Poll: Leashing/Harnassing children.

[Superlative]

No, you shouldn't put your kid on a leash. I've honestly never seen leashed up kids, so i guess it is a European thing or something.

back on topic: no matter how badly behaved the kid is, they are still human and worthy of being treated like one. Leashes are what you use on animals and, therefore, unfit to be used on a human.
its undignified.

if the kid runs off on you, you swat them on the backside a few times so they will think twice about doing it again. if they keep doing it, you stop taking them to crowded places so to prevent Natural Selection from claiming your child (early).

unless the kid has very sever mental retardation and the parent absolutely must take the kid out, they they should not be used.

capatcha: hat trick

 

[Yopaz]

I can see it as a good thing in some cases. Those cases tend to be the same as those cases where I think the parents should never have had any kids at all though. If you're not responsible enough to keep an eye out for your child a leash is a good thing, though this could also be effective with hyperactive kids. Although I see a big risk of injury if you leash a hyperactive kid...

 

[Baby Rasputin]

back on topic: no matter how badly behaved the kid is, they are still human and worthy of being treated like one. Leashes are what you use on animals and, therefore, unfit to be used on a human.
its undignified.

if the kid runs off on you, you swat them on the backside a few times so they will think twice about doing it again. if they keep doing it, you stop taking them to crowded places so to prevent Natural Selection from claiming your child (early).

So that's what you'd do to any adult too? would you hit your dog or cat or whatever animal you would/do own?


But my opinion on leashes, is that under the right circumstances, it's fine. But using them so you can ignore your child isn't a good idea. I would much prefer to hold their hand, or carry them.

 

[Actual]

I loved my leash when I was a kid. Used to run to its limits and lean against it see how close to horizontal I could get. Run in circles and try and tangle my parents. Sometimes my dad would pick me up by the harness and swing me round. Was very disappointed when my parents considered me responsible enough not to need it anymore.

I think anyone here decrying its use is an idiot. "Just teach your children not to run into traffic" A child of that age doesn't learn from logical arguments, they learn the fire is hot by burning their hand on it. Would you also consider fireguards dehumanizing. Child-proof medicine locks.

 

[Estranged180]

Spoiler

There's really nothing more to be said here.

 

[F'Angus]

Personally I think it's a good thing, it helps control children, stop them running in the road.

And this is coming from a child who was actually leashed.

I hated being on a lead at the time but now I realise it stopped me running off, because I was a horrible child and would probably have run off.

 

[Estranged180]

Personally I think it's a good thing, it helps control children, stop them running in the road.

And this is coming from a child who was actually leashed.

I hated being on a lead at the time but now I realise it stopped me running off, because I was a horrible child and would probably have run off.

I was never put on a leash, and I still never ran headlong into the road. Mostly because of what I knew would happen if I did. I would get my ass kicked halfway down the street by my mother. If you stop and think about it, it was a reasonable thing to happen. Far less damage from the mother than there would have been from the car, and a lesson would have been learned that day.

 

[Soundwave]

Alternatively you could, I dunno, watch the kid? While I haven't had kids, I've taken care of my neighbours 5 year old at various points in the last 5 years, their 2 year old for the last two and my sister's daughters from a range of ages so I have at least a little experience in this and I'm pretty anti-harness after a while.

Of course parents should pay attention to the kid when they're on the harness. The reason you have the harness is to restrict the child's range of movement, it isn't a license to ignore your child. Kid could be eating something he picked up off the ground, or any number of things.

My mom had to use one for my brother when she broke her leg. Without it, if he'd bolted (which he had the habit of doing) she'd have been unable to get him.

It's really easy to tell someone else how to parent children, and many self-appointed experts on the internet are little more than children themselves (this statement isn't directed at anyone in particular). Plenty of people shouldn't have children, but I'd argue that ones that leash theirs at least care enough about their kids to sacrifice their own public image for their child's safety.

Assuming you read the rest of that post I made, or at least the tl;dr, I think broken leg is one of those ones I would include as 'I-can-see-why-you're-doing-it'. Leashing does not inherently mean it's miles safer, that's a hugely flawed assumption and leads to the whole "I dont need to watch my kid" scenario I was pointing out.

That's going to be hard to argue against since you seem to believe that using a leash automatically means the parents only doing it for the child's safety rather than other reasons like their own convenience (so they don't have to chase the kid, which may be why some people use them past the age of about 3) or to make themselves look more safety conscious (because the appearance of being safety conscious does not neccessarily mean they are, far from sacrificing their public image, some people would consider this a buff to it).

In a real sense, if you're arguing that the people who disagree are children (which is one of the few ways to interpret your last comment) then I would ask what stage do you think children should be UNleashed? 16? 18? You can still run in front of a car at 16.

If you're using it on early developmental stages and you yourself are in some way debilitated, I can see that being a good reason to use one (Broken Leg, for example) but using a leash does not automatically make you a good parent and it doesn't automatically mean the child is any safer. If you're going to supervise them anyway, why bother with the leash? Surely you'll hold their hand/ride them on your shoulders near a road, why would you leash them and give them an extra range of movement with which to run into traffic?

I was arguing with your flippant remark that "parents should watch their kids". It was obvious and unnecessary.
You seem to be laboring under the false assumption that I somehow support usage of leashes in every situation because I haven't said otherwise. What I'd done was pare down my points to prevent redundancy. But if it'll make you happy "No, I don't think children over three should be leashed" "Yes I can see that it's demeaning, but I assure you that I don't care what you think".
Regarding my suggestion that people without children have plenty of nonsense ideas about parenting wasn't directed at you, but rather numerous others who think children have this need to be 'dignified'.

 

[Catie Caraco]

I chose the exceptional choice, though that really isn't the way I would phrase it. The poll choices were a little black, white, and solid grey to me. They lack wiggle room.

My boyfriend had 3 brothers growing up, and there is six years between him (the eldest) and the youngest. Their parents split early on, so there was a LOT of out-numbered parent going on. Their mother often h"leashed" them in parking lots or malls so she knew she had them under control. It wasn't because she was otherwise neglectful, but because this gave her peace of mind. And by "leashed" it was a velcro-strip around their wrists that by the age of four they could take off if they wanted to.

I'd say in high traffic public places if you have more children than adult hands, a leash or harness is perfectly fine. Not all parents who have a child walk off from them are neglectful. I find that assumption extremely foolish and downright rude. And, after watching kids run around a grocery store all day because they won't sit in the damn cart, I kinda wish more parents WOULD use leashes. Kids see those long aisles and something in them goes "MUST.RUN."

 

[lacktheknack]

It seems like a fitting punishment.

Leashes are used to restrain excitable dogs and stop them from running off.

Your child got excited and ran off.

Thus, (s)he gets an hour on the leash, embarrassment be damned.

 

[Catie Caraco]

Regarding my suggestion that people without children have plenty of nonsense ideas about parenting wasn't directed at you, but rather numerous others who think children have this need to be 'dignified'.

I love what you've just said, I really do. Children don't give a fig about dignity, and if they feel self conscious about being leashed in public they're probably picking up these cues from Mom or Dad. Kid's won't object to leashes based on DIGNITY but because they're being restricted and there is something Superawesomeshiny over there and they REALLY want a better look.

Kids will pick their nose and eat it in public. They will wear a tutu over a bathing suit with a Batman mask in public. They will spin in circles and sing in public. One of the things I love about children, and miss about childhood, is the ability to give no shits about what other people think.

captcha: dalek asylum. No thank you, captcha, I prefer not to partake in Doctor Who.

 

[geK0]

My sister used this little monkey backpack on her son that was tethered to her waist. She wasn't an unattentive parent or anything, my nephew was just very excitable at that age (late 2s early 3s) and had a habit of running off in random directions. I don't find too much wrong with the whole leash thing, but it's not a substitute for actually paying attention to your child and people who use it as such are bad parents in that respect.

 

[geK0]

Never.

We all need to go back to just hitting our kids.


~On the other hand.
Not a month or two ago there was a big fiasco not 2 blocks away from where I was staying. Tons of cops, so I decided to go "the other way". Turns out some 3-year old kid ran out into traffic and got obliterated, didn't survive the trip to the hospital... and he was here on vacation with his parents. Worst family trip, ever - and a leash may have saved his life.

Though, while it may sound cruel, this is just Darwinism at work. Leashes are just preventing the inevitable.
I for one never had to be told what happens when you run out into traffic, and never caused any issues for my folks. I've even knew a dog (welsh corgi) that never needed a leash because it knew the value of looking both ways before crossing a street. If you can't impart that value to anyone/anything, they likely do not deserve the right of survival.

A three year old who runs out on the road is prone to doing so as an adult and also producing offspring who do the same? Sorry I'm not buying it; if every person who did something stupid WHEN THEY WERE 3 died, we'd have a pretty bloody small population.

Shit, I wish certain people who can't show sympathy for a dead 3 year old could be erased from the gene pool.

 

[kyuzo3567]

No. Why? Because I believe that natural selection should happen to humans, even children, regardless of age. If you're too lazy to hold your child's hand while walking with them then you probably shouldn't have had a child to begin with. Honestly, all of these safety precautions for children (Even adults) are so ridiculous these days that there are people who've gone their entire lives with so much as falling down once. Or are afraid of "what would happen if..." instead of letting it happen and learning a lesson.

While there isn't much for a child to learn if it's hit by a car, there'd be more than enough for a parent to learn if their kid was hit by a car if they weren't holding onto the child. And if for some reason they didn't learn then...well...again... natural selection will handle that.

no, see that's wrong. Natural selection doesn't work like that, especially for humans as in your example. We're not born with fully developed brains ready to take care of ourselves like most other creatures. We are completely helpless and dependent on other people (most notably our parents) to keep us safe and provide for us. Running off and getting hit by a car isn't a case of bad genes, and neither is being a bad parent the case of bad genes. Natural Selection isn't "survival of the fittest" its "reproduction of the fittest"

 

[omega 616]

I think it's just a tool to help parents, imagine you have 1 child which is just a handful and is always running off ... after a long day of shopping, arms full of bags, hurt feet, hustle and bustle been driving you mad etc. it would be nice to have easy control over 1 thing.

You still have to keep on eye on them 'cos they can act like a fucking mace and take out a group of people at the knees.

Plus you soon know if you kid is being kidnapped if all of a sudden the constant tug turns into a slack piece of fabric or you get yanked off your feet.

I wouldn't have the kid super glued into the thing and it depends on your kids mood but I think they can come in handy ... why do things the hard way when you don't have to

EDIT: I don't think you can be too against it until you have your own sprog to look after, keeping an eye on a kiddie 24/7 isn't easy ...

As for the "only pets should be kept on a leash" is there much difference between a puppy and a toddler?

As for the "it's embarrassing for the child" I don't think they give a fuck how they look! Ever look at your baby pics? Ever notice how awful the clothes were? Especially when I was born, 1989 ... coats were made of green, purple and yellow tarp-like-plastic

 

[ZephrC]

Uh... what? Is this some kind of weird joke that people are taking way too seriously or something?

I've never even heard of this before. That's... disturbing. Is this really a thing that people do now? That makes me incredibly sad. I just... I just don't even know.

 

[Dense_Electric]

Depends on the circumstances. If it's just a result of lazy parenting, then no. You should be able to teach your child not to run out in front of a moving vehicle. However, some children are exceptionally hyperactive or have mental/learning disorders of some sort, and in those cases a leash might be the only way to keep them from running off.

Captcha: "filthy dirty mess"

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

The kid might not like a harness but if it's keeping them from being hit by a car you really can't argue with the results.

basically this

all it takes is one split second of you not looking and that child is gone in a flash chasing something or someone, and they could easily be hit by a car/kidnapped/lost/etc...

if it means leashing your child to keep them safe/from fuckin around, then sure, why not.



however if you are yanking on them like it's a damn choke chain and are treating them like a 2nd rate animal, well, then that's when it gets to be frowned upon.

 

[Soundwave]

No. Half the reason kids are so stupid these days is because parents are overbearing and never let there kids run free. My cousin didn't get put down by his mother until he was three. He was just held in mothers arms and coddled all the damn time. As a result he's become clingy, unwilling to stray from his mother and is a frightened wreck. I on the other hand jumped on bails when I was a kid, caught snakes, swam in the deep end, played make believe for hours on the farm. I'm a pretty well rounded human being..

It sounds more like this was a result of your cousin's temperament, rather than an overabundance of coddling. Just as there are children who want to run and play and explore, there are also those who would much rather be protected. It's a survival trait. In third world countries, fussier children have a higher rate of survival than the more laid back.