Leashing a kid

It's a common thing to see parents leashing their kids in the western countries. In fact, it is getting increasingly popular. There is a large variety of leashes, and of which some are very cute. They give their products fanciful names like safety harness, but come on!! A leash is a leash.

The parents who are not capable of restraining their kids use leashes to bind the children to them.Just like what they would when they walk their DOGS!

Like this...

Here is a fanciful one...

It looks as though the kid is carrying a monkey looking bag, but it is actually a leash. 

I saw it at Kiddy Palace. S$39 I think.

It takes a monkey to restrain a kids. How ironic!

I definitely disagree with the use of a leash. I believe we humans are unlike animals. We are capable to reasoning and understanding logic, so do our children. They are not our pet dogs. (In fact some well-trained pet dogs do not even need to be leashed.) The children ought to be taught not to run away from their parents, because they may loose their way or get into danger. They need to know that they have to behave themselves in the public so not to be a nuisance to other shoppers. Not to be leashed up instead!

Are Asians any better since we seldom see parents using leash?
I think many of our parents are worse.

Have you seen BIG 'babies' sitting on strollers??? Seriously big kids like 5-6 years old! It frustrates me whenever I see parents with these kids on strollers. To me, they are just lazy to control them, so they place them on the strollers. When they enter into the supermarket, they will put these kids onto the trolley so that they won't get to run around.Better still, add an iPhone or PSP to keep them occupied.

Some parents would argue that it is difficult to handle kids. They would say things like, "My kids is different!", "You won't understand if you don't have a kid!" or "They are still too young to understand."

Seriously, I remember I was not allowed to sit on a stroller after I could walk stably at about 2+ years old. I have also seen childcare teachers bring 10-15 preschoolers on outings in the MRT and they behave themselves!

So is the problem really on the kids? I doubt. I believe the problem is with the parents who are too lazy to keep an eye on their kids. I hope parents can try to be responsible in watching out for their children and not deprive them the opportunity to learn the lesson of SELF-CONTROL!

What do you think?