TikTok Mom Divides Platform After Throwing All Of Messy 5-year-old's Toys Into Trash Bags

April 19th, 2021 - 3:18 PM EDT by Adam Downer

9 comments | Contact Newsroom

tiktok tabitha marie

A parent on TikTok has sparked debate on whether her intense solution to her five-year-old refusing to clean his room was effective parenting or traumatizing behavior.

Late last March, user @tabathamarie posted a TikTok in which she explained that her son had ignored requests from her for two days to clean his room. After the child retorted, "You clean it, Mommy," the user packed all of her son's toys into trash bags.

@tabathamarie

I hated seeing the look on his face when he seen his room. It hurt me just as much but my babies will not be disrespectful ##parenting ##fyp ##foryoupage

♬ original sound – Tabatha Marie


"Momma is not raising no disrespectful men," she wrote. "It is not a 'mommy's job' or a 'woman's job' to do anything. You make the mess, clean it up."

The video garnered a divided comment section, as some users argued she'd taken it too far while others said the tough love was necessary. One user noted that when her Mom did this to her, she "learned real fast" to clean up after herself. Another said that when his parents did that to him, it "traumatized him forever" and that cleaning is still an "extremely stressful task." Others felt that she should offer to help him clean and teach him rather than jumping to such an extreme response.

In a follow-up video, @tabathamarie said her son had been cleaning his room for a year by himself and he knew that the backtalk was inappropriate. She also said he had ADHD and goes to a lot of therapy.

@tabathamarie

Your response to cleaning my sons room out ##fyp ##foryoupage

♬ original sound – Tabatha Marie


If this video and the Bean Dad saga have taught us anything, it's that you should probably not document your parenting habits on social media. As for the toys, they are bagged in the basement and have not been collected by dump trucks. The son, she says, will get them back when he's earned them.


Top Comments

Timey16
Timey16

Thing is, especially in that age you sometimes need to make an extreme impression BUT you only need to pretend to do so.

E.g. when I threw a hissy fit and screamed that I didn't wanna come, my mom "left" me… well she really just waited around the corner for me to feel lonely and run after her.

Similar here: you just pretend to prepare to throw away the toys, the moment the kid goes "no mom I will clean my room" you give 'em back. Or if you go all the way, you still don't throw the toys away but store them in the attic, and the moment the kid's behavior changes you give them back… idk santa/tooth fairy/easter bunny/birthday skeleton recovered them magically for good children.

It's important to be consistent in behvaior, and to reward good behavior more than punishing bad behavior, but there still needs to be punishment.

+15

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