These days, raising kids can be challenging in and of itself. Not only must young parents endure the judgments of their relatives, but they also have to endure internet strangers making random remarks about their parenting styles.
Jordan Driskell, who has five quintuplets, is a young father. By coincidence, his quintuplets are five years old. As you can imagine, raising five identically aged children can be extremely demanding. particularly when a child is five years old and curious and enjoys exploring.
Dad Jordan Driskell, 31, made the decision to come up with a novel solution to his issue. In order to keep his boisterous young children under control when they are out in public, dad purchased child-sized leashes.
Driskell previously used a six-seat stroller for their large family. But since the kids would be bothered when inside, that got old very soon. It was also quite difficult to transport the stroller anywhere.
When the family goes out, this enables the young children walk and explore their surroundings without their dad losing sight of them or control of them, keeping them safe!
A video that Driskell uploaded of the family’s trip to the aquarium sparked a lot of criticism aimed at the parents. With over 3 million views, the video of the children wearing leashes went viral. Numerous others expressed their opinions that the kids shouldn’t have been leashed because they weren’t animals.
“Don’t have so many kids if you can’t handle the pressure,” said one commenter.
Some mockingly advised, “Can’t you just properly train your children?” Talk to them about the dangers of running away.
Expert in parenting and teenage development, Dr. Deborah Gilboa, held a different view. She doesn’t believe that wearing a leash will turn your kid into an animal. Naturally, using a leash is a much better option than staying at home if that is your only option!
According to Dr. Gilboa, a leash is an excellent tool for controlling younger kids or kids with neurodiversity in public settings. She did add, though, that it could be problematic if a neurotypical child is not walking freely by the time they are eight or nine years old and has not yet acquired listening skills.
By then, parents ought to be able to interact with kids verbally rather than through the use of devices like leashes.
Without unwarranted criticism from society, parents ought to be allowed to parent in the manner that best suits them.
Mary Lou Retton Has Pneumonia and ‘Is Fighting for Her Life,’ Daughter Says
The gymnastics champion sprang to stardom at the 1984 Olympics, where she became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the all-around competition. Her family is raising money online, saying she lacks health insurance.
May Lou Retton at the 1984 Olympics, where she won five medals.
Mary Lou Retton, who became one of the most popular athletes in the country after winning the all-around women’s gymnastics competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, has pneumonia and is “fighting for her life” in the intensive care unit, her daughter said in a statement this week.
Retton’s daughter McKenna Lane Kelley said on Instagram that her mother “is not able to breathe on her own” and that she had been in the intensive care unit for more than a week.
Kelley asked for donations to help pay for her mother’s hospital bills, saying her mother lacked health insurance. By Wednesday, she had raised more than $260,000 online from more than 4,600 donors.
She did not share more specific information about her mother’s condition, though she said that her pneumonia was “a very rare form.” It was not clear what hospital Retton was in.
Kelley, who was a gymnast at Louisiana State University, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, another daughter, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, released a video on Instagram thanking people for “all the love and support that you’ve given to my mom.”
“She’s still fighting,” Schrepfer said. “It’s going to be a day-by-day process, and we hope that you guys will respect her boundaries, as we want to keep the details between her and our family right now. She has been treated with the best of the best professionals here, and it has been such a blessing to have their hands on her.”
At the 1984 Olympics, Retton became the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal or any individual Olympic medal in gymnastics. Going into the final rotation of the competition, she was five-hundredths of a point behind Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo, and the only way she could beat Szabo was to score a perfect 10 on vault.
Retton scored a perfect 10.
She won five medals in Los Angeles, including two silvers, for team and vault, and two bronzes, for uneven bars and floor exercise.
Though there was an asterisk by Retton’s victory in the history books — the Soviet Union, which was the most dominant force in women’s gymnastics at the time, boycotted the 1984 Games — it nonetheless made her a sports hero in the United States. In addition to earning her the traditional trappings of Olympic gold, like appearing on a Wheaties box, she was widely viewed as an inspiration to a new generation of American girls entering gymnastics.
Even as the American gymnastics program grew and the country won more medals, including the team gold in 1996, Retton’s prominence remained: For 20 years, Retton, now 55, was the only American woman to win the all-around title, until Carly Patterson became the second in 2004.
Retton was born in Fairmont, W.Va., and got her start early, like many top gymnasts. By the time Retton was 7 years old, she was training in gymnastics full-time.
Retton’s talent had been apparent from the start, but a big break came at an Olympics elimination tournament in Reno, Nev., in 1982, where she impressed Bela Karolyi, who would go on to coach her in the 1984 Olympics.
“I immediately recognized the tremendous physical potential of this little kid,” Karolyi said in a March 1984 interview.
Retton appeared in a number of films and TV shows in the late 1980s and 1990s, including the comedy film “Scrooged.”
After her athletic career, Retton became a motivational speaker to promote the benefits of proper nutrition and regular exercise.
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