Ant Middleton has revealed that he let his son grab hold of an electric fence in order to teach him a lesson.
The former UK Special Forces soldier, 44, shares daughters Shyla, 17 and Priseis, nine, and sons Gabriel, 15 and Bligh, eight, with his wife Emilie. He also has son Oakley, 22, from a previous relationship.
Ant, known for his brutal training methods, has admitted he uses his military mindset when it comes to parenting.
His son Gabriel was just 13 when he held on to an electric fence during a family day out in a National Park – resulting in a shock.
Ant told The Sun: ‘I could see an electric fence up front. My son was running ahead and jumping over fences, even though I’d told him not to. He came up to what he thought was a wired fence. I could have said: “Stop!” but I thought: “Do you know what? I’m going to let him learn.”
Ant Middleton has revealed that he let his son grab hold of an electric fence in order to teach him a lesson
The former UK Special Forces soldier, 44, known for his brutal training methods, has admitted he uses his military mindset when it comes to fatherhood
‘And he grabbed hold of this fence and got an almighty whack from it.’
Ant admitted he found the incident amusing and ‘started laughing’, while Gabriel was ‘extremely upset’.
He added: ‘I think it was quite a powerful one to be fair. But trust me, he didn’t do it again. You’ve got to let children figure things out for themselves and I thought I’d let him learn the hard way.’
In 2019, Ant explained the reason he tells his son to ‘man up’ and not cry in front of his peers is because he’s teaching him to ‘control his emotions’.
Ant appeared on This Morning to defend himself against backlash he received following comments he made on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast.
Ant wrote in his new book, Military Mindset: ‘I could see an electric fence up front. My son was running ahead and jumping over fences, even though I’d told him not to’
Ant Middleton – centre left – spoke about raising his son to be resilient and teaching him not to cry. He is well known for giving SAS Who Dares Wins candidates a grilling on the Channel 4 programme
He had originally said: ‘I do say to him, ‘Son, come on, you’re a little man now. Have a stiffer upper lip’.’
But Ant explained on the daytime show it was more about teaching Gabriel, ten, emotional resilience not that he didn’t want him to cry.
Loose Women host Saira Khan had blasted Ant for ‘failing’ as a parent by telling his son not to show his emotions.
Speaking on This Morning he explained that his son was a keen Thai boxer, but that he was trying to teach the little boy to harness his aggression and use it rather than get emotional.
‘When his mum takes him [to Thai boxing] and mummy pampers him and he cries in the ring.
‘When I take him he does better and he comes out energised and wants to go back in the ring. That’s because I teach him to control his emotions.
‘People will take advantage of his weaknesses. I just teach him to control them and not to cry, to hold that emotion to get the job done.’
Saira Khan passionately disagreed with what had said, lashing out at not allowing men to show their emotions
He added: ‘It served me well, I try and instil that into my children. If he came back home and was crying, I’d say ‘what’s wrong son? Hold your emotions, cry on me and I’ll tell you what to do’.
‘It’s important we controlled our emotions. There is no right way of parenting as long as you feel you are doing the best.’
The Soccer Aid star had told the podcast: ‘If he [Gabriel] was to fall over and hurt his knee and look up at me, I avoid eye contact. The moment he sees my eyes he’s going to start crying. However, if it was my daughter, I’d be straight over there to comfort her.’
‘It’s just that – manly thing. It’s not being sexist. I’m just saying it how it is.’
Ant isn’t the only star who has admitted to tough parenting styles as last year, Gemma Atkinson was criticised by a parenting expert after posting that she pinched her one-year-old young son when he did it to his four-year-old sister.
The actress, partner of Strictly dancer Gorka Márquez, made the revelation in an Instagram post highlighting the behavioural differences between her two children.
Gemma, 39, hosted a show called The Toddler Club on CBeebies and recorded a reality series on the W Channel alongside Gorka, 34, in which their young children – Mia, five, and one-year-old Thiago – regularly feature.
Ant isn’t the only star who has admitted to tough parenting styles as last year, Gemma Atkinson was criticised by a parenting expert after posting that she pinched her one-year-old young son when he did it to his four-year-old sister
The post read: ‘Really noticing the differences in how Mia was to Thiago.
‘It’s fun to watch. Toys are just banged or slid across the floor and the tantrums are new as Mia didn’t have them.
‘He pretend cries and throws himself on the floor.
‘I stand and watch until he realises it’s getting him nowhere and they are slowly getting shorter.’
On the pinching, she adds: ‘He pinches when he gets frustrated.
‘I did it back to him on Wednesday as he did it hard to Mia. He’s not done it since.’
Experts in child behaviour say adults shouldn’t pinch their children to stop them doing the same to their peers.
Jo Studholme, editor of Parenting Expert told : ‘Pinching a child back as a form of punishment is not only ineffective but can also be harmful.
‘It teaches children that violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflict.
‘Instead, try using positive discipline techniques such as time-outs, loss of privileges, or talking calmly to the child about their behaviour.’
Back in 2018, Kirstie Allsopp revealed she smashed her children’s iPads after they failed to stick to her rules on screen time.
The Location, Location, Location presenter made the confession on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show during a discussion over how much parents are responsible for their children’s behaviour.
The Channel 4 presenter, who is mother to sons Oscar Hercules and Bay Atlas with husband Ben Andersen, admitted it was the first time she had discussed her drastic disciplining tactic.
Explaining that they hadn’t followed her rules as to when and how they could use the tablets, she confessed to smashing them against a table leg as her children watched as punishment.
However not everyone agreed with her approach to discipline, with many branding the move a ‘waste’ on Twitter, arguing that they could have been donated them to less well-off families, and that her sons would not learn to ‘value their things’.