Boomers, please stop talking to my toddler in public

"She doesn't know you and I'm allowed to set boundaries," a mum explains in a very relatable viral rant. 

A millennial mum on TikTok has gone viral for ranting about the way boomers talk to children in public. 

The mum, Kay, asked them not to start conversations with kids they don't know because their way of communicating might not be something younger parents want their children to hear. 

"This is my formal request for boomers to stop talking to children that you don't know," she began in her clip, which now has over a million views. 

"Other than simple things like 'hi' or 'I like your shoes'," she adds.

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Image: TikTok

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"Leave us alone, please stop talking to us"

She then recounts a recent encounter she had at Target with her toddler. "My daughter and I were [shopping] and this boomer came up to us. She looked at my daughter, and she said, 'Oh, you are so pretty.' And my daughter just looks at her and doesn’t say anything, because she doesn’t talk to people that she doesn’t know.

"And I said, 'Oh, thank you.' She just stands there for a few moments, like, waiting for my daughter to respond. And then she says, 'Oh, look at those eyes. So pretty.' And I say, 'Oh, thank you. She’s shy. She doesn’t talk to people that she doesn’t know.'"

Then the woman asked her daughter, "You don't think you're pretty?" and that's when the mum lost it. 

"Just like that. I was like, Oh my God. And I said 'No, she knows she’s beautiful. She just doesn’t talk to people she doesn’t know.' Why would you even plant that idea into her head? My daughter is two and a half. She doesn’t know what not pretty is. She knows that everyone and everything is pretty, beautiful, interesting," she said. 

Kay goes on, "Millennial and Gen Z parents are working so hard to break the toxic cycles of self-loathing and self-hatred that boomers instilled in them. But it’s like, every chance that they get to puke it out onto an innocent child, they take it. So annoying.

"And then another weird thing that happened, and this was a while ago. My husband’s family is from Bangladesh. His skin is brown and I’m obviously very white and our daughter is lighter than him and darker than me. And again we were out at a store and this boomer man came up to us and looked at my daughter and he went, "Man, she is beautiful. Look at that perfect olive complexion. Where is her father from?'"

"Leave us alone, please stop talking to us," she concludes, exasperated. 

"Lighten up"

Commenters were split into two camps over the mum's take. 

One of the top comments said, "Come on. As a Gen Z, lighten up. Boomers are genuinely trying to be friendly and the more social interaction, the better for the next generation."

Another commenter wrote, "1980 Gen X here. You can teach her to be both engaging, friendly and not fearful of community while still teaching her caution."

"It’s hard for boomers when they were younger the world wasn’t so individualistic so talking to people was considered normal," replied someone else. 

Kay then hit back at all these comments, saying, "I’ve taken her to story time at the library since she was six months old, one-and-a-half years of music class, second semester of Montessori toddler class, swim class and gymnastics soon.

"We go out all the time and interact with all kinds of people. Someone pushing her to respond by asking, 'You don’t think you’re pretty?' and a random person asking about her ethnicity is not appropriate. I’m allowed to make boundaries."

"They're obsessed with external appearances"

However, some people sympathised with Kay, with one sharing, "My boomer mum always defaults to discussing physical attributes as a conversation over any other subject. They’re obsessed with external appearances."

"I’ve had boomers try to reach into the pram bassinet to TOUCH my newborn son... like no ma'am we’re just trying to grocery shop," remarked someone else. 

"For real, when I was a kid I was so weirded out by random adults talking to me," commented a different user. 

Then this follower wrote, "I’ve had people act like my child’s silence is a challenge to get my child to speak."

This article was updated in September 2024. 

Originally published as Boomers, please stop talking to my toddler in public