I think she’s mainly addressing the content thing because The Outspoken girls called her out on that stupid Tropeaka ad with Mal. So now anyone that goes to her channel will see that. Hopefully people can use their brains and look at all the thumbnails from other videos though
Two things on my mind recently….
#1 she talks about being real & raw, and honest in her “mum life” journey (which we all see is just horrible complaining). But the issue is her Instagram feed is EXTREMELY curated to look perfect. Just have a scroll. That recent one with all of them at brunch made me gag for this reason. Same with the one of her at that picnic with the kids. It’s all very posed and looks perfect and very much like she’s bragging imo, so how is that candid or real? I get that vibe from her YouTube as well; actually it’s always been fairly posed to me, but now feels extra gross because of the children involved. And it feels shocking because we get glimpses of how cranky and mean she truly is. She tries to show some “real” parenting stuff but it falls through.
This leads me to #2, and the discussion recently about Fox’s behavior. I think he is such a sweet kid, from what we see. And toddlers obviously have meltdowns, sometimes they are huge. But my issue is from the “real” glimpses of parenting that we’ve seen, Sarah (and even sometimes Kurt, though he’s a much better parent) cannot discipline him. I recently pointed out how she’s AFRAID of his tantrums because she does not take control as a parent. Here’s the other observations:
-the ONE vlog where she tried to look like a great patient parent by putting him in timeout, I thought she almost handled that well. But she is not consistent with that approach.
-SHE HAD A STICKER CHART AND FOX GOT STICKERS FOR “BEING HAPPY.” I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW BAD THIS IS. THE EMOTIONAL DAMAGE HE’S GOING TO HAVE FROM THIS.
-she was nervous with him on the fitness retreat in case he had a tantrum. Not because it can be a bit stressful, but because she doesn’t know what to do.
-when Fox threw his food from his high chair, they laughed.
-she doesn’t speak to him with complete undivided attention; he often lashes out to get attention. She doesn’t even slow down and just play.
-in the recent vlog (not haircutting one, the birthday one) he suddenly threw himself on the ground screaming/crying because Sarah was opening a bag of m&ms to share but she popped one in her mouth first. He wailed “I want one!!!” And Kurt was like “yea give it to us!” Sorry if this is nit-picky, but with my siblings that I parented AND the children I nannied for, we would pause and say “that is not how we talk to mommy” or “that’s not how we ask for what we want. Take a deep breath and ask nicely.” It was clearly fake tears because as soon as he got one he turned off the wailing and was smiling.
-with that last point, I imagine this is a solid example of how it usually goes. Fox has learned that the more he cries, the louder he screams, the more he kicks, eventually mom will crack and give him what he wants. So the tantrums get worse. I even think this is part of the issue with Kurt leaving for work and Fox freaking out. OBVIOUSLY he has attachment to Kurt because of how the parents have poorly navigated all of Fox’s milestones and transitions, but we’ve all pointed out that his meltdowns when Kurt leaves won’t stop for HOURS (as admitted by Sarah). Because Fox knows that if he keeps it up, EVENTUALLY he’ll get what he wants. And this often happens; in that podcast episode Kurt said that Sarah begs him to come home a lot because she can’t handle it.
Thank you if you’ve read all the way through
I’ve been taking some deep-dives into research on Family Channels and stuff, it’s just very interesting and quite scary. Paired up with Sarah’s lack of motherly instincts, poor knowledge on child care, being money-hungry, and overall spouting dangerous health lies is not good.
It’s gross. I don’t understand why these family channels can’t focus on mom content WITHOUT the kids. I watch that stuff a lot! Like meal prepping for a toddler (kids don’t have to be present at all), baby supply hauls, DIY sensory toys….like take the focus off of the individual child
