Picky eaters: Parents are now using a very disturbing method to get their kids to eat

Look, we all know how frusterating it can be to have a child who is refusing to eat their dinner (or breakfast or lunch or snack or whatever).

You've spent ages cooking and mashing and spooning into cute little containers, but to no avail – that child isn't opening his mouth for love nor money. And if you are a parent of any child above weaning age, you will have no doubt had to deal with a few 'what the heck do I have to do to get my kid to eat' dramas – and might even have had to come up with some fairly creative ways to finally entice some food into him too. However, what you probably have not done, I think, is resort to this simply horrifying trend that is currently doing the rounds on social media – because can we all agree that this is seriously crossing the line. In these disturbing videos, parents are scaring their kids into taking bites of food they rejected by beating their stuffed animals as a way to coerce them. Yes, really. And although some might see it as a lighthearted way to get their picky eaters to eat up, others are saying the footage is "horrifying" and seems like the parent is "threatening their kids if they don't eat." Which is totally how I see this – and I found this so very disturbing.

When kids don’t wanna eat... this is what you gotta do ??? #imdead pic.twitter.com/DZJri3gCBn

— wild cherry ? (@rudyhernandez_) June 20, 2019

Just look at that poor child's face! If you can't bear to look at this, the video is of a man (who, according to the internet) is the child's uncle) trying to get a toddler to eat something. Uninterested, the boy refuses, which is when the man picks up a Mickey Mouse doll and pummels the toy to show his nephew the consequences of what happens Mickey refuses to eat. Unfortunately, the trick worked and the boy accepted the next spoonful of food. Disturbing? I know. What is almost even more shocking is that the video has since been liked more than 316,000 times and has been retweeted more than 300,000, with many people praising the uncle and laughing at the "hysterical" footage. Others, in fairness, see what I saw, and labels the uncle "abusive" and totally in the wrong for what he did. In a similar video posted by a mum on Facebook that has been shared more than one million times, the reaction has varied from full-on laughter to actual disgust. "Anyone with kids that's doing this is in my eyes no kind of parent at all," one commenter wrote. "This is traumatizing for the child you're leading them to believe if they don't eat that you as the parent are going to beat them. The parents need a visit from child protective service. If I was to see this kind of parenting in public rest assured I would have a few choice words for you." Another person added: "Pure evil. Now don’t discipline the kid when he beats someone’s head in when he’s older [because] they didn’t do what he wanted." What do YOU make of these videos? Are you as shocked as we were?