To Leash Or Not To Leash? That Is The Question

We've all seen it. The parent with the brood of kids and the toddler is tethered to mom via a snuggling monkey or some other fuzzy creature. Call me what you will, but I am more than willing to be honest about what my thoughts used to be when I would see this. I would think that if she couldn't handle that many kids without leashing them then she should not have had that many. I now feel like my assessment was partially unjust. I now have a new insight on the whole leash topic, however I am still a firm believer of don't have more kids than you can handle. That's just my personal opinion, take it or leave it. Back to the leash issue at hand though. My husband and I both were very against child leashing before we got pregnant. We talked about it and agreed that we would never do it because children are not animals. But I am a firm believer that parenting is about compromise and rolling with punches.


My stance has changed mainly because of where I am in parenthood with my son. Bub is 16 months old and one of the most independent children I have ever encountered. He could not wait to be able to walk on his own and would actually get frustrated when he hadn't quite been able to do it. He has been sharpening his walking skills since April and does quite well. I am all for supporting his independence but when we are in public he does not want to hold our hands. That makes walking on his own quite an issue when we are in a store. The hubby usually corrals him until he gets in the way of other people. So the little light bulb went off in my head that this could be the solution to our problem.


We have not actually tried this yet because he does not meet the size requirement for the leash backpacks we have seen. I do feel that there is a right and a wrong way to go about this though. For example, he will not be in it whenever we go in public. It's something that we are going to reserve for when he doesn't have to be in the cart and wants to walk around. When he is in it we will be paying attention to him. This is not a tool that we'll be using as an excuse not to watch him and give him the attention that he needs. It irritates me to no end when I see parents completely ignoring their kids in any situation. Add in a tool to aid the lazy and things just turn friggin ridiculous. 


All in all I think that a child leash can be a very helpful tool when your kids are learning to walk but are still a little too young to understand the concept of hand-holding. If used the right way it will allow you to grant your child the independence that they may be craving (I know my son craves it). I do, however, think that it can be misused. In the end it is a personal choice made by parents and you should do what feels right for you and your little squee.