Why are Americans so against reins?

[Difuser16]

I've seen so many articles lately about reins or as they are called in America leashes and about how it's basically frowned upon to use them.

I seen something on Facebook about how a mum from America was slammed for putting her child on a leash and I was just thinking that's normal to me!!

I feel like the majority of people in England use them. I don't see the big deal in using them. I have a 17 month old son and I use them on him when walking down the road but if we are in a open area like the park or beach or something he runs free.

Just wondering why they are so against them?

That's up to you, but it's the same as teaching a child not to do stuff they shouldn't, like not touching when something is hot. My dd hated the buggy and refused it from 18m. She had to learn to stay by my side as I was all by myself with her and had to do everything with her as I had no one else to look after her.

Judging by my American neighbourhood which is in a city, the preference is for kids in the stroller for much longer than I’ve seen with our British friends back in the UK. Here a double is seen as an essential even with a 3-4 year age gap and most children are often only let out to run around at the park. I know many families who push their kids home from pre-K (reception age in the U.K.) despite it being a 10 minute walk down very quite residential streets. So I guess reins are completely redundant if your kid is 5 by the time they’re trusted to walk somewhere. Obviously it’s a big country though and this is just what I see in my little neighbourhood!

Loutypips I do teach my child not to touch things when they're hot. But just as I wouldn't leave her in a room alone with a boiling kettle, I choose on occasion to have the extra reassurance of a backpack reigns.
I'm also quite tall and I had a very early walker. So walking with my arms low and back crouched and her arm straight up above her head never felt comfortable.

@Difuser16

I've seen so many articles lately about reins or as they are called in America leashes and about how it's basically frowned upon to use them.

I seen something on Facebook about how a mum from America was slammed for putting her child on a leash and I was just thinking that's normal to me!!

I feel like the majority of people in England use them. I don't see the big deal in using them. I have a 17 month old son and I use them on him when walking down the road but if we are in a open area like the park or beach or something he runs free.

Just wondering why they are so against them?

In the US reins tend to be used where people walk and are fairly healthy as a result so they walk longer distances. Think New York / San Francisco / inner cities etc. Many US parents don’t use reins because they don’t walk (use the car everywhere and get knackered after even a short stroll in the park).

I don’t understand why anyone is against them. Toddlers lack impulse control. The idea of telling a 10 month old they just stay still and they do it is ridiculous. You may be lucky and have a child that stays next to you but that’s what it is - luck. Fair enough if you don’t need to use them but no idea why anyone would judge people that did!

I lived in New York and DC for 30 years and honestly I never saw people using reins, other than tourists.

I think it's more likely people who usually drive everywhere who then use reins in places like shopping malls, because their kids are less used to walking around for a long time.

And yes, I've lived in France and Germany recently and never seen reins. In Germany in particular people would be aghast, they are very big on teaching kids to be responsible walkers from an early age (they can walk to school on their own at 6).

I think it's just that American media is more sensationalised and everything has to be totally black and white, not necessarily the culture of actual people living there.

My friend works in children’s A&E. She has loads of stories of children who have run into the road or something else and got injured and the parent’s say ‘I don’t understand he always he is alway so good at holding me hand but he just darted off...’ or ‘we walk down that street everyday and he’s never ran off before...’. It really only takes once for a child to get distracted and forgot the rules or have a tantrum and they can be i front of a car.

My eldest was really calm and well behaved but I still used reins for walking next to the busy road near our house just in case. Like PP said, I put the loop round my wrist and held her hand so she learnt how to be safe but the reins were there as a back up. My youngest is a wild child ... reins are an must!!! But I do hold his hand to so he learns.

If anyone watches Sweet home sextuplets on sky channel TLC, this exact thing came up on an episode recently, the lady has 6 kids so put reigns on them going out to a park with friends for safety and before she left the house, her friends said to her how will you deal with the comments people will make, so they knew in advance there would be comments.

Then during filming, a passerby commented negatively about her using them so yes OP is right, at least in some parts of America they are frowned upon. I couldn't understand it either, just different cultures maybe.