A Video of a Dad Stopping His 3-Year-Old’s Tantrum Is an Internet Hit
My name is Marissa Charles and I’ve just met my new hero. Well sort of. I haven’t met him in person, or even online. But I watched a six-minute video of him, which begins with his 3-year-old daughter screaming her head off and having a fit and ends with her dancing, giggly and happy.
It’s magical to watch. He didn’t shout at her. He didn’t whoop her butt or bribe her with junk food or toys. So what did he do? What did my new hero do to get his child to go from a seemingly snotty-nosed, red-faced angry brat to an angel?
How did this dad get his 3-year-old to stop having a fit in Walmart?
The Meltdown
Meet Terrel Crawford. He is a 29-year-old licensed massage therapist from Mount Vernon, Ohio, and he has four kids who range from ages 2 to 13.
Meet Ari. This is his 3-year-old daughter. According to the Mansfield News Journal, in August Ari, her dad, her mom Ashley Miller and 2-year-old brother Kyndrik were on a shopping trip to Walmart when she threw a fit in the store.
What was wrong with her? Her parents let her play with her mommy’s cell phone, but when her mother needed to use the phone she had a meltdown. So what did Terrel do?
Still Whining
He took Ari to the parking lot, sat her on his car and started filming her tantrum. The result is a 6-minute Facebook Live video that he captioned: “When spoiled a** kids get told NO in Walmart.” To date it has been watched more than 21 million times.
It’s amazing. You’re watching in real-time this dad calmly let his daughter “act the fool” until she finally settles down after realizing that, no matter how loudly she screams and cries, they are not budging until she behaves.
“You done?” Crawford asks his daughter as the video begins. “Sound like you’re still whining to me… I’m not taking you back into Walmart until you stop with your mess.”
Daddy’s Method
Then Crawford turns to the camera and explains his disciplining theory to other parents. He said: “See when you spoil the hell out of your kids, this is what happens. And that’s our fault for being raised as ghetto kids and never having anything. But see people don’t know how to tell their kids ‘no’…”
He added: “I’m OK with a kid screaming in Walmart. What I’m not OK with is them not stopping when I tell them to. So we can be bored out here in this lovely old parking lot until Miss Ari…wants to stop screaming her head off.”
Crawford goes on to explain that he doesn’t beat his kids. He takes “stuff” from them. He said: “I make them sit down. I look them in their face and tell them I’m not bothered by it.”
Happy Again!
Little Miss Ari looked on at her father, apparently getting the sense that her tantrum wasn’t working. After a few minutes she stopped screaming. She wiped her face like he told her to and eventually they walked back in the store with her giggling and dancing in her daddy’s arms.
The victorious Crawford said: “No whooping involved. This is how you get your kid to act right. You sit them on the car or you sit them next to something that is nothing…”
He added: “I’m not arguing with no 3-year-old kid…no damn kid. I’m the daddy. I’m grown.”
Here’s the video in full:
