MOM SPARKS FURY BY CHARGING ANOTHER PARENT FOR THEIR KIDS PLAY DATE
A mother has sparked fury online when she asked the public to 'normalize' charging other parents for their children's playdates.
In a video on TikTok, she explained in a video that her daughter recently had a friend over to their house - and when the playdate was finished she asked the other girl's mom to Venmo her $15.
She cited expenses such as chalk and 'wear and tear' on the couch, as well as the price of her child using supplies in the bathroom three times.
That video, originally posted in early June, has since gone viral with more than 3.5 million views as many online openly disagreed with her plan - saying it will only leave her daughter without playdates in the future.
But the mom, who posts under the handle @shay.nanigans87 and whose profile identifies her as a 'rage' baiter and 'child support hunter' - insists it is just a way for families to even out the costs of their get-togethers.
'Can we normalize sending the other family money for playdates?' she asks in the video with a straight face.
She then goes on to share how she asked her daughter's friend's mother for money - sharing screengrabs of her conversation with the other mother.
In the first message she writes: 'Thanks for letting Jamie play today, please help out with your share of the expenses for the playdate totaling $15 via Venmo! Let's do it again soon!'
'Because I can't keep doing these playdates if it's so expensive,' the TikTok mother explains in her video.
But the other mother, identified in the video only as 'Melissa,' seemed taken aback by the request, asking 'Expenses?'
At that point, the mom explains that her daughter used 'supplies and food while she was here and this way we can do this more often without a monetary obligation on just one party.'
When Melissa asked which expenses she was referring to, the TikToker noted that her daughter had applesauce and fruit, had three juice boxes, played with chalk, used the bathroom three times and sat on the couch - which she said causes 'wear and tear.'
Ultimately, the frugal mom said Melissa paid her the $15 she requested, and she thanked her.
'I just received the money, thank you so much,' she wrote in a message.
'Hopefully this will make it easier for us to do these playdates more in the future.'
But many online believed her actions will have the opposite affect - and will wind up alienating her daughter from her classmates.
'Today, in “How to sabotage your child’s ability to make friends in one, easily quantifiable receipt”…' one X user wrote.
'When the kid asks why she never had play dates after Spring ‘24, show her this video,' added Martin Matthews, the CEO of a wealth management group in Georgia.
Another suggested: 'Let's normalize shaming people like her who are cheap and entitled.'
But when another X user said she would pay her then 'do my best to keep my child away from her and her kid,' the original poster said that was a 'good call.'
'I'd put up a poster with her face warning other mothers about her lack of scruples and entitled attitude,' she wrote.
Others said they thought she may have had a point - until she decided to charge the mother for having her child sit on the couch.
'Everything was good until "wear and teach on the couch" charge for a dollar,' one X user wrote, saying it's 'weird to put a number on that.
But when somebody else mentioned the charge for using the bathroom, he wrote: 'That was outta pocket as well.'
Meanwhile on TikTok, somebody else said they would be 'very uncomfortable if the person hosting a playdate kept track of how many times my kid needed to use the bathroom.'
His comment received more than 36,000 likes.
Another TikToker said that if she couldn't afford to host a playdate, 'then I simply wouldn't invite' them.
'Instead meet at a park and bring your own snacks,' she suggested.
A third also questioned whether the mother was serious - noting her profile information.
'It's rage bait, right? pls' she asked.
It remains unclear whether the mother was trying to provoke users with her video.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the TikToker for comment.
Read more 2024-07-03T06:43:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd