It also got me thinking about when my son gets older and would want to be with friends instead of parents, at say an amusement park, to take a shot of all the friends together as they wouldn't find that too intrusive and would accomplish the same goal. Or encourage your kids' friends to take pictures of each other on their phones as to avoid a routine of "Halt citizen! stand still and don't smile while I capture your profile!" cshht before he goes off with his friends. ( If I did take a picture EVERY time, I'd have to do it in a robocop voice )

It must be a hard decision to decide your kid needs a leash. I personally couldn't do that to my child but, maybe if my child were worse about it I'd have a different opinion? I don't know if it makes me a good parent or not, but my boy is an independent sort and would do things like walk to where he wanted to go if it were different than the direction I was going. It was starting to become a 'thing' and getting fairly annoying so instead of call him back when he'd wander, I'd step off to the side out of his view, and wait. Eventually he would turn around looking for me, see me gone, then freak right out. I'd step out from where I was standing and say "I was here, but you need to watch me too. I might not always see you" That only needed to happen twice and since then I have a child that stays by me all the time. He'll now grab my hand and tell me what he wants to go see if we're in a crowded place, like a fairground, or suchlike. I kind of see the child leash as the last recourse for adults who never found the right way to make an impression on their child to behave otherwise. But you never know the full story about other people's lives. I'd like to think there is always a good reason for it.

edit: typos