KIDS on LEASHES

Quote: (It's non-political [tho it can apply] but I like it so much I had to include it, and I agree with it whole-heartedly. Everyone I have told it to has disagreed on 1st thought, then agreed after further consideration, tho you certainly may not agree at all) "There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It's the ability to RECOGNIZE ability." - Elbert Hubbard

(tho I don't count this as true to a person who calls him/herself a "critic". There are too many of these people that clearly have no idea what they are talking about, nor can they recognize ability or talent when they see it, and they do this on a consistent and constant basis. I think many are simply trying to be snobs, and they have their pre-set categories of what is "intelligent" and what is "barbaric" and so on, based on upper-class {either in financial circles or - more often - academic circles). Oh I'll hush now, and blog on it later if it continues to bother me. Its just that very recently I've been exposed to "deep, thought-provoking" poetry, such as the kind only bohemian/ intelligent/ educated blah blah blah can possibly understand, simply rife with stunning symbolism, that is in fact just ignorant and meaningless. And I can just see a roomful of educated idiots clapping and oohing and aahing over this poetry at some reading, convincing themselves they're part of the "in" crowd, while in actuality they don't detect a single poetic or intelligent thing in the crap - which is, ironically enough, the ACTUAL intelligence inside of them recognizing hogwash when it hears it.

I once was against it totally. Then I had my 2nd child. Then my 3rd. The problem is, calling them "leashes" and associating that with dogs. But really its a very simple thing that, once you think of it this way, really brooks zero argument.
Why do you put your dog on a leash? Do you care more about your dog than your child?
Nothin a parent loves more than advice from people who don't have kids. So they don't count. You CANNOT (yep, I'm yelling) make a child behave at all times, no matter what you do as a parent. I had 3 of the best kids in the world but they ARE kids. Judgmental people who apply different standards to others than themselves, they are gonna find ways to put others down no matter what. They don't count. That leaves the rest of us.
Now, do you scoff when you see a parent holding a child's hand? What is the difference in that and attaching them to you with a cord that actually gives them MORE space and MORE freedom,and MORE room to move than holding their hands does.
Finally, of all the related issues I have encountered in all my years as a parent, then the last 6 as a grandparent, the one issue that truly and genuinely troubles most people is this: parents who let their kids run buck wild, breaking stuff, taking stuff away from other kids, running too close to the road or into other potentially dangerous situations (and in this case at places like playgrounds, other moms and dads get very angry because we cannot sit by and let the child get hurt, or hurt others, so we have to watch THEIR kids too. Watch your own kids, people. They'd probably have been hospitalized, kidnapped, or killed if it weren't for other moms and dads watchin your child, and you can't always depend on the other moms - one day they all may be like you, and nobody is watchin the kids. Pedophilia heaven.) These parents NEED to put their kids on a leash. Kids will be wild, hyper, etc sometimes. But you don't just allow that, you try and control it. Holding their hands gives em about a foot of space, depending upon how short they are and how much angle you can give em. A "leash" gives them 3 or 4 times that. So, I don't see the problem nor why its even an issue. And among those who have become wise thru experience, its not an issue.

:Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent." - Horace Walpole