Here's why you should never judge a parent by their toddler’s public tantrum
Make sure you know the full story before judging a situation like this...
A mum named Amie Carter has gone viral for a second time - because of a video of her son Jayden having a tantrum.
Amie uploaded the clip of her son kicking off in a car park to YouTube in 2010, as she was frustrated that her then 2-year-old son wouldn’t get in his car seat.
Naturally, online commenters were VERY quick to judge Amie, as people so often do when a toddler cries or acts out in public, calling her a bad parent who can’t control her son, and so on.
But the video’s going viral again, as Amie’s revealed that Jayden was diagnosed with ODD, Aspergers, ADHD, Intermittent Explosive Disorder and Bi-Polar NOS – the cause of his tantrums - after the video was taken.
“I originally posted a video back in 2010 of Jayden having a "tantrum", it was before he had any diagnoses,” Amie wrote in the video’s description.
More like this
“It was the first time I couldn't get him in his car seat...I smiled, and SMILED...due to the fact we had an audience watching us (it started out inside the restaurant) and I was embarrassed.
“If I didn't record him, no one would believe me. AND YES he acts like this WITH HIS FATHER, AT SCHOOL & IN PUBLIC...”
We’d love to meet a mum who’s toddler has NEVER misbehaved, or acted out, or thrown a massive strop, or cried uncontrollably in public ?
But Amie’s son has special needs, which just goes to show that you really shouldn't judge a mum based on one meltdown, because you don’t know what’s going on.
A man named Mike Steele shared Amie’s video last week as a meme, but has since apologised for doing so without knowing the full story.
“My original post stated “Spare the Rod Spoil the Child”: that’s before I learned the truth,” he wrote beside the video on Facebook.
“Little did I know, this little boy name is Jayden; he is diagnosed with autism.
“It’s funny how we can see a video and add our twist to it.
“Now that we know this piece of info, how would you really react to your child who's diagnosed with autism? We probably would have reacted the same way she did…
“Let this be a lesson to us all and let’s join hands to understand autism as a whole!!! Sorry Amie AND Jayden!!”
Props to Mike for realising his mistake and owning up to it. We reckon this is something we can all learn from.
Image: YouTube/Amie Carter
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