I believe that as long as the best behaved dog is required to be leashed in public, children under 5 should be required to be leashed as well, until the worst behaved toddler is demonstrably better behaved than the best behaved dog.
Leashing a kid doesn’t hurt them, and people who have a problem with it are generally real assholes…
That’s pretty extreme, I think it’s the parent’s responsibility to make sure the kid isn’t a nuisance to others, but whether they require a leash to achieve that is their business (for what it’s worth, I also think a well behaved dog that isn’t causing any troubles shouldn’t require the leash). We tend to either remove ourselves from the situation if the little goblin starts making a fuss, or otherwise use carrying options (on the shoulders, in a back carrier, or, less and less so, in a buggy).
I mean, that’s cool. But most parents, especially parents of young children, will quite happily ignore their kids shitty behavior, either because they’re so numb to it that it doesn’t register or because they think there isn’t anything wrong with “kids being kids” in an environment not meant for kids.
I’d be ok with instead of leash laws just make whatever adult is currently responsible for a child actually responsible for their behavior, to the point that the adult is held criminally and/or civilly liable for the child’s behavior. Like if we actually issued citations and/or arrests for disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace to adults who let their terrorist toddlers run wild in public places.
I believe that as long as the best behaved dog is required to be leashed in public, children under 5 should be required to be leashed as well, until the worst behaved toddler is demonstrably better behaved than the best behaved dog.
Leashing a kid doesn’t hurt them, and people who have a problem with it are generally real assholes…
That’s pretty extreme, I think it’s the parent’s responsibility to make sure the kid isn’t a nuisance to others, but whether they require a leash to achieve that is their business (for what it’s worth, I also think a well behaved dog that isn’t causing any troubles shouldn’t require the leash). We tend to either remove ourselves from the situation if the little goblin starts making a fuss, or otherwise use carrying options (on the shoulders, in a back carrier, or, less and less so, in a buggy).
I mean, that’s cool. But most parents, especially parents of young children, will quite happily ignore their kids shitty behavior, either because they’re so numb to it that it doesn’t register or because they think there isn’t anything wrong with “kids being kids” in an environment not meant for kids.
I’d be ok with instead of leash laws just make whatever adult is currently responsible for a child actually responsible for their behavior, to the point that the adult is held criminally and/or civilly liable for the child’s behavior. Like if we actually issued citations and/or arrests for disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace to adults who let their terrorist toddlers run wild in public places.
Quite often it’s done because the child is autistic or similar and there are flight or escape issues.