Excuse me what the fuck? A human being on a leash like a dog?
What is this, how to destroy a child's dignity with one weird trick?
It's usually for the kid's safety. Little kids especially run off sometimes; and while it'd be nice to be able to be a continuously attentive parent, sometimes you need to get shit done out and about while they're with you. Sometimes they're fine with just being carried or sitting in a shopping cart, but if not, a leash & harness (usually just integrated into a backpack) lets them wander safely while you take care of what you're there to do.
I don't think I've ever seen a kid older than 4 or so in one.
This leash demeans us both
I watched as our little, barely walking toddler walked away from us in a busy department store. I followed behind, hiding behind racks, to see if he would get scared and turn around. Nope. Did not turn once. Just waddled away. I had to race and grab him from behind once he stepped onto the escalator.
It was then that I really understood the need for those leashes. Had a talk with the wife and we decided against it, but it was close.
🤣🤣🤣
I'm sure it was very real moment for you. I hope, therefore, that it wasn't too cruel of me to laugh very loudly at the whole situation. Kids are.... Special.
So many people on this thread are defending leashes, yet they don't exist anywhere but in the US, so...
I have never ever seen a kid leash in Denmark or any country I have visited, and yet kids here don't run around in stores acting out or disappearing.
I don't know, they seem dehumanizing and humiliating to me. If other countries can raise kids (incl kids on the spectrum) without them why can't the US?
I'm 53 and have seen them used on different continents. My mom used one on me in Europe when we visited when I was two years old. You are completely wrong on all fronts with your comment. Have a good day.
They used to be quite common in the UK back in the 80s. Stops kids running into busy roads, and you can also use it to hold up an unsteady toddler.
Obviously you don't use them on like eight year olds.
You don't see them much any more.
I'm not even from US (Asian) and i see them in my country from time to time, especially in mall. Why would you find it dehumanising when it's merely something that tied to each other wrist? It's not even tied to a neck or something, it's just handholding with extra length. It sounds crazy to me that people actually dehumanising it then call it dehumanising.
I am not referring to a string you hold, I am referring to a leash like this:
I find them dehumanizing and humiliating because they remind me of a dog leash. Look, people parent differently across the world, I remember a British-Indian comedian who was married to a Dane who said that every parenting practice she regarded as healthy and appropriate was basically illegal in Denmark.
The leash will never not be weird to me, but it is what it is. I don't think everyone who uses a leash is literally going to treat their kid like a dog, I know they probably love and cherish their kids like I cherish mine, but the fact remains that it feels off to me and I'd say most other people from my neck of the woods.
They weren't uncommon in the US in the '90s, they fell out of favor soon after. Even back then they weren't popular.
In the '80s and earlier, corporal punishment was regular and expected. There was a push in the '90s to stop the corporal punishment. A lot of parents stopped handing out corporal punishment but failed to replace it with any form of discipline. It was not an uncommon to see kids tearing things off shelves yelling at and smacking their parents while their parents were going "now Jimmy, We don't do that" shrinking at parents walking by saying their kids, what are you going to do?;The little backpacks with the leashes were a symptom of failed parenting. If you grew up in this time in a very conservative area you might not have experienced this yourself, as giving timeouts, redirecting, and not beating your kids as a relatively progressive ideal and when it started it was actively disparaged by conservatives.
In the '80s and earlier, corporal punishment was regular and expected. There was a push in the '90s to stop the corporal punishment.
Corporeal punishment was outlawed in Denmark by 1997, but was definitely frowned upon much earlier than that. My grandparent's generation - born in the 1920s and 1930s - was likely the last generation where it was commonly used.
I mean, our kids can be little brats as well - and our kids are also prone to run off and do dumb stuff, but apparently we handle it differently. And I am fairly certain that my initial reaction - that it's dehumanizing and humiliating - is how it comes off to almost all Nordic parents.
My grandma was a disabled stay-at-home mom with a hyperactive daughter who tended to run away and wreak havoc, and all the police would soon know who to return her to. Grandma was scolded by neighbors for using a leash but able to explain herself. This was in 1970s Czechoslovakia.
My guess is that the American working system has drained so much from their working population that leashes are required because they have no energy left to pay full attention to their children.
Yea, I don't get it. Reading this thread, the people seem insane to me. Yet they are all 100% up arrows.
It's fuckin wild. I used to manage a toys department in an American burger big box store in a small town so I saw some shit. It's either parents with kids on leashes or threatening them or hitting them in the aisle, my fellow Americans often treat their kids like shit, the image of the overindulgent parent isn't really what you see around. Kids get treated like this and grow up to be adults who don't break the cycle.
I can't ever remember seeing a kid wearing them here in the UK but my grandma once said she used "reins" on my dad and his siblings which would have been from late 1960s to late 1970s.
Me and my sister definitely had them in the early 80s. Kids are stupid, and the alternative is you strap them in a buggy if they can't be trusted to walk.
I’ve seen it once in Denmark actually. But it was a severely mentally challenged kid on a train station where the parents had them in a leash. Looked weird when you’re not used to it, but I guess I can understand that one use case.
I've always felt weird about parents who have those backpack leashes for their kids, but now that I've been living next to my in-laws for a year, who have 8 children, I understand some of them.
I refuse to take some their kids anywhere unless one of them is with my wife and I.
One would absolutely go sprinting full speed away and hide from us just because he thinks it's hilarious.
Two would wander off because they saw something shiny and their brains are like an etch-a-sketches where every time a new thought enters, the old one has to get wiped away.
One would do the exact opposite of anything we say just because he figures he can.
And three others would absolutely just wander off, not because they want to but just because kids aren't always the best at spatial awareness and simply get too far away. And would be terrified if they noticed their adults were nowhere in sight.
Having that many children is child abuse. There’s no way they all get the parental attention they need.
Oh completely 100% agreed, and neglect isn't the only form of child abuse going on but CPS has visited them plenty of times and interviewed all the kids and neighbors (before we moved in) over custody battles with some adopted ones. (they're all related, long story with too many identifying details but some parents died and all the children are cousins and siblings) so they at least aren't doing anything that CPS cares about.
But holy shit I have never wanted to curb stomp my sister in law a-la American History X more than when I went over one day and I could hear screaming halfway down the 1/4mi driveway, and when I walked in she was in the 6 year Olds face screaming at the top of her lungs about how she's tired of telling the 6 year old to put her shoes away, four of the kids were slowly doing chores in the living room and kitchen with tears running down their faces, and I could hear the 13 year old sobbing upstairs. Their mother screamed so hard and long that she burst a blood vessel in her eye and detached the retina. As usual though the moment she saw me she stopped and pretended like she wasn't doing anything.
Since then I've had my phone on record in my pocket whenever I'm coming over unannounced just in case I can catch it. Bare minimum it will be something to show the courts when one of the kids becomes a serial killer.
Their dad is no help, he's an enabler and honestly a broken shell of a person when it comes to his wife.
Grandparents are worse than parents.
My wife watches them whenever she can, and takes them on surprise day trips to get away from their parents and some of the siblings when possible but holy shit they do not make it easy to take them anywhere.
I don't regret marrying my wife but I can honestly say my in-laws are insane and anyone could understand why I hate them.
Uhhhhhhh what was the topic again? Sorry for the vent.
My parents sucked but I'm grateful they at least didn't leash me like a dog. They degraded me enough already.
I can remember being on one. I used to use it to pull against my mom all the time and she was scared that if she let me off it I would run away. I didn't run away.
Do you remember Harambe?!!! Harambe died for your pride! If that boy was in a leasg he would still be here and the world would be a better place. /s but not really?!
Seriously now, leashing a kid is not a bad thing. Young kids will run faster than light and human parents can avoid accidents, make sure the kid is is around.and shop without losing their minds. Let's normalize it. If you use a necklace, is that a collar? No. Leave moms alone
I saw a gif around here some time ago. A woman was walking with their kids. When the walked passed a car ready to unpark the kid ducked in front of it. No warning, no logic, just suicide attempt.
“This leash demeans us both”
"This leash isn't for their protection, it is for your protection"
ITT: people who doesn't have kids, doesn't interact with kids, or doesn't have to raise a particularly difficult kids, talks about raising kids.
OOP sounds like an insufferable person tbh.
As a parent of a special needs child we currently leash when attending large events (he is a flight risk) I would laugh so hard if someone asked me if he's a rescue
I remember being on one of those. They were fairly common in the 80s. I also deserved it because I was a little shit that would sprint away at the first opportunity in the grocery store.
“Timmy want a cookie? Timmy want a cookie? Good boy!”
Dammit dad, I’m 5!
"Timmy want a lootbox?"
Timmy want robux?
Yes, you know he does.
High five! I’m dad
People are alluding to it, but not attributing the blame correctly: the "need" to leash kids is yet another negative consequence of car-dependent urban design.
Are chained kids particularly difficult to raise, more so than before (and than kids in any other culture besides the one that puts leashes on their kids...)? Were people doing this 100 years ago in America, for instance? Or is it yet another example of social decay, that parents can't even discipline/raise their kids well enough to allow them outside without leashes?
What an ignorant comment. There's evidence to suggest walking attachment devices for young children were used way back in the 17th century. It's possible that similar things were used earlier than that too. An early version of the modern one we are all familiar with now, started selling in the 1920s. Incidentally, use of it skyrocketed as more and more cars, faster cars and busier roads spread across the modern world.
And another thing, use of these leashes is common for parents of kids with disabilities. I have to use one with my son because his learning difficulties mean that he doesn't understand danger and if he gets frightened/overwhelmed he will often run away in a panic.
I don't like using it but I would rather have my disabled son safe and alive than not use it, and judgemental attitudes like this are the reason that I have to put up with unsolicited, nasty comments when I take him out in public; when I'm already dealing with the stress of keeping a child with extra supervisory needs safe and well.
My autistic son would happily play in the park. Just once every few months he would decide that “now is the time to run” and just take off as fast as he could in a straight line. How would that play out in a busy street.
People can’t imagine that: so much of the time things are calm, straightforward to handle, but if EVER you let your guard down for a second at the wrong time, you’ll end up on the news as a “tragic story of grieving negligent parent.”
As you said, he's disabled. I have a trisomic uncle and I would've understood if he was put on a leash (he wasn't, he just listened to my grandpa, but not everyone has it so easy). I don't understand the need for it in other cases. I mean, two of my friends' kids are runners and all we do is just run with them and grab them when the time is done, they/we have never had any need for a leash. I'm sorry if people have harassed you about it though, I certainly wouldn't. I just voice my questions and opinions in voluntarily attended online spaces.
Or is it yet another example of social decay, that parents can’t even discipline/raise their kids well enough to allow them outside without leashes?
From what I've heard, the expectations of behavior for children in public spaces has gotten a lot more strict. People generally have very little patience for your kid's antics. Also fewer mothers are dedicated homemakers, and when time and energy are tight, a leash might be a good bandaid.
People having little patience for children is yet another example/consequence of social decay. Imagine being a grown adult and treating kids with anything but playful kindness...
I think it's more the fact that kids weren't really brought to busy markets/stores 100 years ago, nor were there busy streets full of cars everywhere. They stayed home or just in the local environment, and typically mom would also stay home to watch them and make sure they stayed out of trouble.
So, in the West (again, I doubt we're talking about 100 years ago in India), people were socialized like that until recently? They weren't going to parks and markets? Mmm. That's possible, I guess? I somehow doubt that to be true, but I'll take your word for it because I'm too lazy to do otherwise. 😅
Kids are incapable of resisting their urge to do something to a certain degree at certain ages. Like suddenly running onto the street for example. Some kids just do this, and then your only option to keep them safe is a leash.
I literally have never seen a kid on a leash IRL (I'm not American) nor heard anyone say "goddamn this kid is so hard to raise, lemme put him on a leash". Never seen a pic of my gramps on a leash, or a history book showing leashed kids. Through millennia kids have been properly raised without leashes. So, I ask again, is this not just another example of how incompetent people have gotten at being people in some areas of the world?
Just spitballing here, but I kinda wonder if modern tech isn't worsening children's impulse control. Having constant instant gratification surely has some negative effects on it.
Anecdotal evidence here, but my friends who are parents cut way back on how much tech time their kids got, and they said there was a huge improvement in their general behaviour.
This isn't an issue, it's used by some parents with very small children in busy areas like amusement parks or if they have special needs, but hardly anyone actually cares outside of comedy skits. Nobody actually feels shame or anything. It's played up for laughs.
There's like 20% of every Lemmy/Reddit post about things like this from people who are thinking WAY too hard about things.
I'm all in favor of using unconventional methods for health and safety, but really outside of a few special cases like improving blood-flow in reattached limbs or other body parts, I'm not sure why we're trying to put leaches on children, it seems like a bad idea, but I guess if you just keep leaches as pets and don't have another blood source for them, maybe just ask your kids first. Smh.
See, that's actually her husband, and they're into a consentual public humiliation + abdl kink. He came so hard when they got home. Mommy is such a good mistress.
(I have been lead around on a leash before myself, and I'll do it again, though for different reasons~)
I saw this disturbingly often when I worked retail, like maybe once a month? too often. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's a surefire way to make the adult the kid grows up into a puppyboy/girl/enby. I just don't see how it could ever not. I think this started with gen z actually, I saw a kid or two when I was younger with leashes on. Would love to see if this has been studied at all.
This is a delusional take.
They've been around since at least the 80s. Probably earlier.
