When my daughter was going through her running streak. I could go to any store and the minute I walked in she was trying to wrestle her hand from mine. She was getting to be big enough that I did not want to put her in the cart all the time cause she knew how to unlatch herself. It helped tremendously to be able to put her on a leash. MOST of the time parents don't have the choice to not take the child to the store with them. How many threads have we had on here of kids running rampant in stores and restaurants? So why NOT have the kids on leashes? WHEN needed of course?
I did not use the leash very often really. Primarily when I knew she would be a problem in the store or when I had more than one child with me and needed to watch all of them. 3 or 4 kids are too many to be able to watch 100% of the time with only 2 eyes. Honestly, Parents don't grow a pair of eyes in the back of our heads - though we wish we did
.
When I used a leash I had MANY people in the stores approach me with approval. They saw that it encouraged the child to behave, made them safer, and me less stressed. My daughter tried to do the doggy thing but I didn't allow her to do it in the store. She played doggy and other animals at home, not in public. Though it's cute, it's not in the store - you shop and leave, not play.
As for lojacking my kid. I don't think I would. Not unless it was when they were very small. But then I'm pretty careful of how far she gets from me and I would know where she was before a lojack did - unless she was kidnapped. Once she's a teenager she will have to learn from her own mistakes as well. I intend to try to build a trust and encourange openness, responsibility in her. Some kids learn well and other's don't though so I can't guarantee she'll be entirely responsible. I won't lojack her though to keep tabs on her. I think it would encourage me to be more lazy about asking her where she was going and when she was returning.