Britney Spears’ brother-in-law has been inundated with complaints for allowing his 10-year-old stepdaughter to handle a gun and sharing a photograph of it on Instagram.
On Tuesday, Jamie Watson, who is married to Britney’s less famous sister Jamie Lynn, uploaded a photograph of her 10-year-old daughter Maddie holding the firearm in a field.
He captioned the photograph: ‘Getting her ready for dove season.’
Thousands of his fans ‘liked’ the image and scores left gushing messages expressing their approval of his parenting techniques.
Others, however, were not as impressed.
They slammed Watson and his 27-year-old wife for letting the child near the weapon.
Maddie Aldridge, 10, was pictured by her stepfather holding the weapon in the air, standing barefoot in a field. He uploaded the image to Instagram and said: ‘Getting her ready for dove season.’ Her mom is Jamie Lynn, Britney’s younger sister





‘A girl should NEVER carry a shotgun or learn to kill animals. Maddie is an amazing girl, do not teach her to learn these horrible things!’ said one critic.
‘Giving a ten year old a gun is a joke in itself,’ another quipped.
‘Put down the gun, pick up a pair of binoculars and take a hike together.
‘For me, teaching kids to kill when there is absolutely no need seems very, very, wrong,’ was the rebuke of another.



Some of the comments left on the image are shown above
Elsewhere, followers called it ‘very, very wrong’ and ‘not nice at all.’
One critic went further, saying: ‘This is why people in America go to their school and do this to his classmates, kids, teachers…You simply don’t teach your kid how to shoot a gun!!!’
‘This is the same child you had on a four wheeler not too long ago.
‘Irresponsible much?!? Or just country dumb?!?’ another quipped.
Their comment was in reference to an accident on the family’s property in Louisiana in February last year. Maddie was driving an ATV and crashed it into a large pond at the site.
She was wearing her seatbelt and it trapped her in the ATV under water for minutes until an ambulance arrived.
Jamie Lynn and her husband both ran in to the water to try to free her but could not get her out of the vehicle. She lost consciousness and spent days in hospital but made a full recovery.


Maddie is Britney Spears’ oldest niece. She is seen, right, during another hunting trip with her stepfather

Maddie is the oldest daughter of Britney’s sister Jamie Lynn. They are pictured together with the singer’s own mother, Lynne

Maddie almost lost her life last year when she crashed an ATV into a pond on the family property. She has since made a full recover and is pictured recently with her dogs
Every fall, Louisianian officials permit dove hunting for a few weeks in September, October, November, December and January.
Watson is a keen hunter and regularly shares photographs from his outings.
Maddie also loves the outdoors. She often accompanies her stepfather on hunts.
Maddie was born in 2008 when her mother was just 16. At the time, Jamie Lynn had found her own fame with Zoey 101, a show on Nickelodeon.
Her biological father is Casey Aldridge who was 18 when her mother fell pregnant. Jamie Lynn married Jamie Watson in New Orleans in 2014.
The pair have since welcomed their first child together, a daughter called Ivey, in April.
Neither he nor his wife has responded to the criticism over the photograph.


Maddie lives with her mother Jamie Lynn and stepfather Jamie Watson (seen together left). Her biological father is Casey Alridge (right with a teenage Jamie Lynn) and her mother had her when she was 16