Pretending to forget your child is a damaging trend that should be illegal

"I get even the lowest form of comedy, but knowing that kids' hearts are breaking while their parents publicly laugh at them is as dumb as it gets."

Parents are 'forgetting' their kids in the name of 'sh*ts and giggles' online - but only the sh*t part is right.

'Get your toddler ready to go and pretend you forgot about them' is the latest social media trend to attract the worst kind of parents - those who exploit their kids for clicks - and it should seriously be illegal.

Because leaving your kid, or even forgetting about them, is actually illegal. It shouldn't matter what your intention is: what matters is the impact on the child.

They may forget you threw a cheese slice at their face, or cracked an egg on their head, for a laugh - but they’ll never forget you abandoned them, then showed the world that you’d broken their heart.

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'Get your toddler ready to go and pretend you forgot about them'

The trend has gone viral, but I'm going to share this clip as an example (you can watch it at the top of this story). In it, mum and dad pack up the baby and walk out the door - leaving their little girl (who's about three or four) with a closed door in her face. Like literally shut on her as she tries to leave with her parents.

The girl is surprised, confused, and unsure of what to do. She puts her bag down and looks at the family's dog as if to say, "What do we do now?"

Reactions to this clip include:

That is endless therapy right there… why would you do that, I wanted to cry.

I couldn’t even do this if I wanted to it would break my heart.

She turned to the dog and was like “they don’t see us?” 

That’s so mean I just couldn’t do that. I could be in the other room and my son will call me just to make sure I am still in the house.

I remember this happening to me when I was like three and I was traumatised from it for my whole childhood life.

Many commenters also noted how calm the girl was - as though itwas grace under pressure. No: she was just scared.

And for the record, for those idiots who've filmed this trend with their dogs - you are also terrible humans.

In summary: Find something that doesn't humiliate or scare to laugh at.

Image: TikTok

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"There's no doubt that children remember"

I'm not over-reacting and no, I am not remotely devoid of a sense of humour. I appreciate even the lowest form of comedy, but knowing that kids' hearts are breaking while their parents publicly laugh at them is as dumb as it gets. 

But let's ask a child health expert. Dr Trupti, a Melbourne pediatrician, shared her take on the trend, with Kidspot:

"There's no doubt that children remember, even if they cannot articulate it," Dr Prasad said.

"These early childhood experiences are formative.

"The brief experience of being left behind is not even the major concern here - eventually this child will begin to understand these experiences with confusion and perhaps shame and embarrassment- caused by her parents and then shared on the internet forever more."

Lock these 'adults' up, I say.

Originally published as Pretending to forget your child is a damaging trend that should be illegal