Mom Faces Backlash After Posting Video of Shaking Her Baby During Rap Song

A young mom in Alberta, Canada is facing some criticism after posting a video of her holding her baby son like a gun and shaking him during a rap song on the social app Tik Tok.

Kaitlyn Jensen often posts videos to Tik Tok — an app that allows users to share short videos and gifs — including ones of her playing with her son, Grayson. She thought nothing of posting a video of the two of them playing along to the song “Pew Pew Pew” by parody rapper Auntie Hammy. But she might be rethinking what kind of fun she and her son get up to after online scolds have gone after her for “shaking” her son.

Unnecessary viciousness

“Watch out you are going to drop your baby,” one woman wrote. Another advised, “Although super cute, that is really bad for their necks.”

One viewer went fully into the realm of the unnecessary. “You’re going to break his little neck!” they wrote. “You are so mean to kids!”

Of course, people can say what they think in response to anything posted publicly online, but as someone who has been a mother, aunt, and cousin to a lot of babies, after watching the video multiple times, I don’t see Ms. Jensen doing anything particularly harsh. We bounce babies on our knees and I’ve never met a baby who didn’t like being jiggled around and danced with.

Jensen also holds her baby securely against her body with both hands throughout the video. I’d hate for babies and children to stop being bounced and jiggled and placed in virtual bubble wrap for parents’ fear of being chastised.

Being a parent in the age of the internet can be a fun place to share the joys and pitfalls of having kids, but it’s also filled with a million people ready to make you feel like a bad or failing parent.

There are certainly bad and unsafe examples of parenting being posted online, but Jensen’s video was not one of them. If nothing else, young parents like Kaitlyn will become more judicious about what videos of their kids they post online.