Woman Takes Nephew To Get A Mullet Without Her Sister's Permission After She Was 'Left In Charge' Of Him
You should never mess with someone else's kid.
TikTok How would you react if you came home and your young child got a haircut without your permission?
Then picture that haircut is not just a trim but a full-fledged mullet.
A woman on TikTok took her nephew to the barber and did exactly that.
She went behind her sister's back and got her nephew the wacky haircut.
“My sister left me in charge of her child,” she said. “So, I thought it’d be funny to take him to a hairdresser and pull a little ‘pranky.’”
The child was all smiles as he sat in the barber chair shaped like a little red car.
RELATED: Parents Do Nothing As Toddler Stands Barefoot On The Food Tray Of The Person Behind Them On A Plane
The hairdresser went to work with her clippers, and the boy emerged with the sides of his head shaved and long hair on the top that reached his neck — a quintessential mullet.
Her nephew still had a giant smile stretched across his face.
“Do you love it?” the woman asked her nephew.
“Yeah!” he responded.
The mother’s reaction to his haircut was entirely different than people thought it would be.
During the reveal, her sister put her hand over her face and diverted her attention to a band-aid on his eyebrow that the aunt credited to a fall.
The mother began to comment on the haircut, but the video didn’t show her whole reaction.
"It actually is really—" says the mother as the video cuts out, but it didn't seem like she was quite as upset as some people would have thought.
Commenters, however, were completely displeased with the aunt’s decision.
“You can’t just cut someone’s child’s hair without their permission. that is not okay in any way shape or form wtf,” one user wrote.
“I love a baby mullet, but as a mother, I would be absolutely livid if someone other than his father or I took my son for a haircut without permission,” another user commented.
The original TikTok of the child getting the haircut has amassed over 2.2 million views thus far, with many comments critiquing the poster’s actions.
The video of the mother’s reaction has garnered over half a million views — however, not all of the responses are negative.
Some TikTok users defend the woman.
“Lol people in these comments are so pressed, it’s HAIR it’ll grow back,” one user commented, but maybe the people who are outraged have a point.
It can be distressing for a parent to come home to their child being the butt of a joke, especially from a family member.
But we can get so used to our family that our boundaries can get muddled.
Relationship-focused website Fatherly wrote in an article reshared by YourTango in October 2019, “It’s shocking how often one spouse or another can become lax when it comes to things in which they’ll allow their parents or extended family to participate. It’s key to make the expectations clear upfront.”
A haircut like this could affect a child’s life at school and with friends, so the mother has every right to be upset.
Parents are instrumental in decision-making when children are young, but that does not mean they lack autonomy.
The Child Mind Institute recommends asking a child about a decision when it affects them and going through the possible options together.
This conversation should happen between the child and parent, no one else.
It can feel challenging to set boundaries, and often people set them with anger.
According to Fatherly, parents should approach setting boundaries with family members positively.
They recommend a practice where you “complain constructively.”
“You can still hit all of your bullet points. You just want to do it in a way that explains how you’re feeling and what you’d like to see both of you do to work on making it better,” Fatherly writes.
Ultimately, a haircut is not the end of the world.
A child’s hair will grow back, but that doesn’t mean a parent should brush a “prank” like this off if it makes them uncomfortable.
Or, more importantly, if the child is upset.
Luckily, this child was gleeful before and after the mullet.
Parents should still see this video as an example of where to set boundaries before their family member makes a decision for their child without permission.
RELATED: Man Visited His Toddler's Kitchen & Left A 'Bad' Review But Decided To Give Her Another Chance
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. He writes on entertainment and news.