Videos of parents beating up stuffed animals to scare their children into eating have been going viral, but one dad has offered up a much calmer approach.
All parents will know that getting your children to eat, especially when they're young, is a daily struggle. One day you might have figured out what they like and will eat, and all of a sudden the next day they don't want anything to do with it. Equally as frustrating is when your children love two or three types of food and will refuse to eat anything else.
Parents will likely have various methods they use to try and coax their kids into eating their food. However, a method which has recently gone viral online has very much split the opinion of those who have seen it. If a child is refusing to eat their food, the parent will grab a nearby soft toy, offer it to them, make them say no, and then proceed to start punching the toy in the face.
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The child is so shocked by what they've just seen that they then eat their food without really given it much thought. Even though the method has been rearing its head online for months, it recently gained a lot of traction via the video below. An uncle posted the method being used on his nephew. The clip is closing in on 17 million views at the time of typing this.
Another dad has taken issue with the method, reports Buzzfeed, and has posted his own video in reaction to the original. The father does the same as others have been doing, but rather than having the soft toy refuse the food, he has them taste it. He even allows his son to feed a little of the food to the soft toy. After that, the little one is more than happy to eat it.
Although opinion on the controversial method is split, it does seem as if more comments lean towards its use being a bad idea. Some believe that it is effectively doling out a healthy dose of childhood trauma in order to make them eat something they don't want. Many young children also don't make the disconnect between living things and soft toys, so beating up their cuddly friends is likely incredibly upsetting for them to see.