What to Know
If there’s one thing people love to do on social media, it’s make snap judgments about a person’s entire life based on what they choose to post publicly. This feels like it’s infinitely more true if that person is the parent of a small child. A lot of parents use social media to share quick glimpses into their lives that they think others will find relatable. But sometimes, things can take a turn and get really dark. One mom on TikTok is learning that the hard way after she shared a video of her sick toddler and revealed that she has emetophobia.
The clip was super short.
@the_accidental_adult POV: TikTok turned my driveway into a national true crime documentary
♬ It's The Hard Knock Life – Annie Movie
The mom, who goes by the_accidental_adult on TikTok, shared an eight second video of her toddler laying in a pile of blankets and pillows alongside her husband, on their driveway.
“POV: you have emetophobia, so your toddler’s stomach virus gets moved to the driveway,” she wrote on the video.
From the video, you can see that her son isn’t in distress in any way. He’s laying in an incredibly cozy looking setup that is full of soft things and watching something on an iPad that is propped up to be eye level.
Her husband is also laying right behind the boy and rubbing his back. You can also see that he has a bottle of water right next to him. Honestly, it looks like a sweet father/son moment that’s being captured by mom.
But people absolutely lost their minds.
@the_accidental_adult Replying to @sarabee ♬ original sound – Accidental Adult | Real mom
“I never mom shame, but today is my first day. 🤦♀️Get that poor baby inside,” one person wrote.
“That is so sweet, on a nice cozy dog bed outside, feeling sick while you film content. but hey girl, you got the engagement, right! 👏👏,” another person wrote.
This particular comment legitimately stopped me in my tracks: “Girl … as a mandated reporter you’re lucky idk you.”
“I mean you do you but I’m keeping my babies as comfy as possible despite how afraid I am of throwing up,” someone else wrote.
“Hey yeah, this is genuinely selfish … I would rather leave my own house than make my kid stay outside when sick,” another person wrote.
However, some people were normal about it, and realized that judgment wasn’t really a flex.
@the_accidental_adult Quick update
♬ original sound – Accidental Adult | Real mom
“I’d rather be laying down outside with fresh air and sun while sick than being cooped up in a stuffy vomit smelling room/bathroom and he looks comfortable. Ya’ll just can’t get past caption,” one commenter wrote.
“There’s no harm to the child. As parents, we all do things to help our children in times of need, but do them to the best of our ability. Chastising one mother for a 15sec clip on social media speaks more about the negative commenters than it does about the mother,” a person who said they work in healthcare commented.
“Am I the only person who doesn’t see a problem? The child getting fresh air, and is being comforted and is relaxed what’s the big deal,” someone else wrote.
“He’s not spreading germs all over the house, he seems pretty comfy and I think this is genius,” another person wrote.
After a series of videos clapping back at commenters, the mom posted one final video addressing the controversy.
@the_accidental_adult You want the whole story? Here you go.
♬ original sound – Accidental Adult | Real mom
She made a few videos that addressed specific comments, but then made a couple of videos with her son poking fun at people.
Finally though, things had gone too far, and she posted a video giving the full context of her eight second clip.
“You guys win; this is insane,” she said.
She then went on to explain that despite her emetophobia, she had cleaned up her son’s vomit that morning because her husband wasn’t home. Originally, the family had plans to go to a farmer’s market, and even though he was throwing up, her two-year-old still wanted to go.
Going outside in the driveway to do chalk drawing and play was the compromise, and when he started to slow down a little, she made him a setup with a brand new, unused dog bed so he could stay outside.
All together they were outside for maybe an hour.
People still dragged her in the comments and accused her of “doubling down,” and using “darvo” to deflect blame. They just prove why I stay away from TikTok.
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