strap is the extra webbing that you use to make the harness bigger (e.g. to fit over a sweater or a jacket).
By moving the second slider toward the back of the harness, you "free up" a length of webbing that you then feed through both sliders to make that strap longer.
If you put the harness on your child and there is a 2 inch gap between the buckles at their back, lengthen each chest strap by 1 inch.
You must lengthen the chest straps evenly so the front panel, made up of the two shoulder straps and two chest straps, stays centred on their chest.
Lengthen (or shorten) the shoulder straps so the O-ring sits just below their shoulder blades.
The O-ring is in the correct position if you can buckle the top chest strap through its support loops and the chest strap passes just under their armpits.
The Child-to-Adult Harness should be fitted snuggly on your child - snug, not tight!
When fitted properly, the harness will be extremely comfortable to wear and will not be restricting to your child.
To Order a Child-to-Adult Safety Harness
Your Child-to-Adult Harness is made to fit the person who will be wearing it. There is some basic information regarding their measurements that I need to ensure the harness fits perfectly now and for years to come. All these questions are on my order form. You will need the person's
- chest measurement when dressed in a light t-shirt
- shoulder to waist measurement
- and if the person is a woman, her chest measurement above her breasts, chest measurement below her breasts and her current bra size
