Hey, people already put their kids on leashes. Ya never know!

At certain daycares like in State College, there's always the "kids on a rope" walking around campus. I like the idea of the stuffed toy backpack leashes for kids, though.

I swore I would never put my kid on a leash because it seemed so dehumanizing. Then we were at Sea World when Halo was about 2 1/2. He was so excited he kept trying to get out of his umbrella stroller to see cool stuff and he almost tipped it over a few times. So we let him out of the stroller and then he ran everywhere. I bought a leash that day and used it that day! He was too young to be capable of containing his excitement and stay holding one of our hands and I decided I'd rather have him on the leash than have him get lost. I don't think I ever even used it again after that day, but I did have to admit that sometimes, it's safer to do that than anything else. We all had a lot more fun that day because it ended the battles and kept him safe.

Good for you and your culture. The United States is a big place with lots of different cultures who all have different ideas on how children should be raised. Even if yours is objectively better than the others, where do you get off telling others what is acceptable?

It's okay to have some community standards and it's okay for the state to protect children from actual abuse, but from corporal punishment? Even corporal punishment which you might subjectively consider cruel? To a degree, yes, because in many cultures, that's how children are raised.

Child Welfare workers are trained a lot in cultural competencies, so they may choose to leave a child from a certain culture with marks from a switch in the home and conclude there's nothing wrong, because it is probable that the child is loved and cared for and has a parent or parents who want to raise them to understand that actions have consequences and to respect authority.

I've read up on the study trying to correlate grey matter/brain structure with corporal punishment, but it fails to explain the causation aspect of the relationship, so it's speculation. And even then, different =/= better.

Have you ever ridden a horse? You pull on a strap which yanks on its mouth to make it turn, pull its head back to make it stop.. and to go, you kick that sucker in the ribs... if you're wearing spurs which can make it more painful, I hear that works better... or whip him with the leather straps attached to his face.

I really don't get some animal cruelty laws and especially don't like how they're sometimes applied. And all the stuff Dr. Phil said too.

At that age, they're about as functional as a labrador retriever anway. They respond (sometimes) to commands, can be taught tricks, can fetch and communicate their needs to you sort of effectively.

The lab wins though 'cuz it can be potty trained.

My parents used a leash on me.. probably smart. They also used corporal punishment early and often.

LOL.

Let's think about this though, there are certain demographics of people whose kid on a leash would cause alarm. I don't see kids on leashes that often but when I do it is white people who appear middle class.

I would bet people would be more inclined to claim some level of abuse or neglect if the kids on a leash thing was more prevalent in other racial and socioeconomic demographics.

I had the same first thought that Low D Flat did. I know that's not what you meant but that's how your post read.