What to Know
Dealing with playground bullies has to be pretty high on the list of life lessons you wish you could intervene for on your kid’s behalf. How easy would it be to insult some annoying kid who has no idea the kind of low blows you might have in your arsenal? But for kids, learning to deal with bullies is something that they need to learn about as they go…to an extent.
One mom’s experience might be grounds for intervention because, she explains in her TikTok video, an older child threatened physical harm on her 3-year-old, and she recorded the entire interaction. Maybe it’s the 90’s kid millennial in me, but I can absolutely see why other parents commented on the video to share what they want to say to the child and his mom. But wait, there’s more. Because after the TikTok user, Lena, says in her video caption that she did approach the kid’s mom about it.
The kid is caught on-camera threatening the preschooler.
@lena_mma1 And of course his mother’s response is “sometimes he has a hard time controlling his mouth, I know it’s not an excuse but…” this is a short video. I did intervene, I did talk to his mother, she didn’t not care! Please start reading captions. The video cuts off for a reason. It was handled #terribleparenting #badkids ♬ original sound – Lena
In Lena’s video, it sounds like the older child, who looks to be around eight or so, tells her 3-year-old that the playground belongs to him. He then threatens her preschool-aged son. And, when the little boy threatens to tell Lena, the older child points out, pretty coldly, that he wouldn’t be able to if his head was broken open. I beg you your finest pardons, but excuse me?
“‘I could break your head open,” the older child tells the 3-year-old. When the little one says he’s going to tell his mom, the older child continues with, “Well you couldn’t if I broke your head open.” Call me dramatic, but this sounds like something this kid might have said before.
Parents commented on the video to share how they might handle this “demon child” if given the chance.
One wrote, “And I’d say and I could break yours and that’s my problem.”
Another added, “I would be in his face and if his mom wants to run her mouth also then I’ll be in hers also.”
Others commented to share their armchair diagnoses and general concern with this sort of behavior and choice of words from the older kids.
“Hello, so I work with children and we had a 5-year-old with the same thought process,” a user commented. “One day he really did try to take a fork and put it in another child’s neck. This behavior is a warning, never think it’s nothing. He needs help.”
The boy’s mom had an excuse for his behavior.
In the caption of the video Lena wrote that the boy’s mom did address his behavior. However, it’s far from the reaction that most parents might hope for in this situation.
Per the caption, “And of course his mother’s response is ‘sometimes he has a hard time controlling his mouth, I know it’s not an excuse but…’ This is a short video. I did intervene, I did talk to his mother, she didn’t care! Please start reading captions. The video cuts off for a reason. It was handled.”
The idea that the kid’s mom already had an excuse ready just proves that this is a habit for him, and that’s concerning on its own.
The mom said her post was denied in local mom groups.
@lena_mma1 #permissiveparenting #badmom #children ♬ original sound – Kat 🎙️- Secret Lives HQ ✨
In a separate video, Lena explains that she tried to post about the incident without the video to a local mom group, but that it was denied. That led her to post the video on TikTok, where she got even more traction than she probably would have with the simple non-video post.
“The way you handled that situation was incredible,” a user commented on that follow-up video. “You should be proud of yourself and that other mum should be ashamed for not parenting her child properly and allowing him to threaten other children. I’m from the UK, but if you ever need to talk you can always message me. Us mums got to stick together.”
READ NEXT: My 9-Year-Old Girl Was Repeatedly Bullied by a Boy in Her Class so I Went to Press Charges
