When did parents start using leashes on their kids?

Really? I only see a kid on a leash maybe once every couple of years. I think if they were very commonplace they wouldn't seem strange at all but the novelty of it makes it seem unnecessary.

Give a child matches and he is an arsonist for a day.

Give a child a lighter and he is an arsonist for a week.

But teach a child to start fires with nothing but two sticks and some string and he may be an arsonist for the rest of his life.

Show me the studies that show that these child harnesses are damaging to children; until you do, the two examples are more equivalent than dissimilar.

xpost

I bet people who put leashes on their kids put humiliating sweaters on their dogs.

I don't have kids, but I was one myself once, and I think I can safely say I could have lived with having been attached to my parents for a while rather than being another roadkill statistic. (My parents were exceptionally good at parenting, as far as I'm concerned, taught me right from wrong, all that malarkey, and I have no idea whether I was reined or not - presumably not as I would still be bearing the mental scars of such brutal degradation)

Incidentally, what's wrong with children's TV?

This is what I expected to be in the hatch on Lost. Would've been far more interesting.

As indeed, I did (what with the alternative being not living and everything). God, my vocabulary is pathetic at times. Perhaps my parents should have tethered me to a thesaurus.

I see no problem w/ it generally-- wisely used and where age appropriate.

Other news: my Mum used to tie me to the mattress at night. No, really. I used to keep standing up in my cot and crying because I couldn't get back down again so Mum made a special sleeping bag for me which attached to the mattress and made me feel secure. Even now, I adore getting into a bed with sheets tucked in really tightly because it gives me the same feeling of security.

Anyway, she took two steps, then raised her arm as if to say "Remove this!" and stood rock still. There was no moving her. So we removed it and never used it again.

Not sure if this was an isolated case due to the straps being too long or whether it was a real concern at the time...

http://www.woofbrothers.com/files/images/thumbs/t_28.jpg

Cunning small daughter quickly realised that she could remove her end of the velcro wrist strap and attach it to an immovable object (iron railings, car door handle etc) when my attention was distracted for the merest nanosecond, thus leaving me tethered and her free to run away.

i think they are apalling and a tool for lazy parenting.

onimo's reply totally totally otm. actually, onimo otm on whole thread.

i am not saying that the RARE circumstance does not exist that would warrant such a contraption. perhaps that is true for onimo. it just seems that many who enlist the device do so because they would rather tie the child to their person than be bothered to pay enough attention to keep hold of them. they seem to be overused. like television/kid's videos, i guess.

i really don't think it's necessarily to do w how much attention you pay your kid. i know i was paid an absolutely mental amount of attention when i were a babby, but to keep me safe while making sure i didn't, you know, DIE, i was kept on a lead when out in public, for ages. and we lived in a tiny village. um, obv they can be misused. but i would guess anyone having a prob wrt the misuse of leads for kids would have a few other bigger probs to sort out first.

Wot is the big deal here? This idea that leashes is "degrading" is weird. I mean, they're degrading if you put them on an Iraqi prisoner, sure, but their primary function is not to degrade. Are people trying to humiliate their dogs? No, they're trying to keep some control over an animal with a tendency to wander, while still allowing them some freedom of movement. Same deal with a kid. Giving them a few feet of walking space seems a hell of a lot less oppressive than strapping them tight into a stroller. Our kid isn't quite to walking yet and we haven't thought about whether to ever use a kid-leash, but I wouldn't rule it out. And holding the end of a leash is no lazier than holding a hand, as long as you're keeping a close eye on things.

YES YES YES.

See, apart from Emily beating down on people she doesn't know, with kids she doesn't know, about their parenting abilities based on her smug self-imposed moral superiority, THIS is the worst thing on this thread.

Sorry if I'm missing something, Nathalie, but are you saying that if a kid pushes you to breaking point then it's justifiable to lash out at them? I'm not anti-smacking at all (OH NOES, BAD POTENTIAL PARENT ALERT!! What with agreement with the use of reins and everything, perhaps I should be sterilised now for the good of humankind), but physical punishment (not violence) should be delivered in a measured and controlled way, with reasons for your actions being given to the kid so that they realise WHY they are being punished. This is what my dad did to me, he hated doing it, but it did me good in the long run and I bear no mental scarring from it. Not by lashing out when the little brats get too much for you to deal with rationally.

I may have misinterpreted this (I know English isn't your first language, so it may have looked worse than you intended), but I thought it needed saying.

Hey, it's all a matter of opinion. Am I wrong or right? Fuck knows. See, I could see one child benefiting from a slap; but personally I don't wanna risk it. :-)

Tethers, leashes, and leads are to be used only for animals and balloons.

We walked through the shopping mall down her way (very crowded, parents and kids everywhere) and I counted at least six kids wearing reins. How uncomforatable and awkward must it be for a parent to walk stooped holding a childs hand? That or a pushchair would be the only alternative to reins because it would be IMPOSSIBLE to stop your child getting lost in such an environment otherwise.

Old people don't tend to run so fast do they?

Very. I'm about six foot tall, our little boy is about two foot. So I would need like four foot long arms to make it remotely comfortable. That said, you'd have to be some sort of glutton for punishment to take your toddler round the shopping mall anyhow. Take them to the woods instead and let them run around like nutters, says I.

In the 16th century. (images seem to be unavailable or protected, but the article is accessible)

i used to babysit a lot and it was the first time in my life i was ever really selfless -- they weren't even my kids but as long as they were nearby, they were in the front of my brain ALL THE TIME, always in my line of vision. i can see myself being a good parent, better than most parents probably, but boy oh boy, what kind of life would i have if i were in that hyper-vigilant role 24/7/365?

so i dunno. i'm on the fence.