Poll: Leashing/Harnassing children.

[DugMachine]

Agh I put no but on second thought they're not an awful idea. I remember being 3 or 4 and getting lost in a department store. It might be a bit humiliating for kids older than say 5 but when they're practically toddlers and already walking... well kids can run off and do stupid shit.

 

[spartandude]

If you need a leash to mind your child, you should not be a parent.

i wonder will you come over here and tell my mum she was a bad parent then

and as someone who had one of these when i was about 2-3 i say they're alright

 

[chocolate pickles]

I'm not a parent, but i survived my childhood years without even breaking a bone, and the most serious injury i got (internal bleeding in my thumb) could't have been avoided if i had been on a leash. So i vote no.

 

[Teshi]

I don't understand how a leash is supposed to be less restrictive (or more demeaning) than being carried or strapped into a stroller. It's not. At least it lets the kid explore some and burn off some energy.

 

[Latinidiot]

I think it's really silly. I was raised just fine without. Just keep your eye on the kid. Discipline! I understand some toddlers are exceptionally energetic uncooperative and general cunts, I guess that would be the best option, but I still don't like it.

 

[el_kabong]

I believe that they are great ideas. The way I view it, it's essentially the same as leashes for dogs. The reason we have dogs on leashes is that they become a potential menace if they aren't properly trained. Like dogs, poorly trained children are irritating and put themselves in constant danger.

As a man who has worked in a retail store toy department, I cannot support these harnesses more.

 

[Paladin2905]

I was leashed as a kid, and I was taught to be careful. Never any bad side effects on me. Personally I think they are actually great things to have for kids- they give them a bit of freedom but don't let them wander. For everyone who says kids can always be disciplined I'd say I have ample experience that kids will constantly test limits: disciplined or not. A leash is a good way to put a firm limit on a kid without having to jump and tackle them if they start running into a street or something.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Its not really bad if you think about it but I hate it simply because it would make me feel like a dog or something. If you can't watch your kid you shouldn't have kids.

 

[GTwander]

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.

You've obviously never seen the movie Idiocracy.
Runner kids WILL spawn more runner kids, because whatever ADHD/rebellious phases the parents had will in turn show up in their kids. Proven for millenia, and only because of recent medical tech (and the wonders of leashes and ritalin) are children, that were practically destined to be a statistic, going to live long enough to spawn more.

I can deal with whatever hate this stance gets me, because I have a rolled up magazine lying in wait to discipline my own with. They, for-damned-sure, will find nothing funny behind running into traffic to get me to chase them like an idiot. Again, this is a game to these stupid little monsters, and it's folks that refuse to discipline them who end up playing into it over, and over again. Refuse to play it ffs.

 

[Henkie36]

Yes, I was leashed once. When I was three, we wre on a campsite, and the playground was just around the corner from where we set up our tent, just out of sight. So my parents put a rope around my waste, with according to them, a lot of slack and then I, being the little bastard I was and still am, stood right at the very end and cried on the top of my lungs. Then, they removed the rope and took me to the playground.

Sort of a childhood trauma, so no, leashing a child is not accptable under any circumstances.

 

[Syzygy23]

I shouldn't tell parents what to do with their children as long it doesn't hurt them.

Without any kind of evidence that says that children do get damaged by those things, I'll just assume the parents are assholes and go on my way.

But the chance of a child accidentally running off somewhere a car hits them is tiny. It's probably along the same lines as the chance of getting struck by lightning.

Okay. But the burden of proof is on you, gimmie the stats of young pedestrian road deaths and lightning strikes. I think kids being ran over by cars is far more common.

And even if, my parents always taught me to never run into the street without looking.

Because children do what they are told.

That seems preferable an option to treating your child like some sort of animal.

Humans are animals by definition.

No, humans are humans, animals are animals. We can consciously over ride our instinctual urges, animals can't. Big difference.

As far as leashes go...

Some kids are just retarded and can not learn that a car can and WILL splatter them all over the side walk.

 

[TehCookie]

I've seen plenty of kids running around and thought they need a leash, though if people would watch their kids it wouldn't be a problem. If it take a leash for a parent to keep their kid under control I think they're a good thing.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

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.

But the chance of a child accidentally running off somewhere a car hits them is tiny. It's probably along the same lines as the chance of getting struck by lightning.

And even if, my parents always taught me to never run into the street without looking. That seems preferable an option to treating your child like some sort of animal.

So to answer the OP post, there's never a justified reason for putting your child on a leash.

You've never looked after a toddler have you?

They tend to have preservation instincts of a suicidal Emo on a sugar rush.

Once the child hits 3 or 4 I would begin to think its unnecessary, but I would rather see a kid on a leash than splattered all over a road.

 

[Ramzal]

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"

Um... extremely wrong. Animals are NEVER born with fully developed brains to begin with. First of all, humans are animals. The learning curve for human is no different than that for a cat. If there is fire and a human touches it, that human stops touching it directly just as a cat would. Unless they do not process the fire as a threat for some reason, thus Darwinism kicks in with a blaze. (literally) Survival of the fittest and "reproduction of the fittest" (As you put it) is one and the same thing. Every single animal is helpless and dependent without a parent or have an extremely low chance of survival mainly relying on luck. Much like sea turtles. (The beginning of their life cycle is nothing SHORT of a test of luck.)

Part of Darwinism involves a younger animals straying away from it's parent with it SHOULD stay next to it, leading to a situation that occurs and causes the loss of that animals' life. I don't think you fully understand Darwin's workings/theory of survival of the fittest, and a good zoology class may help you with that.

 

[Something Amyss]

i wonder will you come over here and tell my mum she was a bad parent then

Care to buy me a ticket? I'm a poor, working class schlub who can barely afford to take time off, let alone pay for travel fare.

If so, sure.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Considering some children need leashes more than even some dogs, I can't really see a problem with this.

CAPTCHA: Double Cross

Who'd I double cross? I don't have any kids.

 

[Ravinoff]

I was never leashed and would never leash my kid. Fuck, we're not dealing with stupid dogs here, even in their state they're still humans.

I'm pretty sure my dog is smarter than most kids in the age group that get leashed.

OT: Yeah, I fully support leashing kids. When I was like four I ran out in front of a car and nearly got hit. Kids are idiots up until they actually develop cognitive reasoning abilities.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I want to say no, unequivocally, but honestly, some kids just want to chase cars and climb buildings. So yep, exceptional circumstances.

 

[ElPatron]

No, humans are humans, animals are animals. We can consciously over ride our instinctual urges, animals can't. Big difference.

Our Genus is Homo, Subtribe is Hominina, Tribe is Hominini, Family is Hominidae, Order is Primates, Class is Mammalia > Synapsida, Phylum is Chordata and Kingdom is Animalia.

I'd like to see you come up to a biology teacher and tell them Homo Sapiens are not animals.

Some kids are just retarded and can not learn that a car can and WILL splatter them all over the side walk.

Children will usually not be able to focus on multiple things. They have really bad situational awareness, they won't notice a car speeding at them if they're focused on something else. Like a ball on the middle of the street.

Not only that, but until you're 9 you can't use your hearing to guess a position. I was probably 10 or 11 when I became able to judge direction and distance.