One dad has taken to the internet to defend himself against strangers who judged him for putting his “wild child” on a lead when out in public.
Clint Edwards was out at a farmers market with his two-year-old daughter Aspen when he decided to use the harness in order to keep her under control.
The dad-of-three, who blogs at ‘No Idea What I’m Doing’ explained that the decision led to him being given “dirty looks” just for trying to keep his child out of danger.
“The real difficulty with having a wild child is that you are damned if you do, and damned if you don’t,” Edwards said.
Edwards has previously gone viral for writing a post about forcibly removing Aspen from a restaurant when she had a toddler tantrum.
He said of the most recent incident: “The fact is, if I didn’t put Aspen on a leash while at amusement parks, the zoo, a crowded mall, or the farmers market, she’d be the lost child announced over the intercom.
“She’d be the kid popping up in every Facebook feed for wandering into a shopping center parking lot, unattended. She could be the child climbing into the tiger cage.”
Edward’s blames his daughter’s curiosity and ability to move “faster than any Olympian” for the family’s decision to physically restrain her while out and about.
He added: “This thing has already kept her out of the road and from sticking her hand in an ice cream machine, along with keeping me sane.”
And Edwards is well aware of the response he will get from other people, especially “perfect parents” but is willing to accept that, in a trade off for keeping his child safe and maintaining his peace of mind until she is old enough to know better.
The post has received mixed responses from other parents, some have praised the father, Kristin Nosbusch said: “I used to be pretty judgy about those things. Then I had kids. Keep on keepin’ on man.”
Lesley Stockmaster Cheek agreed: “I leashed all four of my kids, they are adults now, with no scars from being leashed.”
But others were not so supportive, Mark Thomson said: “Putting your child on a leash says a lot about your knowledge of parenting, discipline and unrealistic value of safety parameters and you should be judged.”