While fooling around on YouTube, I found that there are a number of videos dedicated to people scaring their babies. Some babies are startled, and then burst into laughter, and it’s all pretty cute. Others, however, seem genuinely distressed and horrified, while the parents think it’s hilarious.
Are the parents of the obviously distressed babies being abusive, do you think? Among my friends, the reactions have ranged from, “Aw, they’re so cute when they’re upset,” all the way to, “Holy crap, what complete jackasses.” I don’t have children myself, but I can’t help thinking that enjoying the child’s distress is pretty mean.
I’d have to judge it on a case by case basis. As a baby, I loved being scared. (According to my family.) From personal experience, my youngest sister loved it too, and still does. In our cases, I wouldn’t consider it child abuse.
My other siblings didn’t like being scared as babies, and would shake for hours afterwards if they were. If they would have been scared just for laughs, I would’ve considered that abuse.
Yeah, I agree that if the baby is really scared, it’s a mean thing to do.
Having said that, I totally understand the sentiment behind it. I found out that my seven month old daughter is terrified of wind-up toys. I have a perverted desire to continue scaring her with them, keeping in mind all of the times she won’t eat, won’t nap, won’t cuddle, and generally exasperates me. But I don’t, because I’m a decent person.
I am mystified by this. There isn’t anything in the world more helpless than a baby, what would motivate anyone to purposefully startle it? It can’t fight back, can’t run away, and can’t avoid his/her tormentor in the future. That sounds like torture to me.
And geez…we don’t know everything about human brain development yet. Isn’t anyone worried that a strung out baby will carry latent fears that are unreasonable into adulthood? (Mommy??? Is this why I make a puddle if a balloon unexpectedly pops??)
If you happen to be videotaping the baby and something scares them but then they shake it off and giggle, that’s fine and cute.
Deliberately scaring the baby just to have a “funny” Youtube video, however, is nasty.
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I also don’t get why some people think those terrible pictures of little kids screaming their heads off on Santa’s lap are so funny.
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Babies always seem to be fascinated by me when I encounter them in public, especially at the supermarket. They stare at me all goggle-eyed, I goggle back at them (generally with a smile). I suppose I could suddenly scowl and yell at infants while capturing the moment on cellphone video, but it’d be tough to explain to the responding officers.
Based on what I’ve seen on YouTube, the main motivator is to give everyone a good laugh. Seriously. Both moms and dads think it’s hilarious, at least momentarily (most of the time, the video ends with someone comforting the baby). An oft mentioned element is how adorable the baby’s pouty lips are before he/she bursts into tears.
Okay, I could only get through three videos of deliberately startled babies. There is no excuse for tormenting a helpless creature with little world experience and a brand new limbic system. Families are supposed to protect these soft, mushy, helpless little things; if the babies are capable of processing feelings at all they must be so confused by this behavior.
This reminds me of when I see babies on television or in movies that are distressed/crying/freaking out for the scene. Obviously, these kids aren’t fresh out of Julliard acting school, so the only way to get them to perform is to make them actually upset/scared/freaked out. I don’t really have a problem with it, but it does take me out of the scene a bit.
While I didn’t scare my newborns, I did love to blow in their faces. They’d look startled, stick out their tongues and raise their tiny little fists and shake them at me. Ah, good times, good times.
I also like to put socks on my cat’s paws and watch them try to shake them off as they walk. I am one cruel, sadistic bitch.
Does the OP have a brother or sister? My siblings lived to irriate me growing up. And I of course, annoyed my younger siblings as well.
It’s just an extension of that. What parent hasn’t said, “Go to bed or the bogeyman will get you?”
It’s not exactly the crime of the century, I wouldn’t put it on YouTube simply because I don’t feel people should be put on public display unless they OK it. And babies can’t do that.
I was the much-tormented youngest sibling and survived the pecking order with no ill effects, but “Because I can.” (and the kid cant do a damn thing about it) isn’t a sufficient excuse for tormenting a child.
Maybe it’s no big deal to do it once just to see what happens, but the videos I looked at showed adults repeatedly startling babies and laughing about the results. A couple of the babies are visibly trembling. What happens when the baby is sick or injured and needs comfort and reassurance? How can that baby receive comfort from the same parents who torment it? Seems like violating trust would hurt the parents, too, who are stuck with a nervous, neurotic baby. I can’t see a benefit at all.
A majority of the time, babies and small children aren’t clever, independent, or terribly interesting company. Regardless, they are human beings deserving of respect.
I don’t, actually. And I have no idea if my parents ever purposely scared me. If they did, then I’m thankful that I was a baby far, far before the YouTube era.
You make an interesting point, though. Some of the videos seemed much more harmless than others, but I’m not sure where I would draw the line.
And as Troppus just said, some of the videos do seem truly sadistic. It made me wonder what those parents are like otherwise, and if they like to frighten their children frequently.
I guess it depends on how the baby is being scared - Junior kind of digs the Peek-a-boo thing - you know, put your hands in front of your face, then move them apart quickly and go ‘Boo!’ He always jumps a bit like he’s startled, but also laughs and giggles - as he’s gotten a bit older he does it back to me so I can’t imagine he’s too traumatized by it.
I’m wondering what exactly the people in the videos are doing to scare their babies. Actually scaring them seems kind of mean.
YouTube, keywords: scare baby/ scared baby/ scaring the baby.
There are plenty of harmless videos, like peek-a-boo games and the viral video of baby reacting to mom blowing her nose. But there are just as many nasty pranks on the baby, and the comments seem split down the middle. “It’s harmless, get over yourself.” and “You have no business being a parent.”
To me, this seems like taking amusement at someone’s reaction to something uncomfortable; these same people probably laugh when people get hit in the balls or do faceplants on America’s Funniest Home Videos. There’s a lack of compassion there that I just don’t get, especially when there’s a baby or innocent young child involved. They’d probably torment a mentally handicapped person in similar ways, I suspect.
I’ve found that the world can be a pretty scary place for a baby, and I end up inadvertently scaring or startling my 3 month old son far more than I’d like with things like loud burps, over-rough handling, etc… I don’t see any reason to intentionally add to that just to amuse myself.