Parents of Preschoolers  Discussion Forum

As a parent who has used a leash on their child, do you think it affected the child, developmentally? Samay replied. I?m not a parent, but I was a ?leash kid?. I?ll tell two stories that my mom told me numerous times, because I was too young to remember what happened. One day during the holiday season my parents and aunt and uncle went shopping with us babies. I was 2 and my sister was about 1 and we were in a double stroller with me in the front. My dad and uncle had us while my mom and aunt shopped by themselves. The only logical conclusion as to what happened is that I must?ve unbuckled myself and got up to walk around while my dad and uncle were looking at something. My mom and aunt meet up with them and my mom asks ?where?s Jaclyn!?? That scene plays out in my head like something out of the Rugrats. They went to security to find me, the mall was on lockdown, people stopped their own shopping to help look for me. I was missing for over two hours before my parents found me. A nice woman working at a kiosk must?ve noticed a little girl wandering around and picked me up. She gave me a keychain to keep me occupied. I was safe, nothing bad happened. That could?ve been much worse, for all they knew I could?ve been taken by some crazy person. Obviously that wasn?t the case, but it still scared my parents. After that day, I was a leash baby. My mom wasn?t going to risk losing me again and obviously I was a runner. She told me how she would get dirty looks from other mothers for keeping me on a leash, and one time she got in a verbal fight at the grocery store with a woman who thought my mom was treating me like a dog. To answer the question, I have never felt any emotional scarring or embarrassment over being on a leash. My mom stopped using the leash when I was a toddler and I don?t actually remember being on a leash, but I do remember that I liked to wander off in public. Developmentally, I feel I?m perfectly normal and was on a normal track in school. I?m 26 years old now and I feel like I?m a relatively healthy and developmentally normal adult, aside from a few personal issues that I can?t attribute to being on a leash as a young child. When my mom told me the stories, I always thought it was funny. If I have kids, I wouldn?t automatically put them on a leash for no reason, but if one of all of them wander off in public or try running away in public, I wouldn?t hesitate to use a leash to keep my kids safe.