Young children are known for acting impulsively, whether it is throwing their food on the floor or deciding they want to take their shoes off mid-walk. Sometimes, this impulsiveness can lead to more problematic behavior—like ruining the paintwork on a car, as one mom found out.
In a video on TikTok, user @itsjustmilliee shared her toddler’s rather unconventional art project. In the clip, the exasperated mother says: “So if you think you’re having a bad day, look at what my toddler did to my car this morning.”
The camera then pans across the car to reveal white marks all over its doors and sides. At first glance, it looks like the toddler scratched the paint, but the marks are thankfully just chalk.
Since it was posted to TikTok last week, the clip has been shared more than 43,000 times, liked over 150,000 times, and commented on more than 2,400 times.
Many commenters have expressed sympathy for the mom’s plight. One viewer wrote, “I don’t know how you’re not crying, my god that’s insane – to like an $80+ car too.”
Others have laughed at the typical toddler behavior, with one TikTok user writing, “Do you think you’ll struggle to hang it on your fridge?”
“Was your toddler listening to Carrie Underwood by chance?” another TikToker joked, referencing the country singer’s hit “Before He Cheats.”
Some asked where the mother was while her toddler was scribbling on the car. “How long did the toddler have to be unsupervised for that to happen?” one person asked.
It’s normal and common for young children to be impulsive and they often grow out of this kind of behavior as they develop. The part of the brain responsible for exerting control over the emotional, impulsive part is not well developed in toddlers.
However, research conducted by Zero To Three and The Bezos Family Foundation suggests that many parents of young children overestimate their ability for self-control. According to the study, over half of all parents (56 percent) believe children have the impulse control to resist the desire to do something forbidden before age three.
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Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of parents believe that children are able to control their emotions at one year or younger. However, this type of self-control only starts to develop between 3.5 and 4 years, and it takes many more years for children to master the ability to manage their feelings.
Newsweek reached out to @itsjustmilliee via TikTok for comment. We could not verify the details of this case.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.