Thursday, April 03, 2008

Call children's aid - she doesn't want her kid getting into danger!

So, baby leashes, apparently they're awful and kids who are leashed need to go into therapy when they're older because.....

Well to be honest, I'm not sure why they would need to go into therapy.

I think a leash makes a lot of sense. I'm not thinking of putting a harness on my kid and staking him to the middle of our front lawn to go out and play for a few hours while I sit and watch tv. I'm not thinking of wrapping the leash around a parking metre while I go shopping. I'm not planning on restraining my child to keep him within a foot of me at all times either.

But I have to admit that the idea of a leash really appeals to me (and I thought this before I even had a baby) because it means that I can keep track of a baby who wants to explore, who doesn't want to be carried, who doesn't want to sit in a stroller, and who doesn't want to hold your hand.

I would still let my child climb on the bleachers and play, and I'm not sure I would use on a child much older than a toddler, but for at least a year or two in there, it seems like the ideal way to keep track of my little monkey.

Plus they have these super cute backpack leashes! And I want one! And if I'm wrong and I try it out and I see that it's cruel, I'll probably stop, but I still don't really see how that can be....



What do you think?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lara,

I think there's certainly a place for them. Like at an airport! I was traveling alone with my son and he wandered off at Miami's Int Airport!!! It was the worse three or so minutes of my life.

We were in line for immigration, I looked down to organize our paper work and all of a sudden he was gone. At first I thought he was just on the other side of the line, but when I looked through two lines and didn't see him I began to panic! I was trying to explain to a police officer nearby what was going on, when I saw a bathroom and figured since he was being potty trained that is where he was. The officer came out holding his hand and I started crying for about 30 minutes. His side of the story was; "I went to the bathroom, mommy cried"
So if I ever have another toddler and need to travel, I will certainly take a look at these. Not sure I have been in another circumstance where I would find these as necessary, but I'm sure there are.

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking: at the mall, at the park, at the grocery store, going for a walk around the neighbourhood, at a parade.... I can think of a zillion places where it would be great to for you to have a reassurance that he is not GONE and great for him to have the freedom to wander farther than 30 cm from you... let's face it, unless his arms are 6 feet long, he's not going to see much of the world while holding tightly to your hand.

Anonymous said...

I have a friend whose daughter fell head first into a body of water while they were walking together, side-by-side... I'm not saying a leash would have prevented that, but I am saying that crazy stuff happens in the blink of an eye, so why not take extra precautions.

Anonymous said...

I see the need for them but I see the danger in the innocent bystanders who get caught between mother and said roaming child.

Personally, I think they're hilarious looking. Not a parent, can't comment on humaneness of them - but as a non-breeder, I think, "yup, keep 'em on a leash and outta my hair - I's got shoppin' to do!"

NOW, this is totally my opinion and not having a toddler, can't say that you should do anything but take it with a grain of salt because I'm not in your situation, so here goes....

I don't see the need for them. While I like your "freedom" sentiments so that they can roam, explore, etc., I also think that kids need to be taught that there is a time and place where it's not appropriate behaviour that they take off running at the sight of a balloon on a sale rack and then get jerked back by the monkey leash. Part of my reason for thinking "yup, keep 'em outta my way" is because I've seen one too many parent use them as their babysitter that while they chat with a sales lady, etc., little Johnny is being a bit of a demon with the dresses on the rack but because he's on the leash, he's safe.

So, I'd rather see your child in a stroller, holding your hand or carried than on one of those. Now I know, not all parents are like that, blah blah blah, but come on, it's not at all tempting to think that you won't have to be 100% watching over them but only 95% because they're on the leash that's attached to your wrist so you know they can't fall head first into water (to use Erin's example)?

-the non-breeder's 2 cents

Lara said...

Oooh! I'm loving the dialogue! My thought is that these are good ideas in busy places. At a trade show for example, or even at the mall. I'm happy to run after him but he's smaller than me, can get around things faster than me, can get under things I can't get under, etc. And he's too young to really understand "following the rules" and staying where he's supposed to stay. And trust me, you'd be a lot more annoyed by him if he was strapped into a stroller screeching at the top of his lungs GET DOWN GET DOWN GET DOWN WAAAAH GET DOWN! struggle struggle, trying to stand up screech.

Unknown said...

Leashes are great unless you have that child (ie: your sister in law's) who refuses to move with the leash on. She has one with the animal and the idea seemed great to the lovely child til he realized he was restrained by it. Some kids just adapt to them better than others. Kiernan would probably do great.

Jenn Nusbaum said...

I used to be against them, thinking that if you had your child on them, you really couldn't control them. What kind of parenting is that! Then I had Jacob... I never had one, but there are definately times that it would have been nice. His daycare provider used to take him and her daughter, both 18 months, on the bus. They both were "leashed". It was a way to make sure they stayed safe. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1404/565266951_c2cfa0d22e.jpg?v=0

(slightly) less cynical said...

I'm just wondering whether he'll throw a tantrum when he realizes he can't run wherever he wants anymore...

Can we get a bell on the leash? Since you're against squeaky shoes now, we'll need a way to keep track of him... and keep the birds safe.

Anonymous said...

My son has one of those monkeys. He calls it his Monkey backpack. He loves it, so it works well for all involved. He's a wanderer, so I bought it to help keep him at bay.

I used to be against them until I had kids of my own. :) *LOL*

Anonymous said...

I understand that some people are aghast at the thought of leashing kids, but they obviously have children with very calm *cough*boring*cough personalities or *ahem* no children at all in which case they shouldn't even have an opinion on the subject. My kids are the "Hey it would be really fun to run into the road away from Mommy" types so I'm all for not letting that happen. Honestly, what would people rather see - a kid on a leash or a kid getting hit by a car?