diff --git a/command/agent/agent.go b/command/agent/agent.go
index b74a1dcf10..ec2de974c1 100644
--- a/command/agent/agent.go
+++ b/command/agent/agent.go
@@ -110,6 +110,14 @@ type Agent struct {
 	// agent methods use this, so use with care and never override
 	// outside of a unit test.
 	endpoints map[string]string
+
+	// reapLock is used to prevent child process reaping from interfering
+	// with normal waiting for subprocesses to complete. Any time you exec
+	// and wait, you should take a read lock on this mutex. Only the reaper
+	// takes the write lock. This setup prevents us from serializing all the
+	// child process management with each other, it just serializes them
+	// with the child process reaper.
+	reapLock sync.RWMutex
 }
 
 // Create is used to create a new Agent. Returns
@@ -949,6 +957,7 @@ func (a *Agent) AddCheck(check *structs.HealthCheck, chkType *CheckType, persist
 				Script:   chkType.Script,
 				Interval: chkType.Interval,
 				Logger:   a.logger,
+				ReapLock: &a.reapLock,
 			}
 			monitor.Start()
 			a.checkMonitors[check.CheckID] = monitor
diff --git a/command/agent/check.go b/command/agent/check.go
index c658bb0170..189c0aeaa8 100644
--- a/command/agent/check.go
+++ b/command/agent/check.go
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ type CheckMonitor struct {
 	Script   string
 	Interval time.Duration
 	Logger   *log.Logger
+	ReapLock *sync.RWMutex
 
 	stop     bool
 	stopCh   chan struct{}
@@ -146,6 +147,12 @@ func (c *CheckMonitor) run() {
 
 // check is invoked periodically to perform the script check
 func (c *CheckMonitor) check() {
+	// Disable child process reaping so that we can get this command's
+	// return value. Note that we take the read lock here since we are
+	// waiting on a specific PID and don't need to serialize all waits.
+	c.ReapLock.RLock()
+	defer c.ReapLock.RUnlock()
+
 	// Create the command
 	cmd, err := ExecScript(c.Script)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/command/agent/check_test.go b/command/agent/check_test.go
index 95045d9cff..75099c8f08 100644
--- a/command/agent/check_test.go
+++ b/command/agent/check_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
+	"sync"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@ func expectStatus(t *testing.T, script, status string) {
 		Script:   script,
 		Interval: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 		Logger:   log.New(os.Stderr, "", log.LstdFlags),
+		ReapLock: &sync.RWMutex{},
 	}
 	check.Start()
 	defer check.Stop()
@@ -90,6 +92,7 @@ func TestCheckMonitor_RandomStagger(t *testing.T) {
 		Script:   "exit 0",
 		Interval: 25 * time.Millisecond,
 		Logger:   log.New(os.Stderr, "", log.LstdFlags),
+		ReapLock: &sync.RWMutex{},
 	}
 	check.Start()
 	defer check.Stop()
@@ -118,6 +121,7 @@ func TestCheckMonitor_LimitOutput(t *testing.T) {
 		Script:   "od -N 81920 /dev/urandom",
 		Interval: 25 * time.Millisecond,
 		Logger:   log.New(os.Stderr, "", log.LstdFlags),
+		ReapLock: &sync.RWMutex{},
 	}
 	check.Start()
 	defer check.Stop()
diff --git a/command/agent/command.go b/command/agent/command.go
index d2accf4b45..f48f24a188 100644
--- a/command/agent/command.go
+++ b/command/agent/command.go
@@ -674,7 +674,7 @@ func (c *Command) Run(args []string) int {
 					}
 				}
 			}()
-			go reap.ReapChildren(pids, errors, c.agent.shutdownCh)
+			go reap.ReapChildren(pids, errors, c.agent.shutdownCh, &c.agent.reapLock)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -709,7 +709,7 @@ func (c *Command) Run(args []string) int {
 	// Register the watches
 	for _, wp := range config.WatchPlans {
 		go func(wp *watch.WatchPlan) {
-			wp.Handler = makeWatchHandler(logOutput, wp.Exempt["handler"])
+			wp.Handler = makeWatchHandler(logOutput, wp.Exempt["handler"], &c.agent.reapLock)
 			wp.LogOutput = c.logOutput
 			if err := wp.Run(httpAddr.String()); err != nil {
 				c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error running watch: %v", err))
@@ -896,7 +896,7 @@ func (c *Command) handleReload(config *Config) *Config {
 	// Register the new watches
 	for _, wp := range newConf.WatchPlans {
 		go func(wp *watch.WatchPlan) {
-			wp.Handler = makeWatchHandler(c.logOutput, wp.Exempt["handler"])
+			wp.Handler = makeWatchHandler(c.logOutput, wp.Exempt["handler"], &c.agent.reapLock)
 			wp.LogOutput = c.logOutput
 			if err := wp.Run(httpAddr.String()); err != nil {
 				c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error running watch: %v", err))
diff --git a/command/agent/remote_exec.go b/command/agent/remote_exec.go
index 20c4bb0b91..7c8268dca8 100644
--- a/command/agent/remote_exec.go
+++ b/command/agent/remote_exec.go
@@ -135,6 +135,12 @@ func (a *Agent) handleRemoteExec(msg *UserEvent) {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Disable child process reaping so that we can get this command's
+	// return value. Note that we take the read lock here since we are
+	// waiting on a specific PID and don't need to serialize all waits.
+	a.reapLock.RLock()
+	defer a.reapLock.RUnlock()
+
 	// Ensure we write out an exit code
 	exitCode := 0
 	defer a.remoteExecWriteExitCode(&event, &exitCode)
diff --git a/command/agent/watch_handler.go b/command/agent/watch_handler.go
index afc4fb94d2..5ed210500c 100644
--- a/command/agent/watch_handler.go
+++ b/command/agent/watch_handler.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
+	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/armon/circbuf"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/watch"
@@ -33,10 +34,16 @@ func verifyWatchHandler(params interface{}) error {
 }
 
 // makeWatchHandler returns a handler for the given watch
-func makeWatchHandler(logOutput io.Writer, params interface{}) watch.HandlerFunc {
+func makeWatchHandler(logOutput io.Writer, params interface{}, reapLock *sync.RWMutex) watch.HandlerFunc {
 	script := params.(string)
 	logger := log.New(logOutput, "", log.LstdFlags)
 	fn := func(idx uint64, data interface{}) {
+		// Disable child process reaping so that we can get this command's
+		// return value. Note that we take the read lock here since we are
+		// waiting on a specific PID and don't need to serialize all waits.
+		reapLock.RLock()
+		defer reapLock.RUnlock()
+
 		// Create the command
 		cmd, err := ExecScript(script)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/command/agent/watch_handler_test.go b/command/agent/watch_handler_test.go
index 28f1e425f5..3980fd26c0 100644
--- a/command/agent/watch_handler_test.go
+++ b/command/agent/watch_handler_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package agent
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
+	"sync"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ func TestMakeWatchHandler(t *testing.T) {
 	defer os.Remove("handler_out")
 	defer os.Remove("handler_index_out")
 	script := "echo $CONSUL_INDEX >> handler_index_out && cat >> handler_out"
-	handler := makeWatchHandler(os.Stderr, script)
+	handler := makeWatchHandler(os.Stderr, script, &sync.RWMutex{})
 	handler(100, []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"})
 	raw, err := ioutil.ReadFile("handler_out")
 	if err != nil {