7.09.10 - 11:00AM
- by
Eliot Glazer

Quit Your Crying, Kid, Or YouTube's Going to Hear All About it (Parenting 2.0)

topic:
Videos
In Real Life
Busted!

There's nothing particularly special about a video featuring a young girl throwing a tantrum inside a shoe store. She's just a kid, there's something she wants that she is clearly not getting, and she's upset. Tough beans, says Mom. And who are we to argue? Parenting is tough as sh*t, and we at Urlesque, admittedly, know as much about raising children as we do about botany, accounting, and shoe horns combined. Raising a kid is most def. the hardest job in the world, and we are certainly not about to challenge the theory to which every mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa throughout history subscribes.

But here's something weird. Instead of threatening to punish her daughter with, say, the withholding of toys or a severe Time Out, Mom's exact words are "Stop crying, or I'm going to put this on YouTube." And she did. The mommy behind the camera decided that, of all possible parental threats, humiliating her daughter by broadcasting her tantrum on a video sharing website available to anyone with access to a modem or library was the best way to go.

So are we allowed to think that's weird? Because that's kind of weird, right? HARDCORE JOURNALISM QUESTION: Is punishment via video sharing okay? Is an instant upload the new slap on the wrist, and should kids be placed in such an odd position when it comes to Learning A Lesson?

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7.09.10

By Kelly Reeves

Neutral

Apparently she hasn't learned that the video on YouTube could be her ticket to stardom -- or the Today Show the next day...

7.09.10

By Ann Marie

Neutral

As if that mom has never had a bad moment and too bad a camera wasn't aimed at her when it was happening.

7.09.10

By J.Crawford

Neutral

OMG!!

I do this with my brats, too!!!

YAY!

7.10.10

By spongegator

Highest Rank

The only thing that bothers me about this, is that that girl, up until her mom threatened her with putting the video up, was not throwing a "tantrum". She was crying, rather quietly, because she was upset. A tantrum is out of control yelling or screaming, hitting, throwing themselves on the floor and refusing to get up or walk. It's one thing to expect your kids to behave reasonably in public. It's another to want to keep them from expressing their feelings entirely, when those feelings are not convenient for the parent.

7.11.10

By Keith

Neutral

Given that we haven't seen any of the actions before the video, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to the Mom.

And it's a third thing when a kid is fake-crying in public because she's a little brat. Which is entirely possible here.

7.13.10

By Kate

Highest Rank

It's not ok to film your kid crying instead of either talking to them or ignoring it. If I were that little girl I would post a response.

7.14.10

By 3peatmommy

Neutral

What a sorry excuse for a mother! Maybe someone needs to video her when she is attempting to control her child and then post it! her child's behavior is a direct reflection of her child rearing abilities and how she has raised the child! As a mother of 3 beautiful children, who have all thrown plenty of fits, I would NEVER for 1 second think of humiliating them like this! Kids have it hard enough, there is enough humiliation to come as your child grows, why make it harder! This mother will obviously be an embarrassment enough!...poor little girl. I just wanted to hug her, partly for having such an ignorant, lazy mother!...I also agree with a previous comment...the girl was barely crying, that is up until the mother (for lack of a better name) threatened her with public humiliation!....and why would a 4 yr. old even know what youtube is!!!!!....here's an idea lady...treat your little girl like a little girl, give her a chance to make mistakes without humiliating her!