Footage of the mother’s reaction has sparked outrage online
A mother’s seemingly blasé reaction to being reunited with her child, who had wandered off, has gone viral.
The footage, first uploaded to TikTok, was recorded at a beach in the UK last month but has since taken off.
The video shows 32-year-old Michael Currid holding a baby as he wanders around Dymchurch beach in Kent looking for the child’s parents.
His partner Lex Hartop, 28, recorded the video after the pair found the little one crawling up a flight of steps that leads to a busy road.
Michael can be seen approaching a nearby group asking if the child belongs to them, but the video captions state nobody knew whose baby it was.
As he continues looking around the beach, he is suddenly approached by a woman on the phone. Though she doesn’t acknowledge Michael, she casually takes the baby from him whilst continuing to chat on her mobile, then kicks around a ball.
Michael, who had reportedly handed the child over once the infant called her ‘mum,’ was bemused by her lack of concern or relief. The same can be said for Lex, who can be heard off-camera saying “is she joking? Is she actually joking? She let her baby come all the way up here?”
@lexhartoptiktok took the original video down, you can’t see anyone’s faces, this deserves attention ##lostbaby
“Michael and I were walking down the side of the beach when we noticed a baby crawling up some steps,” Lex told the Daily Mail. “We were hesitant at first, then confused. The baby crawled up the second flight of concrete steps that lead from the beach to a busy road.
“We walked past three to four different groups of people – one group either side of the stairs down to the beach and another two on the beach, around 20 people in total.
“The baby must have crawled a long way and was either ignored or not noticed by anybody. From noticing the baby to returning her to her mother was all-around five minutes.
“We believe it was a girl. The baby said ‘mum’ upon seeing their mother turn round from a distance. The mother said nothing as Michael gave her back.”
The woman’s seemingly unbothered reaction to the situation has sparked online backlash, with two videos of the incident amassing 2.4 million and 1.6 million views respectively.
“Wow. I’d have taken the baby to the police. Anyone could have found that baby. She doesn’t deserve kids!” one commenter wrote.
“Any loving parent would have been frantic after about 30 seconds trying to find them. I’m genuinely so concerned by the lack of emotion from the mum,” wrote another.
“If I don’t see my son every 3 seconds while we are out I panic. This is heartbreaking,” said another.
