# Did Your Mother Ever Put You on Leash With a Harness When You Were a Toddler?



## SeaBreeze (Sep 24, 2015)

Did your mom ever put you on leash and harness as a toddler, or did you ever use those with your children?  My mother never did, and I rarely saw that, but when I did it seemed strange.  Suppose these days with all the kidnappings, it may be handy.  When I was younger, folks would leave their sleeping babies outside stores in the carriage while they shopped, and never had a worry.


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## tnthomas (Sep 24, 2015)

No, but my [ex] wife tried to and I told her I don't_ go that way_...


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## SifuPhil (Sep 24, 2015)

No, but my [ex] wife sent me to the doghouse many times. 

Seriously, if parents today would spend a few minutes actually SUPERVISING THEIR CHILDREN and TEACHING THEM MANNERS they wouldn't _need _a leash ...


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## Butterfly (Sep 25, 2015)

The way a lot of children behave today, they NEED to be on a leash!  I almost got knocked down the other day in a store by two little darlings running headlong through the aisle, while their adoring mother looked on without a word.

Had I behaved that way my mother would have jerked me out of that store so fast it would've made my head swim.


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## Underock1 (Sep 25, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> Did your mom ever put you on leash and harness as a toddler, or did you ever use those with your children?  My mother never did, and I rarely saw that, but when I did it seemed strange.  Suppose these days with all the kidnappings, it may be handy.  When I was younger, folks would leave their sleeping babies outside stores in the carriage while they shopped, and never had a worry.



I think the leash thing came in after our kids were older. I haven't seen that in many years. There was something kind of disturbing about it. Way back when, almost everyone was a stay at home mother. The women all knew each other and watched each others kids as a group without being asked. It _was_ safer.


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## boozercruiser (Sep 25, 2015)

Butterfly said:


> The way a lot of children behave today, they NEED to be on a leash!  I almost got knocked down the other day in a store by two little darlings running headlong through the aisle, while their adoring mother looked on without a word.
> 
> Had I behaved that way my mother would have jerked me out of that store so fast it would've made my head swim.



Hear Hear Butterfly.
But the little horrors have their own agenda nowadays!


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## Ken N Tx (Sep 25, 2015)




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## AprilT (Sep 25, 2015)

No, but, I wouldn't have faulted them had they I ruined a few family trips by wandering off and having set off everyone including myself into panic mode. Lots of relief hugs from mom not so nice glares from sibs on ride home.


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## fureverywhere (Sep 25, 2015)

For a few years I had five under ten...no I do not know what on earth I was thinking...I used a mesh leash, one end on my belt loop and the other end on the overalls of the most "adventurous" child of the group. Kept my hands free and kept her from wandering too far, with multiple kids it can save you much grief.


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## RadishRose (Sep 25, 2015)

Many years ago a lady who lived on the 3rd floor harnessed her little boy on a leash in our fenced yard while she did whatever upstairs. She didn't leave him out there all day, but I always though it was weird.


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## Shirley (Sep 25, 2015)

When we took three year old Bubba to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, we used a gadget that looked like a watch. The one on his wrist was some kind of cartoon character. He loved it. It locked on his wrist and the other end locked on an adult's wrist. It could be two different lengths.  As many people and children as there were milling about, a child could easily wander off for a few seconds. That could be all it would take for a disaster to happen.


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## fishfulthinking (Sep 25, 2015)

I believe my brother was. (bad memory)
I did put my youngest daughter into a full harness.  She was terribly reckless as a wee one, she liked to run through the clothing stores and hide in the racks.  She had no fear, and no regard for her own safety.  This child did not understand pain until she actually hurt herself.  
On a visit to the hospital to see her grandfather, we had her "leased up" and as we got off the elevator into his ward, the nurse at the desk said "I wish more people were like you and took responsibility for their children"  From that day on, the odd and awkward looks from strangers no longer bothered me.


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## tnthomas (Sep 25, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> Seriously, if parents today would spend a few minutes actually SUPERVISING THEIR CHILDREN and TEACHING THEM MANNERS they wouldn't _need _a leash ...



QFT.    I'd like to get a bumper sticker saying that,  but would probably get my car vandalized.


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## AZ Jim (Sep 25, 2015)

Mom put me in one but only when she hung me up on the hook to go to work.


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## Linda (Sep 25, 2015)

RadishRose said:


> Many years ago a lady who lived on the 3rd floor harnessed her little boy on a leash in our fenced yard while she did whatever upstairs. She didn't leave him out there all day, but I always though it was weird.


RadishRose, I don't think I'd care for your old 3rd floor neighbor.  I hope the little boy had toys and wasn't crying or upset.  Anyway, I probably would have been tempted to call child protection, if they had it back then.  I don't know how long it's been around.


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## Linda (Sep 25, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> Mom put me in one but only when she hung me up on the hook to go to work.




Jim. your mom was just trying to keep you out of trouble.


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## AZ Jim (Sep 25, 2015)

Linda said:


> Jim. your mom was just trying to keep you out of trouble.



Not an easy task either....


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 27, 2020)

I escaped the leash, but do remember mom using one with my baby siblings.

Haven't seen a child safety leash being used in ages.


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## Lewkat (Jun 27, 2020)

Yes.  I was a wanderer.


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## raybar (Jun 27, 2020)

I was told that Dad would sometimes tie one end of a thin rope (sash cord, probably) around my waist and use it as a leash. The old expression about being at the end on one's rope comes to mind.


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## fmdog44 (Jun 27, 2020)

I remember nothing until I turned 6 1/2.


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## Keesha (Jun 27, 2020)

Never leashed  by my parents
I would have bit them


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## twinkles (Jun 27, 2020)

i remember when we were young my mother would tie us up to the clothes line post if she had to run to the store


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 27, 2020)

twinkles said:


> i remember when we were young my mother would tie us up to the clothes line post if she had to run to the store


Used to babysit for a neighbour that did that!


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## Pappy (Jun 28, 2020)

Nope, don’t believe in it. I did the same thing to my kids that my mother did to me. The old thumb in the shoulder trick. Hurts like hell, and if that didn’t work, out to the car for a good spanking.


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## Gary O' (Jun 28, 2020)

SeaBreeze said:


> Did your mom ever put you on leash and harness as a toddler, or did you ever use those with your children?


Uh, no
It was all I could do to keep up

One time, at the old JC Penney store, I was hanging onto my mom's coat
Looked up,* GNAH!....IT* *ISN'T MY MOM!!!*
Took me several panic stricken minutes to find her

Did that same trick with my kids
Walk fast
Give 'em that* I could get left and raised by gypsies* feeling 
Never an issue

Now, with Gramma, when she went to 'Monkey Wards',
she'd leave me in the ol' black '51 Chevy
Windows rolled up
Locked
Middle of summer
Coat on
Sweat can be rather cooling if you have sense enough to roll the window down


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## Em in Ohio (Jun 28, 2020)

fishfulthinking said:


> I believe my brother was. (bad memory)
> I did put my youngest daughter into a full harness.  She was terribly reckless as a wee one, she liked to run through the clothing stores and hide in the racks.  She had no fear, and no regard for her own safety.  This child did not understand pain until she actually hurt herself.
> On a visit to the hospital to see her grandfather, we had her "leased up" and as we got off the elevator into his ward, the nurse at the desk said "I wish more people were like you and took responsibility for their children"  From that day on, the odd and awkward looks from strangers no longer bothered me.


Ditto.  Your daughter's description fit my son to a tee.  He had no "internal control mechanism" and no amount of discipline or behavior modification worked.

I lost him in a Sear's Department Store (clothing department) that was about to close at the end of the day - The security folks ordered me to leave!  I said, "I'm not leaving.  I came in with my son and he is missing!"  We finally found him inside a storage compartment beneath a tee-shirt display.  After that, the leash was mandatory!


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## hollydolly (Jun 28, 2020)

Yes we had Reins (as they were called here)  when we were kids, there was only a year between all of us, so most of us were barely walking when the next came along, so harnesses were needed. I remember my baby sister who is 7 years younger than me having one similar to this...


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 28, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Yes we had Reins (as they were called here)  when we were kids, there was only a year between all of us, so most of us were barely walking when the next came along, so harnesses were needed. I remember my baby sister who is 7 years younger than me having one similar to this...


Wow! Now there's a true collectors item!

Can't help but chuckle over the horses on the front!


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## Sunny (Jun 28, 2020)

Good grief, no!  She would have been horrified at the idea.  But then, I was an only child and pretty well behaved.


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## Kayelle (Jun 30, 2020)

I was an obedient child so I was never leashed.
My oldest son was leashed though when he was a toddler, and not in the safety of his stroller.  I didn't care that others judged my mothering skills, as the first time he tried to run out into the street, his fate was sealed and that was that. We took him tent camping near a river when he was about three years old, and I tied his leash to the end of a rope just short of the river. No way I was going to loose him to a tragedy. He's in his 50's now, still head strong and I love him even more now than I did then. His younger brother was seven years later, and the perfectly manageable child. I deserved it by then. lol


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## JaniceM (Jun 30, 2020)

Actually, I've never seen a child on a harness/leash.


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## fuzzybuddy (Jul 1, 2020)

My parents never did. I was a free range kid. But I do remember other kids being tied up outside. And there was no fancy harness- just a rope tied around the waist. I don't believe the practice wasn't that parents didn't love their kids, it's that they honestly weren't aware of the dangers in what they were doing. I was in grade school, walking about four miles a day, by myself; but they did the same when they were growing up.


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## Kayelle (Jul 3, 2020)

Come to think of it, I'd like to put a leash on my husband. He walks twice as fast as I do and if he doesn't  hold my hand he gets away from me.
Hmmm, something way too familiar about that.


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## hollydolly (Jul 3, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> Actually, I've never seen a child on a harness/leash.



Then





 ...and now..... .....


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## Ferocious (Jul 3, 2020)

*Did Your Mother Ever Put You on Leash With a Harness When You Were a Toddler?*
*Sure did, and a muzzle, and handcuffs.......and that was only when I was behaving myself*


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## win231 (Jul 3, 2020)

My mother put a leash on me.  But she put it around my neck & used a slip knot.


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## toffee (Jul 5, 2020)

dont know --but she certainly put me on a leash at 14 ...ewwwwww


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## Dolly (Jul 5, 2020)

Yes she did. And we put our  daughter on one too (when we were out) She would have been 42 last month


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## AmberTea (Jul 5, 2020)

Mom always had a hold of my hand in those years, but I think these days and with parents taking their
kids out in large settings, fairs, events etc, and all depending on the adventurous aspect of the given child,
it might be a wise thing. Two years ago and at a fair I found a child of which ended up being two years old,
walking lost but happy through crowds of people, looking for and saying assertively "mommy!" My man and
I followed the child about 30 seconds and closely and immediately decided LOST. Not knowing if we took care
of the child to get him to a security guard at the fair grounds, and if the parents saw us, we could be deemed as
a child abductor.  But we did the right thing quick and took the tiny tot, and sat on a bench, while another trusted
person went to get the security guard at fairgrounds to come and access the situation. **Ended up the parents had
both turned their backs for a moment away from their child and he took off.


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 5, 2020)

AmberTea said:


> Mom always had a hold of my hand in those years, but I think these days and with parents taking their
> kids out in large settings, fairs, events etc, and all depending on the adventurous aspect of the given child,
> it might be a wise thing. Two years ago and at a fair I found a child of which ended up being two years old,
> walking lost but happy through crowds of people, looking for and saying assertively "mommy!" My man and
> ...


A happy ending thanks to good folks as yourselves!


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## Damaged Goods (Jul 5, 2020)

SeaBreeze said:


> Did your mom ever put you on leash and harness as a toddler, or did you ever use those with your children?  My mother never did, and I rarely saw that, but when I did it seemed strange.  Suppose these days with all the kidnappings, it may be handy.  When I was younger, folks would leave their sleeping babies outside stores in the carriage while they shopped, and never had a worry.



Is this what they mean when they say that a parent had a toddler on her/his hip?  I don't recall ever seeing a kid on a parent's hip and can't imagine how it's possible unless the kid were strapped to the hip like a six gun.


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## AmberTea (Jul 5, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Then
> 
> 
> 
> ...




this is an excellent option for all parents to consider (imo)


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 5, 2020)

AmberTea said:


> this is an excellent option for all parents to consider (imo)


Any parent who has ever had a child get away on them knows all too well the sick feeling that follows.

As a young child I recall my parents reminding us kids over and over and over again, _stay close to us, don't stray, stay right by our sides, I want to see you at all times_. Outings like that, that concentrate on such aren't outings at all but rather, exercises in putting on through undue stress.

At least with a safety harness a parent can free themselves from the constant worry of a child getting away from them. They definitely had their place.


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