Being a parent is hard. Like… really hard. Anyone who tells you different either doesn’t have children or is filtering past experiences through the flattering eye of nostalgia.
There’s no rule book on how to be a good mom or dad, how to act in certain situations or how to deal with children when they’re being unruly or testing the boundaries of what they’re allowed to do.
Perhaps it’s this gray zone that leads to so much conflict as to the right way to parent. It feels like it’s becoming increasingly common online to find forums where people hotly debate aspects of raising a child.
In any case, one mom found herself at the center of a storm of controversy after being seen pulling her son through an airport by a harness tied around the toddler’s chest. The 2019 incident was captured on video and uploaded to TikTok, where it sparked a passionate debate among the denizens of the internet…
Chances are that if you’re a parent you’ll have experienced your fair share of situations wherein your son and daughter has tested your patience.
We each have our own methods of dealing with such situations, but I don’t think any of us can claim with one hundred percent honesty to have gotten it right every time. We do what we think’s best and – for the most part – it’s no one else’s business.
Yet one mother took things too far in the eyes of some, when she was caught on camera dragging her child through an airport by a leash.
TikToker @cacadoodledoo83 (Erica Shupe Hall) sparked a fierce debate when she uploaded the footage at an airport in Cancun, Mexico titled “Leaving Cancun is tough…I feel ya, buddy.”
The clip soon garnered an incredible amount of attention, racking up millions of views and an untold number of conflicting comments.
The video showed a mother seemingly trying to convince her child to follow her. When the boy refused to walk, lying down on the floor instead, she proceeded to pull him across the carpet via a leash tied to a harness around his body.
Needless to say, the comments field erupted in a veritable firestorm of opinions.
“My OCD would not allow me to drag my child on that dirty floor. I’d rather pick him up, but I guess I’m different,” one commentator, Delicia, wrote.
“Horrible parent. That’s child abuse,” another, JennyLisg, said.
A third wrote: “I just carry mine at that point. I’m not dragging them in that dirty floor.”
A fourth said: “There is a difference, in my opinion, [between] using a harness for the safety of your child and dragging the child with it on the ground. I wouldn’t do that to my dog, and I sure as hell wouldn’t do it to my child.”
TikTok / cacadoodledoo83
Yet while plenty of people took exception to the mother’s tactics, others leapt to her defense.
One viewer, Sophia, wrote: “Lmao! Do what you gotta do momma.”
Another said: “I’m not saying it’s right… I’m saying I understand! Show me a perfect parent who has never made an error in judgment or hasn’t done whatever they could to survive the day.”
Shimona Jade Kennett added: “I don’t see any issue with this. Although she could’ve probably carried him, he seems okay to be pulled along. If the kid were [distressed], he would have been making a scene.”
A fourth wrote: “I had a harness and leash for my five kids. I never lost them. They never got hurt. They were safe and liked the independence of not having to hold my hand. I don’t recall ever having to drag them like this, but I understand how it could happen.”
Now, the idea of using a leash and harness in the first place is one that seems to split opinion among parents, but no one can deny that they’re an effective way of keeping your child out of harm’s way and eliminating the chance that they can be separated from you.
What do you feel about the use of harnesses? Do you think this mother did anything wrong? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box.
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