CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (WCMH) — A mother in Texas is under fire for a photo showing her 7-year-old daughter riding on the back of a motorcycle.

“She just looks so cute. Her little pink shoes, her little pink backpack. And she’s on a motorcycle,” the girl’s mother, Mallory Torres, told KRIS-TV.

Torres says the photo was taken by another driver after her boyfriend picked up her daughter on his bike. The photo went viral with many negative comments, calling Torres and her boyfriend bad parents.

Torres says letting a child ride on a motorcycle isn’t illegal, and she says her daughter loves to ride.

“Some people will put their kids in sports. My daughter likes to be on a motorcycle. They’re both dangerous. Yes, one is more dangerous than the other. But just because it’s dangerous for anybody to be on a motorcycle doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be on a motorcycle.”

“Before I ever took her on her first ride, I walked around the motorcycle, I showed her the motorcycle, I showed her the exhaust, what not to touch,” boyfriend John Hays told KRIS-TV. “I told her how to ride her position. I told her about hanging on, where to hold on to.”

Hays says he’s been riding bikes for 20 years. The young girl has been riding with him for a few months now and always wears a full-face helmet, vest and gloves.

In Texas, children over the age of 5 can ride on a motorcycle. In Ohio, they can ride at any age so long as they’re wearing a helmet.What others are clicking on: