It's ok, you can judge me

Ok so over the past few months, reading different books, searching websites & forums, shopping in the baby section & having conversations with friends. The controversial subject has come up, a subject that I had NO CLUE was controversial....baby "leashes". You know, these things:

It's actually a "harness" & not a leash, but tomato/tomah-to

Anyway, pre-pregnancy when I would see a kid in the store/park/amusement park with one of these things on, I thought it was the cutest thing ever! Little animal safety backpacks. But apparently there's a large population of people who HATE these things! "You have a child, not an animal" "If they're that poorly behaved that they can't accompany you in a grocery store w/o a leash, stay at home". To those people I say...kiss my butt. hehehe. Eden WILL have a monkey backpack (or leash, whatever you wanna call it) & I dont care who doesn't like it or who talks sideways about it. So feel free to stare & judge me. I don't care. I seriously don't see what the big deal is!

I've never had kids before. But in my experience, when they learn to walk, they just wanna run & take off. Ummmm i'm 300lbs. I'm not chasing behind ANYBODY in the zoo because they wanna get an up close look @ the lion cage! I don't wanna have to catch a 'tude with somebody in the grocery store because they didn't see her & ran her over with the cart (i've done this often lol.) I'm also not gonna keep hollering "Eden, come back". And i don't wanna keep hearing "Mommy, i wanna get down" when i make her sit in the cart/stroller. So in an effort to allow Eden to have her freedom to walk like a big girl & also keep me sane by knowing that she's not just gonna run off. I want a backpack! I'm also a fan of the notion of just letting her walk sans backpack but bringing it with us as a deterrent. You know, "Eden, if you don't stay close & hold mommy's hand you're going to have to get back in the cart/stroller or wear [insert cute name that we'll give to the monkey pack].

I know my child isn't an animal. I'm going to do my best to make sure she has public manners. But at the end of the day, she's a kid, one minute they're well behaved, the next, their psycho switch has flipped & their off hiding in some clothes rack or something. So if i want her to wear a monkey backpack for a little while, then guess what....she shot out of my lady parts so nobody has a right to tell me what TO or NOT to do with my daughter. I also realize with parenting, you kinda just realize that people are always gonna have an opinion....and it's just THAT...an opinion.

Besides....i'm not gonna drag her across the floor like this mother of the year.

Where's child services?

What are your thoughts on the harness/leashes?