What to Know
When you have young kids and you’re headed up to the lake for some fun time on the water or out for some fishing on the boat, it’s always vitally important to practice water safety at all times. For most diligent parents, this includes making sure that all children in the vicinity have a proper life jacket to put on. Sadly, you would be surprised at the parents who try to reason their way out of consistent water safety protocols.
Influencer Emilie Kiser is in some hot water (so to speak) after some video footage on Instagram Stories surfaced showing her toddler son sitting on a boat without a life jacket. Emilie and her husband, Brady, faced some pretty tough criticism on social media for this, especially since their son, Trigg, died in a water-related incident just last year.
Does this whole thing leave a weird taste in your mouth, especially considering what happened to Emilie’s son?
@deinfluencingg Emilie Kiser blissfully floating in the sea while vacationing in Mallorca one year after her son died of drowning. No life jacket on Teddy, despite being on a speed boat in the ocean. What happened to her promise to Trigg to keep Teddy safe? #emilie #emiliekiser #mallorca #watersafety #reddit ♬ original sound – ✨Tina/The Comeback Queen 🌸
According to People, influencer Emilie Kiser is facing some backlash after a video shared by fellow influencer and friend, Madi Curtis, featured Emilie’s 16-month-old son, Teddy, hanging out with his dad, Brady, on a boat while both families were traveling in Mallorca, Spain, in June 2026.
The magazine reported that the compilation-style video has since been deleted, but what stood out to a lot of folks is that Emilie and Brady Kiser’s toddler could be spotted for a brief moment without a life jacket on while hanging out on the boat. There was also another point where Madi’s daughter was seen not wearing a life jacket.
Considering that Emilie’s 3-year-old son, Trigg, died after a drowning incident in May 2025, and Emilie has been seen promoting water safety on her various social media platforms, this was something that a lot of followers were simply not cool with.
On this TikTok video that was able to nab the part of the Madi’s video that got so many people talking, the comment section is going off. One person shared, “It’s illegal for kids under 13 to be on a boat underway without a life jacket!!! Life jackets are like seatbelts, everyone should be wearing one no matter their swimming experience or age. This is just blatant negligence.”
There was so much backlash that Emilie posted a statement on her Instagram Stories about what happened.
On Tuesday, July 28, Emilie decided to address all of the criticism coming her way ever since Madi’s social media video was posted.
In a statement she shared on her Instagram Stories, she said in part, “Our child should have been in his life jacket for the entirety of that boat ride, not even for the few moments that he was out of it. We are painfully aware that in a matter of seconds, your entire life can change, and we should have done better.”
When thinking about her son who died after a drowning incident, the influencer shared that “Trigg should still be here, and we share that same belief more than can be expressed. He was only three years old, and should have lived a lifetime more. That reality lives with us every moment of every single day.”
At the end of her post, Emilie shared that while they may “make mistakes,” they will hopefully “continue to do better.”
Some are just not buying that this grieving mom’s message here is sincere and remorseful.
One thing about the internet and social media is that it can be very hard for people to forgive and forget. People’s lives are always right there to go back and watch all of their highest highs and lowest lows.
In this Reddit thread that showcased Emilie’s Instagram Story statement, there’s lots of discussion about how folks are perceiving her words that came after the parents’ careless water safety on a boat.
One person commented, “The fact that she threw in “not even for the few minutes that he was out of it” tells me all I need to know. She doesn’t mean any of this. She’s still making excuses, not actually taking accountability, and just spewing whatever disingenuous words she thinks she needs to in order to stay relevant.”
Another person shared that they don’t think her son was genuinely out of his life jacket for just a few moments. They wrote, “I really dont buy that he was out of it for “a few moments”. Anyone who has toddlers knows that once you do something such as take a life jacket off them, it can be a nightmare to get it back on.”
Another individual in the thread couldn’t help but put themselves in her shoes if they had lost a child to drowning and how they would act. They shared, “One year after losing my child to a drowning, I would not be able to go near a body of water, let alone bring my surviving child on a boat. At all. Then to not take every precaution? Even the most simple and common sense one such as a life jacket?”
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