GenX Dad Makes His Son Carry Full Water Jugs Across The Yard As Punishment For Hitting His Mom ‘Since We Can’t Spank Our Kids Anymore’
He blames liberals for not being able to spank his kids, not the overwhelming scientific research behind it.
@hamburgerjones23 / TikTok A father on TikTok, named Derek Longstreth, is a self-proclaimed Gen-Xer, raising his son in a Gen-Z world. These labels are essential to Longstreth because they’ve affected how he punishes his son for the wrongdoing he has committed against his family.
In the nearly 9-minute video, Longstreth shows his young son carrying out his unique punishment.
The GenX dad punished his son for hitting his mom by making him carry water jugs across the yard.
The video cuts on in the beginning with Longstreth’s son, Truman “Tbone” Longstreth, walking across the yard to a group of water gallons that he will inevitably be carrying back and forth across their yard.
“Gen-X dad raising a boy in a Gen-Z world,” reads the caption inlaid with the video. “All right little man, let’s go,” Derek tells his son. “All these jugs to carry. You wanna tell them why you gotta carry these jugs?”
With “them,” referring to the one million people that would inevitably watch this video on TikTok, Truman says no, before Derek decides to explain anyway. “He hit his mom today, so, spanking is out of the question because you ‘libtards’ made it so we can’t spank our children no more.”
“Libtard” is a derogatory term that right-wingers often use to try and insult liberals by combining the word “liberal” with a slur for people with disabilities.
Instead of putting the blame on the act of spanking itself, he blames leftists for not being able to spank his son, despite the large amount of evidence and scientific studies that have been done to cover the negative effects of spanking. For example, “Preschool and school-age children — and even adults — [who have been] spanked are more likely to develop anxiety and depression disorders or have more difficulties engaging positively in schools and skills of regulation, which we know are necessary to be successful in educational settings,” reads a Harvard study on spanking from April 2021.
The father was supportive of his son as he carried all of the water jugs across the yard.
Not only is the action of carrying the water jugs completely inoffensive, but he’s completely supportive of his son the entire time he’s doing it. Derek also tries to remind Truman why he’s making him do this. Carrying these water jugs won’t hurt and scar Truman traumatically, it will simply be tiring. It’s a punishment in the form of an action he’s being made to do, instead of a punishment that is an action being done to him.
Despite his misplaced grievances and system of beliefs around spanking, it seems like Derek’s intentions are in the right place. Derek simply wants his son to understand that he shouldn’t hit his mother, and makes him do something that he doesn’t want to do in order to punish him and make him understand it.
“Let’s go, young man. I love you, just so you know, but you’re not going to hit your mom,” Derek says at one point in the beginning. “Good job, boy.”
Most of the nearly 9-minute video is just Derek recording his son carrying the jugs across the yard and back. Throughout the video, Truman says things like “I can’t do it,” followed by support from his father who tells him that he can and that he loves how his son never gives up.
Although the dad's blame is misplaced, his heart seems to be in the right place.
At one point, he asks people to leave their negative comments to themselves but also says that he’s open to any constructive criticism. He doesn’t want to spank his son for one reason or another but wants to make sure that he won’t hit his mom again.
At the end of the video, once Truman has finished his punishment, the father and son share an exchange of words. Derek asks his son to look at him and the camera and tells him to give him a thumbs up.
“Are you going to hit your mom again?” Derek asks, followed by a hummed no from Truman. “Say ‘sorry mom,’” Derek says, followed by Truman repeating the phrase. “Look at me buddy, I love you. I love you a lot, I just don’t want you to be hitting your mom, okay?”
Truman reciprocates the love, and although he looks to be resigned, it seems like he understands the weight of his actions. Thousands of comments in the comment section touted praise for the father as many parents think he may be raising a fine young man.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor for YourTango who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.