A dad is going viral for explaining why he won’t remove his crying child from public places: “They’re not always sunshine and rainbows”
It seems like there’s been a lot of debate lately on whether kids should be allowed to act like kids (or even exist, TBH) in public spaces where their child-like behavior might inconvenience or (gasp!) annoy other people. Remember that hilarious viral video of the guy freaking out because of a crying baby on a plane? Yeah, there’s been a lot of that going around.
Now, a dad is going viral on TikTok for his refreshingly honest take: No, he will not remove his child from public places because their crying annoys adults who should really just get a grip.
“If my child is ever crying at the grocery store, I am not removing them from the grocery store,” dad Owen Squires says in his video. “I’m sorry if that makes you mildly uncomfortable or brings out the controlling part of your personality, but it is not illegal for a child to have feelings.”
Warning that this video contains some colorful language.
@owen_squires gentleparenting children parents
♬ original sound – Owen Squires
Squires explains that his family got back from a long trip and they were all tired, but the fridge was empty and people gotta eat, so off to the grocery store they went. And, as we all know, overtired toddler + grocery store = tantrum, every time.
“I can feel everybody in the f*cking grocery store just like staring at us, and I look around, and it’s like a g*ddamn car wreck like, all eyeballs are on us,” he says. “Now I can feel my anxiety level rising … I can feel my anger level rising like now this is affecting my ego. Everybody’s looking at me and judging me for how my child is behaving and now I’m angry with my own child for being a child.”
Squires goes on to explain that when their kids act out, parents often feel like they’re the ones being judged (because oftentimes, they are). But the behavioral standards that society imposes on kids simply aren’t realistic, and we can’t blame parents for that.
“So, I think there would be a lot more parents that would be willing to be patient with their children if society could just like f*cking relax and be a little bit more accepting of children and the fact that they’re not always sunshine and rainbows,” he says.
Amen to that.
