Putting your KID on a leash

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  • quiescentaureateserpent
    quiescentaureateserpent Posts: 23 Member
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    I would use one. The reason is that I have major back pain and running hurts quite alot. I also suffer from fibromyalgia and am usually medicated so it is safer for the child if I do put them on a leash. Just my personal perspective.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
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    Interesting. I'm not talking about putting school aged children on "leashes" also the pics on this thread they look like leashes, not like toddler reins that you get in the UK (harness, plus a hand strap, doesn't look like a dog leash at all see: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nkw=MOTHERCARE+REINS ). In the UK a lot of parents put toddlers (i.e. age 1-3) on reins until they're mature enough to be trusted to listen when you say "stop at the kerb" and "walk next to mummy" (etc). Maybe in the USA kids this age are in strollers?

    Anyway as to when to stop using the reins, mine are 5 and 2 the 5 yr old has not been in them for a very long time. the 2 yr old not for several months although if we had to walk along a busy road a significant distance I'd put my 2 yr old on them just for safety, then she can not be on them once we're somewhere without traffic, e.g. in the mall or supermarket. (the UK ones you can detatch the strap from the harness). the transition to freedom is a lot less of a transition than when you take a child out of a stroller and start making them walk instead of being wheeled around. At first they are walking next to you on reins, then they are walking next to you not on reins. It's not really much different. And as I've never used them full time it's even less of a transition.

    I also think that parents who use reins as an alternative to strollers are getting an unfair amount of flak on this thread. If one person's 2 yr old is in a stroller, how can they accuse another person of being lazy because their 2 yr old is on a "leash"? (which isn't a leash, it's reins and looks nothing like a leash).

    Thank you for taking the time to explain. Like I said, not a parent. Just had a horrible image in my mind of a grown up kid being put in a leash. Are kids at that age really that fast and agile that they can be a trouble to keep track of? I mean I can see 10+ years olds being a problem but 1-2 years old? Didn't knew that
  • jehembee
    jehembee Posts: 114
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    I gave up my first son for adoption at birth, and they put him on a leash, AND he still uses a binky. He's almost three. His brother, who I am raising on my own, is nine months and off the bottle and binky and will certainly never be leashed. I think this proves that it comes down to parenting.

    This is not proof it is one occasion and you are discussing a situation in which you have one child.

    Also, the fact that she is comparing one child directly to another. All children are different. The one you kept may be VERY different from his brother. I k w my two sons are very different from each other.
  • beertrollruss
    beertrollruss Posts: 276 Member
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    Aahhh...nothing us parents appreciate more than parenting advice from non-parents. I used a leash when my son was pretty small and I would do it again.

    First, kids are extremely energetic. I got my son out of the stroller as soon as he started walking. One of my pet peeves is parents pushing big kids in a stroller. Kids naturally want to move about and we should encourage it, not restrict it. When they get tired, pick them up and carry them and give yourself some extra exercise.

    Second, small kids are pretty easy to lose in a crowd. I took my son to the fair and he could have easily disappeared into the crowd. With the leash he was able to move about without us losing him.

    Of course, being the fun loving person I am, I did tell my son to heel a couple of times.
  • daughterofthesea
    daughterofthesea Posts: 82 Member
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    As a child I was put on a leash (or reins as my parents call them) not because my parents were bad parents - far from it, my mother was paranoid about my safety! - but because even in a safe environment, 9 times out of 10 I'd go wandering off and I was pretty good at getting lost.

    I understand why some of you are against the idea, but I also think that it depends on the parent and the child.
  • Angel_Eyes1975
    Angel_Eyes1975 Posts: 132 Member
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    How ever people can keep their child from being my problem, I don't care.

    lol agreed..
  • octleigh
    octleigh Posts: 86 Member
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    my kid is a pitbull, so he goes on a leash :D

    Love it!! Well said...
  • rhonniema
    rhonniema Posts: 522
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    I see nothing wrong with it.
    It's not bad parenting because the parent opts for a leash instead of a stroller or something.
    A stroller is big, bulky, & bothersome especially if it's just one parent.
    A leash doesn't mean that the parent doesn't discipline their child so shut the *kitten* up people.

    I was one of those children on a leash.
    Not because I was a terror or anything.
    It was because I liked playing hide and seek, my favorite place was between clothing racks.
    Not to mention I was one of those easy going kids who wasn't afraid of people, so someone could easily pick me up and walk away and I wouldn't make a peep.
    My mom has said that I would stop walking when I was tired (I was a fat kid) and put my hands up to random people so they would carry me.
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
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    I thought that at first, but then I realized how much kids run off, and if they run away and get hurt then that parent would be demonized for being negligent, so LEASH it is.
  • AlayshaJ
    AlayshaJ Posts: 703 Member
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    Im guessing you have never had a runner? My cousin would RUN as soon as he realized no one was looking. If he could wiggle his hand out of yours for even a second he would be off. Try that at a fair or a busy mall... or even walking down the street! That shizz is scary. If he was my child, I would have put him in a child harness.

    *My daughter should have a child harness... but I am too lazy to buy one. I just have to wrangle her in my arms as she tries to slither into a full sprint. Or she sits on her dads shoulders. My youngest does this too, but she is only a year and isn't very fast yet... I think she will be more of an issue that my eldest daughter.
  • liss125
    liss125 Posts: 77
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    Some of you are ridiculous. You've either never had children or your children may possibly be comatose lumps. There is no child under the age of two that can be 'trained', as some of you call it, not to run. They are simply too young to remember. The first time at Disney world with my oldest, I bought him a backpack with the leash. Strollers are a pain and even at a year and a half, he was ready to walk it. It is a very distracting environment for children and I wasn't taking chances. Never mistake it for lazy parenting.
  • saragato
    saragato Posts: 1,154
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    A lot of little kids run off in stores or out in public. I know my mom said she tried the leash with me (I wandered off and, at 22, still do) but I always managed to get out of it. It's not a cruelty thing, it's not an obsessive control thing, it's a way to keep them from being kidnapped or hurt or lost when you can't run after them or otherwise keep a hawk's eye on them.
  • buzzcogs
    buzzcogs Posts: 296 Member
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    Before kids I used to laugh when I saw a toddler on a leash. I didn't use them for my kids but probably should have for my youngest. It would have saved me a lot of stress and counter intuitively given him more freedom. When I walked with him, I had either hold his hand tightly or keep him in the stroller because if I hadn't he would have darted off into traffic, the crowd, the ocean, etc (fill in the blanks..this is the kid who used to jump in the pool and assume he could swim once he hit the water!) ;-)
    So if I had "kept him on a leash" at least he would have been able to run a little ahead of me! When we would get stuck inside somewhere I used to take him out to a hall and tell him to run up and down (which he would!)
    So I don't think leashes are bad I think they are a good way to give your kid a little leeway when out for a stroll or shopping without having to keep a death grip on their hand!
    But it does look weird! ;-)
  • Grimlock69
    Grimlock69 Posts: 197
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    Is that your complaint? If you have children then don't do it. If you don't have children you'll see that when they start to walk things are so much different.
  • spirit05
    spirit05 Posts: 204 Member
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    I have identical twins and found myself a single mom when they were 3, having them leashed in public kept them safe and out of harms way. Both are 20 now and neither even remembers being leashed.
  • abberbabber
    abberbabber Posts: 972 Member
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    Interesting. I'm not talking about putting school aged children on "leashes" also the pics on this thread they look like leashes, not like toddler reins that you get in the UK (harness, plus a hand strap, doesn't look like a dog leash at all see: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nkw=MOTHERCARE+REINS ). In the UK a lot of parents put toddlers (i.e. age 1-3) on reins until they're mature enough to be trusted to listen when you say "stop at the kerb" and "walk next to mummy" (etc). Maybe in the USA kids this age are in strollers?

    Anyway as to when to stop using the reins, mine are 5 and 2 the 5 yr old has not been in them for a very long time. the 2 yr old not for several months although if we had to walk along a busy road a significant distance I'd put my 2 yr old on them just for safety, then she can not be on them once we're somewhere without traffic, e.g. in the mall or supermarket. (the UK ones you can detatch the strap from the harness). the transition to freedom is a lot less of a transition than when you take a child out of a stroller and start making them walk instead of being wheeled around. At first they are walking next to you on reins, then they are walking next to you not on reins. It's not really much different. And as I've never used them full time it's even less of a transition.

    I also think that parents who use reins as an alternative to strollers are getting an unfair amount of flak on this thread. If one person's 2 yr old is in a stroller, how can they accuse another person of being lazy because their 2 yr old is on a "leash"? (which isn't a leash, it's reins and looks nothing like a leash).

    Thank you for taking the time to explain. Like I said, not a parent. Just had a horrible image in my mind of a grown up kid being put in a leash. Are kids at that age really that fast and agile that they can be a trouble to keep track of? I mean I can see 10+ years olds being a problem but 1-2 years old? Didn't knew that

    Holy crap, yes! :laugh: You'd be surprised...most kids, once they learn to walk, they learn to RUN about two seconds later LOL
  • octleigh
    octleigh Posts: 86 Member
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    I'd rather have my kid on a leash than a milk carton

    Yes!!! Me too!
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    Interesting. I'm not talking about putting school aged children on "leashes" also the pics on this thread they look like leashes, not like toddler reins that you get in the UK (harness, plus a hand strap, doesn't look like a dog leash at all see: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nkw=MOTHERCARE+REINS ). In the UK a lot of parents put toddlers (i.e. age 1-3) on reins until they're mature enough to be trusted to listen when you say "stop at the kerb" and "walk next to mummy" (etc). Maybe in the USA kids this age are in strollers?

    Anyway as to when to stop using the reins, mine are 5 and 2 the 5 yr old has not been in them for a very long time. the 2 yr old not for several months although if we had to walk along a busy road a significant distance I'd put my 2 yr old on them just for safety, then she can not be on them once we're somewhere without traffic, e.g. in the mall or supermarket. (the UK ones you can detatch the strap from the harness). the transition to freedom is a lot less of a transition than when you take a child out of a stroller and start making them walk instead of being wheeled around. At first they are walking next to you on reins, then they are walking next to you not on reins. It's not really much different. And as I've never used them full time it's even less of a transition.

    I also think that parents who use reins as an alternative to strollers are getting an unfair amount of flak on this thread. If one person's 2 yr old is in a stroller, how can they accuse another person of being lazy because their 2 yr old is on a "leash"? (which isn't a leash, it's reins and looks nothing like a leash).

    Thank you for taking the time to explain. Like I said, not a parent. Just had a horrible image in my mind of a grown up kid being put in a leash. Are kids at that age really that fast and agile that they can be a trouble to keep track of? I mean I can see 10+ years olds being a problem but 1-2 years old? Didn't knew that

    they can be fast enough to go under a car after a 2 second dash on a UK street. I don't use them in the mall, where I can chase after them, but if I'm by a busy road they only have to go 1 metre on some streets before they'd be under a car and that's not a risk I'm willing to take. It's more the unpredictable nature of toddlers than actual speed. They will suddenly be distracted by something and dash off before you've realised what's happened. Somewhere like the park or the mall, they won't get far before you can get them back, but like I said on a busy road... The reins I have the strap gives them enough leeway that you can wrap it around your wrist and hold their hand while you walk, they can't run far before the harness stops them.
  • tmauck4472
    tmauck4472 Posts: 1,783 Member
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    Some of you are ridiculous. You've either never had children or your children may possibly be comatose lumps. There is no child under the age of two that can be 'trained', as some of you call it, not to run. They are simply too young to remember. The first time at Disney world with my oldest, I bought him a backpack with the leash. Strollers are a pain and even at a year and a half, he was ready to walk it. It is a very distracting environment for children and I wasn't taking chances. Never mistake it for lazy parenting.

    hip hip hooray, and kids can be gone in the blink of an eye. All it takes is you looking at something and taking your eye off them for that second and they are gone. Silly people who think everyone's kids can be trained to be right by you at all times, if yours do it then awesome glad it worked for you. You train them to sit still and be quiet when out to eat but to stand by you in a store with all the stuff to get into is next to impossible.
  • abberbabber
    abberbabber Posts: 972 Member
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    I see nothing wrong with it.
    It's not bad parenting because the parent opts for a leash instead of a stroller or something.
    A stroller is big, bulky, & bothersome especially if it's just one parent.
    A leash doesn't mean that the parent doesn't discipline their child so shut the *kitten* up people.

    I was one of those children on a leash.
    Not because I was a terror or anything.
    It was because I liked playing hide and seek, my favorite place was between clothing racks.
    Not to mention I was one of those easy going kids who wasn't afraid of people, so someone could easily pick me up and walk away and I wouldn't make a peep.
    My mom has said that I would stop walking when I was tired (I was a fat kid) and put my hands up to random people so they would carry me.

    I used to love to hide in the clothing racks too!! We are awesome :laugh:

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