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A woman has revealed that she keeps her kid on a leash when out and about in public.
In a clip posted to TikTok, the mum can be seen attaching the lead to her wrist before taking her child's hand and attaching it to their wrist too.
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She then gets on with her shopping while essentially handcuffed to her kid.
Captioning the video, she wrote: "I'm tired of the world being this way but I'm NEVER tired of protecting my girls.
"I'm okay looking like a crazy mom. As long as my babies are safe."
It might be an unusual sight, but lots of parents flocked to the comments to praise the woman, with others making it clear they'd be picking up a lead for their kids too.
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One person commented: "Moms get shamed for everything they do, no matter what. Do what you need to do to keep your kids safe in this crazy world."
Another wrote: "Idc what anyone says I'm doing this. Call me crazy but I will always be a protective mom first."
While another added: "Idk why the hell ppl shame moms who do this. They'd be shaming moms if they didn't keep their kids safe too... so!"
And a fourth wrote: "That is so smart! We used these when teaching my brother in law road safety and walking on the pavement safely."
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Predictably, not everyone was quite so understanding, so the mum shared a follow-up video explaining why she uses the leash.
Addressing her followers, she said: "I used to work with children on the spectrum. I don't share this about myself very often, but I was an ABA [applied behaviour analysis] therapist.
"Something that's common with children who have autism is they do tend to elope. If you're not familiar with what elopement is, that's when a child tends to wander off or run away from the parent or the environment.
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"Now, this can be very traumatic for both the child and the parent. I know that if I had this device when I was working with families, this would have made life so much safer.
"So if you're one of those people that think 'I would never,' please take a moment. Not everybody's situation is the same. It might not work for you. But it works for a lot of people, myself included."
She added: "Now, I want to thank everybody who is super supportive in the comments. I really appreciate you guys. And I was using it today and I thought of you guys.
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"I'm just like, if this isn't for you and your family, that's fine. However, I strongly urge you to take a moment before judging others."
Jake Massey