LU:
By the way, I’d like to welcome you to the small group of posters who have ever taken anything they said back, or qualified it at all. There’s about 2 of us.
Just to repeat: I agree that the harness is less freedom than walking without one (although I’m unconvinced 18 month olds need or want that freedom). But you should agree that it is more freedom than the stroller. So first we should criticize the people who stick their kid in the stroller instead of letting them walk themselves to the park or the store or wherever, and once we’re done with them, we can worry about the people who use the harness.
I call it a harness. The OP called it a leash.