After welcoming a child, Tora, 32, and her husband, Marcus, 31, didn’t want to stop traveling. When they traveled to Thailand with their baby in tow, however, they ran into an issue: Emerald Cave was only accessible via swimming. Their guide offered the travel influencers an alternative option for their baby: They could put him in a plastic container, and he would be able to visit the cave with them.
The couple decided to take up the guide on the offer, but lots of people on social media had strong opinions about it and even suggested that they were bad parents.
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The mom admitted that she was nervous at first.
“I was a bit scared before we started, I must admit,” Tora wrote on TikTok. The guide, however, assured the couple that he “had done this many times before.” Ultimately, they decided that it “felt completely safe.”
The plastic container functioned as a boat for the baby, and the parents were able to guide him through the tunnel. Their baby appeared to enjoy the unconventional ride and was “laughing and cheering inside the box,” according to Newsweek. The fact that their baby was able to visit the cave with them made it feel “worth it.”
Some people who watched the footage thought it looked dangerous.
Although many of the comments the couple received were positive, critics called out the travel influencer couple for putting their baby in the plastic container.
“Where’s the baby’s life vest?” one person questioned, per the New York Post. Another person said the excursion seemed “unsafe” for the baby as the “box can easily tip over and baby has no floater,” according to the newspaper.
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Tora said some naysayers even suggested she and her husband should be reported to CPS.
@torastravels Core memory unlocked 🥹 #thailand #babytravel #bungalow #travel #baby ♬ today was a good day – ✗
The travel influencer mom shared another video about her baby’s journey to the cave in response to the backlash. In the follow-up post, the mom wrote that she received “comments saying that we should be reported to the CPS (guessing the American child protective services).”
The mom reiterated that she was “hesitant” at first when their guide suggested putting their baby in a plastic container. She had several questions, like, “No life jacket? Ok but how safe it is?”
But the guide “reassured” her and told her he had “done this hundreds of times” without any issues. “We trusted him, and we put our baby in the box and navigated it safely through the (very short) tunnel to get to the cave,” Tora wrote. “Our baby thought it was a lot of fun, there were other people around all the time cheering us on.”
Traveling to Thailand with her baby changed the mom’s perspective on parenting.
@torastravels Real talk ✍🏻👇🏻 my algorithm during pregnancy was WILD. It was as though everyone on this app were these picture perfect parents with every single thing and gadget and safety measure in order. Letting your baby sleep without a bracelet monitoring oxygen intake? Never!! Co-sleeping with baby in safe conditions? Why would you risk it!! Washing and sterilizing every single bottle after use? Of course!! You get the point. And as a first time parent, I found it extremely difficult to navigate it all, and I found myself going against my own intuition because I was too obsessed with following every single advice on sleep, food, hygiene, safety etc. Fast forward to coming to Thailand with our baby. You see babies with their parents on scooters, you see them sleeping wrapped in blankets with all their siblings, you see them in cars, buses and boats hanging out the window – no car seat in sight. Now, this is not saying that this is the standard I want to keep for my baby, but it definitely made me think and evaluate some of the lengths in which we go in the west – and sometimes on behalf of the best for the baby AND the parents (obsessive behaviour, anxiety etc. that can come from this). Now – when our tour guide said it would be no problem to bring our baby to the emerald cave in a plastic box, I was hesitant at first. No life jacket? Ok but how safe it is? The tour guide reassured me – he had done this hundreds of times and we would be completely fine. So we trusted him, and we put our baby in the box and navigated it safely through the (very short) tunnel to get to the cave. Our baby thought it was a lot of fun, there were other people around all the time cheering us on. And when I get the comments saying that we should be reported to the CPS (guessing the American child protective services), I get it. When you’re in the bubble of keeping everything completely compliant and secure, this might seem wild to you. But out there in the real world and away from social media, this is not very uncommon – and people sure does not view it as neglect. For us, this was a very joyous moment and something I would do again and again, following my intuition and showing my baby a different world than the one you can find on American TikTok. If you read all this, what are your thoughts on the issue? Do you relate? Do you struggle to let go? And would you put your baby in the plastic box? I know this video will probably create a storm, but maybe it can also reach someone who is pregnant and struggling with their algorithm, or someone with a newborn who can’t imagine how they can go on adventures anymore. Let me tell you, you can ❤️ #travel #familytravel #babytiktok #fyp #travelwithbaby ♬ Everybody Wants To Rule The World X Electric Love – darcy stokes
Tora also described feeling quite nervous when she first became a parent. With so many social media accounts that show “picture perfect parents with every single thing and gadget and safety measure in order,” Tora felt a lot of pressure to get things right.
“As a first time parent, I found it extremely difficult to navigate it all, and I found myself going against my own intuition because I was too obsessed with following every single advice on sleep, food, hygiene, safety etc,” she wrote on TikTok.
Traveling to Thailand was very different from what she was used to seeing on TikTok. “You see babies with their parents on scooters, you see them sleeping wrapped in blankets with all their siblings, you see them in cars, buses and boats hanging out the window – no car seat in sight,” Tora wrote on the follow-up video.
Although she said this is not “the standard I want to keep for my baby,” traveling to Thailand made her question some things, namely, “some of the lengths in which we go in the west” as parents.
When it comes to putting her baby in the plastic container to travel to the cave, the mom said she would do it again. “For us, this was a very joyous moment and something I would do again and again, following my intuition and showing my baby a different world than the one you can find on American TikTok,” she shared in the clip.
She also wanted to share a message for parents who think they can’t travel or “go on adventures anymore” after having a baby: “Let me tell you, you can,” she wrote.
