On my way to work this morning on a very busy street—school on one corner, major hospital on the other, huge office complexes on another, and freeway on-ramps just beyond the intersection—I watched in horror as a 10-ish year old boy on a skateboard came within millimeters of being hit by a car. He flew into the crosswalk without stopping or looking just as the car in front of me was turning right. The car was barely able to stop in time. The boy never stopped at all, and just kept going as fast as he could. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.
Charlotte also flew into the street this morning. I was carrying our things to the car—her backpack & nap mat, my purse, lunch bag and coffee mug. She had been inside the house playing with her race cars, and I figured I’d just pop out there and load up while she was occupied. She ran out the door behind me straight into the middle of our street before I could even open my mouth to yell.
I don’t know what my point here is exactly, except to say that I am truly surprised that it is illegal for my dogs to be outside without a leash and a collar, but it’s frowned upon to do the same with children.
Hound Mamas 
I remember my mom having my brother and I tethered to her via a wrist leash thing. It never bothered me, my brother and I were closer in age, and we survived childhood.
I was seriously hoping you were going to say that you were tethered to a tree rather than your mom’s wrist. 😉
We really should’ve been at certain points, lol. 😄
We never used a leash with Ali, but we sure considered it!
We use the back pack leashes with our two littles. It is just a must when they run in different directions. These kids are, Charlotte included, are faster then we think.
My mom used wrist leashes with us and it kept us pretty safe. These are really scary things to witness all in one morning!
We bought a leash for Little MPB when we went to Iceland. We never used it. But, I’m not saying we wont use it one day! 🙂
I’ve never understood people who look down on the use of kid leashes. Those things’re genius and once Lady Jr is walking, I am going to track one down.
My father was appalled by them–until he met my younger sibling. Pretty sure he bought the one we used for my even-younger sibling.
Wolfie hasn’t ever run into the street, thankfully… but people speed down our streets WAY too often and it makes me so nervous for him to play on the front yard. I really want to move someplace on a dead end street or culdesac, or at least where the streets are curvy.