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2nd April 2025
11:32am BST
Rachel Butcher faced criticism from others after putting a backpack with reins on her son, but the mum has spoken out after facing backlash for putting her toddler 'on a leash'.
"My child runs faster than me," she said, per Brightside. "Due to scar tissue from my hysterectomy, I have trouble running sometimes to keep up with him.
"Let it also be known, I religiously ran races and ran every day before my surgery. So it's not due to laziness."
Butcher continued, explaining that their son was adopted: "Our son has more energy and speed than your average 21-month-old. Aside from his already rough beginning of medicine exposure, we know little to nothing about his biological family and their genetics. So he could be more hyper just from experiences that I don't know of."
The mum had been dubbed "cruel" by some critics for making her toddler wear the reins, but she explained back in 2020 that there were reasons for her using reins on her son.
"I've come home crying because I've left stores before finishing shopping because he's having a meltdown, I also got snide comments and nasty looks then too.
"But today, today was worse. We went to Target and he wore his backpack and he did AMAZING. He was HAPPY, LAUGHING, SMILING, and yes, running, but he was close to me.
"My son is nearly three now and still runs – like full out sprints – he still attends OT, PT, and speech, and we're working through his developmental delays and he is thriving. Remember his name, one day he will be a running back!"