Dad Defends His Decision To Put His Three-Year-Old Daughter On A Leash

Meet 34-year-old father, Clint Edwards. His daughter, Aspen, who he refers to as the "wild child" is a lot to handle. Aspen has developed the bad habit of running off and disappearing while they are out at public places.

Since his daughter is easily distracted and likes to run off while they are out in public, Clint and his wife have started putting her on a leash. The leash is also called a "safety string" and attaches to a backpack that Aspen wears to keep her close when the family is out in public.

They first used the leash on Aspen when the family went to Disney World but were faced with a lot of judgemental looks from other parents. Clint took to Facebook to explain his choice to leash his young daughter.

"I’m keeping this kid safe while maintaining my peace of mind, and that’s 100% worth it," Edwards wrote in his defense. "If you see somebody using something like that, it’s for a good reason. Don’t make assumptions. I’m their parent; I know this child well enough to know that I need this. So trust us."

"For only having a 12-inch stride, she moves faster than any Olympian," he continued.

Clint has said that his own father was not around when he was growing up. Because of this Clint is "making it up" as he goes along like many parents do when they did not have a parent figure in their life to learn from. But, there is another reason why this dad uses a leash on his little girl.

Aspen has Nursemaid's Elbow. This is a condition where the toddler's elbow can easily be dislocated. Clint is not able to just hold his daughter's hand in public because a simple tug on her arm could cause her elbow to dislocate. Sadly, they learned of her condition the hard way. Her elbow has twice been dislocated.

The family does not plan on using the leash on Aspen forever. They hope to be able to give it up in a few months. They say that Aspen is in the verbal development phase of her growth and hope that she will learn how to respond better to verbal commands.

In the meantime, Aspen will be stuck on her little leash. Parenting is not an easy thing and keeping your kids out of harm's way is a constant struggle. Clint even has a blog called 'No Idea What I'm Doing' where he documents his misadventures in parenting and how he keeps his kids happy and healthy.

Clint has also written two books called 'I'm sorry...Love, Your Husband' and 'This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.' Both books are funny and honest stories of Clint's experiences with marriage and parenting.

While Clint may have decided to use a leash to keep his daughter close by, at least he has never tied her up outside of a store like a dog. However, ABC’s What Would You Do? took the child leash fad to a whole new level when they placed cameras on a child who they tied outside a store. Check that video out here.