Hey, Freeper Parents! Anyone use a toddler leash? (Vanity)

Babyfit.com ^

[Oyarsa]

I was reading a messageboard thread over at Babyfit.com, and was curious as to what my fellow Freepers thought of the practice of using toddler leashes?

Do you swear by them? Abhor them? Want to burn them on sight?

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"These kid leashes are for those parents that are too lazy to control their kids."

Baloney. There are many comments on this thread that describe a situation where a leash has been helpful. Would you post a comment to each person that they are a lazy parent? Your brush is too broad.

[CougarGA7]

I stand by my statement.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

And you remain wrong. It is your right. ;-)

[CougarGA7]

If you feel that way. I just found that with 4 kids I never needed to resort to treating them like an animal. This includes activities like sailing on the Pacific with todlers and tromping around Disneyland. But some feel it’s a good solution which is fine.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Thankfully, you were blessed with 4 extremely reasonable children and not many/any circumstances that threatened their well-being. Thank goodness you were always able to protect them without assistance from a tool. I've often found it amazing that my mother was able to cart 3 kids around without incident, having never owned a carseat.

It is interesting that you can view a tether on a toddler as demeaning and treating them like an animal vs. protecting an animal by keeping it on a leash while leaving a toddler unrestrained to dart into danger or cause danger for another because someone didn't react quickly enough to the split second reflexes of a 3-year-old.

There are as many different circumstances as there are people to experience them. One mom might find herself with a cast on her foot and 2 or 3 agile children. Another mother might be handicapped. Yet another might just be such a fretful mom that she can't dare put her child's feet on the ground without a connection to him/her.

A leash itself doesn't equal animal-like treatment. If a child feels treasured and loved, it is unlikely that a long strap or coiled plastic attached to mom or dad is going to demean them and destroy their future self-esteem.

Thanks for the discussion -- your civility is much appreciated.

[CougarGA7]

4 extremely reasonable children

I cant say that's accurate. I don't call the youngest Crash for nothing. But it's like I tell my wife, "Let him fall off that wall a couple of times. He'll learn."

[JustaDumbBlonde]

LOL!

[Tammy8]

I never used them when raising my children. I might feel different if I lived in a big city and needed to keep track of a toddler in a large crowd.

My daughter took my grandson to a big zoo last year, he was 5 and he was horrified to see two children on leashes. He wanted my daughter to yell at the parents and he was very upset because they had their children “tied up” like that.

My mother said one of my older brothers was a real handful when he was just walking good and when she hung up laundry outside she had a rope tied to the clothesline pole that she would hook into his belt loop so he couldn’t wander off but he could still play while she was busy.