After working at a zoo in a children's play and splash zone I'm kind of torn on the leashing thing. One one hand, I've seen some parents who could probably make good use of it ( WHY IN GODS NAME WOULD YOU LET THEM RUN AHEAD OF YOU WHEN YOU KNOW THEY CAN RUN RIGHT INTO THE WATER?!?!) and some who use it who probably don't need it because they're good parents and some who don't need it.

I'd say a leash should be unnecessary if you're implementing the right discipline with your child (and yes I just watched 2 episodes of SuperNanny today)

But this is all me telling parents how to parent without being a parent yet myself. And that being said, this is your journal and you can do whatever the hell you want with it. I'm here for the humor and sarcasm.

We used one, very occasionally, because she was going through an independant phase and wouldn't hold hands. It didn't last, and we gave up on it once she was happy to hold hands again. I didn't feel particularly bad or good about it; it was just one of teh things we tried out to see if it suited. We didn't use it much with the second kid.

The older girl is now studying for her master's degree in London, the younger is at a good drama school. Neither have yet become serial killers. Give them time.

IOW, a lot depends. On the kid, the place, the parent.

I was a leashed toddler if out at the shopping mall, but I like to think my serial killer tendancies stem from other factors. Though mum did quite like to strangle the other kiddies with the leash while I was still attached to it, but eh, pretty flimsy connection if you ask me.

I have no intention of having children so it's kind of irrelevant, but I do promise and cross my heart never to put my cats on leashes even though taking all 57 down to the mall is a real exercise in staying on your toes, mostly down to all the faeces they leave everywhere.

What my Strong Opinion is: there are some places that children shouldn't be taken. Like taking them down to the local cafe and spending hours there chatting with your friends over coffee and not having anything for the kids to do so they run rampant about the place bored out of their skulls - Not Cool People! For gods sake, how long does it take to pack a colouring-in/storybook or a toy to keep them occupied - or better yet realise that some spaces are adult ones and small kids just aren't really appropriate for everyone elses sanity and that kids have small windows before they become tired and cranky and grumpiness decends.

But this is because everyone else sucks and is wrong.

I AND MY MANICURED TOES HATE YOU FOREVER LAURA

JSYK

tbh my toenails are so short that you can see the tips of my toes poking out after them, so perhaps I am immune to your disgust. NEVERTHELESS AS YOU ARE WELL AWARE I DO NOT ACTUALLY CARE.

prancing time now


also tbh I think children should be kept in small but well-ventilated metal boxes until such time as they are able to communicate like normal human beings and not using shrieking relentlessly as their primary means of conversation. I am aware that this is perhaps an unpopular opinion.

Edited at 2010-11-15 11:28 pm (UTC)

One of my friends used reins on her kids so that they could run ahead or stay behind a little and she wouldn't have to worry about kidnapping. It's not my favorite thing, but I can see the utility. I mean, as long as we're not talking about a collar around a neck or anything because that's dangerous.

I made an informal poll about child leashing on my Facebook, and a good chunk of my educated, lovely friends have actually leashed their children at one point or another, usually in the name of safety (like, kidnapping safety). Um. Okay. Still against it, though.

I wasn't planning to comment about the leashing, but since you asked! I never used a harness or leash on my child, and he only ran out in front of a car, causing it to slam on its brakes, once! yay! I also only restricted my entire shopping experience to three stores total for six or seven years! I did eventually train him not to yank his little hand out of mine and take off running by when he was 8, thanks for asking! :)

Of course you may feel free to delete or defriend as you wish!

DERP.

This is out of control, woman! Like my child who steps out the front door, and while I lock it, runs down the steps and into the street and does not listen to me saying stay with mommy or yelling STOP! NO! And since he is more slippery than a pig suntanning with Crisco, managing to hold his hand is beyond me, the horrible parent and poor excuse for a human being who can understand when a parent needs a little help to keep their kid from hurting themselves. (what does it matter how many kids vs. parents there are unless you are tying them up to a sleigh and making them haul you ass around the neighborhood as you whip them saying MUSH! MUSH!)

Eh, I don't know.. Unless the parents are doing something they REALLY should not be doing, they won't develop a kink or become a murderer or even a politician. It takes more than one little thing.

Reins sound different from leashes. My mother always INSISTED on hand-holding or in-the-pushchair. Apparently she once said 'Well, if you won't hold my hand, that's fine, but you'll be wearing reins from now on' and I was SO INCREDIBLY OFFENDED that I held her hand.

Oh, I really enjoyed your phone rant earlier and I thought you'd like this. For ANNOYING PHONE WOMEN. Tho I bet you already know LoG backwards.

I have no children. This is not an accident - it's a deliberate plan for my life, thankyouverymuch. That said, I totes have an opinion on your parenting topic du jour!

When I see one of those stupid leashes, I think that it's demeaning for both parties involved. A child is a person, not a puppy!

I think there needs to be a Child Rearing Issues Cagematch to see what can cause the most passionate responses. Mostly, I just think it's hilarious that child leashes are up there with bottle vs breast in that battle. (Every few years, someone I know comes out as passionately opposed to them. Which I just don't feel. I mean, I admire the passion, but I think they have their uses, even if they are overkill for most parent/child combos.)

However, and now that I'm not on my phone, I can say that I did once suggest flippantly to my brother that he use the Monks of New Skete methods to raise his child, only to have me take me semi-seriously. So, you know, all parenting suggestions I make should probably be taken with LARGE GRAINS OF SALT.

AND TOTALLY INSUFFICIENT SAMPLE SET, but my unleashed brother is WAY more likely to become a serial killer than I am!

In Disney world with my 2 yr old. She is NOT leashed. I am seeing a lot of them though and not just toddlers either. Waiting to see a 13 yr old leashed. It's coming people! Ok back to my vacay with the Mouse. Kisses

Weighing in on the leashing thing: my mum put me on a leash so that I wouldn't run off and die because I was really curious and about as unstreetwise as it is possible to be, even as a child.

I don't have a problem with it because a. my leash was turquoise and totally cute
b. she didn't yank me around or hurt me or whatever
c. I haven't been forever ruined or scarred or humiliated, I really didn't care at the time at all, I was more excited about e.g. tellytubby custard.

Also, most importantly, I don't believe that children are fully human. Which sounds okay that's a shit way to put it. Children are fully human, but they're not fully people. They're like, pre-people and they still have a lot of animalistic traits (e.g.: selfishness for the purpose of self-preservation) so for me, treating a child like an animal in certain ways is not disrespectful. They are people in the making. They're not there yet. They deserve respect and love and fear and recognition of their intelligence and skill and all these other things, but so do animals, but you wouldn't give either an animal or a child a ferrari or a stove because they'd have no bloody idea what to do with it. In the same way, in order to preserve the tender and fragile meat-shell of a child or animal's beautiful precious soul which is their body, if you use your better judgement and decide they're too damn stupid to sort themselves out so you'd like to have a method of control which you feel is less fallible than just trying to keep a grip on your mucky wriggling sly little larva, there's nothing wrong with that.

Also I forgot I have always always always hated holding hands and if my mother tried to hold hands with me I threw a small child bitchfit at her. I really really hated it. I liked having both hands free to grab and paw at and manipulate what I wanted e.g. organising toothpaste tubes. The leash allowed me to that.

Just my opinion as a leashchild. Also keep in mind I myself will never have children so don't fret about me passing on my admittedly weird attitude to another generation. x

I saw your post this morning, disagreed in my head and went on about my day! Clearly I am doing it wrong?