Photo: TikTok & Instagram
The toddler was taken from his parents.
By Megan Quinn — Written on Mar 07, 2023
A popular social media influencer has come under fire after she and her husband posted a controversial video disciplining their “stubborn” toddler. Their technique has been labeled as abuse by many of her followers.
Now, she claims that the video was "just for fun" and that their toddler was not in any danger during the filming of the video. However, others are not so convinced by the emotional mother’s statements.
Savannah Glembin says she's being investigated by CPS after posting a video of her son wrapped in saran wrap.
In a now-deleted TikTok video, Glembin filmed her husband, Hank, wrapping their toddler, Gunner, in saran wrap as a punishment for acting “grumpy” all day.
Glembin is a popular creator on the app, with over 1 million followers, and is known for sharing content intended to inspire moms. However, her latest parenting choice hasn't gotten the support her videos usually receive.
In the video, the little boy struggles to stand up straight, with his arms bound to his sides wrapped in saran from the neck to knees. He falls face-first onto a bed multiple times as his mother and father laugh.
Glembin claims that it was “the only way” to calm her fussy toddler. “He’s a worm,” her husband says as the boy attempts to free himself from the wrap to no avail. Tear streaks are seen on his face as he strains to break out from the wrap.
While the parents clearly believed their actions to be funny, others did not think so.
Other TikTok users responded to the mother’s video, slamming her for seemingly harming her child for views.
“Not only was it negative, but the child could not consent to this being posted on the Internet,” TikTok user AnnaReports shared in a video. “The part that has a lot of people upset is the fact that she claims she had no idea that this was a bad thing yet so many people were tagging her videos explaining why it was a bad thing.”
“I don’t understand what’s funny here,” TikTok user Aunt Karen claimed in response to Glembin’s video. “I don’t understand how putting your toddler in an uncomfortable position and pushing him is funny and then posting it for views.”
She also called out the mother for believing that her viewers would consider her video entertainment just because she found it to be an entertaining experience. “This is why I don’t like family channels like this because they will go to any lengths to put their children in terrible positions for clout and views,” she adds.
In a follow-up video, Glembin shared that her toddler was taken into CPS custody after the video was reported by concerned viewers.
The tearful mother reveals in a now-deleted video that police showed up at her home shortly after the video was posted and that Gunner was taken from her and her husband.
She alleges that her toddler was only wrapped up for five minutes and at no point was he visibly upset. “He was at no point in distress, or crying or anything like that…we would never hurt our son,” she says.
Glembin claims that she and her husband wrapped up their toddler to be ‘playful.’
She says that her husband wrapped Gunner after the toddler was misbehaving all day, including getting into the stove and attempting to stick a fork into an outlet. She says that as of right now, her child is still in CPS custody and that they have yet to be reunited and have an investigation conducted on their home.
“All I can say is that my son is so loved and cherished and he’s my miracle baby. He’s my fourth pregnancy after three miscarriages and he’s the light of my life,” Glembin sobs.
She argues that viewers are taking the video “out of context” and that they do not know her or her husband. “We made a mistake and we don’t deserve to have our child taken away because of it.”
Glembin has since revealed her son was returned by CPS.
Glembin did briefly share a public update. She shared that Gunner is now "home where he belongs."
"CPS cleared us of wrongdoing and determined our home, with us, is a safe one for our son, despite that... a hard lesson was learned, a mistake we will never make again, this weekend was extremely traumatic for us as a family and we will be taking time away to heal," Glembin wrote.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.