Child Leashes

[gremcint]

This one has popped up on CS a few times, I did a quick search and didn't see a thread here.

So some feel that they are demeaning and shouldn't be used.
Others feel that they provide more security and are worth the embarrassment.


I personally feel that with the way that kids will just randomly run off or wander off and possibly get kidnapped or worse that they are worth any embarrassment up to a certain age.

Where do you stand?

[BlaqueKatt]

my autistic son would run from me full tilt at times-sometimes towards the street. I have bad knees and there were a couple times I almost didn't catch him. He thought it was a game, and couldn't at 2 years old understand the concept of "danger" all that well. He got leashed-didn't "embarrass" him one bit, he pretended to be a cat or a dog....I did get a couple sneers of "shameful treating a child like a dog"-my usual response was "thank you, I leash my pets because I love them and don't want them hurt running off, I love my son more so I leash him as well-he's safe, from both injury and abduction; it only takes a second you know"

[AdminAssistant]

My sister went with the backpack model when my nephew was 2-3 and thought he could run anywhere and take over the world. (That boy still fears pretty much nothing.) It was a monkey backpack with an extended "tail" that she could hold on to like this http://www.target.com/Eddie-Bauer-Ha...i_detailbutton. It totally depends on the child, the parent, and the situation.

[crashhelmet]

The first time I ever saw a kid on a "leash," I was appalled. I couldn't believe that a parent would "do that to their kid."

I guess it came from having parents that actually disciplined us. We knew not to run off.

With the way kids are now, whether it's related to a disorder, lack of parenting, or whatever, and an apparent increase in abductions, I have no problems with them.

Better safe than sorry, right?

CH

[Sage Blackthorn]

As a child, I had a harness and leash that saved my hide a number of times. Mind you I was an extremely inquisitive child, and when something neat caught my attention, I would go check it out. One time (before my mom resorted to the leash), I walked off by myself to look at some toys in a department store (could've been Woolworth's, maybe JC Pennies, I was REALLY young so I don't remember anything but going down the escalator back to where I saw the stuffed animals). I was standing there, minding my own business when a security guard picked me up without saying anything and scarred the crap out of me. I thought I was being kidnapped and kicked and screamed for help but no one did anything. I dunno if it counts as a "scarred for life" moment in my childhood, but I have the sneaky suspicion that's it's the root of my dislike of police. I kinda wish mom has put the leash on me SOONER, I might''ve grown up to be a whole different person.

Now that I've gotten the long personal anecdote out of my system (feel free to disregard it as you wish). I read an interesting book a few years ago called "The Continuum Concept" by Jean Liedloff. In it, the author looks at the differences she observed, as a therapist, between how modern civilized folks and one tribe in the Amazon raised and relate to their kids. Two things she noted struck me: Children have an instinctive expectation about how to be treated, and children will instinctively try to do what their parents (or any adult) expects of them. This causes problems in many cases for us modern folks.

So parents who expect their kids to run off, pre-emptively put a leash on them to keep them from running off, and when they try to run off the parent feels justified because they kid has, in essence, done exactly what was expected of them.

Another thing Liedloff noticed, was that the native children were far more self-sufficient and confident than their city cousins. With the exception of one who had been taken to a western hospital as a baby to be treated for an illness.

I dunno if child safety harness are a good thing or a bad thing. But I wonder what they teach the child? And do they make them a better person as a grown up or not?

Or, maybe it just doesn't matter whether a kid's on a leash or not, but what's important how they are expected to act in polite society?

[anakhouri]

Khan has a leash, I haven't used it yet but I'm sure I will. He is fast, and fearless. I see nothing wrong with them. Leashing the little monster is better than letting him be hurt or snatched because he won't stay with me.

[tabbyblack13]

I would use one on my kid if I had one. My mom did the same thing to my brother because my brother refused to hold my mom's hand while walking and did try to run off several times. It kept him safe when he was out of the house. Back then they had the actual harness and not the cute backpacks so it probably looked worst then it was.

If you use the leash to drag the kid around I can why people would be offended by it. If you have a kid that doesn't want to be carried, in a stroller, or have their hand held then the leash should be a good option. There are some kids that want to explore and walk around. With the leash on the kids can be safe and still be independent.

[LadyBarbossa]

My sister leashed all three of her boys and they don't seem to have suffered any damage because of it. It's far better than to let them run rampant all over the place, and like people say, it only takes a second and they can be gone.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Honestly I do not have a problem with them up until a certain age.

When children are toddlers and learn how to run...they will. And you can't always keep a child in the stroller at that age so they have to come out.

When you are shopping with the toddler there are times when you have to pay attention to something other than the child. You have to look for a product on a shelf, have to check a product for allergens, something related to the shopping. In that split second you stop looking at a child they can streak off faster than a Ferengi starship streaking towards an opportunity for profit.

And that's dangerous in a store.

So by having the child when they are at that age where they do not understand fully the concepts of "obeying the rules" and "stay near Mommy/Daddy", wearing the leash, you have some measure of control over the child when you can't look at him/her.

Not to mention that there is the "tugging on the lead" that can alert to an attempted snatch and grab of the child...

But that should only be up until a certain age when you know that they have a better grasp of following the rules laid down by the parent. At that time, it's better to switch to one of the locators that can give you a direction fix towards the child if/when they scamper off.

Sure it may seem embarrassing, but at the right age, they do not care about embarrassment. This is also the age where they'll go stark nekkid in front of house guests just because they feel like it. There is no embarrassment up until they get a little older.

[Racket_Man]

Ex and I decided to get a harrness and leash for our daughter after she almost became road pizza. got some nasty looks from people but we kept her as safe as we could and we could make sure she did not wander off (either slowly or fast)

daughter tended to be impulsive as in "OOOOHHHHHH SHINNY THING over there" and not thinking but DOING and MOVING (very very fast I might add). daughter did not have the sense of DANGER and DEATH or at least PAIN from doing stupid things until a little later in life.

[Rapscallion]

According to my mother, had it not been for a harness I'd have been dead several times.

Rapscallion

[Lace Neil Singer]

My two little brothers were leashed, mainly due to the facts that they had no fear, liked to run, and when they did, both peeled off in different directions. I was never leashed cuz I liked to stay close to my mother.

I don't see the embarrassment; like someone said earlier, small children have no embarrassment factor. I will say this tho; I think the backpack and harness leashes are a lot safer than the ones where the leash is attached to the wrist. I'm sure that there's a risk of dislocating a child's arm, particularly if they pull against it. My little brother had that problem; his shoulder dislocated a lot when he was younger.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

daughter tended to be impulsive as in "OOOOHHHHHH SHINNY THING over there" and not thinking but DOING and MOVING (very very fast I might add). daughter did not have the sense of DANGER and DEATH or at least PAIN from doing stupid things until a little later in life.

Precisely. That is the problem with children. They lack the ability to see anything beyond their immediate focus. So when the child sees the shiny coin in the street, or the pretty butterfly, or the frog, or whatever has captured the interest...they will streak out towards it with no spacial or situational awareness that would let them know about the 2,000 pounds of automobile that is going to hurt them at best and at worst kill them.

It's no slam against the parents for owning the leashes and harnesses. The simple fact that without them, it is that much harder for a single parent (or a married parent shopping alone with the child) to keep the child under control on those few seconds when you look for an item on the shelf.

Anyone with a child knows that they can go from "there" to "other side of the @#$%ing house and into something that they aren't supposed to be into in less than 10 seconds.

They can haul some serious ass when they put their minds to it. And yes, with enough of a head start they can get to their destination so fast that Jessie Owens would have a hard time catching up before disaster strikes.

[IDrinkaRum]

Children are Kenders. They grab things, run after things, and generally don't see what they're doing as "wrong".

My daughter is autistic. She has no fear (though she does get scared if Mr. Rum picks her up to put her on his shoulders).

She's also very impulsive. She sees something, she runs after it. As I'm trailing behind her shouting: "Child! Come back here!" and sounding completley useless. And then I have to run after her, plowing into people to get to her, and getting the looks of, "Lady, control your kid!"

Darned if you do. Darned if you don't.

Child doesn't like to hold hands. I'm seriously thinking of getting her a wrist leash, but she doesn't like the feeling of bracelets or watches on her arm for long amounts of time, so I have no clue how she'd react to that. Plus, she's 7.

*sighs*

I say: Leashes are good for children. Keeps them near the parents, they can't run off and they can't be kidnapped. And if anyone else has a problem, then they don't have to use them.

[dendawg]

If I ever have children, my justification for leashing them will be two words:

Adam. Walsh.