AITA for telling a woman to leash her kid?
A Reddit user, who is weeks away from her third trimester, shares a story from her first trimester about an interaction at a dog park. While vacationing with her husband and their two dogs, a toddler wandered toward their dog, prompting the mother to scream at the husband to leash the dog.
In response, the Reddit user angrily told the woman to “leash your kid,” as she was upset about the lack of supervision. She later questions whether her reaction was too harsh, especially since it made her husband uncomfortable.
‘ AITA for telling a woman to leash her kid?’
Now that I’m weeks away from my third trimester and this happened in my first trimester, I’m wondering if what I said and how I said it was over the top.
My husband and I love going on vacations together but hate leaving our two puppies behind so we try to schedule a summer vacation just for them every year and bring them to dog-friendly cities like Boston or Philly, because it’s a reasonable drive from NY.
Before our trip, I plan every detail, puppy restaurants, dog parks, what places can we take our dogs inside, what hotels allows dogs etc. I create a whole itinerary. My two pups look forward to parks the most. I had a number of parks on the itinerary, some of them allowing no leashes,
but we ALWAYS keep our pups on leashes because they love ppl and would run away from us for a chicken wing. We went on a walk to a DOG PARK. I held onto my cockapoo who is like 12 pounds, super tiny and friendly. My husband held onto our Bischon Frise/shih tzu who is easily excitable and wants to jump on everything.
We have those retractable leashes so we can give them enough slack to run but not too far we can’t control them. As we’re walking to the other side to get them some water, this tiny itty bitty toddler runs towards my Bischon that my husband is walking.
And of course my Bischon runs towards the toddler cause they’re now both two excitable little darlings. My husband yanks the leash back to stop our pup before he can collide with the baby and this woman SCREAMS at my husband “OH MY GOD! LEASH YOUR DOG!”
My husband who is the most respectful and kindest man ever apologizes but I’m freaking livid and I say “LEASH YOUR KID!!” She looked at me appalled but I was so angry that she had the audacity to yell at my husband because she was allowing her baby to wander a DOG PARK with little parental supervision.
My husband tried to calm me down and blamed the pregnancy hormones for why I was ranting and upset for like a good half hour after the event. He said it wasn’t a big deal, but I’m so protective of my husband and seeing her yell at him for not watching her child just pissed me off.
I’m about to be a mom myself and there’s absolutely no way in hell I’d let my baby wander loosely in a dog park. Anyway, I feel really bad now after telling the story to a friend and she said I was doing too much
🥲 but mainly because I feel like I made things awkward for my husband which was not my intent. It was a very emotion-filled reactionary response but felt it was justified? Idk AITA for ripping into that lady 🫣
Take a look at the comments from fellow users:
CarlaQ5 − OK. You’re at a dog park. Knowing this, why would any sane parent let a toddler run loose? SMH…
Secret_Sister_Sarah − NTA. She was definitely in the wrong to let her toddler loose in a dog park, and had no business yelling at your husband who obviously WAS watching his dog, while she was NOT taking care of her kid.
Edited to add: I don’t like how your husband was dismissive of your feelings by trying to write your comment off as pregnancy hormone induced. I would have reacted towards that woman the same way you did, and I’m childless… if my fiancé tried to deescalate by saying “you’re PMSing” or something, I would feel so belittled.
JanetInSpain − She was 100% wrong. Toddlers DO NOT belong in dog parks. You are NTA.
mentaldriver1581 − NTA. Great response from you, actually. Your inner mama bear is def working.
abm120881 − …you REALLY HAD TO ASK THIS??. HELL NO YOU AINT THE ASS HOLE
Sad_Cup_1195 − Nta, its a dog park. No dog, go to a regular park.
stonersrus19 − NTAH, a 3 year old got mauled in a dog park in ottawa cause the grandparent let the kid run around in an off leash dog park.
CoppertopTX − NTA. One would assume if dogs must be leashed in the people parks, children should be leashed in dog parks and for the same reason – safety of the primary users of the space.
Your husband, however, needs to be asked why he used the “pregnancy brain” explanation of your advisory to the inattentive mother. If it was “I figured she’d understand”, fine. Any other reason… I’d be giving him some serious side eye.
Dry_Meaning_3129 − You did well
AllynWA1 − I think a good rule of thumb is: who- & and whatever the space was designed for has priority over those for whom the space was not built. Dogs are not allowed to run free at human-centered parks. Toddlers should not be allowed to run free at dog parks.
Your response was understandable. Her yelling may have been borne of panic, but it was focused incorrectly and out of line. Your retort may have been out of character, and perhaps that is what your husband is attributing to hormones.
However, if his stance is that you were in the wrong for saying anything, well, that’s a conversation yall need to have before that baby shows up. You both need to be on the same page about how to respond to issues that threaten your child’s safety and comfort.
Do you think the Redditor’s reaction was justified, or did she overreact to the situation? How would you have handled this confrontation in a public space? Share your thoughts below!