'It was 30 seconds of my life': Mum speaks out after viral video sparks global hate campaign
“People saw 30 seconds and thought they knew the whole story."
Parenting
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When 35-year-old Adelaide mum Renee Barendregt posted a short video to TikTok showing her toddler painting a chair at a children’s craft venue, she expected a few laughs and maybe a few comments from other parents who’d been there, done that.
Instead, the video became the catalyst for an international pile-on that left Renee shaken, her parenting judged on a global scale, and her mental health pushed to its limit.
Now, the mother of three boys is speaking out to share her side of the story - not to defend herself, but to offer something that was lost in the noise: context.
“People saw 30 seconds and thought they knew the whole story,” Renee tells Kidspot.
“But they didn’t see me redirect him. They didn’t see how many times I wiped the chair down. They didn’t see the chaos of parenting three young boys in public. They saw one tiny moment and decided that was who I am.”
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The moment that sparked it all
The now-infamous video was filmed during a visit to a Plaster Fun House - a family-friendly venue where children can paint figurines and unleash their creativity. In the clip, Renee’s one-year-old son can be seen painting a plastic chair instead of the figurine provided.
“Honestly, it was just one of those classic parenting moments,” Renee says. “He wasn’t being naughty - just curious and creative. The chairs and walls were already covered in paint. It’s that kind of place.”
Trying to keep three children entertained in a busy public venue is no small feat, and Renee says she was doing what all parents do - managing the chaos the best she could.
“I had emergency wipes in my bag for this exact situation,” she says. “I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t neglectful. I was parenting.”
It wasn’t a parenting fail - just real life.
“I thought people would relate”
Renee shared the clip to TikTok with the intention of capturing a relatable, unfiltered parenting moment.
“I’ve been posting for years,” she says. “Sharing the highs and lows of parenting. This felt like any other post - a funny, raw moment. Nothing curated. Nothing staged.”
She never imagined the backlash that would follow.
“I thought maybe people would laugh or say, ‘Yep, been there.’ I definitely didn’t expect it to blow up the way it did,” Renee says. “But that’s TikTok. You never know what you’re going to get.”
As the views climbed into the hundreds of thousands, Renee noticed the tone in the comments begin to change.
“It went from people laughing or commiserating to straight-up abuse,” she says. “People started tagging influencers overseas, who then twisted the narrative and spoke like they knew what happened.”
And the abuse wasn’t just online snark - it quickly turned deeply personal and threatening.
“People called me abusive, unfit, selfish. I had messages telling me to kill myself. One person said, ‘I will find you and kill you.’ And they dragged my kids into it too.”
The cruelest comment, Renee says, still haunts her.
“Someone said my children would grow up damaged because of me,” she says quietly. “That was a knife to the heart.”
“They didn’t know me - but they spoke like they did”
Renee says the involvement of influencers with large platforms made everything worse.
“They didn’t know me, my kids, or what really happened,” she says. “But they gave their opinions with authority, and people believed them. I was powerless to stop it.”
She recalls one influencer mocking her parenting while never acknowledging that she’d redirected her son multiple times - or that the venue was clearly designed to be messy and child-friendly.
“That’s when I realised I’d lost control of the story,” Renee says. “It wasn’t about what actually happened anymore. It was about what people wanted it to be.”
The mental toll
Renee says the intensity and scale of the backlash took a serious toll on her mental health.
“This one felt different. I’ve copped backlash before, but this felt targeted. It wasn’t about disagreeing with something I said - it was about tearing down who I am as a mother and a person,” she says.
“I’ve always been strong. But this time, I felt crushed. It got into my head. I started questioning myself.”
At her lowest point, she says, “It broke something in me.”
She eventually shut down her TikTok account entirely.
“I didn’t want my kids growing up seeing me carry that heaviness - or worse, seeing people talk about them like that,” she says. “That was the final straw.”
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A different kind of community
Renee continues to post on Instagram under the handles @renandtheboys and @renee.Barendregt, where she says the tone is entirely different.
“Instagram feels like a community. It’s people who’ve followed my journey and know me. Even when they disagree with me, they do it respectfully,” she says.
“I’ve had barely any hate there. Honestly, my Instagram community has helped me through so much during my single motherhood journey.”
But the experience has changed how she approaches sharing online.
“I’ll always be real - that’s who I am,” Renee says. “But I’m more guarded now. I think harder about what I post, especially about my kids. The raw, everyday stuff will still be there, just with more boundaries to protect my family.”
If Renee could say one thing to the people who turned her parenting moment into global controversy, it would be this:
“You saw 30 seconds of my life. That’s not the full story. Ask yourself - what if this was a person I knew? What if this was me? Be kind, always. If you don’t like something, scroll on. There is no need for hate.”
She pauses, then adds: “My kids are loved. They’re safe. They’re thriving. I’m a real mum doing my best - just like everyone else.”
And sometimes, doing your best looks like carrying wipes, redirecting with patience, and letting a toddler paint a chair in a place that’s already covered in colour.
Because that’s real life. And that’s parenting.
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