Mom Wants Kids' Nurse Stepmom Fired After She Attacked Her— But Some Say She Shouldn’t 'Mess With Her Money'
The stepmother's actions were shocking, especially considering there was a child present, but is the mom taking things too far?
TikTok A mom on TikTok and the woman her ex is now partnered with have left people shocked after the mom uploaded a heated altercation the two got into in front of her daughter.
The row has left most people on the app taking the mom's side, but some feel she's taken her response to the stepmother too far.
A mom tried to get her daughter's stepmom fired after she attacked her in uniform in front of her daughter.
The incident occurred while the mom, Erin, known as @erm9009 on TikTok, was attempting to pick her daughter up from her dad's house. It's unknown what exactly sparked the fight, but the stepmother began hurling insults at the mom while her daughter stood nearby looking confused and frightened.
The stepmother verbally attacked the mom and wouldn't let her daughter get in her mom's car.
The stepmom called Erin a "psycho b-tch" as she attempted to pick up her daughter, whom the stepmother tried to use as a pawn in the fight. When the mom told her daughter to get in the car, the stepmom threw an arm in front of the girl and firmly told her "No."
The stepmother then challenged the TikToker to a fight, telling her to "get out of the car Erin." After accusing her of infringing on the child's dad's "rights," she then challenged Erin again. "You going to get out and do something, or are you just going to always talk sh-t? You scared little b-tch."
The daughter then got put in the middle again. "You hear that?" she asked her daughter before telling her to get in the car once more.
The stepmother then began mocking the mom for being poor while her children watched.
After the daughter finally got in the car, Erin threatened to get a restraining order against the stepmother, and that's when things escalated drastically. The stepmother began insulting Erin as her children looked on, calling her a "b-tch" and telling her to "rip your fu-king lashes off, b-tch."
When Erin replied that her lashes are permanent, the stepmother accused her of using her child support money to buy them. "Or is that free with section eight?" she then asked Erin, referring to the government program that assists the poor with housing.
It was at that point that Erin got a barb in, saying that the stepmother was "living off of a foreclosed home... while you collect SSI checks from your baby dad." The stepmother responded by bragging about being a registered nurse.
The mom reported the stepmother to her employer in an attempt to get her fired.
Because the stepmother was in her nurse's uniform and proudly waving her nurse's badge around, Erin revealed in a follow-up video that she had reported the stepmom to her employer and sent them the video of her attack.
She was told by the woman's employer that they would "escalate the situation." She also revealed that she and the stepmother have had problems for three years, saying that the stepmother "likes to have control of the situation" with her kids and "wants to be the other parent."
She also said she deals with the stepmother's attacks "every single time" she goes to pick up and drop off her kids at their dad's. "It should just be an easy drop-off and go," she said sadly, "but this is how it is." In a second follow-up, she revealed that she'd also filed a police report and gotten a temporary protection order against the stepmother.
People on TikTok were shocked by the stepmother's behavior, but some thought the mom trying to get her fired was a bridge too far.
The stepmother's words and actions left people appalled. "HOLD UP," one woman wrote, "how [is she going] to tell YOUR CHILD no when you said to get in the car?! like what??"
Many felt Erin should appeal to family court to keep her kids away from the woman. "The way she snapped 'no' at your child, and your child being scared to listen to you, makes me fear for how your child is treated over there," one commenter wrote. "Her behavior is subjecting your children to abuse & trauma," another added. "She doesn’t deserve to be near them!"
But while everyone essentially agreed that the stepmother was wildly out of line, some also thought the mom was taking things too far when it came to trying to get the stepmother fired.
"I do not condone messing with anybody's money," one woman said in a reply video, "especially when they have kids to support." She went on to call getting someone fired over an argument "as grimy as it gets."
Some agreed with her. "Facts!!! Why try to get someone to lose their job over an argument," one woman wrote. But others countered that given the importance of her job as a nurse, her employer had every right to know about her behavior and attitudes toward the poor. "She's an RN," one user wrote. "It does matter."
Regardless, it's the mom's children who are suffering most in this situation. Experts say that co-parents who don't get along can inflict intense damage on their children. As psychologist Berni Stevens bluntly told us in 2017, "Yes, you’re mad as hell, but your children love their other parent and, at least partly, define themselves by them. Do you want them to feel bad about half of who they are?"
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.