I guess I get ticked off when people start with the whole "that's wonderful with your kids - they are perfect". Trust me my kids are not perfect. They seek boundaries and I set them. We work bloody hard to be consistent and fair.

There comes a point where you have to stop restraining their child. For some people harness is a step down between stroller and nothing.
There comes a time when a child needs to learn common sense - that if they don't stop at a road they'll get run over, if they get lost at the shops what to do.

When my son was just 2 my mum and I took him to the shops without the stroller. He ran off. Mum and I stood on either sides of the shopping centre but hid behind a pot plant so that he could not see us. He wandered around for a while looking at things, then as soon as he started to get distressed I came out from behind the plant and told him that if he runs off again he will get lost. Now I'm probably going to get eaten alive about this, but my DH and I had talked about it and came to the consensus that it was in his best interest. He is now nearly 4 and has never run off again.

SO that is the technique we used instead of a harness.