“This has been going on for a couple of weeks now and I told her many times to tone it down.”
Love it or loath it, social media has changed the world and, in turn, our lives. For all its downsides, it’s kept us connected during this past year and a half when IRL meet-ups weren’t a thing.
Parents in particular often lean on social media as a support system and a community. Single parents, stay-at-home parents and people on maternity leave can reap the benefits of having lots of other teeny parents in their palms to talk to, learn from and interact with.
As parents, however, we have to be mindful of what we’re sharing about our kids and this can lead to disagreements in couples on what is or isn’t appropriate to share in relation to their children.
One particular father took to Reddit to share his concerns about his wife’s social media habits. On the popular AITA thread, he wrote: “She loves making TikTok and IG videos. She posts organising videos, cleaning, sorting etc.”
The trend of scaring people to make funny videos is, I’ll admit, something I enjoy watching. This dad, however, isn’t sure if his kids being involved in them is ok: “Lately though, she’s been pranking our kids. There was one time I heard my 6 yr old screaming and crying because my wife scared her. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now and I told her many times to tone it down.
He went on: “I told her she needs to stop traumatising our kids for her follower’s entertainment. It’s not okay anymore.”
Redditers had differing opinions on the argument:
“Your wife is bullying your children. If anything, you aren’t going hard enough.”
“It sounds like this issue about you two. She’s just having some fun — maybe you’re a little jealous that she’s not giving you enough attention?”
“A joke is one thing, using your children for internet fame when they are obviously scared, crying, and not having a good time is just plain terrorising them.”
“Parents are way too soft nowadays. This sounds like the type of fun we used to have with my dad as kids. He’d hide in the basement and scare us half to death. If the kids are really upset, it’s not ok but it sounds to me like it’s all harmless.”
“Children are people, not props for social media fodder. All this is teaching them is not to trust their mother because she’ll either use it on her socials or dismiss it when she’s the cause of a problem.”
What do you think? Good clean fun? Or is she crossing the line?
