Did you hear the news story about the "toddler fight club" taking place in a daycare center in Delaware? Apparently, three workers at the Hands of Our Future Daycare in Dover were pitting toddlers against each other in organized battles while their parents thought they were safely napping, eating snacks, and participating in story time. The workers were arrested after a cellphone video of the battles surfaced.
Disgusting and scary, obviously.
My problem with this story? Many people want to see the video evidence for themselves and are Googling "Toddler Fight Club" as a result.
Unfortunately for me, I posted a video called "Toddler Fight Club" back in May 2011 of my then one-year-old daughter brawling with three older girls, and a lot of these people are stumbling on my video by accident.
Once people view the video, I can't imagine they think this is the footage from the daycare, but they still think I'm a terrible parent for encouraging the behavior caught on camera.
Over the past few days, I have gotten a few random comments in my inbox, such as "I hope you die, stupid parents."
This is what happens when a video is taken totally out of context. Here's a link to the post explaining the incident on my blog, but let me give a summary of it here.
1. I was not present during the altercation. My husband took Mazzy to a party at a friend's house, filmed the footage and is entirely responsible.
2. After my husband showed me the video (which I secretly thought was hilarious), I lectured him about teaching Mazzy hitting was wrong and told him he couldn't sit idly by if that ever happened again. My husband thought I was overreacting and said the kids were just playing and nobody got hurt.
3. I edited the video intentionally to make it look worse than it was -- speeding up and slowing down the footage, repeating particularly aggressive actions, and using Prodigy's "Smack My B*tch Up" as the musical track. (I'm a humor blogger, this is what I do.)
4. I posted it on my blog for people's honest opinions. Was my husband being irresponsible, or was I overreacting? The comments largely sided with my husband.
So, here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Now tell me what you think -- are we "idiot parents" who deserve to die?
MORE ON BABBLE
Related: 20 gross, disgusting things found in the mouths of toddlers
7 reasons why it's good to be a "Mean Mom"
11 signs you're a babysitter's worst nightmare
The 10 biggest secrets parents hide from their kids