Toddlers can cover the distance from the sidewalk to under a car tire faster than you can blink. Ill never judge a parent for having them on a leash.

The muzzle is a bit much though.

When you're walking in a public place overrun with people, no separation between road and sidewalk, multiple other hazards and a toddler who only moves by running full speed, I do not see a problem with putting a harness and lead on the kid. Parents try their best to pay attention at all times, but when you're this tired, it's good to have the insurance. If you want to judge someone's parenting, judge the ones who ignore their kids so they can spend more time on their phones

When my son was a toddler, I had an older aunt who had no children, but plenty of opinions on how they should be raised. We were visiting one time, and planned a visit to the zoo, and she just insisted that we had to get a leash for him, or he was so going to get away from us, and end up in an animal pen, and get eaten, presumably.

I refused her many orders to get a leash (I didn't even know where to find one, this was before Amazon), and finally just flat out told her that there would be no leash, we would just have to do our jobs as parents and adults, and actually pay attention to him.

And he only got into animal pens a few times. He hardly got gnawed on at all. He was fine.

I know a person whose kid has ADHD and was constantly running carelessly into random directions, failing to immediately react to their mother shouting them to stop. There was so much spontaneous and uncontrolled running here and there that the only option seemed to be to constantly hold their hand.

Eventually the kid's mother came to the conclusion that the kid will have more freedom if she's kept on a leash instead of having to hold hands. The time they had to use the leash didn't end up being many months, either. In the case of that family it was definitely a choice that increased the psychological well-being of the child and supported their development of motor skills.

You can never know what the reasons are, so go careful with judging!

Seems I'm in a rare group where I think leashing kids is fine but also think that joking about it is fine. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Edit: fixed smiley (maybe?)

Being on a kid leash saved my life. I don't remember this first hand, but my parents often tell about the time they took me to a ball game or something and I fell through the bleachers which was over 30 feet high. The leash prevented me from splattering on the ground.

Here's a picture of your normal family OP

I once saw a Mom at an information desk at an art museum take her fussy, fidgeting toddler, gently lay him down on the ground, and put her foot on him, Captain Morgan style:

Kid didn't cry or try to escape. Thoroughly impressive. Might plant the seed to awaken something in the kid when he hits puberty, though.

Gotta say, I'm appreciating the comments on this post a lot more this time around - last time this was posted there was a lot of anti-leashing sentiment.

I'm just trying to figure out - did the people on Lemmy change? Is it the time of day? Pretty sure it's the same community as before!

Looks goofy. Keeps people safe. I'd call that a fair trade - it's a tale as old as PPE.

If we're going to criticize peoples' parenting, I'd turn your sights to the dipshits who are sacrificing their children to antivaxxism (which simultaneously sacrifices YOUR children to antivaxxism if the viral mutations they're breeding up manage to null the efficacy of vaccines in the already-immunized).

Fuck no, im a pro leash parent.

I'm less concerned with people who leash a toddler than I am with those who won't leash their dog.

My mother leashed me and twin if she had us solo. Which is like. Fair? How you going to deal with two little runners by yourself?

Mother hated doing it though cause other people in the late 80s were so fucking judgemental about it.

Of all the shit in my childhood, being on a leash did not affect me. So leash them kiddies up.

I will never look down on a parent with a leashed kid. Rather a safe kid on a leash than a dead kid in the streets.

I've watched kids bolt. Some of you need to touch grass and interact with your neighbors.

Oh so it's okay when the KIDS are on a leash, but when I'm wearing one, I'm a "freak" and I'm "being asked to leave the costco". Damn double standards.... I could run into traffic TOO you know!

A while back I was driving on a gravel road just outside town and came across a lady going for a walk with a kid and a large dog. The kid was on a leash, the dog was running free.

I giggled about that for the rest of the day.

It's not bizarre. It gives the kid some freedom without risking the bolting the second you're not looking.

Mine thought they were the ones leading us around. So people can chill with the faux projected outage about indignity that the kids are not feeling.

When I visited a friend in the states back in 2019, I saw a small Russian family who kept their kid on a leash when we visited the aquarium. Initially I was amused, but once that died off I just found it clever. I, a grown ass-man managed to lose my friends in the crowd a few times, that family never lost their kid.

I'll never have kids, but if I did, I'd be leashing it in that kind of situation too.

I only didn't use a leash because the one time I did the kid spun around and tried to strangle themselves on it. Not from being upset, just everyday normal accidentally-suicidal toddler behavior. Had I been that mom I'd have laughed. Hysterically, with an edge veering into insanity, because that's what it's like sometimes, with the infant and toddler tagteaming to keep you up all night and stressed all day. But a good joke is a good joke.

Thankfully my kids survived to adulthood.

It isn’t bizarre to the parent with a kid who will bolt, but still deserves to go outside.

Ok I was of this opinion until I had an autistic son. He's crafty, fast and enjoys doing whatever he is told not to do. He's almost run into traffic several times. We caught him, but barely, enough to make me reconsider this idea. I haven't bought him one, but I understand.

"Does he bite?"