leading strings

plural noun

ˈlē-

1

: strings by which children are sometimes supported when beginning to walk

2

: a state of dependence or tutelage : guidance

leading strings had been so willingly accepted that they were scarcely felt

—E. M. Forster

—usually used in the phrase in leading strings

no longer in leading strings to his wife or his wife's father

—Francis Hackett

passed his whole adolescence in his mother's leading strings

—Van Wyck Brooks

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