A Video Of A Toddler Pleading For A Cupcake Has Gone Viral, But Is It Really Funny?

The above video has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube with sites calling it "adorable" and "hilarious."

And yes, little Mateo -- who asks grandma for a cupcake after mom says no -- is definitely both of those things.

But there is one part of the clip that nobody seems to be talking about. In the midst of Mateo's monologue, he tells us that "It's gonna burn [my] butt." And his mom says, "You and Kevin don't listen, so I have to give both of you guys pow-pows on your butt." That's a mother and son talking about spanking, one of the more controversial disciplinary actions.

Former HuffPost Senior Columnist, Lisa Belkin, argues that the spanking "debate" shouldn't exist, because there aren't two sides -- decades of research shows that spanking is ineffective and psychologically harmful. But still, news outlets and other parenting blogs discuss the practice often. The real news here is that the Internet is choosing to ignore that part this time, for no clear reason.

Ilana Wiles of Mommy Shorts mentions that she was hesitant to share the video because of this, and brings up another point. She wonders where Mateo's argumentative style (telling his mom to "listen") is coming from. Kids really are sponges, she reminds readers, instructing: "Watch how you talk to your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/etc. around your children because they will take your tone of voice, digest it and then spit it right back at you once they have the ability to form a cohesive argument."

In an interview with the Uber Conference blog, where Mateo's mom Linda Beltran works, she defends her son. "I want everyone to know that he isn’t disrespectful. In an effort to raise independent young adults, we let our children have a voice," she said.

Babble's Selena Mae agrees that Mateo's words might reflect how he is spoken to at home, but reminds readers that there's still no reason to judge the boy's parents, as some commenters have done. "Perhaps if the lens was turned on each of us, some of our own imperfection would be glaringly apparent and we’d quit trashing each other’s parenting," she writes.