Over 22 million people have watched this dad brilliantly end a public tantrum
"If they don't learn by you teaching them, who are they going to learn by?"
"If they don't learn by you teaching them, who are they going to learn by?"
"If they don't learn by you teaching them, who are they going to learn by?"
It can happen to any parent: You're strolling through a public area trying to simultaneously keep an eye on your kids and check off items on your to-do list. Then, out of the blue, it happens. The dreaded .
When your little one breaks down outside of the home, it can seem like the whole world is watching. The pressure is on. But Ohio dad Terrel Rico Relz Crawford, turned his 3-year-old's Walmart meltdown into a that has now reached over 22 million views for its brilliance and undeniable wisdom.
In the video, Crawford has just taken his daughter Ari into the parking lot after she threw a fit inside the store. They're sitting on the hood of the car as he lets her cry it out, patiently waiting with an amused look on his face.
"You done?" he asks Ari. "You sound like you're still whining to me. You gonna listen in the store? You gonna stop whining? You gonna stop screaming?"
Then he explains to her what's going to happen, laying down the law without raising his voice: "I'm not taking you back into Walmart until you stop with your mess ... If we go back in the store and you do it again, we're coming back out here to sit down." And here's the thing: it actually works!
"See?" Crawford addresses the camera. "When you spoil the hell out of your kids, this is what happens."
"I don't care if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth," he continues, "do not put one in your child's mouth because this is what happens."
There's a fine line between your kids and giving them what they deserve — and given that Ari is the only girl out of four siblings, Crawford does admit to coddling her. This is why he wants to teach parents everywhere a lesson: face the fact that your ways may be flawed and do something about it.
His go-to tactic when his kids are misbehaving is to bore them, take them somewhere where they can't be distracted by toys or people and calmly wait it out. "Not each occasion calls for a whooping or yelling," Crawford , "it does more harm than help and leaves long term effects."
"If they don't learn by you teaching them, who are they going to learn by?" he challenges viewers, and he tells GoodHouskeeping.com that, overall, he wants parents to know "it takes patience to build patience. It's something you have to go through to get through."
By the end of the Facebook Live, Ari is bubbly and back to her happy-go-lucky self. Calm, cool, collected, her father saves the day.
[h/t ]