Good idea

by Robin Tidwell

Created on: August 13, 2009   Last Updated: April 26, 2010

Experienced parents, especially those who have recently navigated the toddler years, will either smile smugly or burst into outright laughter when someone voices the mantra, "Toddler leashes are degrading...and humiliating!" Of course toddler leashes are a good idea, equivalent to the brainstorm of the first parent who brought a baggie of Cheerios to occupy their toddler in church.

Go ahead: ask a toddler if he feels degraded or humiliated while on a toddler leash. Chances are that he will look at you, puzzled, because he neither knows the meaning of those words nor does he understand the concept; toddlers are notoriously self-centered, and the only reason one would be opposed to a leash is because it will keep him from fully exploring the object of the moment.

A ten-foot toddler leash will allow a child a modicum of freedom - and at his age, that's all he needs. He has no perception of danger, he just knows what he wants, and that he wants it all now, this minute. He will dart and dodge and take off on a whim, his poor parent trailing behind like the tail of a kite.

Fortunately, this toddler is on a leash and so his harassed parent can indeed keep up with him. His parent can prevent untold disasters, while at the same time the toddler has the illusion of freedom. In this manner, the toddler is much safer and, indeed, happier than if he were being confined to a stroller, carried, or hanging constantly onto a sweaty hand - or, hard to imagine, abducted or become seriously injured.

No sane individual would use a toddler leash to stake said toddler out in the yard, or yank him back unceremoniously when he wanders too far - these are things that do indeed make one question the use of a toddler leash. Parents who do these things are likely doing far worse to their children.

Of course, all politically correct parents and yes, even helicopter parents, will avoid the use of toddler leashes like the plague. Why? Because they'd rather their children annoy others, or scare them, or trip them up while in crowd than speak one so-called unkind word to little Johnny or, heaven forbid, actually correct him. Helicopter parents would much rather be constantly correcting little Johnny, talking a blue streak while trying to enjoy their outing and, again, annoying others in the vicinity.

Using a toddler leash is not a negative impression on a child, and it has nothing to do with wanting to keep a child from small, minor injuries - it has everything to do with eliminating the heart-stopping fear that arises when a toddler cannot be found, is perched on the fence at the gorilla pen in the zoo, or to reduce the constant yammering at said child to hang on, be careful, look out, and other unnecessary corrections and deflections.

Parents who use toddler leashes do so merely to employ another tool in their arsenal of child-raising tricks - because staying one step ahead of the kids, literally and figuratively, is the name of the game.

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