Wrong, it’s perfectly normal.
From the sounds of things, you are not a parent trying to comment on things you know nothing about. The leash actually gives toddlers freedom they wouldn’t otherwise have. It lets them walk around, with some constraints, instead of being stuck riding in a stroller all the time. Kids at that age will jet off real quick. You take your eyes off then for a second and they’re gone.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s not perfectly normal. Believe it or not, I was a child at one time. Never put on a leash. My brothers and sisters, never leashed. Nieces and nephews? No leashes for them. Okay maybe it’s just my family.
Going to parties with other kids? Never saw a child on a leash there.
Our of state? I traveled many states as a kid, I didn’t see other kids on leashes at the ST. Louis Arch, nor at the Smithsonian.
The first time I saw a kid on a leash, was in Atlanta, at age 14.
It. Is. Not. Fucking. Normal.
ExtantHuman@lemm.ee 1 day ago
Just because YOU weren’t didn’t mean it isn’t common. Your parents did it the hard way. For no reason.
I was leashed as a toddler in the early 90s. I am not ashamed of that.
You don’t leash kids at parties, that’s an enclosed private space with little risk of them running off, what a weird pointless anecdote. You apparently being sheltered isn’t a good argument.
Sounds like you weren’t going to places where very young children were in attendance. You use them in busy public places that require movement. Like a zoo. You see them all the time at places like that. It’s better than a stroller and you don’t have to worry about a half second of taking your eyes off the kids, they’re jetting into the crowd. Even more useful if you have multiples.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Complete missed where I had traveled across the US as a kid.
I don’t think I was a sheltered kid. 7 of us vs one parent at a time didn’t leave a lot of bandwidth for them to be helicopter parents. Wasn’t a latchkey kid either. I’d walk myself and my brothers home from school most days. During the summer we’d walk down to the pool on our own, or sometimes take a younger sibling with us if they wanted to go (surprise surprise, no leashes at the pool) or we’d walk across town and grab snacks from the grocery store (still no leashes).
Leahing kids is not normal, if you don’t believe me, try to find video of a place where more than 3 are leashed in the background of a news report or puff piece.
The vast majority of kids aren’t leashed. It’s not normal.
ExtantHuman@lemm.ee 1 day ago
Traveling across the US doesn’t mean you went to places where small kids congregated. It’s also more common NOW than it was back then.
Why are you acting like people are leashing 8-10 year olds. You use them when the kids are 1-3 so they’re not stuck in their stroller the whole time you’re at some public place (which is probably what your parents did with you). It really sounds like you think parents are tying their kid to a post, instead of having a connection on their wrist. Your arguments come across as if you have zero idea what we’re talking about and only had a visceral overreaction to just hearing this concept for the first time.
The kids often enjoy it, too. They think they’re the ones leading their parents.
What a stupidly arbitrary and specific demand for proof.