A mother in Chicago, Illinois, appeared delighted that her young son put on a show of sorts while at a restaurant, dancing and jumping all over the place. She posted the clip online, but was met with heavy backlash from many viewers, who questioned her parenting skills.
The original clip was shared online by Kasia, whose handle is wanderwithkasia. She regularly posts family content, including trips and couples getaways. While her restaurant video only garnered 11.1k views and she subsequently locked the comments section, other creators such as Cali (_cal_cifer) reacted to it, garnering more 311,800 views, 36,600 likes, and close to 1,200 comments.
The Illinois woman’s 19-second clip showed her son overly ecstatic, jumping from one end of the Arlington Heights Texas Roadhouse to the other. While dancing, the boy also swung a piece of cloth, all while speeding right next to other customers sitting at their tables.
“POV: you brought your little character to a restaurant and suddenly dinner became the entertainment,” she captioned the clip.
Explanation And Criticism
Kasia, who swapped the video’s original audio with a piece of electronic music, provided an explanation in the video’s description. According to her, her child “became the entertainment” after servers were singing Happy Birthday at another table. She claimed that the servers had handed out handkerchiefs to swing around, which explained her son’s behavior.
“He wasn’t randomly running around the restaurant causing chaos,” Kasia wrote. “He was joining in with what everyone around us was doing.”
Still, without the added context, many viewers and creators reacted to the clip. Cali, for example, called her explanation an excuse, adding that, as a restaurant worker, children often get hurt in similar situations.
“Maybe we treat our children as if they need to stay in their seats in places where servers are walking around with trays full of glass and piping hot food,” she said. “[…] I don’t see a single other person out of their seat, running back and forth between the table, being a general nuisance.”
Reactions
The video sparked multiple reactions from viewers who shared their thoughts on Cali’s repost. One told Kasia, “Your lack of parenting is a joke.” Another one commented, “I can’t comprehend how they film this and think it’s cute.”
The backlash continued on and on. One viewer wrote, “The other customers don’t look that entertained.” Another one added, “Sounds like a parenting problem, not a kid problem. Kids will be kids, but it’s the parents’ job to rein it in.”
Other than editing the video’s description, the Illinois mother has not commented on the criticism that her clip sparked. He continued posting videos of her son jumping around and having fun following the restaurant incident.
