What to Know
Kids might not always want unsolicited advice from their parents, but one dad on TikTok, Steven Exceen, posted a video where he shared advice for his daughter when dealing with mean kids, and it’s advice we could all use. No I’m serious, because just turning the other cheek rarely works anymore, and who doesn’t love a good comeback?
In his video, Steven uses the audio from another video and mouths the words as advice to his daughter so she can handle “those mean girls” at school. Mean girls, and quite frankly, mean boys, are still as present as ever for kids of all ages. So if this video can help parents figure out how to advise their own kids with words rather than any kind of physical altercation, then it’s honestly educational at this point.
Everyone can use this dad’s advice about dealing with “mean girls.”
@s.exceen Good ol' dad advice #advice #DadLife #GirlDad #YoureWelcome #Fyp ♬ original sound – Petty Picasso
The audio in Steven’s video is meant to be his own advice for his daughter. Mouthing the words, Steven says, seemingly to his daughter off-camera, “You can end anything you say with ‘with your raggedy ass,’ and it’ll hit home every single time. The versatility is through the roof.”
I mean, he isn’t wrong. I can think of plenty of situations where I, as a grown adult, could use that tactic. Maybe I would be seen as petty, but hey, I would get my point across.
Kids at the elementary, middle, and high school level all have a way of going as low as possible when it comes to insulting each other. Ending an insult, or even a statement, with “with your raggedy ass,” isn’t the worst way to get your point across a little more clearly. It doesn’t add a specific insult, and it could be the surprising period at the end of a sentence at a mean girl or boy needs.
But maybe kids of not every age can use this one.
A teacher commented on Steven’s video to let him know that one of her students has indeed used this comeback, and it might not have been the best scenario for it.
“Not one of my kindergarteners saying this the other day,” she wrote. “Just had to cover my face.”
Someone else commented that this form of advice is “gen x parenting,” but I would say it also bordered on millennial, and I am here for it.
Other parents have their own ways to help kids deal with drama and bullies.
After Steven shared the video and noted that the advice is what he gives his daughter for mean girls, other parents commented with their own pearls of wisdom. If this isn’t what TikTok was made for, then you can just delete the app off my phone, because there are some real gems in here.
One mom wrote that she advised her daughter to ask people things like, “Do you need a nap?” and “have your parents hugged you lately?”
Another parent commented, “I support saying ‘yo mama’ every time a mean girl says something. Be relentless, I promise they will get furious.”
“I like to get creative and use ‘you absolute *insert literally anything*’ because it is hilarious and often ends any argument,” someone else chimed in. “Because how do you respond to being called a road cone?”
I am already trying to figure out how I can use that one myself.
