Mom-To-Be Rolls Her Eyes At Her Own Baby's Gender Reveal — 'She's Really Gonna Love' That Child
The parents shouldn't have to answer for anything.
A gender reveal that was recently posted on the father-to-be’s TikTok account gained over 21 million views and nearly 27,000 comments — and no, it wasn’t just because of the unique way in which they announced their child’s gender.
So many people were hurt and sensitive to the father-to-be-, Aidan’s, clip because of how his partner reacted to the news of their incoming baby, with many people posting mean and nasty things in the comments about her ability to be a mother.
The mother-to-be rolled her eyes at her baby’s gender reveal.
Aidan’s caption claims that they were “Absolutely over the moon” and that he “can't wait to meet” their new daughter, seeing as he would be a first-time father. His partner, whose name he has kept anonymous and away from people online, would be having her third child.
The gender reveal isn’t particularly dangerous as some have grown to be, and still offers a unique twist on the dated tradition.
Aidan is armed with a paint sprayer and points at a black canvas with the words “Boy & Girl” at the top in their respective colors of blue and pink. The paint container is completely covered by tape, and the only way to find out the gender of the baby is to spray the colored paint onto the canvas.
As soon as the engine gets started, Aidan sprays pink paint onto the canvas and reveals that their upcoming baby will be a girl! Applause and cheers come from the crowd watching as Aidan does a subtle dance and his partner gives off a look of disappointment before rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.
After seeing her reaction, thousands and maybe even millions of people reacted in the best way they knew how — by judging the mother for her disapproving look. “Nice eye roll there mother, child is destined for greatness with such supportive parents!” one person commented sarcastically. “The disappointment on mom's face is so heartwarming,” someone else joked.
Gender disappointment is a very real and common emotion that many parents feel.
Operating under the basis that what she’s actually feeling is gender disappointment, it’s important to note that gender disappointment is a real feeling. It’s a feeling of sadness and disappointment that comes after finding out what the biological sex of your baby will be when you were hoping for the other.
Stephan Quentzel, MD, a psychiatrist specializing in pregnancy and childbirth issues, spoke with Parents.com about the unique emotion.
"It can sound ugly to say, 'I wanted a boy and not a girl,' because you're expected to love the child no matter what," Quentzel said, but a vital part of the healing process is understanding that these feelings are normal. Despite the societal expectation that is placed on parenthood, there’s no one right way to feel about what it will be like to raise your child.
No one knows how Aidan’s partner feels or what their relationship is like. Although the two comments quoted above were sarcastic and joking, there are thousands of far more mean-spirited comments. People took serious offense to the woman’s reaction of her baby’s gender reveal, and some people even commented on the way Aidan reacted as well.
For instance, the supposed-to-be-happy couple didn’t embrace once during the video. Aidan continued to spray the paint while his partner expressed her disappointment, and even when Aidan did look at the audience gathered, he didn’t look absolutely floored.
Judging people for how they react, however, will only lead to disappointment, but it also doesn’t make sense to do so when you have no idea what’s going on in people’s lives that makes them react in that way.
Many people reacted negatively to the video, bashing the parents for their reactions.
In an update video, Aidan reveals that he did actually hug his partner, albeit not for long because he had to adjust the sash he was wearing. Still, people bashed him in those comments for not reacting hard enough.
He’s released multiple videos up to this point about the original gender reveal, but one of his more recent videos explains what happened in the video and talks about the backlash he’s received as a result.
He says that it’s gotten to the point where it’s “starting to affect my relationship and my mental state with people saying we are not happy we are having a baby girl.”
Part of the reason why both of their reactions seem a little tame is because there were people there that they weren’t entirely close to, so expressing some kind of vulnerability in that situation would have been uncomfortable for them.
The reason he continued painting was because he wanted to cover the canvas completely in order to take good photos in front of it and he also wanted to get rid of all the paint that had already been there anyway — why waste good paint?
The point is that he shouldn’t have to explain anything to strangers on the internet. He owes nothing to them, and they should understand that a minute-long video is nothing but a tiny glimpse into the lives of people they do not know anything about.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor for YourTango who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.