🤔
That depends. If its a choke chain then either group is abusive. One morning I witnessed some asshole who had a steel cable around a two or three year old kids neck as a choke chain. Later I found out the kid was autistic. This was found out after they kid was taken from his parents and was tested.
I disagree: leash your kids (especially at restaurants).
Cats prefer new hoomans on leash like dog
Me and my twin were leashed. I didn’t know it, so I guess we weren’t affected by that too much. Just other stuff in childhood. It was difficult for mother to control twins if she took us out alone so leashes it was.
Other people were so shitty to her about it though.
Been a long time, but back in the 90s/early 00s, I saw tons of parents with their kids on leashes at amusement parks… It always made me lol at the absurdity, but it was relatively prominent.
I was a leash kid in the early 90s. I do not feel dehumanized knowing that was the case, like some of these childless reactionaries in the comments are claiming.
I laughed too, until I raised a toddler with ADHD. He wasn’t diagnosed yet, but lord was it obvious he had the markers. Never leashed him, but definitely ran after him a lot, and had to keep a hyperfocused eye on him at all times.
I don’t laugh as hard now, I still giggle, but just not as hard
For kids the leash is supposed to be psychological.
how many judge judy cases are about problems caused by runaway children? there’s a reason why laws mandate leashes for dogs – their scope for damage is far higher than is that for toddlers.
I want to know what psychologists say about this
“Your mom!”
No u!
This made me realize that my parents having me on a leash as a toddler may be why I have a leash kink as an adult. 🤔
Adults have leashes tied to their jobs.
When an animal is old and dying, you’re expected to euthanize it. When a human is old and dying, you’re expected to keep them alive as long as possible
a pet doesn’t leave behind an estate to inherit. laws are hesitant on human euthanasia because of the scope of misuse by greedy beneficiaries of wills.
Maybe we should rethink ownership as a concept. Is it really necessary? I feel like it causes a lot of trouble without solving much. Why can’t humans just properly work together in a society that shares resources with those in need?
How else do you plan to support the Healthcare industry?
No it’s not?
They make leashes specifically for toddlers. They’re pretty common.
I remember seeing someone make an argument for leashes, and it stuck with me. Forgive me that I don’t remember the source, so this is paraphrasing at best.
First, you must throw out all of your thoughts and mental associations with the leash. You must consider this scenario on its own. It has nothing to do with pets, or anything like that. This is about parenting, and only parenting.
You might see a leash as degrading. And to an adult, or an older child, that would certainly be the case. But these are typically only used on small children who have not yet developed that concept. IOW, the child does not mind the leash, aside from wanting to go where the leash won’t allow.
You might think that the child’s curiosity is being limited. Kids need to run and be free! But if there were no leash, that wouldn’t be the case. Instead of a leash, a hyper-vigilant parent would be enforcing similar boundaries. In fact, most parents would be enforcing stricter boundaries- if you need to make sure Junior doesn’t run away, you might not let them walk anywhere. The simplest form is requiring them to hold your hand, which is like an even shorter leash.
Since they can’t just run away, you can even use a long leash. That allows them to run and explore and jump around, and have significantly greater freedoms, all because the string keeps them near enough. They might still fall and get hurt, but that’s part of growing up. And yes, at a certain point, they will need to learn impulse control to stay nearby without a leash. This doesn’t mean a leash is bad, only that it’s not for every circumstance and needs to be retired at some point.
Now, after all of the above, can you articulate why a leash is always bad? Keeping in mind the child doesn’t mind.
Anyone against this has never been the parent of a rambunctious, suicidal toddler. Those little buggers are fast and deadly curious.
Yep. I had one who would never stray far and didn’t want to cross the road without my say so until they were about 10. The other as soon as they were able to walk/run would high tail it to the nearest roadway the second your gaze wavered. Trying to convince my MIL that we weren’t abusive but just trying to keep our child alive until they knew better and could be reasoned with, was an ordeal. And holding their hand wasn’t much of an option because they would pull hard enough to dislocate their elbow. They also hated strollers or backpacks so that was not a viable option.
I read the OP as if they’re highlighting a double standard, rather than positing that OP themselves think they’re bad. “Can you articulate why a leash is always bad” seems improper if I understand OP correctly.
I could be wrong :P
I was on a leash as a kid in the early '80s 😂 I forgot all about it until I saw this post. It was just when we were out shopping or something, it wasn’t like I was tethered to a post in the back garden. But honestly, a leash on young toddlers just seems like a good idea to me, especially if you have 2 or more kids and you’re all out together. Lots of tragedies could have been avoided if little Willy and his new superpower of self-determined locomotion wasn’t able to suddenly take a sharp 45° turn and sprint headlong into oncoming traffic. Abductions would be a lot harder to pull off, too. Thinking of James Bulger, specifically 😔
I also think it’s way nicer/less “abusive” than placing the kid in a buggy/stroller and wheeling their grumpy asses around like yer bell-ringing fella from Breaking Bad. They have zero freedom in that case, whereas on a leash they can at least walk around a bit and expend some of that crazy fizzy energy.
My uncle used to tell us “fat kids are harder to kidnap” and we didn’t understand the joke even when we’d arrived at the ice cream place.
Not really. I wish more parents would use kid leashes. They clip onto a harness, not a collar. In fact the old saying about kids being “tied to their mother’s apron strings” is literally this, to keep the little monsters from running off and getting hurt or lost.
My daughter and I had ones that were just bracelets with a retractable cord between. She could get up to around four feet from me. We did a lot of hiking since she could walk, and I can’t imagine going through some places without it. She’s so quick and always loved to peer right over cliff sides. No fear!
Provide a safe space, let kids run wild. Ideal.
