Photo: TikTok
What a mess of a situation!
By Hawthorn Martin — Written on Apr 28, 2023
It’s no parenting secret that kids can cause some truly impressive messes when left to their own devices. From food spills to “art projects” to leaving toys spread all over a room, it can be exhausting to keep up with, especially when the kids aren’t always willing or able to help clean it all up.
One family recently encountered one of those messes with their three-year-old child. After the mom smelled baby powder in her room, she looked inside to see if something had fallen and was not prepared for what she saw.
This toddler’s unbelievable mess was caught on camera, as well as her dad’s reaction, which some people say went too far.
As the family came through the door, they quickly realized that their toddler had taken baby powder and strewn it all over the room, entirely covering the floors, furniture, and even herself. Standing in the middle of it all, looking guilty, was their daughter.
“Am I in trouble?” She asked nervously. Bewildered by the sheer size of the mess, her dad quickly cried out: “yes, you’re in trouble, the f---?!”
Although the dad did swear at his child, his tone of voice was clearly amused, even if shocked, and the family broke into laughter afterward. Their daughter frowned at the confirmation of her mistake but didn’t seem to get much more upset. She already knew she did something wrong, after all.
The video skyrocketed in popularity, gathering over 49 million views and over 50,000 comments.
The woman who posted the video, and the girl’s stepmother, took the time to respond to several comments about the situation, obviously treating all of it with a light heart.
When asked if the little girl had a motive for her venture into baby powder chaos, the stepmother quoted her daughter saying: “She 'wanted a snow day.'”
Many commenters, however, were not interested in making jokes about the video and felt that a great injustice was being done to the little girl filmed.
“He needs to be reported for talking to a child like that,” one commenter accused. “Then posting it, shame on you as a mother.”
In response, the stepmom posted a short video of her daughter responding to the comment, adorably grinning at the camera and saying “Please don’t call Paw Patrol, I’m fine.”
Other, harsher comments have since been deleted by the owners of the account, but the reactions to them remain.
One commenter pointed out the absurdity of the accusation, saying: “[Please,] why are y’all acting like he beat her on camera, that was the most reasonable response possible at that point.”
The stepmother responded to this comment with gratitude, saying: “THANK YOU this what I’m saying, like people acting like we whooped her. He literally said one swear word and then we laughed as we cleaned it together.”
However, even with the family’s comments and cute video updates, much of TikTok was still upset about the nature of the video, so much so that the family eventually posted a very long video to answer some “frequently asked questions and comments.”
In it, they explained how the whole family had cleaned the mess up together by sweeping, mopping, and wiping dirty toys down.
They confirmed that their daughter’s only punishment was to clean up her own toys since it wasn’t her fault for having access to the baby powder, and as a toddler, she is prone to make messes.
They also took the time to explain why the mess was such a big deal.
The toddler understood and agreed that she wouldn’t do it again, and she had only done it in the first place because of how fun it sounded.
“I don’t like my brain always.” She commented as she described how hard it is to stop herself from causing messes.
The stepmother also called out many of the commenters whose comments she had taken down, saying their reactions were often founded in racial bias, and that her family page was no place for racism or microaggressions.
“Do not think my comments section is a safe place for you guys to spew that hatred, because it’s absolutely not.”
The father also pointed out that they, as a family, do not need to justify themselves to strangers on the internet. “It’s completely free to mind your own business, like, you don’t gotta pay a dime for that.”
Hawthorn Martin is a news and entertainment writer living in Texas. They focus on social justice, pop culture, and human interest stories.