Video Of Dad Not Noticing His Baby Getting Into Trouble Sparks A Debate About Dad-Shaming
Was it one of those mishaps that could have happened to any parent? Or was it yet another dad being negligent with his baby?
@were.only.human / TikTok If you've ever spent time with a mobile baby or toddler, you know that all it takes is a split second for them to get themselves into trouble. And a dad online is getting lots of blowback after a video of him totally oblivious to his daughter getting into danger — and making a huge mess in the process — has gone viral.
The video shows the dad not noticing his baby getting hold of his hot cup of coffee as he scrolls his phone, totally oblivious.
On some level, the situation could have happened to anyone — according to the CDC, a baby ends up in the ER with an injury every four seconds, showing just how common mishaps with babies really are.
But this dad's parenting mishap goes quite a bit further than just mere seconds. In fact, the video feels like it drags on for an eternity as you watch his baby daughter, rolling around in her walker, get closer and closer to his coffee as he scrolls his phone, as he doesn't even remotely notice what she's up to.
The dad had agreed to care for his baby so his wife could sleep in — but things quickly went sideways.
The video is honestly kind of hilarious — you can almost hear the absurd "Yakety Sax" underscore as you watch the tyke roll closer and closer to the coffee table. She almost seems to know her dad isn't paying attention as he just scrolls and scrolls, and she mischievously sneaks closer and closer to his full coffee cup.
But the video takes quite a turn when she actually is able to reach the cup and roll away with it — you're just waiting for her to spill it on herself and start screaming as it burns her. But even as she has her little arm right under his face for a long duration while reaching for the cup, her dad never notices what she's up to.
That is until she dumps the cup of coffee all over the rug, thankfully missing herself with the hot liquid. The video seems to have been posted by the man's wife as a funny glimpse into the foibles of fatherhood. But that isn't really how it's been received by most people online.
The dad not noticing his baby drew tons of very critical comments online — but some feel the criticism is unfair.
The video has gotten some people laughing about the blunders of parenthood. "Better pay attention to the baby like you pay attention to the phone lol," one woman joked, while a woman on Twitter quipped, "the dad obviously needs that coffee to be alert, babies get into everything!"
But the original video, taken from the dad's Ring security cameras, has since been deleted by the man's wife, presumably because of the angry backlash it inspired. Reposts of the video have followed a similar pattern. "I don’t get why moms post these as a 'joke,'" one woman on TikTok wrote. "This isn’t funny," while another wrote, "had this been hot coffee & that baby was burned?...Pay attention."
But some felt like people were being too hard on the dad. One man on TikTok called out commenters for "dad-shaming," going on to point out that he's hardly the first parent to make this mistake.
"Like he's the only one that's ever got wrapped up into something while his little kiddo is getting into some shenanigans," the man said. "Please. He just has the unfortunate chance of being videoed while it happens."
Maybe, but a video of a dad not noticing his baby getting into "shenanigans" is hardly surprising — there's not exactly a dearth of social media stories nowadays of dads just sort of checked out when it comes to parenting in comparison to their wives, or so-called "married single moms."
Everyone makes mistakes, of course, and parenting is an exhausting debacle for even the best parents — especially in those groggy early-morning hours.
But a full 38 seconds to notice your baby has absconded with a potentially deadly cup of morning Joe? Well, let's just hope this dad has learned his lesson to keep eyes akimbo for his baby's — not mention his living room rug's — sake.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.