Anyone know, or recall being put on a leash as a child? If yes, were you tied/tethered to something, or some point?
I was, it was the 60’s, I was a little escape artist, and they couldn’t keep me in the yard. I had a harness I got put into, it was called a Zip A Babe harness, and when I was in the yard, I would be leashed, or tethered to the back porch support column. The leash was 10-15 feet long? And attached to the back of my harness. I couldn’t take the harness off myself, or unclip the leash. The harness had a zipper, which was placed in back, out to any toddlers reach, and it had small hard to undo clips for the leash, or tether. Once that was on, and my leash clipped on, I wasn’t going anywhere my mom didn’t want me to go! I was a little explorer, and didn’t much care for being tied up in the yard. I can still remember, my older sister teasing me, by making a big deal out of leaving our yard with her friends, and me at the end of my leash, crying, tugging and pulling, but it wouldn’t give. I wore that thing, till about 5 I think?
What were you tied to, and how? Can you remember it, and how long you had to wear it?
I had one kid I had to keep on a leash when shopping. he loved to run off or hide. Not funny, so I got him a high quality harness with kid proof buckles. he was in it about to five years old.
I was on a leash as a toddler didn’t remember until my mother showed pictures of me being on one in the grocery store. My daughter was on one it was a monkey backpack with a lead about 10’ long, We used it when in the mall in SC
no didn’t have any leash when we were kids we had a fence around the yard. I live in a smaller city with only 10,000 people, and there was no need for us to be on leash’s.
Looking back, its crazy the amount of (in retrospect) weird stuff a lot of families did.
That was before social media though. These days if you do something like that, someone would take a picture and post it on twitter and there’d be news vans outside your house within the hour.
Oh, we had a fence too. But, I still managed to escape. There was a gap between our neighbors garage, and our gate. My dad tried to board up the hole, but I still managed to get away. Then came the leash, with the harness, and I wandered no more! Lol.
I find this aspect of the whole pre-internet/post-internet society interesting. I think its easy to underestimate how much impact there is to being exposed to a constant stream of opinion and discussion on just about everything. What you describe is the kind of “problem → solution” type thinking that happened before you’d google it and see 10k opinions on how to handle that situation. Without that opinion stream, while you also might get some neighbour tsk tsking, there wasn’t the same instinct to make a stink about it. Sure, people called the newspapers or put up signs and such if they were really offended, but it just wasn’t the default mindset.
Before the advent of the internet (google), neighbors, family, books, magazines, news papers, tv, radio, were the sources of go to information. You had a problem, or question, you went to the encyclopedia, or some neighbor might tell you about a magazine article they read that could help. When it came to child rearing, mom went to her mom for answers, or other family. If not, the neighbor lady, or good old Dr. Spock.
I still remember, my mom, being one of the go to sources, when there was a question among family or friends on, what she thought was best.
About people complaining about a child in a harness. I had the grandson in one, only 6 years ago. Some people didn’t care for that I guess, but I never have one say it to my face or call the cops
I grew up in a community where no one cared that young kids ‘ran wild’ … folks generally kept an eye on what we where doing, and our parents where called if we gotten into trouble.
Now-a-days it seems like everyone is so … paranoid … and won’t let their kids be kids
( Note: crime rates back in my kid days where actually higher than they are now )
I think mine was 10-15 feet, tied to the column that supported the back porch.
I saw a boy of 4, or 5 at a boat basin, he was on a leash (rope), it looked to be about 25 feet. When the family arrived, he was already in a harness, and the leash was held by his grandmother, the rope was coiled up in her hand. Later, he was tethered to a stake in the ground.
I have seen a video on YouTube, where a boy was in a harness, and part of his tether was a chain, like a small pet leash.
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Here is an interesting piece of child tethering momerobilia , from my own collection.
As a child of 3 or 4 my father tied me to a post opposite the water with a long rope on a dock we were fishing off so I couldn’t fall in the water. There are pictures but I don’t know where they are right now.
I wore a harness and leash and was tied up in the yard. I was my aunt ‘s house. I was 7 yrs old and wore a leather baby harness with the buckles all in the back. I was sometimes tied to the railing by the steps leading from the back door. There was also a garage and my leash was tied up high on the garage way out of my reach. I could ride my tricycle when I was tied to the garage. If I was leashed to the railing, I could reach the sandbox but not the driveway to ride my trike. The leash was anywhere from 15 to 25 feet. It was a cotton wash line rope
Why isn’t there a simple “no” option? It wasn’t done to me or to anyone I know. This is despite having several siblings who would wander off, including a special-needs brother. Not understanding the options, I haven’t yet voted.
