A Russian Instagram influencer has recently come under fire after posting a disturbing video in which her toddler appears to fall from a set of bunk beds and land on his neck on the floor, Daily Mail reported.
Outraged viewers have criticized the woman for posting the video simply to gain views on the popular media sharing site, TikTok, and for not caring about her son’s safety.
Sveta Ananas created the slow motion video to celebrate her and her husband reaching 1 million views on TikTok.
The pair regularly post videos on their account and have accumulated a decent following. After hitting the 1 million views milestone, they decided to celebrate.
Originally posted on the viral video app, the mom shared it to her over 50,000 followers on Instagram as well.
At the beginning of the video, Sveta can be seen standing on a mattress on a bedroom floor.
She’s poised in front of her husband, Andrei, who has his back to the camera, and their two-year-old son Gabriel is standing above them at the edge of the top bunk bed.
Sveta then leaps off a mattress on the floor and throws herself into Andrei’s arms.
He catches his wife as she laughs, her legs wrapped around his waist and arms around his neck while she holds herself up.
It’s a cute video, but it’s what’s going on in the background that has the people of the internet so upset.
Children have a habit of copying other people’s actions, especially those of their own parents. After all, if mom and dad are doing it, it must be OK, right?
While watching his parents film their cute video, Gabriel appears to decide he wants in on the fun too.
Shortly after witnessing his mom jump, the tot seems eager to copy her movements exactly. So, he takes a brief moment to ready himself to make the same leap, albeit without Andrei’s arms to catch him.
Then it’s bombs away as Gabriel springs off the bunk bed, still smiling with his arms up in the air.
Of course, the toddler immediately falls towards the floor and lands on the mattress that is thankfully located directly below the bed, cushioning what would have certainly otherwise been a bone-breaking drop.
But the mattress, while certainly a useful cushion, also provided significant bounce for the falling tot.
After Gabriel hits the pad, he springs right back off it again, flying up in the air before landing at an uncomfortable angle on his head.
Despite the disturbing tumble and the strain it appears to poor on the poor boy’s neck, Gabriel doesn’t stay down for long.
Within seconds he quickly picks himself up and continues to smile, seemingly unharmed by the fall.
His parents, oblivious to what has just happened behind them, continue to share in their TikTok celebration.
Although Gabriel appears to be fine, that hasn’t stopped horrified users from commenting on the fall.
“I’m sorry but this is very disturbing,” one user wrote. “Yeah he jumped onto a mattress but did you see his neck nearly break? This is irresponsible parents right there trying to get fame and hits and likes at the risk of the child injuring himself. Disgusting!”
Another added, “Worst parents of the year award goes to you for sure!”
Sveta shared the video once more to an Instagram account she made on Gabriel’s behalf.
Speaking as her son, she captioned the video with a post saying that Gabriel “often jumps like this and everything is OK with me, I am a strong guy.”
RELATED STORIES
After posting the video to her Instagram account, Sveta wrote a caption defending herself against the mom-shamers.
Translated to English, she argues that the idea that Gabriel is “traumatised” is ridiculous and said all children take tumbles, we simply now have the technology to film it.
“It’s just that our parents didn’t have smartphones,” she said, adding that as a child, she regularly took spills without any long-term damage. She finished the caption with the hashtag #childrenareacrobats.
However, the reception to this third posting of the video was similarly poorly received, with more people commenting their disapproval.
“I can’t even,” one outraged user commented. “Are you sure you guys are so called ‘parents’?”
Another added, “Sorry but horrible video.”
h/t: Daily Mail
