Photo: TikTok/Malcom Bedford/Facebook
She admitted to doing it.
By NyRee Ausler — Written on Feb 25, 2023
A video of a concerned grandfather confronting his grandson’s daycare teacher about how she chose to dress the child is recirculating on social media after a TikToker named Ijah Charles reposted it.
The video, which first circulated in 2019, shows a man reportedly named Malcolm Bedford marching into his grandson's school to confront his teacher about putting him in a dress on two separate occasions.
There is no context as to why the boy was put in different clothing than he came with or the child's feelings on the incident, which is all that should really matter.
Viewers suspect it was related to a play or dress-up event. Either way, the grandfather had no intention of allowing his grandchild to wear clothing traditionally associated with girls.
The grandfather reprimands the boy's teacher for allegedly dressing him in a dress.
In the video, Bedford enters his grandson's school and asks a woman, assumed to be the boy's teacher, to discuss his grandson wearing a dress at school. She advised him to talk to the director of the school at first.
The upset granddad asked the teacher, “Is she the one that was in charge of the kids while my grandson…”
The woman interrupted him and advised that she was in charge but was unable to speak with him because he was not on the list of authorized contacts for the child.
“I’m coming down here because we don’t do the transgender and all that. We don’t do that,” Bedford states.
“And I don’t appreciate you encouraging him to put on no dress for the second day,” Bedford told her before promising that the situation was not going away and expressing his willingness to go “further” with it.
Once again, the teacher directed him to talk to her superior and he declined by saying he wanted to talk to her.
The pair continued to go back and forth before the video ended with him refusing to take the matter up the chain and letting her know she was accountable for her own actions.
On TikTok, users in the comments were on Bedford’s side.
“These 'teachers' are out of control! Who do they think they are,” wrote one user.
There were demands that the teacher be fired and some even questioned the legality of the woman taking the decision about the boy’s wardrobe into her own hands.
What is interesting is the stark contrast from when this was first posted four years ago, the commenters on the r/Public Freakout subreddit, mostly blasted the protective grandfather over his actions.
One person commented, “Why is everyone making this a gay/trans thing? Seems like a lot of people assumed the teacher put him in a dress and told him he was a girl.”
Another agreed with the teacher’s response, saying, “So for this guy to come into a classroom with children present was not a very appropriate way to bring this matter in the way that he did.”
“I would have told him the same thing or said, this is not an appropriate time to discuss this and I would be happy to talk about this when children aren't present.”
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NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment and news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.