An ice cream shop owner in Texas had to share some unfortunate news on her business’s TikTok account: the Connect Four game she had outside in the seating was, sadly, “in the dumpster.” This was in response to numerous inquiries from customers asking the whereabouts of a very fun addition to her business.
Posted by TikTok user That.flamingo.lady, Faith, who runs the Frozen Flamingo ice cream shop in Georgetown, Texas, shared the sad news and the extent of the vandalism. According to Faith, children came up with all sorts of interesting ways to destroy every part of the giant game of Connect Four.
For starters, she says children had pulled out the “little stopper” that kept the Connect Four pieces from falling out of the bottom. There were two, which Faith says “they used them to sword fight,” resulting in the pieces breaking.
As for the round play pieces, children would “put them on the ground and jump on them.” It was not only an “extreme hazard” but the pieces were “crushed.” Faith then says the “final straw” was the Connect Four board, which had been subject to children kicking it to see who could “kick it the hardest.”
Where were the parents in all this? According to Faith, this was done while parents had been supervising their kids. None of whom did anything to stop their kids from vandalizing the game. The result now is that no one can enjoy a fun little game while they wait for ice cream.
The reaction to Faith’s Connect Four getting vandalized
Not only were commenters bummed out that a neat community prop was taken out, but people were also pretty frustrated with Faith’s customers. Some viewers shared their take on the correct way to parent, while others had outright scorn for children in general.
“And people wonder why we would possibly want kid free restaurants,” reads one of the top comments. This started a debate online, with some suggesting it’s more so a problem of parents not supervising their children. The original commenter doubled-down, saying “There should be kid less places without people shouting about how rude that is for people with kids.”
Another TikToker weighed in on the problem, suggesting it was “gentle parenting” that caused this. This too started a back-and-forth with the original commenter. Some viewers argued it was simply a “lack of parenting” and that the OP just didn’t understand what gentle parenting actually was.
The loss of the Frozen Flamingo’s Connect Four comes as an extra blow considering the shop will be closing down at the end of the summer. When asked by a viewer if the parents paid for damages, Faith did not respond.
