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But I failed none the less.
That looks like Kratos’ new weapon…. lol
wow… just wow.
Free the leash kids!!
babycopter!
so, i was thinking of devil’s-advocate kinds of things to say and then I read ‘babycopter’ and suddenly there was all of this soda that I was having to clean up after having sprayed it out my nose.
Thanks a lot >:(
Aw man, yours was better than mine.
I just figured this was a discarded concept from an early version of Iron Man 2.
Lol, I didn’t even get the “babycopter” comment until I read this, and then I started laughing my head off, too… XD Good think I wasn’t drinking anything.
BABYCOPTER FTW!
Lol I’m laughing my a*s off!
Blackhawk Down!!!
Mommy-go-round
Talk about a freak on a leash. By which I mean the mom, of course.
/facepalm
mum-chucks
Tackle them!
Haha, honestly, I’d do the same thing if my mom had the balls to put me on a leash!
Which balls *did* your mom have?
mum-chucks! LOL ROTL
Rolling On Tiles Laughing?
Shes just dual wielding kung fu child-whips
xDD Mum-chucks brilliant idea, i wan’t to see a movie with it in action. It really looks like the mum is spinning em around for some roundhouse ownage. Thx for the comment xD
Third
Turd…
Regardless of the kids toppling over, if you’re a parent and think that these leashes are a good idea, you should be shot. In the kneecaps. Several times. As punishment for you failing.
The leashes ARE a good idea. I maybe not remember it, but I was leashed as a small child, if I weren’t leashed I would just walk away. And my parents couldn’t also just look at my, because of my sister, who is just 1.5 years older.
The only other solution to prevent them walking away is a electric collar.. but I personally think that’s just cruel.
I didn’t know dogs could type so well
i didn’t know rtards could type so well either, i agree with balco, leashes ARE a great idea for keeping your kids from wondering off, in fact, more parents should use them, specially in restaurants and other public places (beaches, airport and mall specially) where kids wondering off are specially anoying
I’ve seen retards who at least know ‘I’ is written uppercase and also know about the existence of comas.
-or the difference between punctuation marks and profound states of unconsciousness…
‘Fail’ here would be Mommy letting the small ones run wild, as I see far too often.
‘Fail’ x2 would be Mommy letting them run wild and a] repeating ‘Don’t do that, Timmy. Don’t do that. Don’t do that, Timmy.’ ad infinitum while doing nothing to stop them or b] screaming obscenities at her spawn as they run wild because she was too busy with something else to watch them. (Why yes, I *do* work with the public….)
‘Fail’ x3 is seeing a mom with her kid/s leashed and having a screaming whining fit at her because of it.
I realize there may be good reasons not to leash a child, but in all the times I’ve seen this argument re-hashed I’ve never seen one. “OMG you must think your child is a DOG!!11!!’ doesn’t count, sorry.
Just my .02 credits, spend ‘em as you like.
That’s my sister and his name is Tommy, not Timmy. You were close though. LOL!
I agree with katscratch.
I was leashed, and it kept me out of a ton of trouble.
Leashing IMO is much better than not having control of your spawn, up to and including having he/she/it run out into traffic and rest on the conscience of some poor driver who was unable to stop in time.
I will be leashing my child when I decide to have one. Noones argument will dissuade my opinion on this matter.
I was thinking exactly this, are you one of my co-workers?
The other day, some lazy skank let her kids run around while she was trying on clothes, and told me that, since it is my job to keep customers happy, it was my job to watch them. Also, they only spoke Spanish, and I only speak bits and pieces of it. There was a lot of me yelling “madre!” and pointing at the fitting rooms, lol. I told my boss that I should get more money that day because I got more as a babysitter than a register monkey.
Then I thought about how easily my mom kept me under control on vacation by keeping me on a harness. It wasn’t because I was a bad kid, but because if I wandered off in a tourist trap, she was afraid she would never find me again or I would get hurt.
Long story short: MORE kids need to be kept on leashes, if only for the sanity of customer service people.
that is why I wait till my kid is in school to go clothes shopping for myself
Agreed. I had one of those backpack things when my son was just learning to walk and didn’t want to be held or ride in a stroller. I only used on occasion in crowded situations. When I wasn’t a mom I thought there was no way I would use one of these. But you see what those kids are doing? They are off in opposite directions in an airport, and she is most likely alone. I doubt she would be able to chase them both down at once, and most likely she had to check her stroller already.
Anyway, the part of this that makes me cringe is knowing just how mortified that mom must be that one of her kids is throwing a fit and the other is attempting a getaway, turning her into “coptermom”. Haha. You KNOW she just know how ridiculous this looks and that people will be talking. Well, if you’re a mom, you know it. I DID LOL when looking at this.
ohhh… now, FINISH HIM!
Here’s a great idea. How about you just act as a responsible parent and actually ‘supervise’ your kids. Ever heard of that word? Supervise? Well, now you know it. Use it, trollface.
I think she is being a responsible mom by knowing that without the leashes she wouldn’t be physically able to keep a hold on the kids. When I was younger, I hated it when my mom held my hand and I’d wrench it away as often as possible. She never leashed me, but there were occasions where id lose sight of her and get panicked, and I didn’t run around like most other kids I see. Being a responsible parent means knowing what it takes to keep your kids safe, and in that sense I think this woman is winning. Embarrasing yes, fail no.
My mom had me on “invisible leash.” If I ran off I would get repercussions when we got home (ie the toys would be placed on top of the refrigerator, etc.).
It worked.
Not all children develop their understanding of consequences before learning to walk. Some do it the other way around.
I have to agree with you. In this sad society kids no longer learn on their own what parents don’t bother to teach them. What a sick world we live in.
Totally agreed Balco. This is a GOOD idea. I guess everyone would rather them wander off and get kidnapped by crueler people.
Thank you and I agree. I have two children less than a year apart, and let me tell you, If I hadn’t used the “leash” on them, I wouldn’t have made it on several occassions. When you have two toddlers that insists on going into their opposite directions….. Bless this mom and help her. She is protecting her children from the crazy people in our world who like to take children and do know telling with…. Bless her.
I’m surprised you call them children. Because it really sounds like you think they’re dogs.
Did you also have them spayed/neutered? That should be quite affective against child abusers. At the very least your children wouldn’t be able to have children with rapists.
Ah wait, I forget that’s probably not a problem for you since christians have created this cool baby sale network to help loving parents get rid of unwanted kids.
No need to tell me that I’m an A-hole, I already know that.
you’re a jerk.
Oh here we go, another one of those a**holes who don’t have children but think they know what to do with them. Either that or one of those hippie parents who don’t bother to control their children.
I can think of a dozen situations where leashing your children is appropriate. What if you are pushing a pram? You can’t hold walking 2 year olds hand can you? Personally, I don’t trust a 2 year olds judgement and I don’t trust in their ability to do as they are told. (yes even the most disciplined children disobey they parents!) Lets say hypothetically mr 2 year old decides to run off after a bird, right into moving traffic. Are you going to ditch the pram and run off to rescue him, endangering baby in pram? Perhaps all could have been avoided with leashes. What if, in a jostling crowd their hand is forced from yours and you lose them? Even trying to go to the store, if you have a few small children, you can’t hold all their hands and carry your things. You might think the child looks like a dog, but they are safe and sound at the end of that leash.
Ok this picture is unfortunate, and I have no idea how she got into that awkward pose, but it looks like she’s at an airport, with twins. I feel for her.
You DO know that there was a time where there was no such thing as the child leash right? I never had a leash, sister never had a leash, my aunt’s child doesn’t have a leash, the children I babysat never had leashes. It’s called common sense. Got too much to carry? Here’s a wild idea. Why don’t plan ahead and invite a friend to come with you in the knowledge that you have ‘things to do’ and you’re going to get busy. This way, that 2 year old of yours still won’t make it to the traffic.
OR you could get a leash and save your friend the hassle.
I was one of those kids on the leash at one time, and while my brother certainly did need it (he was the kind who would wander off and do incredibly stupid things, like licking light sockets) I never did need the leash. The bottom line here would be, know your kids, which ones needs to be watched a little closer, and actually -do- what you need to keep them safe and under control.
I figured out early on how to take the darn thing off myself, and even after removing it, I never really did wander off.
If you already knew that, why did you bother to post? Just kill yourself and save us the effort.
Or you could just teach your kids to behave instead of treating them like animals.
Truly said by someone who doesn’t have kids, for sure.
Ok, I have three kids and I STILL think leashes are about the dumbest thing ever. Teach your kids to listen and stay with you. Pay attention to what they are doing. Know what a 2 year old is going to chase and prevent the situation from happening in the first place. Discipline your child for not listening. I know that children under a certain age do not understand logic and reasoning.
Sometimes you have to use the simple conditioning. If I run off it hurts like hell for a week when I try to sit down, so I had better not run off. EVERYONE understands that when you do something and it hurts to not do it again. No, I’m not condoning beating your child. I’m saying that spankings are permissible if they kids have been warned that they will receive one if they do not behave. Just don’t tell them you’re going to and then not follow through. Idle threats undermine your authority.
Geez, that became a rant! Point is, be aware of your children and what they’re doing. Prevent situations from happening. A 2 year old doesn’t think far enough into the future to realize that chasing a butterfly might get them run over by a bus. That’s why you have a responsibility as a parent, and tying your child off on a leash is failing in that responsibility. It’s a kludge, not a solution to teaching your child to behave
So what you’re saying is, it’s better to spank your kids until their bottoms hurt for a week than it is to put them on a leash now and then? Wow.
The same techniques were tried initially on both my kids; they just didn’t work equally well for both children. Some kids are simply not as receptive to verbal instruction and/or the promise of future consequences as others. Impulses can be so powerful that even the knowledge of guaranteed consequences doesn’t short-circuit them. Apparently you were lucky enough (and it really is just luck) that yours mostly stayed in line under that threat, but I hope you’re not trying to say that not one of them *ever* disobeyed you. If we had lived in a crowded urban area with lots of traffic when our kids were little, we would certainly have used a leash on our son to prevent accidents in those impulse situations.
So, let’s hear it: have you ever strapped a child into a stroller so they couldn’t climb out and run off? Or a high chair? Did you put them in a playpen, or an “activity center”, or put up a gate across a doorway, so you could make dinner without a toddler underfoot in the kitchen?
If the answers to these and all similar questions are not 100% “no”, then you are a hypocrite. A leash is only one form of restraint. It is no worse than any of those others. And at least, with a leash, the child can move around instead of learning to be sessile in a stroller.
I’m so glad there are abuse laws that apply to people like you. Do you to beat your kid in public? Of course you don’t — you know it’s illegal, and wrong. So you wait until you’re in private and then tell them not to tell anybody. Which makes your children are more likely to be s*xually abused — they’re used to covering up a trusted adults’ vicious actions.
So you’re glad that discipline is now classed as “child abuse”? I’m sorry, but personal experience dealing with children has proven spankings to be necessary, a lecture, and/or a timeout isn’t enough to make most kids learn their lessons.
Spanking your child when he/she disobeys, or continues doing something after being told not to, and warned several times isn’t abuse. Abuse is beating your child for no reason, repeatedly hitting them, or hitting them with hard objects. There’s a huge difference between discipline and abuse, learn it.
When I was a child, if I tried s**t, I got a good spanking for it, and they certainly did their job, and left remembers not to try whatever it was I did again, my parents never hit myself, or my siblings without reason, and we got plenty of warning first, and timeouts never worked for me, or my brothers.
Directed at anyone who thinks all kids can be perfectly trained not to walk off, you’ve clearly never dealt with kids at all, or you got really lucky and had an obedient one. Even the best parents will get defiant kids who purposefully act up, and don’t forget the ADD kids who’ll get distracted and walk off at any given moment. I’d much rather see parents making use of the leashes, to protect their kids from getting lost if they walk off, and honestly, with the amount of kids I see running wild through stores, or parents I see who don’t make sure their kids stay close in crowded busy city areas, I’d much prefer to see the leashes used. I’ve seen far too many close calls where kids have almost gotten separated from their parents in busy crowded streets, and far too many times where small children have ran out onto the roads chasing anything from toys, bugs, animals, other kids, you name it.
Also, do consider, when you’ve got more than one kid, it’s almost impossible to keep your eyes on two kids at once, while still watching where you’re going.
Oh, and before anyone suggests grounding as an option, that’s hardly a punishment, unless you take away all gaming systems, electronics, internet privileges (for anything other than homework), and any other forms of entertainment, and not give in when they whine to get out of the grounding before the specified time is up.
Grounding, or sending a child to their rooms while they’ve got TVs, assorted gaming consoles, internet, phones, comics, and all kinds of forms of entertainment to take away from reflecting on their actions, really takes away the punishment aspect of punishment.
“If I run off it hurts like hell for a week when I try to sit down, so I had better not run off.”
That’s not a spanking, that’s a beating, unless Pooka is GREATLY exaggerating.
Please explain to me how disciplining your child amounts to a higher risk of sexual abuse, I fail to see logic in that. If you spank your child to discipline him/her, there would be no reason to cover it up, there’s a huge difference between a spanking to discipline a kid, after verbal warnings, and lectures haven’t worked. Abuse is hitting for no reason, repeatedly, and/or using objects to inflict more pain or wounds on them.
If you’re worried about anything increasing the risk of kids being sexually abused, dress them modestly, not suggestively, if anything turns them into pedobait, it’s letting kids dress like sluts from a young age.
Also use your head, the odds of a victim telling anyone stay the same, regardless of whether they’re first time victims, or have a history of abuse, the psychological cornering, humiliation, threats, and blackmail used to keep them quiet are going to be the same either way.
Being abused once, doesn’t suddenly open a door that magically draws abusive people to you, if you live with someone abusive, yes you’re at higher risk of worse, but take into consideration, abusive people are usually alcoholics, drug addicts, or have serious psychological issues.
When you spank a kid as a method of punishment, you don’t repeatedly hit till you leave a mark, you don’t run into their rooms and hit them more for the same thing later.
I sat and read the comments posted on both sides of the issue and I cannot for the life of me force myself to get through FOREST’S bull.
Your child misbehaves, you hit them. And then next time? Do you hit them harder? And the time after? At what point do you think is a good time to stop? When they’re dead?
They’re babies and, most likely, do not have the intelligence of a full grown adult. The leash, the gates, and all the other baby proofing methods are there to TEACH children good from bad and right from wrong. Is a child going to do something wrong a couple times before they understand? Probably. Is beating them for that CHILDISH MISTAKE the best possible method to TEACH? Absolutely not. All that is teaching them is pain, hate, and violence.
This woman did not fail for putting her kids on a leash. She failed because she let them get hyper before spending hours waiting in an airport, most likely. The real fail belongs to FOREST for giving the thumbs up to child abuse. Spanking is for those parents that truly cannot raise children. For those people who do not think beyond the here and now. People who do not care how their children will turn out in the long run.
You should have had a goldfish- they don’t live too long and you don’t have to worry about them making any mistakes.
Come back to us when you have kids.
Hell, I dont have kids, and I can see the pure, plain, and obvious logic in this system.
My folks used a kid leash once, when we visited the grand canyon. I was barely walking, and they got two responses- most folks thought they were nuts/nazis/worst parents ever, while parents of the other toddlers bumbling about at the edge of the canyon thought it was a really good idea.
You obviously are not a parent of a toddler. Which would you rather have, a little kid on a leash or some freak walking out of Target with your kid cuz the kid got away for half a second. And for the record, this isn’t a fail. Again, don’t say nothing unless you have kids.
Hell, my 1 year old is fast as hell. If she is in my living room and I take 2 seconds to do something that requires me to not be looking at her, she is gone down the hall. I am going to invest in a super strong child leash when she is old enough to walk on her own.
Personally, I think that is a parenting win. and if those kids start acting up, she should be well within her rights to drag their asses across the floor like a dead dog.
Why don’t you get an electric dog collar, that’s much easier.
Who’s up for fried toddler? Yum. (or not)
Some times kids refuse to walk. Have you ever tried to carry a child that doesn’t want to be carried? Small children don’t respond to reasoning, or even threatening, they don’t have the capacity to think very far ahead. So your options are, beat them into walking, or drag them along until they get up. They’ll get up and walk properly soon enough. Lesson learnt and no harm done.
I don’t have kids, and that makes me better than you
Whatever helps you get through the day, sweetie.
speaking the truth does help, thanks!
Sure thing!!
i love those passive-aggressive responses.
No kidding, I have a 4 and 2 year old and while I don’t use these leashes, I can certainly empathize. When I saw this all I could think was “that poor woman!!”. She’s trying to keep two energetic and high spirited kids safe.
OK, parent of 2 kids here. Didn’t need leashes, because I believed that part of being a parent was holding the kids’ hands and making them understand (by–gasp!–talking to them!) what was acceptable and safe. Neither of them got run over or kidnapped.
By the way, your fears of kidnapping are WAY overstated. Kidnappings don’t happen very often. Your child is MUCH more likely to be kidnapped and abused by someone they already know. How does a leash protect them from that?
Better, instead, to be a more involved parent.
Finally, I have to say…when people say “you can’t say anything unless you’ve been there,” I always wonder what they’re hiding.
“By the way, your fears of kidnapping are WAY overstated.” That’s really funny. My friend used to say that until her kid actually was kidnapped, and not by a family friend. Her son was taken right out of the shopping cart at the grocery store. He was fortunately found 2 hours later being hauled down the street in the adjacent neighborhood.
Finally, I have to say…when people are so damn sure of their own parenting skills that they think they have the right criticize others, “I always wonder what they’re hiding”.
pron, everyone hides that
Well, you got me there.
I’m glad your friend got his baby safe… he’s one of the few lucky ones.
I’m not a parent, I’d love to be one… but if I had kids, I’d definitively use a leash when going to crowded places, if they turn out to be like me, they’d get easily distracted by anything at any second, that way they could feel free to walk til certain distance.
You are an idiot.
“By the way, your fears of kidnapping are WAY overstated. Kidnappings don’t happen very often. ”
So by that logic, we shouldn’t have our children wear seatbelts, because it’s not that likely the car will crash.
Call me crazy, but I prefer to put whatever safety measures I can in place BEFORE something terrible befalls my children.
Guess what, small children do not respond to logic. You can blab about road safety non stop for hours to them, and as soon as you are done they will run onto the road after a ball. I’m not taking that risk. It sounds like latex’s children are probably alive due to sheer dumb luck.
How far apart in age are the kids? When you held hands, did you EVER let go?
As for the “kidnappings are way overstated” comment, that’s just asking for your kid to be napped. They DO happen, and one day it might just be yours. You can’t get too comfortable with them running around, especially in this day and age.
/slaps the stupid out of Summer
it’s far safer now than it was when you were a kid, and whining about how it might be mine doesn’t change the fact that kidnapping is a vanishingly rare risk. More likely, you’ll get in a custody dispute with the ex. Mr summer that involves the cops.
You can believe whatever you want, but kidnapping still happen at about the same rates that they used to. People exaggerate the rates & try to make them sound like they’re a million times higher, but they’re just as high now as they were back when your parents were tiny. The only thing that might make the rates a little higher now is that when a child screams, nobody looks or wants to get involved. Seriously, who really takes that close of a look at a screaming child being dragged out of a store? Even if the kid says “not my mommy/daddy”? You’d just assume that they’re the babysitter or something to that extent.
While yes, the chances of someone getting into a custody dispute are higher, there is still the chance of someone’s kid getting kidnapped. You’re the idiot for not taking those slim chances seriously. You don’t have to go all paranoid, but taking abduction seriously would be a good idea.
@kitty
Wow, your comment just made me think how to retell my 5 year old about strangers. If “not my mommy/daddy” doesn’t work, I’m going to tell him to say something else. Stranger Danger maybe, but not sure.
Also, (not at you kitty), I have 2 ADHD kids. The youngest was doing what he called a “power run” and then was LITERALLY climbing the walls the other day at a convention we went to. It’s not bad parenting; my kid’s are very honest, polite, kind, respectful kids. But they are super hyper, especially in new enviroments.
I respect this woman’s choice. In my mind she did nothing wrong considering her location, (airport) her children’s ages, (very young) and the fact she had no one to help her.
Yes, they do happen. But more than 80% of kidnappers are non custodial parents. Beyond them, the majority are still known to the victim–relatives, family friends, etc. Yes, stranger kidnappings do happen, but stranger danger is overrated and overstated.
And I’m tired of hearing “especially in this day and age” Things are no worse than they were in our parents’ or grandparents’ generations (and back and back, etc). If anything, they’re better. We’re more aware, we have better ability to track kids than even a decade ago, much less 25, 50, or 100 years ago.
The reason things seem to happen more often is because the population is much larger and we live that much closer together. If you’re smart (which does NOT equal paranoid) things are typically fine.
“because I believed that part of being a parent was holding the kids’ hands”
Hmmm, if you have two kids, how do you hold the luggage too? Which kid’s hand do you let go while you hand the gate agent your boarding pass? Do you decide before you leave the house which kid you love more?
“because I believed that part of being a parent was holding the kids’ hands”
Hmmm, if you have two kids, how do you hold the luggage too? Which kid’s hand do you let go while you give the gate agent your boarding passes? Do you decide before you leave the house which kid you love more?
And I’m sure it’s your child-like mentality that allows you to communicate effectively with a tantruming 2 year old and convince them somehow that they should behave and hold your hand constantly… Despite the fact that they are creatures of impulse, they must control that impulse perfectly (just like perfect parent). I want your power!
Are you parents of twins? If not, you aren’t going to understand. The fail here is that the woman should have used a stroller. Good luck on getting 2 two year olds to do what you want and go in the same direction you want them to at the same time.
Unfortunately, you have fallen victim to the delusion that your kid is going to be taken by some freak if you loose track of it for a few seconds or minutes. The sad fact is that your child is much more likely to be abused by someone you and it knows than taken by a stranger.
Personally, I find it offensive that parents think almost everyone, everywhere is a freak out to steal their precious bundle of joy.
Do the world a favor and stay barricaded in your home until your children are adults.
Just because my child is more likely to be abused by a friend or a family member doesn’t mean that strangers don’t also abuse and kidnap kids.
Personally, as long as there is a 1% chance of a stranger picking up my kid for the half of a second that they leave my sight, then there is still that CHANCE that it might happen.
Would you like to be in that 1% when it happens.
1%? 1% what? For every public outing? Every second? Please clarify, assuming that statistic is actually remotely accurate, which it is not.
I’d actually rather be a parent than a dog-walker.
Then you go ahead and do whatever you want.
I know when I was a child, I didnt listen. My parents tried every conceivable method, but when it came down to it, if I wanted to bugger off, Off I buggered.
Im glad I was leashed.
actually it is 1.14% of children that are reported missing each year
You obviously have no idea what you are talking about.
First, the chance of your kid being raped by a stranger is not 1%. 1% would mean that 1 kid out of 100 is kidnapped, raped and killed. The reality is more like 0.00001% (I’m pretty sure a few more 0 should be added).
If you did not notice how 1% is excessively high (1 out 100), or you just don’t know what percentages are, then you do not show that you are smart.
Second, forcing good behavior out of your child is a disaster awaiting to happen. You need to teach your kids to behave on their own will, you can’t force it out of them.
It’s alright to punish bad behavior. Even if your child behaves well because he/she knows a punishment will occur otherwise, it’s still ok because he/she’s still making a choice.
But restraining your child like that leaves him/her no choice at all. He/she also won’t learn to protect himself/herself since the leash is doing that for him/her.
If you don’t teach your child to behave well, he/she will do incredibly stupid stuff as soon as he/she has the freedom to. You run the risk that as a teenager he/she is more likely to do stuff like using drugs, sex with strangers, speeding, theft, dangerous stunts and sports (you will find that most people who do things like skateboard stunts and extreme sports are those who never learned as kids that if they’re not careful they will get hurt).
You will also find that rapists have been abused physically or sexually as children on a regular basis, but most often by someone in charge of their education.
Why is that? Because beating a child as punishment equals forcing good behavior out of a kid instead of teaching him why some behaviors are bad.
But it’s not only about not learning good behavior. Rapists and killers who were abused as children often hurt people because they feel like they are getting revenge from their abusive parents. They think “What a beating I would had gotten for fighting at school, now I’m gonna kill people to show them that they can’t stop me!”.
So not only have they got no empathy, but they also hurt people out of revenge, to taunt their childhood abusers.
So I’d rather run the 0.00001% chance of having my kid kidnapped instead of the 10% chance of seeing him turn into a rapist and slashing his wrists and throat in his cell before he could be fried like a chicken on the chair by the state.
And speaking of risks, did you consider the possibility that your child could accidentally strangle himself/herself with this leash while running around you?
Or the fact that if you’re hit by a car while crossing the road, your child will die with you because he/she’ll be tied to you, while if he/she hadn’t been tied you may have had time to push him/her out of the way of the car?
Even if you’re the only one who’s hit, the leash could get caught in the car and your child dragged on the road/under the car.
Do you ride the subway? What if you fall on the tracks (happens all the time – crowd accidentally pushes you, you are sick and pass out…)? Your child will fall with you.
(And in case you thin I’m exaggerating, more people fall on subway tracks than children are kidnapped)
What if you are mugged and want to tell your kid to run away to safety while you stay behind to buy him/her some time?
And since you are so concerned by rare events: what if you are caught in a shooting (Columbine massacre? Gang shootings?) and are so badly wounded that you pass out/can’t move, and your child is tied to your dying body out in the open making a perfect target?
*claps*
Why is it that so many parents are morons these days?
I am so going to hate living in the world their spoilt, unrealistic, little angels make.
You sir/madam, have truly just ushered in an amazing C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER. You may claim your 54 internets reward at anytime you see fit.
115 kids are abducted by strangers each year there are 40 million children in the us that s alot less then 1% I think it is like http://www.snipeme.com/archive.php?rant=strangers&year=2004
get over yourself, there aren’t a lot of pedos running around and besides, your kids aren’t that sexy.
You’re obviously not a parent of a teenager. Which would you rather have, a nice, polite and sane child you could be proud of or a son who rapes women/a daughter working as a prostitute?
It’s all a matter of whether you treat them with dignity and teach them obedience of rules and limits or whether you treat them like savage animals and force out of them what they should learn to give on their own.
Soooooo… putting a child in a security harness means they will grow up to be a sociopath? You can teach kids about boundaries and rules in other situations, but sometimes kids need a little time to learn these rules. Meanwhile you’ve got speedy-quick toddlers who will wander off in the blink of an eye.
I don’t have children, but I whole-heartedly approve of these. All it takes is a split-second with a rowdy toddler before they’re gone running in their own direction. If you’re walking down a quiet street, that’s not such a big deal. That’s the time to teach them to hold hands and stay near you. If you’re in a crowded mall or zoo, however, it can easily turn right into a parent’s worst nightmare. Better to have the harness on and avoid those awful possibilities (even if the odds are small, it only takes once for it to happen) than to have the worst happen to you, just once, and have the child gone or hurt.
Which would you rather have:
1) Your child on a lead, alive and in one piece?
2) Your child smeared out over the road because you were distracted for a couple of seconds by it’s sibling who needed urgent attention?
Answers on a postcard.
Eejit’s who’ve never tried looking after two small children at once need not reply
We survived for centuries without leashes. (Nobody from my generation was on a leash, I assure you.) There’s the alternative here that y’all seem to be missing. “Distracted for a couple of seconds”… don’t do that. You’re a mom first. Be a mom. Stop trying to be a mom *and* other things.
Kids are *not* pets. They are your flesh and blood. Priority #1. Put that text message down. Be a mom.
I believe mega said “distracted for a couple of seconds by it’s sibling who needed urgent attention”. Yes, by all means, stop being a mom to one child so you can be the total undivided mom to the other child. Oh God, which one do I choose!!!???
I had two small children at one time and survived without the need for leashes. However, being a mom who’s been there and done that, I prefer to say, of other moms, “to each his own”. Whatever helps that mom feel like she’s got things somewhat “under control”, and I use that term loosely here, then more power to her.
‘I prefer to say, of other moms, “to each his own”.’
[can't find raised-eyebrow smiley]
But yes. There are lots of parents who think they have all the answers. Either they weren’t as good at parenting as they thought, or they’ve forgotten what it is to *be* a parent.
My parents have 4 boys, 3 of us are quite close to eachother in age and when she had to go shoping with the three of us it wasn’t always that easy to keep track of us.
The middle brother of us three was a handful, he would run of if even given a split second to do so. After a while they had to but a leash on him to avoid him hurting himself. We’re not talking a dog collar or a leash around the throat but a harness on his body.
And yes we as a race have survived centuries without it, but then again as a race we survived quite well without helmets while riding a bike or seatbelts in cars. Most kids won’t need a leash but there are a few exceptions(like my older brother was) and if it can save lives who are you to say it’s bad parenting? You have no idea how those kids are, and kids die every year due to running out infornt of cars etc. All it takes is a split second and if you realy think you can keep an eye on several kids every second then you are delusional.
Yes well leashes are still a practical solution to a problem.
At one stage, growing up I had 4 younger brothers and sisters under the age of 5, unless you’re a fvcking octopus with eyes in the back of your head, there’s no frikkin’ way you’re going to be able to keep track of all of them without several other pairs of eyes and hands to help out. If you don’t have some spare hands to help, a leash or 4 can be an absolute lifesaver, plus when they’re on leashes they can be tied up outside the shop and guarded by their older brother while Mum pops in and buys her stuff or gets a facial, has a coffee etc
Kids may not be pets, but they are animals, wild, unpredictable, cunning and savage, no matter how good you think their upbringing might be. You don’t leave animals like that untethered in public if you know what is good for you
they weren’t new then. I also remember other parents making comments about it. I also remember one child that had it’s shoulder dislocated by being dragged by the arm, and a second that was killed when it ran out into traffic when her mother was distracted for a moment.
You must be about a hundred years old by now. I remember child safety harnesses back in the fifties, and they weren’t new then. I also remember other parents making the same comments about them. I also remember one child that had her shoulder dislocated by being dragged by her arm , and another little girl that was killed when she ran into traffic when her mother das “distracted for just a moment”.
They must not have had cars or streets or busy intersections nearby… or stairs, or anything dangerous. Everything was pretty and padded and safe, no kids ever got hurt or taken. I’m sure someone had leashes for their kids. We also survived for centuries with no modern medicine, you wanna take that away because you long for the good old days? Lastly, you’re telling me that you (if you ever had to), having to watch 2 small children in a public place, never ever, even for a second to pick up a child’s sippy-cup or pacifier, never was distracted from the immediate job of holding on to a struggling child? Hypocrite.
We also survived for years without seat belts, protective gear and airbags….does that mean we should not use any of them too?
We survived for a long time without a lot of things–vaccines, seatbelts, strollers, car seats, etc. But these things make life more convenient and/or save lives. I’m sure some lives have been saved due to child leashes, as well. Recent invention doesn’t equal bad.
And having a DVD player in the back of vehicles to rot the kids’ brains is a great idea too, because it keeps them quiet.
Or hey, parenting.
That depends on what’s IN the DVD player. If it’s something educational, why not?
And how many of us adults will do things like read a book or listen to an iPod or some other form of entertainment during a long road trip if we’re not driving? Is it really any different to let your kids watch a fun video to cut down on their stress?
Because staring at a screen for hours, regardless of it being ‘educational’ or not, decreases the learning speed of children. I didn’t learn how to read when I was 3 because I spent most of my time staring blankly at a screen, but because my mom read to me. TVs arent parents.
Who says everyone lets their kids watch stuff for “hours”? One movie isn’t gonna kill them, and kids often fall asleep on long road trips, too. It’s not horrible if you use it in moderation.
Well said! I guess you shouldn’t let your kids sleep during road trips, either, because mindless activity like that will surely delay their development. Sleeping so much cannot be good for them.
@ teatime – I learned to read by the time I was 3, too, AND I watched a hell of a lot of TV. TV doesn’t rot the brain, parents have a heavy hand with that. My parents let me watch TV, but they also worked with me at night for reading and numbers. I skipped Kindergarten and entered 1st grade when I was 5-years old. Damn, I hate how TV destroyed my brains.
Funny how everyone blames TV for children’s failures. Really funny.
You just agreed with me……… TV is fine in MODERATION. But some parents I know just plop their kid on the couch and let him watch tv all day. I’ve been addicted to TV before, and when I was, it showed. My grades dropped, and my ADD got worse. Technology is great for learning, but too much, and we lose the ability to think.
Well, my main point with the sleeping was that there would be times when the videos wouldn’t be necessary, because they’re asleep anyway.
Or perhaps they’re content to color or even read. But most kids wouldn’t even need to be entertained by cartoons the ENTIRE car ride.
I learned to read when I was three, too, and I am still a loser as an adult.
I wish I had watched more cartoons. Then I would be able to get a job because I don’t have this pesky novel addiction.
Stupid literacy.
Really…. didn’t you wish during your childhoods to have a tv on the car during a car trip??? I don’t know you, but for me, when I was 7, 3 hours felt like a lifetime in a car, and as far as I remember, the conversations I had with my then 4-year-old brother and my 2-year-old baby sister made my parents also wish the same thing.
And yeah, If I get to be a mom, daddy and me will make sure our children have a dvd player in the backseat.
I never wanted a DVD player in the car when I was younger. I had books and toys and parents that would talk to me in the car.
Recipe for disaster in my case… books in motion makes me dizzy, and… neh, conversation is still not an option haha
When I was younger my mom gave me motion sickness bands, they helped a lot.
Well said.
When I was younger (and I am still a kid myself), I didn’t have anything on long road trips but some toys, a blanket, and a parent who talked to me all the time.
Not only that, but I also have two siblings, and we were, at one time, 3, 4, and 5-years-old. We didn’t have leashes, just a mother who paid attention and taught us well.
We sometimes thought she had eyes on the back of her head. ;D
My mom said that she had eyes in the back of her head too. It certainly seemed like it. My parents taught me lessons but didn’t direct me away from addiction (TV and WoW). I turned out fine, mostly a result of my friends in high school, but my brothers are losers.
I didn’t want a DVD player in the car as a kid only because there was no such thing at the time. I did wish we could bring the TV and VHS player.
I loved to read, but reading in the car made me SOOOO sick that no matter if I took dramamine or not, I couldn’t read in the car. I spent a LOT of time staring out windows.
i wonder sometimes if people were flipping out about having music in the home at a young age when that became universally accessible. ye old town crier probably shouted stuff like “a new theory is circulating that toddlers who listen to too much music on record players in the house have delays in speech and reading skills! be ye warned, turn those devil machines off and be a better parent by doing what we have done for centuries; sitting in complete silence!”
I am 14 dumb ass. My parents are much older than most of my peers, they raised my with little excess technology, and I see how it changes people. When I spend too much time for a extended period of time on TV, my grades in school drop. I’m betting that soon many kids will have trouble with basic arithmetic, because I have trouble with it. We are outsourcing our brains to machines, and that isn’t all good.
teatime, you are 14. Get off the internet and go read a book or something. TV doesn’t rot your brain, or do anything to it.
It’s time. You spend 5 hours watching TV versus 5 hours studying, and your grades slip. Insert that with anything. Spend 5 hours eating cheetohs instead of studying, now cheetohs make you stupid. Spend 5 hours running a marathon instead of studying and now running makes you stupid. It is a time management issue. TV sucks up time, and rarely contributes favorably by teaching you things, so people blame it, which is stupid.
In a car when you aren’t doing anything else, I’d like to watch TV, or play a video game. Reading in a shaking car can make you nautious, although I did it too, mostly because I had nothing else I could do
TV does distract you from work, in many peoples cases, that is bad. Human interaction is the best way of learning, it helps. Also, I spend most of my time reading, and listening. TV is a problem because it stops people from doing things. (I’d also like to argue about the running part of your statement) I’ve spent most of my life reading, so your insult has been nullified. I go on the internet to do what I’m doing now, argue with people.
high-fives for your last statement.
We should have TV hunting season!!! “TV is a problem because it stops people from doing things.” It’s a conspiracy against us humans!!!! The TV’s are out to get us!
Arguing is fun, that I can agree with…or should I argue that point? Hmmm.
14 and insulting people on the internet. Yep, mum and dad are doing a MARVELOUS job.
Please explain to me how a person is supposed to “parent” their child while they are driving? DVD players keep the kids attention on the movie so mom can focus on driving. And when kids are in the car, mom should only be focused on driving. I don’t care what kind of crap my kids watch in the car as long as it keeps them from distracting me by fighting or whining about how long the drive is.
Leashes are a somewhat new invention. And as far as I know, we’ve had children for such a long time.
I’d say, if it is that impossible to have more than one child, then have someone help you, or put the child in stroller and hold the other child’s hand.
And if that is still impossible, then I have bad news for you. . .
They’re not new. Everyone used them back in the 70s before they fell out of favor for some unknown reason. I’m glad they’re coming back. It’s just horrible watching a mom panic because her kid has wandered off.
Or try teaching your kids not to wander off? But, then again, that actually takes time and effort, doesn’t it? Much easier to just take the lazy way out.
you can’t reason with a 1-year old who just started walking not to run away in a crowded store. sorry, but it doesn’t work. busy parents who must occassionally go into crowded places with their children have to resort to a leash at times. it’s not cruel unless they are yanking the child around or not paying attention to them. an occassional leash is not abuse…it’s far better than loosing your child because you had to take them with you to buy something THEY needed at a crowded place.
Agreed!
I am surprised no one has mentioned yet that she is in an AIRPORT.
That poor woman needed help, not criticism.
hey dummy,
Actually leashes aren’t a new invention. They’ve actually been around longer than cars. You know what a car is, right? They’re about a ton of metal that can instantly kill a child. There are more of these on the road than ever, and the drivers are more careless than ever. I hope you never have to find out the hard way.
why do you let your kids play in the street, dummy?
They don’t. The point being made is that kids can RUN OFF and end up in the street.
Hey, have you heard of paying attention to your child? Or at least teaching it that running + street + car = bad idea?
I have never in my life seen someone with leashed kids, nor have my parents felt the need of them either. I have two brothers with 2 years in difference, and one of them was acting as if he had ADHD, meaning he was pretty hard to control. But nevertheless he is alive and fine and never got hit by a car.
As someone said before, try reasoning with a 1-year old who just learned to walk. It doesn’t work, they’ll run off into the street anyway.
that’s not a certainty
Really? Really????
“Oh, it’s not for SURE that my child will run into the middle of the street before I can catch them, so I don’t need have any control over them.”
It’s also not a certainty that you’ll get into a car accident when you get in the car, and still we put on our seat belts. It’s not about it being a certainty, it’s about there being a RISK and a POSSIBILITY.
You’re so much fun
Heres another good one for you guys to ponder.
“why do you let your kids play in the street, dummy?”
Who says the cars always stay on the street?
What if some careless driver comes off the road while distracted?
What if a driver gets hit by another vehicle and gets forced into the direction of your child wandering a little ways off from you?
What if a meteor hits the Earth tomorrow and kills us all!?!?! I better get my meteor helmut out and dust it off…but maybe we won’t get hit by one tomorrow.
Hmmm, I think I meant helmet. Today’s gonna be one of those days.
For the last time, a 2 YEAR OLD can not be reasoned with. I mean seriously. Sure, you can teach him not ro run into the street, but he is 2. He isn’t going to care, and all he has to see is a pretty ball that he wants to pick up once and then he is dead.
Coming from someone who’s kid just died recently (you know, one of those 1 in a million never happen to me cases), your kid can run off. You can be watching them, but you can’t leap 5 feet in 2 seconds, which is all it takes for him to run into the street after a shiny ball while an idiot curbs around the corner.
So hey girl, get over yourself and quit being an idiot
And what do you suppose all the parents did before someone decided kids have no dignity as human beings and that putting them on leashes for the parents’ own comfort – as though they were dogs instead of people – is okay? They way you guys talk, we should have less than half the population that we have today; most people would have been kidnapped or run over. My mom made it clear that straying to far was the worst thing that could happen to us – we didn’t know how big the world is, or anything about it, and that made it too scary to leave either her sight or hearing range, depending. If we couldn’t see or hear her anymore, that was a reason to scream.
If my mom had put me on a leash, I would have enjoyed making her life difficult, as those two are obviously doing. My favorite thing to do when we went shopping was to hide in the clothing racks next to her. I’d have made sure I wrapped the leash around the clothing racks and my brother (I couldn’t stand him) until she gave it up.
My brother and I are also only a year and a half apart. No one said parenting is supposed to be easy. It isn’t about what’s good for you, it’s about what’s good for the child. Maybe people don’t have enough time for their children nowadays, and the kids don’t learn what “mom” and “dad” means, or get used to getting along without them of necessity?
None of us – family or friends – has ever put their kids on a leash, not even if the kid appears to be a candidate for a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder. And up to now, none of us has experienced anything dreadful happening to any of their children.
If only Natural selection were allowed to work…
I completely agree with you. It’s a wonder how generations before us got along with out leashes! ..oh wait. It was called respect for your parents.
..says the ignorant idiot who obviously does not have any kids.
…says the overbearing moron with too many kids
you know nothing, pathetic troll.
i know nothing and everything, fear me
advertisers SUCK is more of a pathetic troll.
Saying ‘OMFG YOU DUN HAV KIDS’ doesn’t count as an argument.
Silly child, stating that to understand this situation, you need to have kids, does indeed count as an argument. People who know nothing about a topic, yet still have a strong opinion are ignorant. Do you know what ignorant means?
My vote’s for overbearing moron
Second, if you hold your kids hand, and pay attention to them, and give them your time of day (regardless of how difficult it maybe) there is going to be much more of a bond, vs. a leash. Where is the bond between a mother>leash>kid?? Kids may not be old enough to reason with, but if they are old enough to walk, they are old enough to realize realize “every time I run off my rear end hurts, I’m not going to run away anymore” I’m not saying beat your kids, but a spank on the butt is more than enough for them to realize.
Yes, a spanking provides a MUCH better bond than a leash. You do realize that people who use them aren’t going to have them on their kids 24/7? There is plenty of time in the day to bond. Chasing them through the airport isn’t the time.
yeah, leashes aren’t for use in the house, that’s what baby-cages are for!
Thats wonderful. Do you not realize that we now live in a world where disciplining your child with the method of a good spanking is now reason for child services to take your child from you and place them in foster care?
Actually… it was probably natural selection.
Go back a few hundreds years and you can experience the joys of “wander off and get eaten by a bear/large cat/eat something poisonous/fall into a bog/drown/become lost and die from exposure”. Kids who wandered less had a higher survival rate, especially if you start going back farther towards the early years of our species.
Actually, a few hundred years ago you had to worry more about what was in the water than any of that other stuff…
Great ideas, freemywilly. I’ll raise you. Let’s also toss all children’s car seats into dumpsters. After all, lots of kids lived through car accidents before they were invented. I’m also all for putting household chemicals back under the kitchen sink well within reach of toddlers. Little Johnny drinks the Drano? Eff him. I think those plastic power outlet covers are unnecessary, too. Kids should be allowed – nay, encouraged – to stick objects into those. That’ll learn ‘em some discipline. Locks on doors should be wholly abandoned, too. Seriously, what miserable parent would rely on locking their doors to keep their kids from wandering outside of the house.
And yes, I do think you’re an unmitigated dolt.
Don’t worry, we think you’re an unmitigated dolt too.
With your keen understanding of probability and risk, I take it you think putting all your money in Powerball tickets is a sound investment strategy?
And are you intentionally missing the point that leashing your kids may be reinforcing undesirable behavior? Or are you really that stupid?
Oh, and yes, I have kids.
Point missed [WIN].
Look at the safety considerations offered. Do you put all of your trust in only one of them and say bollocks to the rest? Hmm, no? You mean that they’re individual and non-exclusive components of an overall parenting strategy? No! Can’t be! Why, that would make sense.
You’re welcome.
Nicely done. People, and by this I mean Latex there, think they can say, “Well my parents did this and I did this, therefore the rest of the world should be able to do it this way, too”. Ah yes, one should criticize every other parent who chooses a different path than the one you chose. Good times, that criticizing spirit is alive and well.
I think we should all do away with anything and everything that makes us feel safer, including child safety seats, just because a few high-and-mighty individuals say so. “I didn’t use them when I raised my perfect little angelic children, you shouldn’t need to use them with your kids, either.”
*applause*
Thank you.
Do you actually KNOW the likelihood of your child being kidnapped by a stranger? Go ahead and look it up; I’ll wait.
In the meantime, I’ll also be waiting for your clear and concise explanation of how the likelihood of a risk helps determine a proper response.
Continued short-sightedness. Please correct.
I don’t think I even mentioned kidnapping. The safety effect of child leashes/harnesses certainly includes their potential as kidnap deterrents, but goes far beyond that. Others in this thread have already touched on possible benefits.
BTW, is it your contention that the likelihood of a risk should NOT determine a proper behavior? I can’t understand what a universe would be like where risk ISN’T considered. Oh wait, yes I can: CHILDHOOD.
Do you actually KNOW the likelihood of your child being killed in a car accident? Go ahead and look it up; I’ll wait. Oh yes, the chances of that happening are just as low as your child being kidnapped; therefore, using your logic, we shouldn’t even bother with child safety seats. Nicely done.
Accidents can be avoided with an ounce of preventative measures. The mom in the picture feels that putting a leash on her young children will help her keep track of them. Who are you to judge her safety measures or parenting skills? Do you have some all-qualifying special college degree in raising children and how to keep them safe? If so, then I guess you really are superior to all of us lowly parents.
Baby gates are also a waste of time then too, It reinforces undesirable behavior as well (according to you). Leashes are a part of a system. I’ve seen people use them mostly they’re parents with 2 or more kids, only one parent is present, (whether or not they’re single parents, widowed parents, or just running errands while the other is at work (a lot of families have to work opposing shifts these days as they can’t afford daycare) the Leash is a good way to keep them in line, and not lose them. letting them run wild on the leash is not what most parents would do either. they still punish them for the bad behavior, but they also protect them. just like a babygate. when you can’t keep two eyes on a kid all the time things can happen (which is an unrealistic goal to begin with)
Blaming a tool for reinforcing undesirable behavior assumes that the leash is the sole parenting tool being used. often a leash is a control mechanism (same as a stroller, or shopping cart seat, or whatever) but it allows the kid to walk. the goal with a leash is to be able to keep a hand on your child when you otherwise can’t. I’ve seen people use them as well when they’re exhausted and want their children to burn off some excess energy before a flight. (the op looks like an airport to me.)
Tom wins for best comment.
1. The first instance of a child restraint in a vehicle was in 1898. This early device was little more than a bag with a drawstring that could attach to the car seat. Mind you, this was at the time when only the wealthy could own a vehicle, so there weren’t many on the road. As time went on and vehicles started becoming affordable due to Ford, the child safety seat began to take on a more serious shape (Goggle Patents 2848036) since accidents were happening more (there were many designs before this, but not as safe, such as Patent 1723899: designed in 1927)
2. Cabinet safety latch: A. 1960 (Google Patents: 3023601)
B. 1974 (Google Patents: 3909050)
3. Electrical Safety Cover: 1967 (Google Patents: 3491327)
I know my grandparents beat my parents to “teach them the consequences”. If they ran off, they got another beating. Sure we could go back to that “method of parenting” but I don’t think you’d approve of that any more than the leashes, would you? I don’t know how much interaction you have with kids, but two and three year olds don’t have the longest attention span or greatest memories, and impulse control just isn’t there. My three year old can tell you exactly what he did wrong, but sometimes can’t stop himself from doing it. So we’ll keep our leashes thank you.
Oh, and FYI, my father was born in 1924, was in his 60 when I was born, and his folks used to stake him out in the yard tied to a rope to let him “play outside” while his mother tended other kids or milked the cow or did the laundry, whatever was necessary, before he was old enough to learn impulse control. Then when all of their 9 kids were older, the rule was “if one acts up, you all get in trouble” so they had the kids sicked on each other. My parents did the same thing with the five of us, including clothes line leashes until my dad put up a fence around the yard when I was 4. My oldest sister was 14 at that point, and had spent all her toddler years on a rope leash playing. She’s now a lawyer. My older brother learned to untie the knots and tie up my sisters. He’s now an internationally certified crane operator. My other sister never had a problem with it, and now is a federal employee. I’m a married mother, college student, and corporate drone. Our little brother is handicapped, but we all turned out fine even WITH leashes. They aren’t going to damage kids, they are a realistic persons recognization of needed extra help.
Win!
My great-grandmother started the leash trend in our family. Single mother trying to raise 7 kids during the depression. 5 boys under 10. Solution: tie them to a tree with food and water, then go to work.
Somehow they turned out to be fully functional adults.
Real parents have always had to make the best choices for thier family, get off your high horse.
Ooh, solution- DON’T HAVE SEVEN KIDS FFS!
Can’t control your kids, don’t have kids. It’s not rocket science.
False dichotomy. There are very many other outcomes to “child not on leash” besides “child smeared out over the road” and most of those others are not bad.
Fallacy of false choice.
If you get hit by a car while crossing the road, I can assure you that this leash will make sure your kid dies with you, even if he/she wasn’t hit themselves in the first place.
It can get caught in the car and drag the child, it can prevent you from the possible option of pushing your kid away from the car’s path…
And anyway treating your child like an animal is not good for their development and the consequences can later be dramatic.
If you don’t want your kid running on the road, do what many people do: hold your child’s hand while walking near roads.
Even handcuffing your child’s wrist to your own is less demeaning than holding him on a leash (the fact that it is tied to his back with a harness instead of his neck doesn’t make it better).
If you’re a parent, and you have such a bad handle on your kids that leashes are required, you might not actually be a parent…
If you’re a parent and you don’t think taking extra precautions to keep your children safe in a busy, bustling place such as an airport is a good idea, you should be shot. In the kneecaps. Several times.
There wouldn’t be rapists today to be afraid of if some parents had treated their kids respectfully and taught them why they must behave well.
By the way, do you also teach your children to play tricks? Like fetch the ball?
Wow. Did you seriously just blame child rape on bad parenting and the children’s behavior? Right, yeah. It’s not the rapists fault at all; the kids were asking for it with their bad, bad behavior.
No, you idiot. He blamed child rape on parents who don’t teach their children not to *become* child rapists.
Wow…. Asinine comment of the day right there. There are rapists because some individuals are simply broken when it comes to their moral compass. They lack empathy and have an exaggerated sense of self and entitlement. They also lack willpower, which is something each of us has to develop for *ourselves*, not something that a parent can simply shove into our heads.
Clearly you do not have children, or at least not twins or multiple children close in age.
People who comment on things they know nothing about should be shot.
My, you seem to have quite a litter. You plan on selling them or keeping them all? If you sell, do they have a pedigree?
I’ve seen her kids, and yes, they are pedigree. They come from the finest of parental lineage. Thanks for asking!
You apparently have no real idea of just how fast an active toddler can disappear from your sight.
Let me guess: faster than it takes to update your Facebook status from your cell phone in the middle of a mall?
Try instead: Faster than it takes to check a size or price tag.
Try instead: Faster than it takes to criticize other people on something you know nothing about, obviously. How sad, the generalizations.
Try instead: Making fewer ASS-umptions.
I can say faster than checking a size or pricetag… because *I* ran off in that span of time when I was a little kid.
The woman was traveling by herself with two small children. Leashes>>>lost kids. Perhaps the asshat photographing this could have, I dunno, offered assistance rather than thinking “hey, failblog!”
She wasn’t beating her kids, she was trying to keep them all together. Clearly, her kids are not the docile type, and look to be too young to follow instructions well. I’ve never had to fly with two small children, thank god, but you do the best you can in those situations.
Yes she was TRYING. And she obviously FAILED. Which means not only is she treating her kids like dogs but she’s also doing it for no reason (since it’s not working).
Oh and here’s a tip from a dog owner: I did not teach my dog to behave and walk beside me by holding him on a leash. I used reward and punishment.
I know people who think the leash will teach their dog to behave but the dogs just walks as far away as the leash lets them and most dogs would run away if freed from the leash.
So, if I love my pet enough to keep them on a leash when I’m in a public situation where they could be hurt or lost, then why is this woman, with TWO toddlers who, by all appearances is on her own, such a demon?
My little sister had a bad habit of running onto roads to try and catch cars when she was four. Personally, I think the leash was a bad idea on my Mum’s part too…
When I was about 4-5 I got lost in Disneyland. I wandered to a shelf to look at something & lost sight of my parents, who were also trying to corrall my two similarly aged siblings. I wandered over half the park looking for my parents & almost got picked up by a pedo before I was discovered by a park employee.
Trust me when I say that I’d rather have had a leash on me. That was the scariest thing I’ve even gone through & I wouldn’t want any sort of kid to have to repeat that. What’s worse- having to put a child on a leash so they don’t wander off or having your child wander off & almost get abducted & molested by some pervert?
When my niece was that age she was always trying to run off. Her mom tried the ones that go around the wrist but she’d just take those off and go wherever she wanted anyway.
Some kids are so hyper and wild they not only need a leash, they need muzzles.
You need a muzzle.
Leashes give children the ability to learn self-sufficiency and practice crowd safety without danger. Most importantly, the children feel that *they* can’t lose *you*! I live in a busy city, and took my kids downtown all the time — nobody could pick my child up and walk off, they always knew I was close if they got caught up windowshopping, I could protect them at greater than arms-length, and when they were little, I could reel them in to speak quietly to them. Without that leash, I would have lost my girl to a man who jumped the curb one day — she flew into my arms! I have sensible, capable children who are raising my grandchildren without raising their voices or chasing them out of traffic. Win.
when you have twins that are autistic and running in two different directions you can say that they are a bad idea. At least my children are within reach and when they decide to bolt they won’t get far and get hurt, or worse, hurt someone else by knocking them over or knocking something off a shelf. Just the other day my boys and I were walking through the grocery store and they were happily walking next to the buggy while we shopped. A lady with a screaming brat confined in the seat wanting out sneered at me and said “I don’t see how anyone can leash their children like dogs” I looked right back at her and said, “at least mine are not screaming to be let out of the buggy like a caged animal. ” She of course called me a smartass and walked off. When she was the one that came up and commented on something that was none of her business.
supid woman, don’t make kids if you can’t handle them. have an abortion!
That is offensive. HIGHLY offensive. Watch what you say.
STFU!
Bottle of Gin and a coathanger, problem solved. Then kick her down a flight of stairs just to make sure, and stamp on her stomach.
YOU are offensive. HIGHLY offensive.
You should’ve been aborted.
Actually it’s hilarious.
I agree, there are christians here, be respectful!
Next time ahah, instead of abortion, please say “Ask your church to help you sell them to another family”.
It’s no different from posting the pic in the first place.
Watch out, the internet police are here.
you are a complete idiot. Please kill yourself.
troll
Is she trying to trow them arround?
Leek, you obviously don’t have children. She has two kids, heading in different directions, and is only one person. So she chases down one and HOPES the other stays safe while she hauls the first to get the second, or she has them on leashes where she can keep them in hand as they navigate what looks to be a busy airport. Looks like a parenting WIN to me, keeping her kids safe the best she can while traveling. Little kids, and kids with autism, are notoriously hard to control (just ask my three year old) and life doesn’t stop when you have kids, you’ve got to try to keep doing what everyone else does while managing them. So until you have kids, and are in this moms shoes, shut up and don’t judge.
Radical idea, I know…but what if she just held their hands? Alternately, the one on the floor seems pretty young…what about a folding stroller?
Any kid can squirm out of their mother’s grip. Holding hands would also mean her hands are completely full — she’d have to let go of one to do anything. Strollers are bulky, heavy and far more expensive than a leash and take away from any amount of exercise the kid would get from walking. Used properly, kids aren’t just going to just slip out of mom’s hands, kids get a lesson on behaving properly without needing someone to force them to through holding hands or be strapped to a stroller.
Exactly!
Ah, intelligence has been found.
Kids tend to run in different directions, plus parents sometimes need both hands to do the tasks the take their kids along to do, like shopping or getting food. Plus, let’s consider the kids’ points of view: the leash gives them more freedom, it’s less restricting, and if they kid wants, they can pretend to be a dog. Those children aren’t walking around feeling ashamed or undignified, they’re having fun.
I know I didnt care, Hell, I loved having the ability to run around.
Because its SO Comfortable when your two feet tall to have your 5’6 or in my case, 6 foot tall parent Yanking your arm out of the socket holding it above your head for hours at a time while you wait. Go ahead, Try it! Hold your arm above your head when you are waiting at the DMV or airport security the next time for fourty minutes. THEN have someone yank your arm along while they are trying to dig for ID or passports. My kids love their “monkey buddies” as they call them. It also saves me the worry of bringing along a stuffed animal for them to drop or forget.
1. Hands become sweaty making it easy peasy for both kids to slip out.
2. Hands are now full instead of quickly reaching into her pocket for tickets/etc.
3. Strollers are a PITA. Which would also mean more bulkiness and if were done, have you pushed a stroller and held the other kids hand? NOT EASY.
Parenting WIN
This. Clearly the woman is in an airport too where she would have had to check something like a stroller. The backpack harnesses can be taken on the plane with the kids, and can be filled with snacks and toys to entertain them on the flight.
There are so many options….
Holding hands, not going everywhere with your kids, using reward and punishment to teach them to stay near her and behave (it works even with kids age 1!)
If that’s how she wants to raise her kids she should just had bought a dog.
And I bet it will take her kids a few more years than non-leashed kids to learn to behave in public.
That would be a bet you’d lose.
Leashed kids are a step ahead of non-leashed kids. They already have experience with the limits set for them, and the leash would have given them ample chance to teach them their limits before letting them walk around loose. When they get off the leash, they’ll already know to stay close to their parent.
Non-leashed kids don’t have that prior experience and with no experience with their limitations, nor any experience having any sort of freedom to move around whatsoever. When they are finally are free from their parents grip/stroller, they will just run wherever they want.
Also, I must point out that dogs on a leash have far greater freedom than a child holding their parents hand or stuck in a stroller. If anything, we treat our dogs better than we do our children in regards to how we restrain them.
Kratos!!!!!
Fell the power of my Baby-blades!!!
Awesome! I thought I recognized the triangle-triangle-square move she’s using.
Hilarious!
They looks like twins. Double the craziness, she is smart to use the kid harness. My mom did with me and my twin and we turned out fine.
obviously not
All the evidence points to him turning out better than you, Poopi.
He knows how to use capitalization and punctuation, and although his name may be a bit ‘twisted’, at least it’s not a reference to fecal matter, which is what I’m surmising you have between your ears.
my name is not a reference to fecal matter, you twit
insulting someone’s intelligence while revealing your own lack of it is an amazing thing to behold
Yeah, it’s actually a throwback to a previous-century musical that was highly entertaining.
So far, that’s the only point in his/her favor.
ding ding ding! we have a winner!
Wow, you’re excited over an insult. Your intelligence shines through!
why should I take it seriously?
oh wait! Teh Internetz is serrous bizness!
And how are you coming to the conclusion that I haven’t turned out fine? By the extra ‘s’ at the end of ‘look’? It was early and I didn’t notice my auto-correct doing that.
for shame, I never criticized your grammar…
What the heck are you criticizing then?
their parent’s parenting
I know about that pot you hid in your room.
I really do not care what any1 says, leashing children is wrong, end of story. If you think you cant handle a child without a leash, DONT HAVE THEM!
I agree entirely, If you can’t handle a child, don’t have one! Much less two. Free the leash kids!
I’m going to assume neither of you have tried to watch two small children at once. God i wish ignorance was painful. Maybe people wouldn’t be so damn stupid. Nothing is wrong with a damn kid on a leash. So closed minded.
You people put children on leashes and the others are the closed minded? And I am a nanny, I have watched 3 small kids for 5 years (and when I started the job they were 1, 2 and 4 years old) and never needed to leash them to watch them. Because that’s what I did: WATCH. And take care of them. And I went to the supermarket with them and to the park and none of them was ran over by a car or ran away from me. And neither did I when I was young or any of the kids I know who never wore a leash. What’s the next step, put them in a cage all day? That way you’d have even less to worry about!
Way to use the Slippery Slope Fallacy at the end there.
You’ve never needed one of those harness things; good for you. I would like to ask you to consider that not all situations are identical to your own. For all you know, that woman’s children could be exceptionally energetic (in fact in the picture I can see they’re trying to run off in two opposite directions. Good luck with that.) and she could just be worried about some potentially rather unpleasant people around her. She doesn’t know for sure and probably (wisely) doesn’t want to take the chance. Not to mention that looks like an airport, so there’s lots of opportunities the kids could run off for whatever reason. Lots of things go on at an airport as I’m sure you know, and any one of those things could be a ‘Oh, that’s interesting, go check it out!’ signal to one of the kids.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, because you are not; I am saying that you should consider that different situations may call for different approaches.
You were lucky to have well mannered kids… others aren’t so lucky. And i’ve got you beat. I watched four boys. 4,5,11,and 12 five days a week for 9 hours a day before i had children. You’re not talking to someone who doesnt know what they’re talking about.
P.S. Get your panties out of your ass.
That’s what discipline, patience, and actually taking the time to instill these in children are for.
Yeah, because we all know that 2-year old children are perfect angels that understand all of the rules. Wow! Children at that age do not practice the whole “thinking before doing” thing because they are incapable of that. What should that mom be doing? Expecting those kids to walk at her side unaided? Holding their hands and restricting their sense of independence?
All of you people criticizing other parents are obviously so dang perfect you have the right to do so. I think you all need to get your heads out of your @sses and realize every parent is different and every kid is different. We weren’t all lucky to have calm little perfect angels like the rest of you with no personalities. Sheesh, get over yourselves already.
5150, you may just be one of my favorite posters on this whole thread. Thank you for expressing so well everything that I keep thinking.
Nobody is gifted with angels. Some people just bother to ask themselves “How will I raise my kids” before having children.
The only exception to the leash I would be willing to forgive is the case of children who have mental disorders that make them extremely active. Especially if they have a tendency to get themselves in trouble or injured.
But I will never accept the “The world is full of pedos/cars” to support leashing a child.
Also, the more you use a leash, the less you try educating your kids and teaching them to behave. It’s like parents who think leaving their kids unsupervised in front of the TV for hours a day is good for them “since they are so calm when they watch TV”.
You can see the problem with inexperienced dog owners who leash their puppies and believe the dog will learn on his own to always walk beside his owner. (Usually after 2 years they will say in a surprised “I don’t get it, my dog is so full of energy and won’t behave, something is wrong with him”. And it’s even funnier when they say “I am so unlucky with dogs, all the dogs I owned were disbehaving!”).
Parents: it’s great to have kids, you made a brave choice and I respect that. But you can’t make that choice and then back away. If you realize kids are too hard for you to handle, once you have them it’s too late, so think about that before having them (or deal with it).
I think the only right way to use this leash would be to prevent people from getting anywhere near people of the opposite sex before they are truly ready to take care of children.
Do you honestly think that planning how you will raise your kids mean they will be raised that way? Just like not everyone learns the same way, kids sure as hell can’t be raised the same way. You can have three kids and have to approach the same situation three different ways.
Who told you they were well mannered? The older one had ADD and if I closed my eyes for a minute he would disappear and the younger girl would like to touch anything she saw. When she was 6 she had already broken her arms 4 times (never on my watch). But I believe it was my job (and it’s also my job as a parent) to be always watching them and taking care of them.
I’m not saying parenting is an easy job or that that woman isn’t probably having a hard time, but I certainly think the kids I watch would behave a lot worse if leashed (because no one likes to feel trapped).
I just think a leash is an easy way to control your kids, not the best one; that is teaching them how to behave, which is really hard to do if.
I can’t argue with ignorance.
I love it when people don’t have anything else to say, and just go with the “you’re ignorant” answer.
We just have different opinions and they are probably very strong.
But I never insulted you or anyone here, I just stated what I thought are better ways of parenting. It’s really sad to think you are better than someone you don’t know.
tl;dr
First you say “The older one had ADD and if I closed my eyes for a minute he would disappear” and then you say “But I believe it was my job (and it’s also my job as a parent) to be always watching them and taking care of them”. Which one is it? Obviously you weren’t watching the other 2 if the older one was always disappearing if you took your eyes off of him. OR, he was always disappearing because you also had to watch the other 2.
I love how people can make up whatever lives they want in the comments just to make them right and everyone else wrong. Your comment just screams “I’m throwing a tantrum so I’m going to pitch a fit by making a sob story and showing how I handled it so perfectly.” Ah yes, I applaud you and your wonderful nanny skills. You are the epitomy of perfection.
“First you say “The older one had ADD and if I closed my eyes for a minute he would disappear” and then you say “But I believe it was my job (and it’s also my job as a parent) to be always watching them and taking care of them”. Which one is it?”
Don’t want to be rude here, but you lack knowledge of the English language.
“Would” is conditional. Notice the word “If” in the sentence.
Had she closed her eyes and had the older child every disappeared, she should had said “I once closed my eyes….” or “When I closed my eyes…”.
Thus, closing her eyes and the older one disappearing may never have happened (at least according to her sentence).
Before you ask “Then how did she know he would disappear?”, let me remind you that the child had ADD and also that she was his nanny. When you know that a child has ADD, you don’t need to see it happening to know that he would run somewhere.
And since she is the nanny, perhaps the child’s mother lost him a few times so she warned her.
Lastly, let me inform you that in the present context, a child disappearing can mean anything from hiding under a nearby table in Starbucks to going back home from the supermarket on his own.
Losing sight of your child for a few seconds only to realize he was actually only 2 feet away happens to every parent and does not indicate bad child-caring skills.
Now please stop using excuses worse then the dog-raising you call parenting skills to harass acdc, as she(?) seems to be great at raising children and your pitiful attempts at demeaning her skills will not make you a better parent.
(Curse auto-complete)
I wish more parents realized what having kids really is. I often find that people who give the responsibility of their children to other things like 24/7 nannies (Not that I have a problem with nannies, but sometimes it’s almost as if the nanny adopted the child), leashes or TV don’t seem to have understood that children are energy and time consuming and if you want kids you may need to give up your weekly spa sessions, tweeting from your cellphone or your daily aerobics lessons.
Of course parents deserve free time and rest too, but some just seem to want to have their cake and eat it. And if you know how to play with your kids, you’ll find it fun and relaxing. You’ll still need to do things on your own once in a while, but much less.
There should be more people like you, acdc. More children would grow up into better people and have happier childhoods.
Parents who leash their kids anger me, perhaps because I witnessed the consequences that such bad-parenting decisions can have on the development of a child into an adult, and I ask myself if these parents are just lazy, heartless or stupid.
Maybe they just didn’t take the time to carefully think about their decision to use a leash, but isn’t taking the time to think about such decisions important to be a good parent?
I wish more people who are childless would realize what having kids really is. It’s so easy to convince yourselves that you have all the answers; that is so easy to diagnose what sort of discipline will work for what behavior. Children are not just going immediately behave the way the parents want them to from the get-go, even with the best parental approaches to the situation.
Why does everyone assume that just because a parent is using the harnesses that they are not still disciplining the children and teaching them proper behavior? I agree that if a parent is using the harness as the only means of controlling their kids, and have no plans to actually instill proper behavior in them, then they are bad, lazy parents. However, in all the cases I know where a parent has used a harness on their child it was as a “back up” to proper discipline and parenting or as an extra safety precaution in cases such as traveling/navigating airports or some sort of busy public space. It takes time for a child to learn these things. Until they have the behavior mastered I’d rather have the backup the harness provides rather then having to chase after my wandering toddler in a busy store. Young children also cannot fully grasp the consequences of wandering away from their parents. At times they will think it’s a game, or that it’s funny, even if you have disciplined them in the past and explained why it is dangerous.
None of the children I know needed their harnesses beyond age 3 (aside from the airport/busy place use).
Not to mention the harnesses are fun for the kids. All the kids I know who had/have one loved having their own backpack to take their favorite toys along with them. Also, holding a parent’s hand and being dragged along at the parent’s pace isn’t fun for a kid. Holding your arms up above your head for who knows how long isn’t comfortable.
In summation: Never judge a parent by a “snapshot” of their lives.
Literally and figuratively.
Babycages FTW!
Pah! Free range ones taste loads better! (FsTW)
So every kid is like the ones you’ve dealt with?
Every person is like you?
Every place is like where you go?
What the hell are you smoking?
I was a nanny for nearly 20 years. I watched; I also used a leash, to give them freedom with safety.
I have a 30 month old and an 18 month old (yup, 12 months apart) and I would never leash them. When we go somewhere, I believe it’s my JOB to watch them, end of story. “Get distracted”? They’re your kids, and you gotta watch them as if they were important to you, not as if they were a burden. Also, discipline goes a long way to getting your kids to do what they should be doing in a public place.
Yeah, it’s funny how children have become the fourth or fifth thing on the list to worry about. And more and more I see children laying and screaming on the floor of the market because they didn’t get something they wanted. Parents nowadays get them whatever it is just to keep them quiet! it’s become all about the parents convenience which is almost never in the best interest of their children.
Nice of you to assume you know the situation for every child lying on the floor screaming. It must be really nice to be all-knowing.
Lol.
You’re talking about discipline when you wouldn’t even obey the doctor’s instructions about not using your vag like it’s a fast food drive thru?
You don’t have any room to talk.
Once again.. well mannered kids. We arent all so lucky.
Luck doesn’t come into it- you make your kids into the kids they are.
If they are ill mannered then that’s because you have failed them.
My mother raised three little barbarians and we were never put on a leash. We survived, as did my wife, one of five kids. I have a neighbor who has 18 kids (yup, eighteen), and if she had put one of them on a leash, I think the community would have tied her up and let her have a taste of her own medicine.
~ I have three dogs and I don’t even need leashes for them. You ever hear of something called respect and obedience.
There’s no leash law where you live?
With 18 kids, there should be plenty age difference between some of them to make the older kids in charge of the younger ones. So instead of mommy or daddy or both watching 18 kids, you’ve got almost a 1:1 watch kids ratio depending on their ages. apples/oranges
You can make excuses, or you can take the time to train your children how to behave in public before bringing them in public or squeezing out more.
Common sense, use you some.
Two small children? Try 20. I was a preschool teacher for a long time and I had 20 small children under my watch and I never felt the urge to leash one of them. Just teach them not to walk away, it can be done! Anyone who says that it can’t just hasn’t taken the time to really teach their kids how to behave. I’m with everyone else, put down the IPhones, turn off the TVs and start parenting your damn kids.
I didn’t know that preschool teachers now took the kids they’re teaching to airports. That should be entertaining to watch.
It’s also funny to read these sorts of comments when kids act differently around different people. People that are “not mommy/daddy” are generally treated with a bit more caution by most children, as they don’t know how far the adult can be pushed.
…..a child on a leash is treating them like an animal. Its practically cruelty, besides, if you think you need a LEASH, something used for dogs to handle a human child, why have one in the first place? Obviously u wouldnt b suited to be a parent if thats what you require
Agreed, you put dogs on leashes, not humans. I’m glad I’ll be dead before I see what this sort of parenting is going to do to this country.
This isn’t the sort of parenting that’s a problem. When you were growing up the world was a much safer place.
The parenting you need to worry about are ones like these:
http://hoodhollywood.com/blog/2010/08/20/disturbing-parents-arrested-for-allowing-severely-obese-children-to-live-in-home-of-unimaginable-filth/
and
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/16622307/detail.html
and
http://badbreeders.net/2010/05/28/valerie-tran-took-the-wrong-chance/
and
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/specials/weirdflorida/blog/2010/08/cops_mom_leaves_5_kids_home_al_1.html
And you’re worried about parents who are that concerned about the children’s safety that they need to keep them close?
this coming from someone who puts their kids in the street and expects them to play with cars
It may not be as a bad as beating a child, but the long-term consequences of leashing a child can be more serious then you realize.
Leashing a kid will affect his or her development, sometimes very strongly.
Also, if leashing a child would be the only mistake of a parent it would not be so bad, but most parents who leash their kids are excessively worried about all sorts of unlikely dangers, and the leash will not be the only bad precaution they will take against those dangers.
To put it simply, they have the wrong mindset, which makes them take bad decisions. The leash is only one of them.
Proof of the detrimental development effects of leashing?
If my kids, when I have them, are anything like I was I will be leashing them. The ADHD running through my family is severe enough that we could be used in studies. The concept of ‘attention span’ was pretty much purely theoretical for me until I was 6. The only way I’d stay in one spot was with a book. Mom lost me in clothing stores, grocery stores, and once in the airport. She was just as vigilant as one could ask for, but I was *really* good at getting distracted and running off, and then Mom was having to chase me while my brain was off in oblivious la-la land. I wasn’t trying to disobey. In fact, I was trying very hard to be good and stay with her. It just didn’t work while I was young. Once I got older, Mom and I would joke that if I’d been born in the cave-man days, I would have been eaten by a hyena by the time I was 3.
If child restraints are the greatest of our worries, I think the country is doing pretty damn magnificent.
hey idiot, she put them on a leash because she was in a busy airport and was scared to death of kidnappers.
They usually aren’t leashed. I know because this is my wife and kids.
You’re right. Because someone will pay several hundred dollars for a ticket to get through security just to kidnap a child in one of the most heavily monitored places on the planet.
That is a much better idea then going to…you know…the park.
Have you ever been to an airport?
You do know people don’t visit airports for fun, right?
that was his point…
Why yes. I traveled for business for about 8 years. I’ve been in an airport a time or two…a week.
Airports aren’t fun. They also don’t have kidnappers hiding in the air vents like you think the do either.
I am confused, you are apparently still laboring under the delusion that we were at the airport for fun. Do you not know people go to airports to fly places?
Irrational fears of loving mothers do not equal child abuse. You are an idiot.
you must be a troll… in the case that you’re not, I think you might need to pay a visit to the neurologist.
for true, they are a troll btw
oh, Ad Suck is the troll Father of the family in the pic
Seriously! It’s an airport. Do you want to miss your plane cause everyone’s tired, cranky and someone saw something shiny?
Leashes are wonderful when used appropriately. Malls at Christmas, downtown streets, festivals, airports with luggage, yes, leash until the kid’s old enough to walk without bolting.
Not being able to move far from mom helps train them that moving far from mom is a bad thing here.
The leash even makes a good threat for kids who don’t like to be tied down. She could have even done the “run off again and I’ll leash you” before this was taken. Either way, they’re still running. Blame = kids
Agreed!!! We don’t know the whole story here. Maybe they were unleashed for a while but were little brats so she leashed them (as you said, they are obviously still misbehaving).
Then I suggest you never have a child. Clearly you’re too moronic to breed. Parents have been using harnesses for their kids for decades. Kids love them. If you want to see a bad parent then look for the people who let their kids wander free in stores and parking lots, the ones who wind up in the ER because they’ve dislocated their kids shoulders by holding their hands up high, the ones with fat blimps of kids because they keep them in strollers when they’re perfectly capable of walking, and the ones who lose their kids because they think harnesses are somehow evil and their kids wander off while they’re taking 10 seconds to look at something else.
100% agreed. I guess people assume all children are angels and easy to discipline. Some kids you can beat the hell out of and they STILL dont listen. (im not an abuse parent its a metaphor)
That’s because parents seem to think they don’t need to earn the respect of their children. And children are neither angels nor easily disciplined, but leashing them up like dogs? Just because you’re too lazy to take the time and make the effort to properly discipline them? How pathetic can people get? It’s not going to happen overnight, and not every child is going to learn discipline the same way, but taking the easy way out isn’t going to teach them a thing.
hey idiot, my wife and i know more about raising children than you ever will. After a long day on a plane sitting still for hours, kids get wound up and hyper.
Our kids are usually very well behaved. You know nothing. Next time think before making your ignorant stupidity known to the world.
your “kids” are not normally well behaved seeing as kids generally take after their parents
And while you’re instilling that sense of discipline you keep your multiple hyperactive, easily distracted, extremely young children next to you at all times in a crowded airport…. how exactly?
Funny. My mother taught me the word “no” and how to behave at a young age, and I never needed a harness.
Just pointing out how funny that works out, is all.
Yes, and my mother did the same to me and two of my brothers, my third brother though was completely wild, probably ADD or something similar(stuff like that didn’t get diagnosed much back then). He just couldn’t be controled. It is funny that so many here speak about how horrible putting a harness on a kid is while in the same sentence saying they should discipline the kids instead, as in hitting them to teach them to behave.
Where i live hitting a child is illegal(yes spanking too, and has been for quite some time) while using a harness although being unusual does happen and is perfectly legal.
Maby it’s cultural differences but i consider(and so does society in general here) hitting/spanking kids to be worse than using a harness. People talk about teaching the kids to respect their parents, it has nothing to do with respect, kids just have poor impulse control and don’t understand risks.
not fun. fun is here >> avooe(dot)com
Kneel boy,kneel. That’s a good boy, here have some dog food!
Is this a common thing in America? I have never seen leashed kids here in Europe and it scares me.
LOL they are only wristlinks, I use harnesses with my kids… it’s a nesesaty ( I appologise for my spelling, I’m uneducated)
lmao my bad theys harness too :p
I’m not going with the “americans are all stupid” speech, it’s just an opinion. Kids can be disobedient, but I never felt the need to do something like this and it is kind of shocking to me probably because of cultural differences: maybe you grew up seeing children with leashes often, but I’ve only seen these on animals.
I love reading all the comments on here but for all of you “educated and well read” people who insist that leashing is basically a new fangled fad; just thought you should know that leashing kids has been around for centuries. There are documented accounts of the english doing this in medievel times. Especially the upper class would do this when shopping with their children, made it easier for the parents that didn’t really spend much time with them to keep them in line. As a person who works in a retail environment I can attest to the fact that the children who are that young and not leashed spend almost all their time screaming, yelling, and flopping on the ground because even though they are shopping for the children mom stops to look in the ladies department on the way there. Children are not usually well behaived when they are bored or tired. It doesn’t matter how well behaved they are usually but sometimes leashes do help. All the children I have personally seen in my store wearing leashes have been fairly well behaved with out all the dramatics.
I don’t think the leash is the cause of good behavior.
Consider that only a special category of parents leash their children.
By leashing children, parents hope to make their children behave, never run away out of sight… These parents are much more concerned about proper behavior as opposed to normal child behavior than other parents are.
Most parents understand that raising children well requires a balance between teaching them good behavior but letting them display child behavior too.
So parents who leash their kids expect a lot of good behavior, more than is good for a child and more than parents who don’t leash their kids expect from their own children.
As a result, leash parents are likely to be more strict with their kids than other parents, which explains the better behavior.
Also, there is more to good education than teaching good behavior. You need to consider the happiness and emotions of children too. I have seen parents who expect so much from their children that the kids are indeed well behaved, keep their room clean at all times, can play 3 musical instruments very well, get the best grades at school, can make themselves unnoticeable when their mom takes them with her to see her friends, etc.. But these kids aren’t happy and don’t turn out so well later in life, especially when they reach the age of 15.
“There are documented accounts of the english doing this in medievel times. Especially the upper class would do this when shopping with their children, made it easier for the parents that didn’t really spend much time with them to keep them in line.”
WTF are you on?
I’ve never seen them, either. I was kinda shocked nobody seemed to be looking at her in this picture. Everybody would look at her with disbelief in Denmark where I’m from. If I was in a leash, I would most certainly try to run away.
Actually, I’m from Europe, and I’ve seen them loads of times over here. My mom used them on me and my brothers when we were little. I don’t get why it’s such a big deal anyway. My mom just used them so she could make sure her kids didn’t run in 3 different directions, and so we wouldn’t run out of the store.
As a Kid, I wouldn’t run out of a store, because I was told to not do it. End of story. No necessity for a leash.
Babysitting twin toddlers myself loads of times also tells me: no need to leash if you’re not a disgusting bastard that is too fat to run faster than a 3-yearold. 3 Kids may be a little tricky but with discipline you should not be forced to trample their dignity.
This may come as a shock to you, but baby-sitting twin toddlers and parenting them are two different things.
I have to agree with you Amy, many parents today give their kids away to a nanny or babysitter because they can’t be bothered to take care of them. You’re absolutely right Amy, you can’t compare babysitting and parenting because parents have it too easy.
But at least they hired a babysitter instead of leaving the kids alone in front of the TV, so don’t be too harsh on them Amy.
As a child, I would… and did… run out of stores even after being told not do it. I wasn’t rebellious. I wasn’t poorly taught. I was so very easily distracted that previous intentions of good behaviour popped like soap bubbles. Mom quickly learned to bring a book on all outings because then I’d happily follow her around, nose buried in my story. Sure, I still wandered off sometimes (thinking I was following Mom still), but it was far less until my attention span decided to actually exist for everyday situations.
Exactly. They’re more common in Europe than they are in the states in my experience. Too many parents here think that their kids are precious little snowflakes who should be allowed to run wild all over the mall. When I was a kid we’d get a harness once we could sit up. It latched on to the pram so you could fall out then once you started walking the strap attached to the back to keep the kid secure and also help them while they were learning to walk upright.
I used one on my son when he was a toddler. It kept him secure until he learned not to wander off and he absolutely loved it. Thankfully I never had any psychos complain about it, everyone who asked about it thought it was a marvelous idea and many wanted to know where to buy them. One of my friends had a woman try to take the harness of her child. The stupid woman was arrested for attempted kidnapping. Why else would you be attempting to separate a mother and her child?
I guess it also depends on the area of Europe you are from. I was born in France and living in Spain and I’ve never seen those around here.
I don’t think they are “horrible” but I don’t see why they’re all that great either.
But honestly I think in some communities around here people would report someone to child abuse if they saw a kid with a harness.
I’ve never seen Sharia law in America and it scares me.
Me too.
I’m from Europe(Sweden) and i’ve seen them plenty of times. They are not common but i’ve seen them around and my mom used it one one of my brothers a few times(he was a complete nutter).
Some kids just can’t keep still and they can be realy quick.
People talk about discipline alot here but there isn’t much hope of teaching some kids discipline without some violence such as spanking, where i live all violence against kids(yes spanking too) is illegal and considered to be child abuse.
Spanking should only be used when a child won’t respect a parent’s authority and escapes punishment (such as if the child won’t stay in the corner when told to).
Other than that, punishment but mostly reward are important. Frankly, I do not know of any parent who punishes and rewards their kids properly yet have discipline problems with them.
Most “undisciplined” children are just spanked when punishment should be used and are not explained why their behavior is wrong.
Explaining why it is wrong to do specific things is important, as this will develop sense of responsibility for a child. Also, the child will understand why the rules are important (if you do not explain why it is wrong, he will think the rules are not fair).
Also, many parents think a lot more about punishing bad behavior instead of rewarding good behavior. Parents sometimes believe that good behavior should be rewarded because good behavior is to be expected and is the normal thing for their child to do.
The problem is that if you do this, you teach your child what NOT to do but you do not teach him what he SHOULD to do. So it will be harder for the child to find something good to do that is also interesting and entertaining to him. So reward your child when he does something good, and he will do more good things.
It is also good to teach a child that good behavior is rewarded because that will motivate children to do good things in life (otherwise, they will only learn to avoid punishment instead of seeking reward and they will do nothing, not clean their room, not go to university, not find a good job, etc.).
A reward does not need to be material (like a toy). It can be a compliment (“Good job, I’m proud of you”), permission to do something like playing video games an extra hour, doing something he likes with him, a trip to the water park on saturday, making his favorite meal, etc… Just be creative, and if you use rewards often you will get great results (much better results than punishment).
Reward will also make your children develop respect for you, which will be important when they become teenagers (at 15, if you tell them “don’t drink alcohol at parties”, if they do not respect you they will drink. Respect will be your best and perhaps only tool).
Children raised only with punishment (no rewards) do not develop respect for their parents and become difficult to handle when they turn 15 or 16.
If your child spends hours playing video games instead of studying, that may be because you did not reward good behavior enough when he was younger (it’s not too late to start).
But punishment must also be used to discourage bad behavior. You must use both reward and punishment, not just one of them.
Anyway if you educate your children correctly from the start, then you should not have discipline problems with them.
I guess it all comes down to the fact that parents are not psychologists, and educating children is not taught at school. I don’t think the state or government should tell people how to raise their children, but there are things that are proven to work or fail for every child. Reward and punishment, for instance, are universal and work even with animals. So perhaps some basic advice should be given to everyone before they have kids.
My parents explained rules to me and made sure I not only knew the rules, but understood them.
I was only spanked when rule breaking involved something dangerous (like running into the road….)
I was rewarded for good behaviour, and punished (time out, no books) for bad.
And yet I wish Mom had thought to leash me because I was so easily distracted as a child that keeping track of my “need to do these things” was like trying to catch butterflies made of clouds. Even with my parents reminding me during outings to stay with them and not do this, that, or the other.
What you fail to understand is that it has nothing to do with respect or discipline. A child starts to learn impulse control at the age of 4-5 and doesn’t usually perfect it untill the later teen years.
With that lack of impulse control it doesn’t matter that your kid is well behaved or “disciplined” a moments distraction is all it takes for them to wander off.
If you think you can teach a kid about impulse control and about consequences in their early years that show a serious lack of understanding. Science is clear about the fact that kids don’t start to understand consequences and impulse control untill 4-5years of age. Before that some short term revard/punishment works(if it is imediately after the kid has misbehaved).
A childs lack of impulse control should not be entrepreted as lack of respect or discipline.
Where i live spanking isn’t allowed, period. There is no special case where it is allowed, it is by law considered to be child abuse and i agree with it.
I think what you fail to realize is that you can teach your kids whatever you want but all it takes is a second of them geting distracted and they are of, once again i point out this is due to the lack of impulse control which you can’t teach a kid, they devolop it in their own pace.
A harness allows your kids to run around and play fairly free while still being safe and not forced to be within 1yard of the parents. It is a great tool if used correctly.
LOL this isn’t a fail this is just typical parenting. To be truthful I’m glad I’m not the only one with disobediant and unruly offspring…
Not in any of the places I’ve been. There, it would almost be called child abuse.
Really? Where have you been – La La Land? Those leashes are not physically hurting the kids and they don’t look too psychologically damaged to me. They look lively and excited to be running around. You’re comment is a fail.
haha, loser
Yeah, those leashes are great. Wait until those kids become big enough and strong enough to start PULLING mommy around because they’ve been “leash-trained” as toddlers, and they begin to show defiance.
Stupid.
Leashes are not the answer. And yes, I HAVE watched multiple toddlers at once, for many years.
As a parent who’s used them (when I needed it) by the time my kids were, say three, they were off their leash because they could better understand the consequences of running away and actually responded to ‘stop!’ When kids are so young (1-2 years old) that they have zero concept of danger, they were protected (mostly from themselves) by the leash. No two year old can drag mom. If your kid is on a leash past the time they’ve learned better, THEN you have a problem.
My parents would either put me in a stroller, carry me, or just hold my hand as we walked.
Of course they also told me many times that running away is dangerous, and they explained some of the dangers (like being hit by a car, being “taken away by a mean person”, etc.).
Perhaps a stroller or holding hands is also a restraint, but it’s not as obvious a restraint as a leash. And holding hands makes the parent and child look equal as they are both holding each other’s hands.
The leash is a symbol of domination (not just authority put also of property) which even a 1 year-old kid can feel. The leash does come off as the symbol that the child is the physical property of the parent.
I have seen a leash that looks like a handcuff, tied to the parent’s and the child’s wrist, with a medium string, and although I still dislike this type of thing I think it is an improvement on the harness leash, since in the case of the ‘handcuff’ leash the parent and child are tied together the same way, thus are equal and it doesn’t feel like is the physical property of the parent. Still, it remains a form of leash and an obvious restraint.
I have no problems with keeping your child close to you and not allowing him to run free, but at least do it in a loving-parent way, not in a dog-walker way…
i have two small kiddos (2 and 4) and i can handle my kids without a leash. if you need a leash to handle you kids you are a bad parent. the woman in this pic has not taught her children how to behave. and for the comments above that say the leash is ok, you are bad parents. try teaching you kids how to behave themselves. this is an EPIC fail and i am shocked and amazed that anyone could defend this “mother.”
You are more than welcome to come teach my kids how to behave to your specifications.
But I really hope you don’t teach them grammar. If you think using lowercase ‘i’ in place of the grammatically proper ‘I’, even though we all have different styles, is acceptable, then you’re a bad writer.
You’re welcome to come teach any kids here too, but if any of that teaching includes any violence(yes that includes spanking) i’m not visiting you in jail.
How do YOU teach kids that young to behave? Lock them up when they behave poorly? Spank/hit them? I know you don’t just talk/reason with them because at that age that usually doesn’t work.
Maby scream at them?
I don’t see any “disciplin option” being better, as a matter of fact most of them are illegal where i live and alot of them can leave emotional scars.
Or… you could have a child like I was who has ADHD to such a severe degree that “attention span” is in a purely theoretical realm, even when the child really *wants* to behave and be good and make you proud of her.
I’d be whoopin some asses. My kids know better. And before you scream “ABUSE” I’ve never left a mark on one of my children. Alot of kids learn to obey easily. Others take more drastic measures. *coughs* my six year old…
So hitting a kid is OK but using a harness isn’t? I find it really depressing that there are people like you out there who have kids when I know so many people who would dearly love a child to take care of but can’t have one.
Really? How the hell do YOU discipline your children. *tap* “don’t do that Johnny. That’s a bad boy.” Or, let’s not forget the classic “Time Out” Ooohhh… that’s gonna make them mind. *rolls eyes*
Before you go rolling your eyes, maybe you could try actually implementing a time out correctly. You’d be surprised how effective it is. I work with little ones, 3 and younger, kids who are often misbehaved and who have cognitive/sensory/language delays, and I can certainly tell you that when I threaten them with a time out, they quickly fall in line and do what they are asked to do. Just because your method worked for you, it doesn’t mean no other methods WON’T work for others.
beatings all around, it’s the only true way to punish
I like you
Must not have read the other comments then.
maybe they did and they have CommonSense like their name implies
Just because you never left a physical mark, doesn’t mean you never left a psychological one.
Where i live it’s illegal to hit/spank your kids and have been for quite a few ears now, it’s actually considered quite barbaric but that just goes to show you how different cultures can be.
Some earlier posts said that putting a harness on a kid is unthinkable as that’s how you treat a dog, i could say the same about using violence to teach a child disciplin, that is how alot of people train their dogs.
No, you use violence to train dogs because that’s how you train children, not the other way around.
LMAO.. i know what you mean.
No one can know why this poor woman needed to leash her kids, and it’s not my place to judge, but I will say this… these comments are a WIN for entertainment value. Hilarious!
Fail parenting or terrible kids? This photo doesn’t tell the whole story, kids can be extremely horrible sometimes.
Terrible kids? Of course, when they get tied op!
Terrible kids? Of course, when they get tied up!
hey idiot, the only time we put their leash backpacks on is when we’re traveling through busy airports, because my wife is terrified of kidnappers.
After hours of being immobile on a plane, every kid gets wired and energetic.
Ignorant moron.
Then your wife is the idiot.
Terrified of kidnappers? Come on.
Still, the billy goat scaring business must be good to be able to afford those snazzy leashes- do they come with matching muzzles?
Last time I saw one of these leashes on a website like this, I immediately googled them up and ordered one. My, then 2 yr old, daughter then had a monkey-backpack-like leash on her while we were travelling and spent time on large and crowded airports. It doesn’t matter what ppl, and “nannys” say, but when you’re two adults with three tired and hyperactive kids on a international airport, these things are godsend. My daughter wanted the monkey on her back most of the three week trip, so as soon we were not on a kid-unfriendly place, we unhooked the “tail” of the monkey so there’s no leash.
Rather have my kid on a leash for a few hours in a lifetime, than beat or scare them to obedience like some like do.
Or you could parent them. I’ve never been leashed, or scared, or beaten, but I never ran away from my mom and dad. I’m not exactly sure of their methods but they’ve always been calm and used reason to make me behave.
their methods: they never took you to an international airport.
or they held your hand all the time.
and likely had only one, or you are 3+ years apart from your siblings.
That, and teatime obviously doesn’t remember being a child very well. I bet if you were able to ask their parents, they’d say “Yes, she absolutely ran away! There was this one time I almost had a heart attack…”
They held my hand, and I have a sister who is 9 years older than I, but they never hurt me, leashed me, and rarely had my sister watch me (unless we were at home and they were going to some event). I don’t have kids (I’m only in 9th grade), but there are alternative and better parenting methods out there.
Or maybe you were a good listener at that age. I was a really good kid — my older sister wasn’t. Same parents, same parenting. Some kids are defiant by nature, and some kids are so good you can’t make them be bad, even if you’re a terrible parent. Parents don’t shape kids’ personalities — we just do the best we can to teach them how to act right when they grow up.
Well I beg to differ slightly. You’ve never grown up in a house with a anthropologist and a university administrator. My parents have shaped my life, they gave me help and opportunity for learning. I thank them for it.
I grew up with a doctor and a librarian, and I’m working on my master’s degree. My brother still needed a leash even though neither I or my younger brother did. My oldest son will be gone in five seconds in a busy airport or a mall without one; my daughter and younger son are just fine. When I’m traveling with all three by myself in the airport, when they’re that young and born within three years of each other, yeah, I’m going to use something that lets me keep track of them like a kiddie leash. Kids have personalities from a very early age, and sometimes those personalities are extremely defiant regardless of intelligence. (Did I mention that my most defiant son is reading chapter books and doing multiplication in kindergarten? The defiant behavior is not a lack of intelligence/learning thing.)
You’re only 14 or 15? Maybe you ought to grow up and have kids of your own before you judge other people for their parenting styles. All parents only do the best that they can do. And whether that’s good enough for the rest of the world… well, whatever.
I’m trying to say, that leashes seem cruel if they have to wear it at all times. I think it’s stupid, but whatever works best for the child. If they need it in a crowded place, then that makes sense, but not everytime in public.
The only time my kids wear their backpacks (which they love, by the way, because it means they don’t have to hold my hand the whole time and have a little bit of range to move around) is in airports, crowded malls, or at places like Disneyworld. My mom put a leash on my brother at Yellowstone National Park because otherwise he probably would have wandered off into some hot spring and boiled himself alive. I still haven’t heard him complain about being restrained twenty years ago.
If you pay attention, most people here defending leashes have said that they are not for everyday use.
My kids are all so close in age, and young enough that being able to keep all three of them close when I tend to an urgent need of one or the other of them is a definite advantage. They will wander because they’re excited and bored and curious about things, and while I try to indulge this curiosity when I can, a busy airport isn’t exactly an appropriate place to let them go wandering off on their own to investigate.
Yes, your parents helped you and gave you learning opportunities. That’s my point. But you cannot shape the personality of a 2-year-old, even if you are such awesome people as your parents seem to be. Some toddlers are naturally eager to please. Some are naturally defiant. Most are somewhere in the middle. You can discipline all you want, but you cannot MAKE a child behave. And if you have a child who cannot stand still in an airport (most can’t), you do what you have to do in order to keep them safe. Maybe that’s using a harness.
My parents did that too… but when “airhead” could be a kind and gentle term for my ability to pay attention up until about the age of 6, calm and reason don’t work so well. I was a sensitive kid so disappointing my parents was horrible for me… and yet, I’d still wander off because something interesting distracted me.
you are two adults?
Ancan, I love your response, I totally agree. I love how people who use a leash to let their kids explore at a safe radius are “bad parents” but those who train their children like a dog to “sit! Stay! Heel!” are okay and oh so superior.
Maybe your problem is that you have a 2 year old in an airport… and no parenting skills.
Please. There is way too much we don’t know. My son has autism. He runs away. That is part of his disability. I am not a bad parent because I cannot watch him and my other child every single moment. If I were in her place (in what appears to be an airport?) and I did not have another responsible adult with me, I would ABSOLUTELY do what she is doing.
Thank you. I don’t see a fail here. I have two autistic children and I have these monkey harnesses. I do not use them all the time, but when we go somewhere like Disneyland or the zoo, we put them on. The kids don’t mind and I don’t have to worry about my kids taking off different directions. Though I do find myself in this woman’s exact predicament fairly often.
Um, yeah…except commenter “advertisers SUCK” is apparently the dad, and he says they’re good kids (which I assume means no autism), and that the leashes were because the wife was afraid they’d get kidnapped.
As it turns out, the odds of a stranger kidnapping the kids (especially in a place as highly guarded as an airport!) is somewhat less than being hit by lightning.
So…yeah, FAIL.
Newsflash for ya bud, even “good kids” get hyper and energetic after having to sit still for hours on a plane.
As far as the likelihood of kidnapping at an airport; irrational fears of loving mothers is also pretty normal. I hope your own mother had enough love for you she was guilty of an occasional irrational fear now and then.
You seem to be stuck on this kidnapping thing. Have you ever thought people would use these leashes for other reasons than a fear of kidnappers? Maybe not having your kid dart away from you in an airport while you are trying to get to a plane is a good reason.
Also, one can keep saying “the odds of kidnapping this and the odds of kidnapping that”, but there is that one chance where it is your kid that is kidnapped. Preventative measures are not bad things and this lady chose to use leashes. Her choice and the kids don’t look like they are beaten and down-trodden.
So kids with autism are not good kids?
Palin?
Kratos’ wife – Taking the kids to the mall.
In this particular shot, it does look like she’s about to start swinging them around, which would be HILARIOUS to watch. Although, the idea of her getting tied up by them is funny too.
TRH
Extreme poi spinning FTW.
While I don’t think a parent should default to using leashes- as others have said, basic discipline / parenting tenants should be enough to keep kids this old mostly behaved — I don’t think this is a fail. First, she’s clearly in an airport, where if the kids did get away from her (and they’re obviously not behaving), there could be major problems. They’re obviously not well behaved here, so while she may need to change how she’s parenting, at least she’s taking action to ensure the kids *are* safe and don’t cause excessive trouble for themselves or others by running off.
My grandfather was leashed all day to a tree as a small child, with nothing more than water, while his parents went to work. *that* kind of leashing is wrong. If she had them leashed up or caged at home, *that* would be wrong. Using harnesses like this, in a public and crowded place, is not. They’re not hurting the kids physically, and I highly doubt it will damage them mentally any more than any other parenting practice can.
I don’t understand how this is a fail, other than the fact that one of them is on the ground… Have any of you tried to keep wild children at your sides? Works best when they are attached to you, i know when i was a kid i had a leash and i’m fine now. Especially with all of the pedo’s now a days.
I bet there are no more pedos now than there were in the past; we just know about their existance more, thankfully.
Maybe she was twirling them for fun @ the kid-friendly-exciting-plenty-of-stuff-for-kids-to-do airport…
Get back here.aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag
Take a moment and imagine this picture without the leash, with child one, throwing himself on the floor while child two dashes off in the opposite direction. Mom is torn between letting child one lie there and scream, or letting child two run off into a crowded airport. Sure, you can say they need discipline, but for a child, flying can be exhausting, scary, exciting, etc. All of these make for very unpredictable circumstances for a seemingly single parent to deal with. Still, it’s definitely an embarrassing situation for them. I tried the monkey harness a few times on my three year old back when he was two. I felt weird about it though, and he us not prone to running off, so we stopped using it. I agree that measures like this are better than threatening, scaring, and physical discipline.
Now, take another moment and imagine this picture, where the mom actually disciplined her children as a good parent opposed to buying leashes.
Look, my mom never had to use a leash on me, because she took the time to RAISE ME.
You made a couple of assumptions. One; you assume she did not enact any discipline on her kids. Two; you assume that all children/people are the same as you are/were.
You don’t know anything about this woman; nor do I. All we can reliably do is try and dedude things from a single picture, and that doesn’t go very far at all. Likewise I can only go by your post here and all I can deduce is that you claim to have been a good kid, you aren’t very good at calm reasonable thinking or analysis and your English seems pretty decent.
hey Ignorant moron, the only time we put the backpack leashes on our kids is when we’re in busy airports, because my wife is terrified of kidnappers.
After hours on a plane, unable to move, of coarse the kids are gunna be wound up and energetic.
Please kill yourself and rid the world of one more self-righteous judgmental idiot.
father troll
EXACTLY, MsPyx. I have a 2 and 3 year old, and woooo sometimes I run into this situation when I am by myself. And people wonder how come I’m so fit. Grab one kid with one arm and sprint off to catch the other. I have a leash, but haven’t really used it yet because I always forget it or I have my husband with me to help out. They can escape from their stroller. I could see how a leash would be really helpful in an airport if I were by myself(although I’m not THAT crazy), especially after you have to check your stroller! Forget about standing in a security line, quietly and calmly for an hour with 2 antsy kids. You know how hard it is to put your shoes back on while your barefoot toddler tries to run back through the check point?? Leash=definitely.
Forgot to mention that they make you take the kids out of the stroller during security so they can scan it. Mix that in with juggling your other carry-on crap(you know, books, games, snacks, etc for the kiddos). It is a nightmare for sure.
She’s in an airport. You ever tried to take a double-stroller through our nation’s anti-terrorist security? And have it survive baggage check at the gate?
Have fun with that.
If I had to fly solo with my two kids, for sure the younger one would be physically attached to me. Because the kid is STUPID and doesn’t remember that falling 5 feet onto her face hurts, so maybe she shouldn’t climb up things again.
My hyper kid loved his leash – it allowed him to roll about the floor barking and panting to an audience of disapproving passers by.
He even let me in on his secret – that he really was a dog, just pretending to be a little boy sometimes. He’s all grown up now with oodles of acting awards.
your son sounds like an idiot
What, the kids stupid for having a little fun?
Eh, elitist prick.
I didn’t say he was an idiot for having fun. I think he’s an idiot for being stupid.
And as everybody who reads Failblog knows, Shipoopi is an expert on being stupid.
that is right, thank you
She looks like she’s in an airport, with no other adult to help her. There are going to be a lot of moments where she’s going to have to let go of one or both of their hands. I don’t have harnesses for my kids because I haven’t needed them (we don’t travel much, and when we do I don’t travel alone with the kids), but that’s one situation where I would get one. Because kids get agitated, especially in a place like an airport where there is so much going on, and it’s just about impossible to hang on to two toddlers while still checking your bags and giving your ticket to the lady at the gate and so on. I do think that as much as possible, people should hold their kids’ hands even when using the harnesses, but using the harness in and of itself isn’t a fail. And you know what? Looks like these kids were trying to take off in opposite directions, which happens a lot with kids that age. I’m so glad she had those rather than having to choose which child to run after in that moment. How stressful this woman’s day must have been, and you folks are in here discussing how much of a parenting failure she is. Give yourselves a round of applause, because you must know everything about parenting. I need your autographs, because you must be perfect.
thanks. For a moment, I checked to see if it was me… I took my kids on a trip and when my husband was dealing with luggage, he left me with both kids. For the most part, I had one kid in a baby backpack and the other either held my hand or was in the stroller, but I did buy a set of these harnesses for when neither was willing to sit still and I had to take them myself. I think I probably used the two for a combined time of about 2 hours for the whole 3 week trip and the kids objected very little to it, but I was glad not to have my kids lost or stolen in a Russian airport.
LOL I had to go see if I had that shirt in my dresser… It looks so much like me and my two sons right down to the haircuts and the backpacks…
I agree. It’s impossible to hang on to two toddlers (and a preschooler in my case) in an airport and still go through security and everything if you have to hold their hands physically. Especially when they’re tired and whiny and want to take off in different directions…
So not a FAIL. Woman doing the best she can to keep two young children out of potentially dangerous situations. People who think the leashes are wrong and unnecessary to use EVER have not been exhausted parents of willful children. When the kid is overtired and restless and I can’t keep up the vigilant oversight and discipline, I’d rather have some ignorant, self-righteous jerks call me inhumane than have my child end up in some psycho’s hands.
one word, three syllables: abortion
Oops, didn’t get an abortion. That’s okay, just murder your kids now. Drowning them in a river is all the rage these days. And since you clearly like the idea of murdering children, that should be right up your alley.
yeah, that’s just called a very late term abortion
You are a lazy, ignorant, waste of human life.
(this is my wife and kids in this picture, so I know much more about this situation than you)
Jane, who will be 2 in November, and Tommy who just turned 4 are awesome kids. We only put the leash backpacks on them when in busy airports because my wife is terrified of kidnappers. After hours of being immobile on a plane, every kid will get energetic. We both had a good laugh at this picture.
Do the world a favor and kill yourself.
tl;dr
no one cares that your plumbing works
adsuck, a little advice: don’t feed the trolls.
Giving them (a) attention and (b) more information will only encourage them.
Haven’t you had enough to eat, troll? You’re going to get fat.
gluttony is a virtue
i do thank you for your concern, though
i don’t wanna lose my churlish figure
abort
Too bad that wasn’t legal when your mom was pregnant with you.
Well, you’re living proof the conservatives blew that one.
how do you presume to know my age?
Hilarious. So many people saying “I never did that,” “my kids don’t run off,” and “take time to discipline/raise your kids and it won’t be an issue.” I’m betting they are conveniently forgetting one or two occasions where the parents had no idea where the kid was or what he was doing. They can forget those times because they got lucky and nothing horrible happened. Sorry, but in a crowded airport, watching two small children by myself, I’d rather be cautious than lucky.
Seriously!
It seems no one here notices just how YOUNG these two children are. Despite all her efforts to discipline them and keep them close, they can’t be expected to fully obey at that age. The older one can’t be more than three.
And what if she’s only using the leash because she’s in a crowded airport? I can see how using something like this ALL THE TIME might be an issue, but if it’s just once in a while in an unusually crowded situation, I’d rather my kids be safe than picked up by some stranger who just MIGHT be looking for small children to sell into slavery or something (hey, it is an airport, people from all over the world in those places, you never know what they’re up to).
There are a lot of peope here who seem to be pretty ignorant. I’m not saying they are wrong full stop, but they could stand to aquaint themselves with reason, logic and proper analysis. They fail to consider that not everyone is like them, all kids and people are different, and there are plent of valid situations where those harnesses could be useful. They also use a bunch of logical fallacies; especially Assocation Fallacy (I see a “Dogs are put on leashes, her children are on leashes, therefore she is treating her children like dogs” train of ‘logic’ going on here), Slippery Slope Fallacy (I see a couple of ‘might as well put them in cages’ comments…), a fair bit of hypocrisy… or perhaps just ignorance (Related to the previous example, I don’t think they’ve ever heard of a cot or a playpen.), with a bit of Invincible Ignorance and Guilt By Association Fallacies thrown in.
I think there’s some Strawman going on here too.
Specific logical fallacies are new to me so some of that may not be right, but I find them distinclty full of crap either way.
Yeah, pretty much what you said, hehe.
I just think that the safety of your kids is much more important than making sure they’re comfortable 100% of the time. And at least the harnesses allow them to get up and move around a bit! A stroller would keep them tied down and unable to stretch their legs and release some of that pent-up energy kids tend to have, LoL. In that sense, the kids are probably much happier on the harness than in a stroller!
The harness is obviously not working on the picture precisely because it lets them move around.
A stroller or just holding hands works wonders.
Also, you need to consider how a leash feels to a child. It’s a symbol of domination and possession, which the child feels. A leash can mess up the child to parent relationship and the emotional development of the child.
Holding the hands of two toddlers does not work when it’s time to show your boarding pass, take off your shoes and put your items through the scanner, or even pack up a stroller which cannot be taken with you into the cabin of the plane.
Punishment and reward is also a dominance system. “I am dominant, all things come from me” so that argument is completely fallacious. Should not then belts in strollers feel like domination and possession because they are not allowed to move as they desire?
Kids! Making a scene! In an airport!
This is why children under 5 should ride with pets. “need a leash to control it? It rides with the luggage”.
Either that, or mandatory tranquilizers. For the kids, or me. Either way.
Oh, and don’t forget that they need to be securely locked into one of those pet crates at all times they are on airport property.
Ahhh, Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. Sh*t gets wierder every day
Holy smoo I KNEW this pic looked familiar and why it was bringing back memories of my younger cousin in Atlanta. Wow.
Hahaha, yeah it was tickling my mind. Too many days there
I wondered if anyone else picked up on that. I recognized that tile immediately.
Hartsfield Jackson Internation Airport – where southern hospitality ends.
To be honest, it’s one of the better airports on the east coast
You can’t get to hell without going through Hartsfield.
I cant understand how parents can they baby lead to leash the same like dog! I know that childrens can be very active, but no so that them need lead to leash. FAIL for parents!
You know nothing.
that should even the scales for the two of you to debate
Actually, yes, they can be so active that some children need to be leashed. Particularly those children who are easily distracted. I wish my mother had leashed me as a young kid, just to save her some of the stress she went through. She was perfectly vigilant, but I was a pro at wandering off despite all intentions to stay with her.
ROFL at all the people who dont have kids who think they know things about parenting.
I’m with you on this one!
I was a leash kid, and I thought it was great.
Some kids just like to run around. No matter how hard momma tries, she will not be able to get them to stay close. (Eventually she gets frustrated and ends up yelling, the kid cries, everybody is bothered by the scene they make… I see it all the time. I work at at Target.) Enter leashes. Kid gets to run around and have a great time, mom doesn’t have to worry about them getting lost or hit by a car or snatched by some dirty child-snatcher. Everybody wins, nobody ends up scarred for life. Leashes are not a bad thing.
This appears to be taken in an airport or other equally busy location and I see two young children and one parent. I would leash my kids too!! In fact I have! The leash is but a tool to use when you have young children that need to be kept close by. It’s easy for all of you without children (or with the mythical “perfect” children) to sit on your computers and judge a person, this is NOT a parenting fail it is a parenting survival and therefore a WIN. Would you all prefer that each boy runs off in a different direction (which is what would happen just look at them) and one of them gets snatched? Is that a better alternative?
Yeah, airports are FULL or kid snatchers. Right.
What’s next? Make your kids eat in the same plate, which you never wash, like a dog, because washing plates is too time-consuming?
You’re worried about kid snatchers, really? Then drop the newspaper, because that’s why you think the world is full of child abusers. In fact, drop the newspaper and the computer and take this time to teach your child to behave!
Funny how some parents actually manage to get good behavior from their kids, and how parents who use a leash can’t believe it. Yeah, it’s not easy to educate kids and make them behave, but that’s what being a parent is. If that’s too much work for you, I would advise you to get a dog instead.
Wait ’till your kid can’t go to school alone at 15 because he doesn’t feel safe to go outside without you holding him on a leash. I am so going to laugh at this.
I think it’s funny that the most vocal opponents of “leash kids” are the childfree.
I have an EXTREMELY spirited 3 year old. She has a bear backpack leash. We use it for outings like the zoo/aquarium, places where she’s going to want to be able to see things and not have to get in and out of the stroller.
Trust me when I say my choice to use a backpack leash has nothing to do with not parenting her. She’s an amazing kid, she’s just easily distracted. She’ll start to wander away and then stop and say “oh sorry mommy I forgot to hold your hand.”
Not every parent who chooses to use a leash is dragging their kid across the floor.
Funny how so many people manage to raise their kids and take them to the zoo without using a leash. Funny how so many kids not on a leash make it out of the zoo alive every day.
Funny how most kids do have a decent attention span. Funny how some kids really do *not*. I was like the kid above… only without the whole stopping and remembering part. And that’s simply because I happened to have the attention span of a … hey what’s that over there!
Might I just point out my observations.
I have two friends, both in their mid 20s. The parent of the one leashed him as a child, while the parent of the other didn’t.
The one who was leashed can’t give or follow directions at all. He can hardly drive his car around the block without becoming near hopelessly lost, and requiring turn-by-turn assistance to get to where he’s going.
The one who wasn’t leashed once drove from Connecticut to Delaware using only the directions on highway signs, and never at any point made a single wrong turn.
Wow that’s some great scientific research. Two is the PERFECT sample size.
Hey, as long as it proves the point that LEASHES ARE WRONG!!! it’s the perfect sample size!
I wasn’t leashed and have to have step by step directions to get anywhere. People’s brains work differently, some just have trouble with distances and spacial relations.
THIS.
Hooray for anecdotes rather than real research, eh?
Those are leashes. Leashes don’t offer any sort of direction. That’s something called “reins.” You know, the things you use to steer a horse. Your friends’ ability to direct themselves has nothing to do with having been on a leash.
When you think about it, it could.
If you spend your early childhood years on a leash, you never have to worry about where you are going. You always have a higher power (your Mum) guiding you into the direction you should be going to reach your destination. Therefore you find it unimportant to notice landmarks, unique structures, or other things that may help you get to where you’re going, since the leash decides all of that for you. Consequently, your brain isn’t trained to retain that sort of information.
Compared to children not on a leash, who need to notice where mommy is, and what landmarks and other distinguishable terrain features are near her in order to mimic and follow her path in order to reach their destination successfully. Their brains are trained to memorize, retain, and make good use of that information. (Keep in mind this is for children who are properly parented and told that creepy men are going to hurt you if you wander too far away from mum.)
Not really.
Kids that young don’t have the filters our brains do. They spend all their time taking in info from their surroundings, and seeing things that we have already learnt/deemed “not important” for whatever situation we’re in, and therefore don’t see. Because they notice more than we do, they are more prone to distraction.
Leashed or next to mom or running in front, they still know how to find the toy store.
I can’t believe you don’t see the mistakes in your logic there.
First, that’s precisely why he said kids had to be trained to notice landmarks.
He’s saying that if a child doesn’t get this training, they have more trouble later on finding directions since they are never taught to pay attention to the important parts of their surroundings.
In other words, training can make them better than what you are describing. I don’t know how else to explain what the point of training is.
And I can tell you haven’t been studying psychology, well at least not as a major in a university. You probably picked this up in some cheap magazine (perhaps the same one that advocates leashing your kids – it would make sense that they’d convince you with pseudo-psychological articles that the deficiencies of your child are normal and not a result of the leash).
It is true that kids pay attention to things differently than adults, but they aren’t clueless to the point of getting lost on the way from the classroom to the washroom and ending up in Walmart three blocks away.
At age 3 I knew the way to the supermarket, the park and the market. They were all about a 15 minute walk from my house, and in different directions (so the paths were different except for the road in front of my house) You can’t expect a child to find his way accross New York City, but they can remember medium distances covered a few times on foot.
Anyway the simple task of finding mommy who wandered two rows of shelves away from her child in a small convenience store is a good exercise that kids on a leash miss. And the consequences are obvious when you compare the two kinds of kids.
No, what I was saying is that on a leash or not, the kid’s still going in the same direction as mom. Kids are going to notice things around them, on a leash or not. Kids do know the way to wherever, but will take a detour if distracted or change their minds as to where they want to go, like to the shiny. Spacial orientation and landmark recognition has nothing to do with what’s on your back. Even in a stroller kids know the way.
Also, a three year old looking for mommy “a few rows away” can be terrifying for both parties. Mommy looking for them, hilarious! Them looking for mommy, scary.
I was never safety harnessed and I have the worst sense of direction ever. I often say I could get lost in a closet.
In this case, he concept for being “on a leash” is the same as a parent holding a child’s hand. You really think a kid being led around by their parent who is holding their hand and steering them in the right direction is paying any more attention to where they are headed than a child who is being tugged by the harness?
Parent’s don’t hold their child’s hand 24/7. Sometimes you can let go of your child safely for a bit. It’s easy to grab your child’s hand, let go, grab, let go, grab…
With a leash, parents won’t release their child so often. The child hardly experiences losing mommy or daddy out of sight and looking for him.
For example, in small convenience stores, when there weren’t any suspicious customers (besides an old lady with a dog and a middle school boy who were both probably pedophiles), my parents would let me roam around as they were shopping. (And I can assure you, my dad was looking at every customer who came in when he would hear the door open. You never know, it could had been our family doctor who was probably also a pedophile coming in).
So anyway, sometimes I would fail to find my dad and I would search through the rows of shelves, forcing me to remember where I looked, understand the shape of the store so that I knew where to look next, etc… Until I found my dad.
Or I would call for him, he would answer, and I would have to look for him based on where his voice came from.
Simple exercises, but a kid on a leash doesn’t even get those.
On another note, I don’t understand how people can think their kids will be snatched when this is less likely than a car getting off the road and hitting pedestrians. I mean, if you think the odds of you child kidnapped are too high to risk, why go out and risk the odds of your child killed by a bad driver?
Then again, many people think they’ll win the lottery but don’t think they’ll ever die in a plane crash, although the latter is much more likely than the former…
When I got lost… I never noticed. Mom always had to come find *me* because I was too fascinated by everything around me.
And that whole “let go, grab, let go, gab” bulls**t? Yeah, sure… Right. It’s more like “let go, child races behind you and takes off”. Good luck with that “grab”.
Funny… so according to you, holding a child’s hand also results in detrimental effects to spatial and orientation skills?
And what you are most decidedly NOT keeping in mind is that even a properly parented and warned child can wander off in a moment of distraction. Add in the fact that some kids are simply so easily distracted that ‘attention span’ is pretty much theoretical, and that whole ‘warning’ thing doesn’t work so well.
Reins aren’t used to steer a horse. That’s what legs are for.
This did not happen. Way to make up perfectly fitting lies for respect on the internet.
trolling comment
No one seems to have a first-person perspective on the leash thing, so I should mention that my parents occasionally put me on a kiddie leash. I didn’t care then, and I don’t care now. It didn’t hurt, and I was way too young to worry that it didn’t look cool. So what’s the big deal?
And it was fun, wasn’t it? I loved being on a leash… I had two, actually. A harness for places like the zoo where I was more likely to bolt, and a stretchy wrist one for places like the mall where I just wanted to be more independent. I wasn’t a bad kid, just curious and lacking impulse control.
Wait, you mean your parents used a leash appropriately and you were not permanently stunted and twisted from the experience?
You can tie your own shoes? Read? Hold a job? AMAZING!
You may not be aware that some of your problems in your life are related to the leash and the relationship it made you develop with your parents.
Would be curious to know what a psychologist would say about you after assessing you. Anyway that’s the Internet so we’ll never know.
Then again, nobody said a leash has a 100% chance of screwing you up, but it is much more likely to cause problems.
Do you have studies showing this to be true in the long term? I’ve been googling, and haven’t really come up with anything. I’d love to see your sources about this.
Nah, that’s a win. At least she’s got the little hellions restrained.
Say Hello To America
Keep in mind this picture was taken at an airport. With that said, it’s very busy, high traffic area, and not to mention trying to get to the gate on time with two toddlers is not exactly going to be very easy, especially considering that it appears she’s a single mother, or at least her husband isn’t anywhere in the near proximity or he’s the one taking the picture as joke that ended up being used against her.
She isn’t a single mother. “advertisers SUCK” outed himself as the dad.
Which does make you wonder…if he took the picture (which he likely did), why isn’t he instead helping with the kids? I mean, he clearly had at least one hand free.
Further, if “advertisers SUCK” is the one who submitted the picture to failblog…all I have to say is: WTF, man?
Actually it wasn’t me that took the picture. I wish it were, since it captures a pretty funny moment after a tough day, and learning about this on Failblog gave us both a good laugh.
-She was visiting her family in another state, I couldn’t get off work, so thank you to whoever took this pic and submitted it!
Father Fail
“snatchbeast”, eh?
*snortle*
I was at work. Financially supporting my family. Father fail because both my wife and I find this funny?
hahahahahahahaha, so you are the dad? no wonder you’ve been brow-beating so hard! You’ve been trying to protect that slag you married from all those terrible people on teh internets
what a sad, sad life you have. You have absolutely nothing vested in this, yet you spend your day furiously trolling away to strangers on the internets. (even commenting on your own comments, when your desperation for attention can’t wait for any response from others)
Are you really that sad and lonely? You’re so desperate for any type of social interaction you’ve decided the only way to get it is to troll strangers all day? I feel sad for you.
Good luck trying not to fail at life brother.
Thanks for the wishes Mr. Mywifehasnoideahowtoraisechildren! If you must know I am a millionaire playboy who jetsets around the world fathering leashless children all over the world!
I’ve been in the same situation with my kids. My husband couldn’t get leave from work, and I traveled to Utah from Atlanta with three kids ages 5, 4, and 3 by myself. Hell yes I’m going to use their backpacks-leashes! They love them. Love having their own backpacks. Love not having to hold my hand the whole dang time.
Just want to say that you and your wife are DOING IT RIGHT.
Thank you for being GOOD parents, and keeping your kids at your sides. There is nothing wrong in using these backpack leashes. The self-righteous, closed-minded people who say it’s wrong are just self-righteous and close-minded (and intolerant as well).
The children aren’t being harmed in any way, and on the contrary, the leash keeps them SAFE. Thank again for being good parents.
Keeping their kids at their side with a leash makes them good parents?
What do I get for keeping mine at my side without a leash then? I win a country or something? All your base are belong to me?
And I’m not sure what bothers me the most…
The use of the leash?
The general attitude of leash users who won’t even acknowledge the downsides of the leash? (At least I acknowledge there is indeed a 1 in a million chance that my kid will be snatched).
The fact that most leash users are not even aware of the possible bad consequences?
Or the fact that some people leash their kids because they think the odds of having their kid snatched are too high, yet they will expose their kids to all sorts of other dangers that are more likely to occur and they find that exposure to such dangers is perfectly normal?
Having a hard time being convinced by the merit of those who use a leash….
The fact that you associate a backpack leash attached to a child to something sadistic only reveals your own very screwed up psyche.
Our kids like to walk around, so we aren’t going to carry them all day. Our kids get energetic when faced with the excitement of traveling, coupled with having to sit still for hours on a plane. The kids like wearing the backpacks because they think they’re fun, and it helps us make sure they don’t get in the way of other people trying to catch their own flights.
You are 100% ignorant of this issue. (Do you even have kids?) Being offended at something you don’t remotely understand in any way is childish. The choice to make those ignorant opinions known is sad.
(I know you and others here love to paint a picture of abusive parents putting choking leashes around childrens’ necks, but if you’d take a moment to see the situation for what it is, and not what you apparently hope it is, you’d see your attitude is completely idiotic.)
the fact that you so voraciously defend your parenting practices here only shows your guilt over what you are doing to your children
Oh good, Shipoopi’s still here.
I was worried you might be off jetting around the world enjoying your life as a millionaire playboy.
Don’t ever leave my life, my cuddly little friend, teh internetz would seem so cold without you.
Kids leashes has been around for ages, even in the 70 ties.
And if you go back in history you find that kids where also strapped down into their potty chair all day or locked into a bed with bars so they couldnt run away and forced to wear corsets with a little thorn to keep their back straight. Read up on history before you judge.
Most common injury to kids after town markets, festival days and parades are shoulder joint dislocated. Try to walk your self with your hand raised over your head for 1 hour, that is what a kids have to do to hold an adults hand.
Also the leash method prevent kids from running away and ending up with some perverted weirdo and oh they are great when you travel.
The kid think they are walking by them self with a backpack, they think they are being BIG, they get to do BIG kid things and actually become braver and more self assured, they dont see the leash at all.
They don’t get their shoulder dislocated when an adult keeps his hand low. You’re describing bad parents there, not the good ones who know how to take care of their child (without a leash).
This is the reason why I only had one child. And why I HOLD HIS HAND or PICK HIM UP rather than dragging him like the dog he isn’t.
Do you get frequent nosebleeds?
Just wondering..
Lame. Some of us have one pregnancy that results in more than one child. And how do you propose getting your luggage at baggage claim while picking up or holding the hand of two children?
Clearly your child has never thrown himself on the floor in a tantrum. Please, oh Goddess, teach us your secrets of perfection. And then teach us how to apply them to more than one child because sometimes birth control fails, or people have twins or other multiples.
Lesson 1: Try learning to achieve your goal on your own instead of going straight for the quick way out.
Lesson 2: Try not to have your nose so far up in the air that you’re going to drown the next time it rains.
My kids, all three of them, are healthy, happy, intelligent beyond the level of their peers, and generally well-behaved.
I still use leashes in the airport (not everywhere) because they will wander off to investigate things while I’m tending to the needs of one or the other of them. I indulge their curiosity about life as much as I can, but the busy airport is not the appropriate place to let them go off on their own. I just don’t have enough hands to wipe a runny nose, reach out and grab the one who’s too distracted by the shiny to listen to me calling his name, carry all their backpacks because they’re “too tired” to carry them on their own, have the tickets out at the counter and keep them in the line to board the plane without wandering off to see the shiny again…
And, even better, my kids prefer the backpacks with their leashes because they get to have their own smaller backpacks, they don’t have to hold my hand the whole time which is still uncomfortable no matter how low my own hand is, and they get to move around a lot more than if I had them in a stroller or even holding their hands. It allows them a measure of freedom while still giving me a measure of peace of mind. I think that’s a rather nice compromise in a place like an airport.
Wow. I can’t believe the ignorance of some people. You may think leashes are wrong and I’ve never used one on my toddler until I took him to the AIRPORT. It’s not a matter of her not being able to handle her kids. It’s for SAFETY. It’s just another little added protection on the off chance some creeper decides to try and snatch your kid.
I mean, cribs are almost cages, are they wrong?
Car seats completely bind kids, is this wrong?
So what’s the argument here? Is it because there’s a correlation between a dog and a leash and a kid on a leash? What’s so humiliating about a leash? Have you ever met a kid too humiliated to show his face because of his backpack leash?
So please, if you’re that against backpack leashes, at least provide some INTELLIGENT rationale.
Agreed. Babycages FTW!
I also agree!
Thank you!
I think I commented above that a stroller is actually probably less comfortable and more restricting on the kids than the leashes. At least with the leashes they can run around a bit and have SOME sense of independence!
AGREED. Thank you for being rational in a sea of closed-minded idiots.
My intelligent rational was first to learn how to raise kids before having any. Sure, every kid is different, but there are some basics that work for all of them.
Punishment and reward do wonders, even on young kids (it works even better on younger kids, because kids will work more on instinct than conscious thought until age 1 and thus can be taught through conditioning).
Then I took the time to teach good behavior to my kids. If you teach them to stay near you every time you go out, they’ll pick it up. If course if you go straight for the leash, they won’t learn.
You can also practice at home through games. Play “Taking the plane” with them, with all the different steps of the airport.
Imagine a doorframe at the end of the hallway is the place where you drop the luggage, then tell your child “Ok, now we must drop the luggage over there. Can you do it?” and hand him/her a little bag. If your child runs off to the doorframe without waiting for you, tell him/her “No, you must wait for me”.
Repeat for passport check, ticket check and boarding, even the washroom and coffee shop if you want.
Don’t tell me you never play like that with your kids?
Another option is to give your child a task in the airport. Tell him to keep his hand on your hand luggage at all times because there may be thieves. That will keep him busy and will help against him getting distracted.
You can even motivate them to do this task well by promising a reward if the luggage isn’t stolen.
Remind them of the task every now and then in the airport. You can say “Now you need to watch the luggage even closer because there are usually more thieves here”.
Put a toy they like in the luggage for incentive. Whatever, just imagine.
In general kids wander off because they’re bored, include them in what you do (i.e. make them have an active part in it, don’t just make them follow you around).
Educating children and protecting them really isn’t that hard, well not always at least, it just takes a bit of time and effort on your part, but that’s the pleasure of having children too. All you need is imagination and some wisdom. Worked for me anyway.
Of course if you’re just going to “wait and see” how they do in the airport, you’re in for a world of pain.
It seems simple to me, I’m not saying I haven’t had hard times with my kids but it was simple enough that I really can’t think much of parents who leash their kids. I don’t think I was lucky and gifted with perfect angels, because when I compare how I raised my kids to how some of my friends raised theirs, I really feel they didn’t try their best.
Sounds to me like you’re instilling a more-than-healthy sense of paranoia in your children.
Let kids be kids. Not mini-adults.
I am a mom of three young children, all close in age. I don’t happen to own a harness like these, but I do not see anything at all wrong with them. What I find suspect is the self-righteous attitude of some of the people commenting on this. If you claim that your children are perfectly behaved at all times (regardless of age), if you have never once been distracted from your child for even a second because you literally have your eyes on that child every second of the day, if you actually believe you are a perfect parent with perfect children and are therefore better than other parents – congratulations on your break from reality. I would rather see a mature, reasonable, humble person raising children. So, to the parents humble enough to admit you are human and may not be perfect, rational enough to acknowledge that your children are not perfectly behaved at all times (“terrible two” is a cliche for a reason), and mature enough to avoid telling everyone how much better of a parent you are – kudos.
In regards to a mom taking her eyes off of her child for a second: why is it assumed that she must be texting or talking on a phone? When you have multiple children there are numerous reasons you may have to take your eyes off your child for a moment. I take my three children to the grocery store, out to eat, to the playground, to the school, everywhere we have to go for day to day errands. If you take a moment to think about all of those things reasonably, I think it is obvious that it is necessary to look at things besides your children from time to time.
Personally I don’t think my kids are perfect, but I do think that many people don’t seem to realize that being a parent goes beyond making food and driving children to school.
I took time to play with my kids, mostly in educational ways and I would try to improve their knowledge and culture.
There are a few mistakes I see many parents make quite often.
First, some parents seem to put education in passive mode. By that, I mean that they don’t go up to their kids and educate them, instead they wait for the opportunity to come up.
I spent time playing with my children, but it was also an opportunity to teach them things I felt they needed to know. Sometimes I would teach knowledge, and sometimes good behavior or skills. But I did not play with them and wait for an opportunity to teach them something to arise, instead I would devise games that would teach them something that I wanted them to learn.
Many parents spend time playing with their children, which is absolutely right, but some parents don’t try to make something good and constructive out of the games.
I also see parents not thinking very far when doing something with their children. I would hardly take my kids anywhere without thinking carefully about what were the good things and the bad things that could come out of it.
I wouldn’t even take my kids to McDonald’s just because I didn’t want to cook without feeling bad about it. I did however take them there because they liked it, they hadn’t eaten too much junk food recently, we would have a good time eating in a restaurant they liked, and it was important to keep a good relationship with them as I knew I needed their respect for their education and development.
I’m always amazed by parents who leave their kids in front of the TV for several hours alone and don’t think much of it. I’m not saying parents need to be uptight, but there’s a difference between letting your kids watch TV and knowing what will come out of it and letting them watch but not being aware of what will come out of it.
I didn’t mind my kids watching an action movie once they were a bit older, but I knew I could not be surprised if they had more aggressive days the next day.
Another thing I see is the fact that some parents don’t know how to apply reward and punishment well. The basic rules are the following:
- Punishment must come with an explanation as to why the behavior was bad.
- Punishment is much more effective when done soon after the mistake was made.
- Reward is more effective than punishment, don’t be afraid to use it but don’t use punishment if you have doubts.
- Punishment teaches children what not to do, it makes them passive (i.e. do nothing). Reward tells them what to do, it makes them active. A child who is mostly punished will be lazy and won’t try doing things (even later in life as an adult). A child rewarded enough (but not too much) will try doing good things on his own and will be more motivated to take up tasks (cleaning room, studying…).
Being a parent is a full time job. You probably heard it, but it doesn’t mean what you may thing it means. It doesn’t means you’ll be doing chores and taking care of your kids 24/7, even though this will take quite a bit of your time.
What it really means, is that everything you do around and with your kids is part of their education. Kids never stop learning, even when they play silly video games they learn things. They won’t stop learning from their experiences just so you can have a break.
So in pretty much everything you say and do, you need to think carefully about the consequences. Every game, activity and conversation can be a tool to educate them, which you can use at your advantage to raise them into good children and people.
It takes some thinking though, and there’s not much advice I can give there. Think and plan ahead.
Some parents choose the easy way out, for instance a leash, because finding the solution to a problem is too hard. Unfortunately the easy way out always has important downsides.
What you say is all well and good but the point of kids running of has nothing to do with discipline or respect etc. It is about impulse control. Children start to develop that between the age of 4-5(of course this varies a bit), you can not teach impulse control it is something that develops naturally over time. Before that all you can do is try to keep your kids safe.
Young children do not understand consequences either so you can’t teach them that it is dangerous to run away as they don’t understand what danger is.
Kids understnad that you don’t want them to run away and/or do dangerous stuff but they don’t understand why, therefore a moment of disctraction is all it takes for a kid torun away no matter how well you have taught them.
The leash isn’t a substitute to teaching your kids as best you can but it can be a complementary tool untill kids develop enough to understand consequences and learn impulse control.
Kids are different, most never need a harness but a few do. It does no harm to the kids and if it can save lives/prevent injuries it is a good thing in my book.
I’ve got plenty of experience in psychology. I teach my kids, I reward and punish my kids according to their actions, I help them understand consequences… I do everything you’re saying I need to do.
But I also know that if I don’t have that leash on my oldest (who has ADD and a mean defiant streak), then he will be gone in thirty seconds in a place like the airport.
I’m guessing, from the way you talk, that your kids are not super-close in age and that you had plenty of time to devote to teaching them all these things one at a time, and were able to have the older children help with the younger ones later on. Or maybe you only had two, and they never had genuine ADD or a defiant streak. Having them very close together, or a third, or a child with ADD changes the game. The child with ADD requires a lot more attention that you’d love to be able to divide equally between all your kids. When the ADD child is also the defiant one, he takes even more attention away from making sure that they are all right there with you and participating.
We can’t all be super-parents like you. We don’t all have the budget to be stay-at-home psycho-trainers. Some of us have to work to help pay the bills. Some of us only get to be around our kids half the year to work with them because there was a mutual agreement that the marriage just wasn’t working anymore.
All parents do the best that they can for their kids. I think it’s really shitty and snobbish of you to come on the internet of all places and be so judgmental and preachy. There is no “one right way”. That sort of ideology is what leads to holy wars, you know.
So you do what’s best for you and yours, and I’ll do what’s best for me and mine. My kids are happy and healthy and smart, and that’s what matters to me. Not perfect adult-like behavior.
You have so, so many issues. I feel sad for you.
What’s funny is that those of you commenting about how awful leashes are (and actually have children) probably used a stroller. It’s a rolling cage. The techniques you describe, such as taking toys away or spanking when you get home do not work on an 18 month old. So, what did you do with your small toddlers when you also had a grocery cart full? You really expect me to believe you held their little hands as you crossed the street with your cart? No, you tied them up in the cart.
Did you have 2 kids? Then it would be impossible for you to shop and hold two hands. You’re either forgetting a few years of development or don’t actually have small children.
Punishment teaches kids what not to do. It does not tell them what to do. That’s why I always favored rewarding my children and teaching them what they could do that was good instead of doing something bad.
A stroller is not perceived like a rolling cage, more like a rolling vehicle. Also, you take your kids out of the stroller much more often than you let go of their leash, so they at least experience more freedom. Which is good for many reasons, mostly learning to handle themselves quite a bit.
The problem with the leash is… well there are many, and listing all of them would be long.
But one of them is the fact that the child perceives the submissive symbol of the leash and somehow feels on a semi-conscious level that he is an object belonging to his parents (note the word ‘semi-conscious’ in case someone wants to tell me they did not feel that way).
It can affect many things in life.
It also conveys the fear of their parents, which may make the child afraid too and less confident.
It limits experience. Getting ‘lost’ in the middle of a small convenience store and looking for daddy through the rows of shelves is a useful experience on its own and the leash won’t allow it.
And there are alternatives that work anyway, at least when you know what you are doing. There is no secret to educating children well, I think some parents just don’t realize the responsibility children are. Some parents think it will be as easy as taking care of gold fish, feeding their kids, washing them, putting them to bed, driving to school…
Then these parents face challenges they haven’t anticipated with their kids, and they can’t seem to figure out what to do, making the situation worse. That’s when they opt for the easy way out, like a leash, which solves a problem but creates several others.
All I have to say is that if you want kids, you must be ready to learn to raise them. If you think kids are as simple to take care of as pets, you’re wrong. Perhaps knowledge of psychology can help, I don’t know. I do know that education does not need to be so complicated.
I don’t know about other parents, but I know my kids think the stroller is a cage. It’s not a matter of my perception here, but my children’s.
This is the most idiotic drivel I’ve ever read. Do you HAVE children? You say punishment is bad, but then getting “lost” is a useful experience. That’s a punishment, even if its’ not inflicted by you. A punishment is simply a negative consequence, whether naturally inflicted or decided upon by a parent. I also find it funny that you think you can just reason with a small toddler. I laugh at the parents who beg their 14 month olds to hold their hand. A 14 month old isn’t capable. I don’t have to punish or reward. We simply enforce hand holding, and it’s expected. If they can’t hold my hand or the cart, then they have to sit in it. It’s not punishment, it’s simply safety, and the alternative to holding hands. People don’t like kids – just look at this post. I am not going to trust the kind hearted nature of the person in that next aisle if my child runs away. That learning experience you are allowing your small child to have looking for daddy could end up with them wandering the parking lot. You think a 14 month old really understands this lesson?
I am not a fearful parent. We’ve had a few er visits in my short parenting career for falls off of a playground, etc. But I am realistic. Expecting a child under 2 to be capable of reason is stupid. Expecting a child not to be curious and want to explore the shelves around them is stupid. Expecting to never punish a child, and simply reward all good behavior leads to god awful brats who always expect rewards, and now that I watch my friends’ 3 year olds expect to get a treat for peeing on a freaking potty or picking up a crayon, I’m glad I never started that feel good crap. I don’t have to yell at mine, stick them in time out, etc. I show them how to pick up the crayon, and expect them to do it. Funny, but they get it. Yes, it takes me repeating it 200 times, but that’s part of being a parent. I don’t get angry at them for not coming out walking, talking, and being an empathetic human being. It’s my job to get them there. I show them the potty, and we practice using it. Never punish for accidents, ever ever, but we don’t reward peeing in the potty either. Big kids use the potty, that’s just the way it is.
And as many psychologists with screwed up kids, I don’t think an advanced degree in psychology is the answer. More like manipulation. My husband has his doctorate, I have a bachelor’s, both in hard sciences, and our kids are, thankfully, better behaved, more polite, and sweeter than the rest of the kids out there whose parents are trying this or that, and jumping on the stupid idea bandwagon of philosophies that come and go. Leashes are not going to limit a child, because most parents don’t just keep their kids on them all day long. And if you think a child truly believes he is owned, then he should be cognizant enough to not run in the street. Which is it?
like. so like.
The fail is that, even with LEASHES, she can’t control her kids.
Exactly
Harnesses are not mind-control devices. They’re still free to move and whatever; it just means they can only get so far away. Besides, you assume that they mis-behave; for all you or I know, they could just be energetic kids that don’t mean to do bad but have a tendancy to run a bit too far, so ‘control’ probably isn’t even the issue.
When I was a child and on a family vacation in Homer, for a split second my mom looked away and I ran off. She found me in the middle of a road. Luckily I was not run over. I was put on a leash from then on whenever we traveled. Seemed like this woman might have also been dealing with children while traveling. I can’t imagine how tiring that must be and I wouldn’t blame a person if they were looking away from their kids for just a split second. Having to look away for a second (if you’ve been around kids, unless you’re really lucky you should know it only takes a split second) is not a crime and they can get themselves into trouble in that short amount of time.
I do not think it is cruel to put kids on a leash, or put a movie on with the hopes they would fall asleep! I ended up just fine in the end. I’m well educated (working on my PhD) and I love to read. I also love my parents and I’m sorry that one close call scared them into using leashes, but I’m SO glad they used them on myself and then my younger brother. He was even more prone to squirrelly than I was. No amount of talking to me would have prevented either of us from running off. We were just kids!
I was a leashed kid. My mother opted for them after my 2 yo sister got lost at a theme park (30 seconds, that kid could *move* when she wanted to get somewhere).
What little I remember about wearing them was positive. It was more comfortable than holding my parent’s hand and I could explore a bit. The best part was that I could always feel my dad or mom on the other end so I always knew right where they were.
Some kids need leashes.
true dat.
That is not a fail; what would be a fail is people whose kids end up kidnapped because they are too proud to use harnesses in situations where a harness would help keep their children safe. As a mom of multiples I think most people have no idea how challenging it can be to try to keep track of multiple toddlers, especially on your own at baggage claim!
haha very funny pic
)
It’s funny how people remember themselves being good little children at all times.
I’m sorry, but I think if I start putting my child on a leash, people are going to think my dog is really a werewolf.
If you can’t reason with your kids and they “wander off” you put them in a stroller or you carry them. Yes, they’ll cry and throw a fit, but they’ll also learn “I don’t get to walk by myself like a big kid unless I stay with mom/dad/guardian”
There’s a time and place for everything, leashes are for dogs, strollers with seatbelts and bars are for disobedient children.
Yep, because the best thing possible to do in a country with massive (pun intended) childhood obesity issues is to keep kids strapped down and immobile! After all, it’s not like there’s an alternative that would keep a child near his or her parent, allow the parent to still use her hands, and get the kid some exercise.
…Oh wait…
“My only defense is to argue a completely different and unrelated topic”
OH WAIT.
You have yards and parks. Is your only exercise walking in the mall?
Never mind the nightmare of trying to get one of those big strollers through security, or finding one to fit more than two tired, whiny, irritable kids, especially those who are too big for a stroller at four, five, or six years old…
gotta keep da keiki on da ropes! aurite!
Can’t you just board the kids at a kennel when you need to fly? Is the leash really necessary?
Furthermore, are children on airplanes really necessary?
I hope you get a screaming one who kicks your seat on your next international flight. You don’t have kids do you? Your mind will change once you have them.
Alternate reply:
Perhaps you shoulda been aborted
I’m 25 my mom had one for those for me I remember it was raindow and clouds and was like a belt , between ages 2-3 I ran everywhere.
She forgot the straightjackets
poor lady..she can’t handle the situation
That is definitely the Atlanta Airport
Creepy possessed trash cans
I was such a great parent before I had kids. Now I’m a mom of three and I realize that I don’t know anything anymore, and I’m not going to judge another mama for doing what works. Even if she has hiccups like this occasionally.
That poor mama. She has her hands full. I sympathize with her! I can’t believe anyone would post this as a fail. I personally don’t use the harnesses, but I also don’t have children who bolt off. If I did? Hell yes I’d use one!
Only in America…
Christ on a stick fail blog has gone down hill in the last year. These days it’s all photos and videos of people getting hurt, bullied and ridiculed. I’d like to see the uploader deal with two young children in an airport. Having kids aint easy, you make mistakes – get over it.
I wouldn’t be surprised in a couple of months if this site starts posting pictures of soldiers who’ve been killed with the words FAIL all over them.
Re-focus, failblog and learn what is funny and what is just real life.
I have trekked through that very airport on a crowded Monday morning with three kids in tow and NEVER would have needed or even considered a leash. Oh…and the kids? A two, a three and a six year old. No leashes…simply behaved kids. And why were/are they well behaved? Because they were TAUGHT to be. Idiots and failed parents need leashes for their kids. THIS PERSON IS THE REASON KIDS SUCK AND PEOPLE HATE OTHER PEOPLES’ KIDS…
“Idiots and failed parents need leashes for their kids.”
So I must be an idiot…damn, next time I have kids I’ll make sure they don’t have Autism.
Or ADHD.
WIN!
that sounds like a good plan
Actually the reason kids suck and people hate other people’s kids is that people don’t bother watching their kids and let them run around like wild monkeys. They can run around and wreak havoc while the parents are off playing on their phones or computers (which in my opinion is also what makes someone an idiot and failed parent).
People don’t hate other people’s kids when they are actually trying to keep tabs on them by using safety harnesses. At least this mom is trying to watch her kids as well as she can with two rowdy younguns.
And you were lucky to have well-behaved kids. Not everyone has kids that listen that well. Good for you.
I believe that leashes are the easy way out, and humiliating for the kids. I understand the reasoning, especially in airports and zoos and such, but is it a good idea all the time? I think that it doesn’t teach kids control over impulses and discipline. This is also why I don’t think young children should watch more than 2-3 hours of TV a week, I know from my own life how technology can help and hurt you. Also, at least to me, I believe that people in their early-mid twenties shouldn’t have kids (willingly), because the more worldly experienced parents, can teach their children better. ……
Basically, there are better methods out there, but do what you think is best.
Well, I don’t think most parents would use them all the time anyway. I wouldn’t. I just might in an airport or at a zoo or theme park, though, especially if I have more than one child under the age of five. Good parenting or not, kids that age just can’t be expected to behave 100% of the time in those situations. And as has been said, in a place such as an airport, it’s more a matter of keeping the kids safe than keeping them under control.
I never used a leash, never needed one. But then again it often looks like I discovered some incredible secret that makes educating children as easy as pouring a glass of water. Not that I think that way, but many of my friends have told me that and I admit I am amazed to see how much trouble many people have with their children.
Anyway I don’t think I have a natural talent or luck, I probably just learned something many people haven’t. Then again, I don’t often see parents realizing they missed something important and deciding to learn how to raise children (especially regarding the behavior of their children), so I’m not sure they even care or are aware of their own shortcomings when it comes to child behavior.
Just look at how many parents don’t seem to understand kids fool around in the store because they are bored. I made my kids take part in the shopping with me, and they behaved well. But some parents would rather yell, order them to stay calm, and get depressed because “nothing is working, they’re out of control”.
Do you have to be at the gym in 26 minutes?
I was one of those judgmental people when I saw parents with toddlers on leashes. Then, I had a set of twins with Autism. I now own two leashes.
Lesson learned…no judging unless you know the whole situation. Or, how about, just no more judging period?
More like “Kid strategy: Win”
oh my gods (yes, i’m reading percy jackson and the olympians), soooo funny. at first i thought the kid on the left was a suitcase, then i thought it was a dog, then i finally realised that it was another kid. lolz!!!!!
I applaud all the courageous trolls here today. Here I was bored out of my mind, waiting for my next class to begin when I stumbled upon this glorious fail and all the comments beneath. I have laughed, I have cried; it has been a good day. Thank you, trolls, thank you. And a thank you to those who have been trolled on this day. Your lack of emotional stability has made me happy.
This has been the best comment so far.
Put them together on a single leash.
Correct.
More precisely, the leashes should be attached to each other such that if need be, they can both be held by a single hand. That way, the toddlers have good independent range of motion, but if they go in opposite directions, they pull against each other rather than putting the handler in such an awkward pose with a potential for tripping and/or injury.
Oh, I get it, the FAIL refers to the ahole taking the photo and not helping out someone who is obviously struggling.
THIS. So much WIN here.
I would not get anywhere near the kids of this mom. If she has them on a leash, I’ll assume she is paranoid about child abusers.
She probably doesn’t need you lecturing her about how she’s a terrible parent, how you’re an awesome parent, and how she should be more like you.
amen!
I laughed so hard out this
It’s a win because she’s not worried about what people think of the leashes.
Every child will be different in terms of development, if they need a leash because they haven’t comprehended what consequences are so be it.
Totally agree with the last part! And some kids will forever be distracted by shiny (if not well into adulthood… guilty on that charg..SHINY! :p )
I was and still am exactly th- HEY WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE!
Parenting WIN!!!! A mom in a public place with two obnoxious kids. If she had them running around to get lost or kidnapped by some pedo, then it would be a parenting fail. Anyone who thinks those things are cruel and abusive is a dumbass who has: a. Never had kids, b. Never had one when they were a kid (kids have fun with them), c. Want their kids to get lost in a crowd, run across a busy street, or get picked up with a perv with a van full of candy, d. Have their heads so far up their ass that they can snack on their own spleen. Or, e. all the above.
I remember seeing a mother with her small child on a leash and the kid was barking like a dog. His mom was trying to get him to stop but he just wouldn’t. The mother was so embarrassed but that’s what she gets for treating her kid as if he were a dog.
what makes you think leashes are ONLY for dogs?
They show ownership. One is tied to the leash, the other holds it. I don’t own my kids like objects, never did. They are their own owners and my role as a father was to raise them, care for them and protect them. They my be MY kids, but that doesn’t make them property.
Holding hands is much better on that matter.
What about putting a kid in a pack. That’s ownership. Or a stroller. That’s kinda like putting them in luggage, especially because they’re belted in place and can’t move around. Definitely ownership. Hey, we also hold things we own in our hands… Holding our child’s hand shows we own them!
yeah, it’s just your INTERPRETATION of the leash and parenting that bothers you. Not everyone sees it as ownership, and not everyone feels like they don’t own their kids. Frankly, I DO own my kids until they’re adults: that’s how parenting works for me. But a leash is a tool to me, not a symbol of ownership.
Kiddie Rave!!!! UNCE UNCE UNCE UNCE…
Too bad they don’t glow in the dark.
I have to say, with 1 in every 38 boys being diagnosed with autism in America you think people would be more aware of the wandering issue and applaud parents for using leashes instead of just ‘hoping’ they won’t give you a lot of trouble!
At the risk of starting another huge debate… How many of those boys actually HAVE an autism spectrum disorder? It’s not exactly a secret that autism is the new ADHD. Kid has lots of energy? Doesn’t do what you tell him? Don’t worry, we can slap a label on him and pump him full of pills and you’ll never have to parent him again!
I feel bad for the people who actually have autism and just kind of get shrugged off for the number of fake cases there are.
Nah, they really do have autism. Even adhd kids can talk and keep their clothes on and don’t stim and are aware of their surroundings and listen atleast part of the time and can be potty trained at the usual age. It’s pretty unmistakable.
Oh, then you really do have cancer. I mean, I typed it, so that must make it true, right?
Only if it’s so physically obvious that only an idiot would be suspicious!
This poor women is in an airport with two crazy toddlers and some person with a phone thought it would be better to take a picture of her than to help her. Give the woman a break!
As a much older sister of twins, I would have to call this a win for mom. You have NO idea how frightening it is when they literally take off in two different directions and you have to decide which one to chase.
So, I wonder if all the judgmental SuperParents in the thread here decide before they leave the house with two toddlers which one they love more.
That armor’s too strong for blasters, use your harpoons and tow cables!
WIN
Wow, so many comments. And so many of them with so much to say.
Personally I am of two minds when it comes to the child leash. One says (like some have already said) hold the kids hand and TALK to them! Teach them that it is important to do what you say, and so on and so on. The other says, if you happen to have a kid that is hyperactive or might have a developmental delay, those leashes could be quite handy. It’s a toss up.
It’s those leases man!! It get the kid angry!
She’s in an airport, with lots of shiny interesting things that her kids will run towards regardless of how attentive she is. If she also has luggage to deal with, and have to deal with boarding the plane, and no adult companion, I just don’t see how she could prevent one or both of the bairns running off without some kind of physical control.
I took my kids when they were young to visit their father while he was deployed. I wish I had a leash or two. We survived but I was a wreck and one of the kids arrived at our destination with a busted lip from when he ran from me and tripped down the boarding gangway – my hand was busy with the plane tickets. Traveling international as a single parent is no fun at all.
Lots of shiny things? You think the kids will run to a set of stair to lick the handrail or run on the tarmac to hug an airplane?
Do you actually have kids?
>_> I loved running up and down stairs and escalators as a child. Always pelted towards books. Ran to hug trees, flowers, bushes, butterflies….
Can you read at all? I clearly stated in my comment that my kid – who is now grown – arrived at our destination with a busted lip because he ran from me towards the plane – hey, he was 3 and he was excited about the airplane – and tripped down the gangway.
Only people who DON’T have children deride other people’s parenting with such ease, and you sure seem like one of the snobby childless. When you have your own, you will understand that it’s not always so easy.
Now, I’ll preface this by saying that I’m usually the FIRST person to complain about parents and the stupid, self-righteous crap they do, but honestly… what is it you people want? A mother puts these harnesses on her kids to keep them from running all over the place, and you complain. But if she didn’t have those harnesses, and you were the guy who almost missed your flight because you had to wait behind her in line at the airport for fifteen minutes while she tries to manage her plane tickets, her passports, her luggage, all while also trying to keep a child in each hand, or were the guy who tripped over her kid when he bolts halfway across the airport… you’d STILL be here complaining. What do you want parents to do, snap their fingers and have their kids march along like robots?
There is an appropriate way to use anything like this, and this picture is a pretty good example of how NOT to use them. If your kids are still at a point where it looks more like you’re fishing and using them as bait than you are controlling them, stick them in a stroller. But to immediately say that ANYONE who uses a child leash in ANY circumstance no matter what is a bad or lazy parent is more than a little ignorant.
The “stop treating your kids like dogs” stuff is amusing too, because you’re probably the same people who complain about people who treat their dogs like their kids.
my mum used to use the leash on me as a toddler (i don’t remember it), but stopped after people were continually appalled at her. But personally, I think it’s a good idea, and it’s better both for the parent and for the child than holding the child in arms.
I remember being on a leash when I was very little, like 3 or so. Mom did that because I just wasn’t listening to her and just wouldn’t stay with her, and it was only a couple times, at crowded malls. I don’t think there was any damage in any way done because of it. (Actually, I don’t remember if it was me or my sister, but I think my mom actually used a real dog leash on one of us, with the chain collar around the waist. Both of us are decent adults now. ) I can understand how it can be bad if parents used them in place of actual discipline and parenting, but if you got a young kid that runs around…. I’d rather you use those than nothing. Every child is different, and some of them don’t need something like that… and some do. I work in retail and see way too many kids running around and their parents don’t even pay attention. I would much rather have leashes on the kids than having little hooligans running amok, knocking over displays and books and stuff, getting lost, wandering into places they should, etc. It’s no substitute for parenting, just a tool to help when needed.
First of, everybody has issues. Lots of issues, but few are important. The question is, how many and which ones were caused by the use of a leash? It’s not like you would be aware of it anyway, this sort of stuff requires careful assessment by a psychologist and can take one year or more of bi-weekly sessions to find an answer.
Well there is not documentation/studies about this type use of a harness(as in for a few occations).
I would say if a parent uses a harness once in a while at busy public places(and letting the kids run around withing the range of it) there would be no lasting effect at all. This is not abusive, kids this age do not see it as a tool for submision unless you activly use it as such(short leash, pulling them along etc.)
There is tons of studies of the adverse effects of the more common punishment/reward system that includes physical violence or getting locked up.
I know several adults who had harnesses when they were kids(one of my older brothers for one) and i can’t discern any issues that might have come from occationally being in a harness.
I know several adults who got “disciplined” by their parents and among some of them there are some clearly visible issues.
Oh, I got plenty of issues… but none of them were from the one or two times I wore a leash. Other issues that are not related to those incidents are more to blame. I barely even remember it, and I’m definitely not angry at my mother for using one. Looking back at what I can remember… I’m surprised she didn’t use it more often! I know that I wasn’t an angel child, by any means.
Besides, I think the time I remember it was when we were at a downtown mall…. at christmas. A very crowded mall at christmas. If there is any time that qualifies as a good time to leash a hyperactive/ spacey/ distracted/ extremely willful young child, that is definitely one of them, in my opinion! Better safe than have to spend an hour searching for the child in a busy space!
Kids in leash during difficult developmental stages when they want to run off and can’t yet comprehend danger: WIN
Kids in leash due to lazy parents: FAIL
This mom has _little_ kids. And kids, like situations, vary. Sure, there are some kids that will behave at two. These aren’t them. Leash Win!
comment WIN!
Drop the newspaper that makes you think the world is full of child abusers and use the time to educate your children instead.
I don’t have kids, but remember being one (something that many people tend to forget). I remember it was fun to “get away” from mom, play in the middle of the clothing racks, sit in the magazine racks reading comics, get called on the store intercom to come to the front of the store, accidently let go of my mom’s coat for a second, and accidentally be holding on to some other woman’s coat, following her for a while, I could go on. I know I was a terror. I was never leashed, but looking back, would not blame my mom if she did, actually surprised she never thought of it. While I don’t think leashing a child should ever be a first course of action, if you know you are not going to be able to safely handle your child in a certain situations (poor woman is in an airport) perhaps leashing is warranted. God bless my mom.
More like parenting flail.
How many coments have I read about being that one in a million case or how such a busy place being the ideal place for using a leash. That’s interesting, considdering how in trade school they hammered home how dangerous loose strips of anything, but particularly fabric can be in a busy place. Especially one with machinery. so consider being the one in a million who’s kid trips and injures an elderly person or gets caught up in a baggage train or carousel or hit by an inatentive traveller pushing a baggage cart.
‘but you don’t know what its like to have kids running in diffferent directions at once’…… I can almost hear the whining. Well.. true but consider this those straps appear to be 4 feet long (they are at least three). Thats a six to eight foot diameter of trouble they can get themselves into in possibly (admitted by everyone here) seconds in a busy place. now picture walking down a path that’s clear on either side from potential one in a mllion dangers for you kids everywhaere you go. So much for COMMON SENSE.
Just bea parent and hold the damn kids hand
“this leash demeans us both” – thats right – simpsons already did it
Yeah, she’s got two kids. She’s got two hands. Which kid does she let go from “being a parent” to also carry their luggage? To hand the gate agent their tickets? Does she decide before leaving the house which kid she loves more?
i don’t know maybe she stopped being a parent to both when she essentially attached her child to a 4 foot tripline in a busy place – which was my main point
I didn’t know that there even was a casting call for Spiderwoman. Obviously she’s already got the part, but still, it’d be nice to know.
When I saw this picture, I immediately thought of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJvgz2U_oU#t=00m10s
In her defense: Her kids probably spent a good 4-5 hrs cooped up on an airplane and needed to run. it wouldn’t have been safe for them to do so un-hindered. She was doing the best she could…especially with twin boys
It’s so easy for other people to criticize without actually having to walk in another’s shoes. So many people on here on their high and perfect pedestals need to have a nice, quiet 5-minute time out, and maybe a little spanking would help, too.
Everyone damning the mom in the picture for using the leashes should feel ashamed of yourselves for even imagining you have the right to judge her. Due to your lack of humanity, situational knowledge, and most likely your pride, you will argue with me that you do, indeed, have the right to say she’s performing a parenting fail. Lovely. The world is such a loving and understanding place.
*ends the passive-aggressive diatribe and walks away*
I don’t know what the big deal is. I was put on a leash when I learned how to walk in the early 90′s. I would constantly be getting lost at the mall, the zoo, Disney World, the grocery store, etc. The second my parents turned around, I ran off and hid somewhere. Or if they were holding my hand, I would wriggle my little hand out of theirs and run like heck! They would catch me in the act a lot and I’d stick around. But, as a child, I remember looking for the perfect time to escape, (Mom signing a check, Dad changing my sister’s diaper, etc) When my sister learned to walk, we would run off purposely in different directions when there was only one parent around. It was like I was in a constant game of hide and seek and I got some kind of sick amusement from watching my mom and dad freak out because I ran off somewhere again. I was diciplined, put in time out, bribed, reasoned with, pleaded with, even spanked and nothing, NOTHING worked. So, finally my parents said “F*** it” and put my dumb a$$ on a leash. I wore the leash maybe from the time I was 2 and wore it until I understood that I needed to stay with my parents (about 3 and a half.) And I turned out O.K. I’m not some kind of sociopath, or clingy, or whatever. I grew up to become a fully functioning member of society and have no ill feelings towards my parents whatsoever. They did the right thing and I’d do the same with my kids if they acted that way. I didn’t feel like a dog, or less than a person. They needed to do it, or I would run away. “Nuff said.
Did people ask what kind of breed you were?
Awww me wish me had babbys so me can put on leash.
God forbid you breed.
I don’t know which is more indicative of our society’s hate of women — the fact that this was posted, or the fact that it’s received such high ratings. Pathetic.
hate of women?! maybe its respect for women that got this up here ass in we think highly enough of women that we believe they can and should do better. What would you think of a man having these issues? For me it would be the same. you know, like equality or something
LOL!
Alot of you are hilarious.
I have a two year old son.
I use the monkey pack/ leash.
My son is extremely willful. I can tell him “no, stay here” untill I’m blue in the face and it wont make a difference. Consequences, yea I give those out too, but he’s TWO. You hand out the consequence and two minutes later it’s like nothing ever happend and you are back to square one.
I can tell you now my son LOVES his monkey pack. He loves to put it on and he loves to wear it.
A two year old child does not have the coginitive ability to think “oh I’m a possesion, my mother owns me” they do not understand humliation. A two year old child does not feel humiliated.
A two year olds range of emotion is happy, sad and angry.
My son is happy to wear the pack.
And my reasons for putting it on him arent like “oh the kidnappers” or anything else like that.
I personally believe that the harness instills a sense of freedom, individuality and independance for him and that’s why I use it. He can be a free and happy child walking around on his own accord, with the saftey net of a harness.
For my child, the harness is great. He does not feel demeaned by it and he surley does not feel humiliated.
My child associates his harness with FREEDOM. He thinks “YES! I can run around and not have to hold mommys hand every second”. He’s not thinking “oh my mom treats me like a possession, I’m her dog”.
When he is old enough to stay near me without me having to discipline him or remind him, then I’ll let him give up the harness as he likes.
But untill then, I’d rather keep him safe and instill a sense of independance in him than resorting to publicly discipling him every two seconds because he cannot remember, or becomes distracted from being at my side. Rignt now, he understand he has to stay with me, but just because he knows it, it’s not going to keep him from being distracted or doing something else.
Oh noes, I must be a terrible parent.
When I go out my attention is on him 100%, I don’t use his leash as a lazy way out of parenting. I use it as a parenting tool, to keep him safe yet let him have some control over his own body and his actions.
Instead of forcing him to hold my hand at all times, he cannot do anything in that situation, might as well glue our coats together because we both move as a single entitiy. With the harness he get’s to express that he is his own person and not feel like he can’t do anything.
Call me a bad parent, I don’t care. I parent in a way that I see fit for MY child and you can do whatever you wish with yours.
The lady in the picture is teaching her children how to become functioning adults and how to be their own person. Instilling them with a sense of freedom, individuality and independance. The leash does not equal lazy or easy and sometimes the leash makes a situation harder than it has to be. Such is life.
Love!
Although, one thing. Kids that young can be humiliated, but it tends to be in calling them a baby or laughing at their fears kinda way, not how mommy dresses them (the leashes are little more than a backpack)
Even if putting them on a leash makes a 2year old feel like a dog, the kid’s bound to be playing doggie half the day anyways. My son’s 3 and has pretended to be our cat pretty much everyday for over a year. He also plans to be a bunny rabbit when he grows up.
If your toddler feels like a dog while on a leash, he’s playing dress-up.
As a side, my kid hates wearing the harness. That hate has helped us train him to stay nearby and to stop when told. Even though he’s really good at listening (most days) I’ll still strap it on for crazy busy events, festivals, whatever, because he’s shorter than the crowd. I can’t just stand on my tiptoes or call a cell phone to find him if he wanders away. And hey, you can still hold the kid’s hand with the leash around your wrist. It’s like insurance. My kid’s wonderful, great, well behaved! But he’s still THREE. Really people.
Sorry, but her kids are teaching HER a lesson. That’s why i find this pic hilarious. I’m not completely against leashing children, that depends on the situation, but it looks as if it was a bad idea in this case. Since the alleged father wrote on this post as well – I think it might have been a bad idea to introduce the kids to a harness while on an airport, a little training might have been great.
Cripes, my parents leashed me and I turned out OK. Some kids behave, and some kids are demon spawn. My siblings and I were demon spawn. The other two would distract her and I’d jump into the deep end of the swimming pool. Didn’t know how to swim, but oh well. Better to have a spirited child on a leash than a dead child because they were defiant, careless, childish, whatever.
THIS
Wow, 500+ comments on flaming each other regarding leashes for children. This is failblog after all, not debate central .com or something.
A parenting fail, but a win for the kids. Good teamwork, guys!
Amen! Go kids!
Sheesh – have any of you ever heard of prams… you know, those things with wheels in which you incarcerate your little kids? Get one of Phil & Ted’s Excellent Pram Company ‘stack’ prams and you can fit two children in.
‘Sides – little kids get TIRED. Wheeling them around means they don’t scuttle around underfoot whining and touching stuff, because you are insisting on dragging them around and over-stimulating them when they should be at home having a quiet nap.
maybe the leash isn’t to keep the child’s physical well being safe, but to keep a parents false sense of security safe
how selfish
All i hear is thumping rave music.
UN TIS UN TIS UN TIS
LOL! thank god i just finished my lunch or i would have chocked to death!
Parenting WIN. My mother had an “English walking rein” as it was called (we lived in NY but she got it from a British friend) and it saved my life when I stood up in my stroller… I would have hit the pavement head on. I had no trauma from it. I was safe, and could not dart into the street or be snatched by a creep.
Granted this woman should not have been walking the dog at the same time, but this is NOT inhumane to the child at all. Would you rather the kid be able to run ahead and be snatched or hit by a car?
One mom with two kids in an airport, I don’t see the fail in this. If there were ever a good place to leash your kids, I would say airports and Disneyland are the top two. Clearly both children would be running in separate directions if given the chance.
stupid parents fail!
This poor mom looks she’s got her hands full – I wouldn’t call this a “fail” just an overworked mom.
Leashes weren’t around back when I was a toddler (showing my age)
, & I don’t have kids myself, but I can see their necessity these days. About a year ago, I was in a local wholesale store & saw a young mother who’s fussy son was doing the “lying on the floor act ” in the middle of an aisle. A few minutes later, while I was looking around the computer department of this particular store, SAME kid (@ 3 ~ 4 years old) literally DOVE THROUGH a pile of boxed computer keyboards on a low shelf, right in front of me, & disappeared into the shelf unit! A few minutes later, I spotted the panicked young mother & grandmother looking frantically for the kid; I asked if he was wearing a green jacket, they replied yes, I told them to follow me over to the shelf unit – where I found the toddler had climbed UP the 6-foot high shelf unit like a jungle gym, standing atop the highest shelf, & REFUSING to come down! The situation was finally resolved when a store employee we notified wheeled over a large stepladder, finally enabling the mother to scramble up to the shelf level & retrieve her squalling, fussing kid, who squirmed in her arms all the way out the door. This was a potentially DANGEROUS situation a leash would have prevented! (& the mother & grandmother WERE grateful to me for helping find the little brat!). 
I don’t think the leashes are a that bad an idea, especially when you have the kids that run around everywhere annoying everyone because they get into some stranger’s face or the parents are just letting them run a muck everywhere. At least these parents are trying to control their kids. Not everyone likes kids. And not everyone likes your kid to want to deal with them. Especially when they want something you have but you’re not giving it to them so they start yelling at you and the parent isn’t doing anything.
This is just one of those moments that you laugh about later as a parent. All of us are aware that it’s not peaches and cream, but you don’t figure out what works by sitting all day in front of the television, folding laundry and keeping your kids in that fer-sure-it’s-safe place.
The bigger fail is most of these comments. Cut her some slack, she’s not doing anyone any harm. I hope she can look back at the moment and have a chuckle over it.
Hello everyone! This is the mom in the photo. I have enjoyed reading all of your comments. I thank all of you who have defended me. I have had a good laugh at some of the other comments. Especially the Helicoper one. I prefer to call them Mum-chucks. At first I was a little embarassed, but got a good laugh out of the picture when I saw it. It really wasn’t that bad of a situation. Both the kids were having fun and wanting to run in circles. One just happened to fall down. It really is a funny picture. Im actually really proud of the fact that my body can still be as flexible as a childs. I dedicate this photo to all of the parents who have been embarassed by their children in public. I view it as a right of passage.
I forgot to thank the person who captured this moment for me. Thank you for making me laugh today.
Mom of War!
Soo… I guess the solution is not to have more children than you can handle on your own. Even if that number is “zero.”
Look hard – the kids are twins, i.e., same age. If you’ve never had twins, you have no idea what it is like when one child wrenches their hand away from you and you CAN’T run after it because you’ve got another one attached to you. Second, look harder – the kids are playing.
I happen to know the young Mother in this picture. She is an excellent parent. Try taking todddler twins by yourself on a trip and see how well you manage without the safety of the child restraint she used.
More like win. Leashes for kids = good.
Type of Marshal Art.: Kung -fu
Style : Dual Chain Wipe
Weapon of choice: My Children…what?! they have no other use!
Dual Wield: Yur doin’ it wrong!
Whatever happened to holding onto your kids’ hand? Or is even that simple task too much for today’s parents?
I think those tethers are a great idea. I grew up with 2 younger twin brothers, and they were hell to keep an eye on. “Holding thier hand” is impossible when you have to handle tickets, baggage, groceries, clothes, etc, as well as crowds in an airport, supermarket, city, department store etc, closely surrounded by racks and racks of items, where at any second, a child could disappear behind. I’m pretty sure that without these tethers, one of my brothers would have never made it to adulthood. I can’t wait to get them myself for my own children and piece of mind. It’s not a device so that people don’t have to watch their children, it’s so when they have to take those 2 seconds to find a ticket, wallet, change, etc, it doesn’t become the opportune moment for a child to take off/ be taken.
there is something to be said for this picture………….i don’t know what it is but there is one by gosh!
God, I hate those leashes….
I vote a personality test before being allowed to keep children. Who is with me?
I love it how every time a child is shown in a picture with a “leash” (child safety harness), the “abuse” card gets thrown out there. I think the parents who care enough to put their child in some sort of safety device are thinking more than the parents that just hold hands with their child.
Few questions here – what if it’s a 2 year old that’s only about 30 inches tall with a 6+ foot parent. Not very easy to hold hands there if the child doesn’t want to be held. And the multiple children plus baggage is another perfect example. Chances are at some point you’re going to have to let go of a child’s hand for some reason. And what child listens to logic *every* time? I’ll give you that sometimes a child will listen to simple logic (Don’t touch that – it’s owie hot.), but even then they aren’t going to listen 100% of the time.
Personally, I love these harnesses. I have one for my son. Since he started walking, it has allowed him more freedoms (I rarely have a clingy child and it gets his curiosity going – he’s more willing to learn about something new) while at the same time a form of safety. Of course it’s not going to be as safe as me holding him (after all – staying at home is theoretically much safer than going out for a bike ride. Gasp! You could fall off and scrape your knee!!), but it does allow him to do more things on his own. And the harnesses are much better than what I had as a child. My cousin & I had an actual dog leashes looped into our belt loops for a few family trips. At least our uncle had a vest type harness which saved him from dropping into a lake on one of their family outings in the 70s (yes, my aunt was supposed to be watching him, but she turned her back to help untangle fishing lines, and he thought it was hilarious to be swinging a foot above the water – it was a good thing she tied him to the car). With my son, I still hold his hand, even with the harness, but it gives me more flexibility in case I do have to let go of his hand for any reason.
Now, spanking. I’m sorry – I didn’t go through every single post to see where that little gem was brought up. I obviously don’t see it in the picture. But since it’s out there – why not. Spanking can be considered abuse. But it can also *not* be considered abuse. Repeated/excessive spanking? Yes, abuse. Spanking in anger? Yes, abuse. Spanking as punishment when the child repeatedly refuses to listen? Not necessarily. Spanking should not be held in the same regards as beating. They aren’t always the same. If you’re using anything other than your hand, that’s beating, and it should be turned around and used on the jackasses of parents that call it discipline. One firm smack on the behind or a quick tap on the back of the hand should be enough. Get the child’s attention – that’s really all you need to do. Not saying that works for *all* children, but you get the picture. And if your child listens well enough that you’d never have to spank them, congratulations!! Not everyone is so lucky & I’ve seen countless children & teens that *should* have been spanked.
No, parents aren’t paying as much attention as they should be at all times, but there is also now more to pay attention to. More cars on the roads, more distractions for both parents and children. Every little thing that provides an additional safety for the child (no matter how small it may be) should not be frowned upon like harnesses & leashes are. Even the wrist cuffs that some parents use – personally, I don’t think they’re as useful or reliable as harnesses (much easier to come off of the child), but at least they’re something.
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You my friend are a tard. You win at making a doucher of yourself.
You may not have been leashed as a child, but were you helmeted as a child?
nice name, i’ll take that as a living tribute