I was mom shamed for not hitting my kid when he wet his pants

When Kelsie’s three-year-old does something wrong, the young mom doesn’t immediately jump to punishing him.

She practices a gentle parenting approach, which is about working with your kids to make choices based on willingness, rather than external pressures.

When she and her son were out, Kelsie encountered major push-back for her parenting style.

The stranger not only criticised her, but called her names.

“I was mom-shamed today for gentle parenting,” Kelsie explained in a TikTok.

“My son wet his pants, and then smooshed some food into a carpet.”

A stranger saw the whole thing and shared their unsolicited advice with Kelsie.

“Someone told me they would have whooped my son’s a–, but that’s just not my style. They told me I was a bad, selfish mom for not punishing him.”

Mom shamed for gentle parenting

Kelsie pointed out that her son is only three.

“When he had the accident, I told him, ‘Hey it’s ok, accidents happen, but next time can you tell mommy when you have to pee?’”

The food mashed into the carpet was a separate issue, but one Kelsie dealt with admirably.

“He smooshed that food in the carpet after I specifically told him not to,” she said.

“I made him go over, pick the food up and put it in the trash. Yes, he started crying, I told him to sit down and once he’s done crying we can talk.

“About a minute later he stopped crying, he came over and sat on my lap and we talked about why we don’t mash food into the carpet, and why we listen to mom.

“I taught him the importance of being respectful of someone else’s property, and he agreed with me and said he wouldn’t do it again.”

Kelsie’s critic called her “stupid” and added that her son would never learn without punishment.

But the mom had the last laugh.

“Well guess what?” she said, describing a later incident. “My son threw a chip on the ground and went over there to smoosh it, stopped and picked it up and threw it in the trash can.

“We don’t have to beat our children to teach them lessons. Children deserve respect. They don’t know what’s good or bad. It’s our duty to teach them.

“Just like your parents said, treat people how you’d want them to treat you. I’m not about to treat my three-year-old like he’s dirt on the bottom of my shoe.”