> I had my toddler rip an earbud out

and then put it directly into their mouth right (airpods are the perfect choking size)? Yeah, i can totally see the need to have them attached together in that situation. heh what is it about toddlers that makes them constantly try to kill themselves.

Curiosity.

I had the opposite experience - I had the ones with a wire between them when my kid was a baby and had to stop using them as soon as he was able to grab things. That wire was so tantalizing and the buds got forcibly ripped out of my ears every time! I switched to some very cheap (and relatively large = easier to grab out of a small mouth if necessary) AirPod knockoffs and only put in the ear on the other shoulder from where I was holding the baby.

Now he's older and when he gets hold of them he tries to put them in his ear rather than his mouth. I've been cutting down on wearing them when I'm around him anyway, since he's copying everything now.

The problem with this design is that anything that rubs or bounces against the cable transmits sound into your ear (like a children's cup telephone). This makes them annoying to use while exercising. I find that the style connected by a solid hoop mostly avoids this.

in-ear will never work for me. I feel raped when I have to put them into the ear canal.