Little Girl Made Fun Of At School For Having A $9 Cup Instead Of The Name-Brand Stanley
The craze surrounding the insulated water bottles has led to issues for some school students.
Sundaravel C S / Iren_Geo / CanvaPro / Shutterstock If you’re on social media, you’re likely familiar with the craze surrounding Stanley Cups.
The insulated water bottles gained even more popularity after Target began selling a limited edition cup in preparation for Valentine’s Day. Videos of shoppers, primarily women and teenage girls, stampeding through Target as soon as they open have taken the internet by storm.
Now, millions are still trying to get their very own Stanley Cup, viewing them as a boost to their social status.
Seemingly all in good fun, the fad actually has a negative side, and mom Dayna Motycka took to TikTok to share the bullying her daughter faced for having a Walmart-brand cup and not the coveted Stanley version.
The girl was teased at school for having a $9 cup instead of the Stanley.
Dayna Motycka shared how her nine-year-old daughter was treated after she went to school with a $9 water cup from Walmart that she was gifted for Christmas.
According to Motycka, her daughter was perfectly content with her Walmart cup and thought it was “cute,” up until her peers took notice of it. Her contentedness was short-lived, however, as Motycka noticed that her daughter appeared upset after returning to school after the holiday break.
Upon prodding, she found out that many of her daughter's classmates received brand-name Stanley Cups for Christmas and "made sure to let her know that hers was not a real Stanley, [that] it was fake and it’s not cool,” Motycka said.
After the incident at school, her daughter asked if she could trade in her Walmart cup for a Stanley.
Although she wanted her daughter to feel as if she fit in with her peers, Motycka was on the fence about giving her nine-year-old a Stanley Cup.
“Do I think a nine-year-old needs a Stanley? No. Do I have one? Yes, I have one, I don’t have 50 Stanleys in all different colors,” the mother admitted.
While she is not one of the women who will fight others without shame just to get a limited edition Stanley Cup, Motycka is a parent who will do anything to ensure that her child does not get teased at school.
“So we went and bought her a 30-ounce Stanley,” she confessed. The popular cup cost her $35.
Motycka insisted that while she can afford to give her daughter a Stanley, it does not mean that she is entitled to have one, but, as she quickly pointed out, "I’ve been proven wrong by the children in our school who are making fun of her for not having a real name brand Stanley.”
Motycka stressed that children are not to blame for their snotty behavior.
Photo: Courtney Hale / Canva Pro
“This starts with us … what are we teaching our kids?” she urged.
Motycka claimed that if the tables were turned and she discovered that her daughter was bullying another classmate over not having a name-brand product, she would be calling the family of the student, making her daughter compose a handwritten apology note and apologize in person.
“That’s what we need to be teaching our kids,” she emphasized. “If you want to have name-brand things and you can afford name-brand things, that’s great! We are fortunate that we can afford name-brand things. But we’re trying to teach our kids that they don’t necessarily need that.”
Motycka wants to send the message to her children that the things they want in life have to be earned, and not handed to them.
However, part of her is conflicted since she wants to protect her children from bullying and harassment and would do anything and everything in her power to make it happen, even if it meant buying them brand-name products.
She recalled being bullied herself, and how confident she finally felt when her own mother got her a name-brand bathing suit to show off to her classmates.
“If my daughter asks for something to help fit in with the kids at school, and she feels cool and it’s something that she really wants, and I can do that for her, I’m going to,” Motycka said. “But we have got to teach our kids to not make other kids feel inferior for not having the things that they have … it starts with us as parents.”
Parents need to model non-materialistic ideals for their kids.
According to a survey from River Forest schools, 42% of students claimed they were excluded, embarrassed, or teased by their classmates. Over half reported feeling left out or inferior to their peers.
Many students can feel isolated from their classmates due to their economic circumstances and this can make them a target of bullying. To prevent harassment from happening in the first place, it is up to parents to model appropriate behavior and ideals for their children.
Teaching children not to focus on materialistic things involves instilling values, fostering gratitude, and encouraging a healthy perspective on the value of "stuff" versus relationships. Parents can start by demonstrating contentment and gratitude for what they have instead of prioritizing possessions.
While the Stanley Cup may be the latest trending possession on social media, in just a few months it will be a thing of the past.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.