People won't stop saying this creepy thing to my son

"I'm like, 'Diane, you're nearing 65, that's not appropriate'," the mum said in her viral rant. 

"Okay, can we just talk about the weirdest comment I get now that I have a son, that I never got with my daughter?" mum Alysse Gilbert began a TikTok video.

She's referring to a comment that's in the same realm as 'He's going to be a heartbreaker' and 'He's going to have to bat the girls away' - aka sexual remarks to kids who can barely walk. 

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Image: TikTok

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"He's just a happy kid"

"Anytime I'm in public, and I have my son with me, if he remotely smiles at a stranger, I swear the comment I get is, 'He's such a flirt. He's flirting with me!'

"And I'm like, 'Diane, you're nearing 65, and he's a baby. He's not flirting with you'."

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She concludes her rant by saying she finds this comment "bizarre" before asking her viewers if they also find it weird.

"Like no, he’s actually just a happy kid," she wrote in the caption, further putting those who say this sort of thing in their place.

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"Surely there's a better word for this"

Fellow mums sounded off in the comments, with some sharing how they respond to these sorts of remarks. 

"I always say, 'What a strange thing to say about a child'," one wrote. "Gotta start making people feel uncomfortable."

"I say, 'It's gas'," chimed in another.

A third wrote, "I have literally started saying, 'No, he's not'."

Another parent had an equally blunt approach and just responded, "He's 21 months."

But then a woman who admits to saying this exact line offered her own take, "I use the word flirting in a 'they’re trying to dazzle you' kind of way. My kids are always trying to dazzle everyone with smiles... I say they’re flirting, but no one thinks I’m trying to marry them off.

"I feel like flirting can be used as a platonic term and doesn't always indicate sexual attraction."

And someone else wrote, "I say my son’s a flirt sometimes. He’s 11 months. I’m not being serious."

But a different user pointed out, "Surely there's a better word for this."

This article was updated in July 2024. 

Originally published as People won't stop saying this creepy thing to my son