Dang....everybody knows you got to leave food and water.....
Yeah, it seems this is more than “kid tied to tree.”
Dad was asleep. Weapons I guess accessible. Food? Water? was that child being kept safe? An illegal encampment they’d been warned about. . .
I don’t think this is like mom using a harness in a supermarket.
My mom used a leash on me when I was two, we were touring Europe. We joke about it but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It does not harm a child and in situations mentioned above and in crowds, very practical.
At least the rope wasn’t tied around the kids neck