Mom shares unusual parenting hack that tricks her toddler into eating food — it actually works

Getting a toddler to polish off their plate often feels like an impossible task for parents. Due to their picky eating habits, sudden mood swings, and easy distractions, mealtime can quickly become frustrating and challenging. However, one mom on TikTok, Cee (@ceebuttercup), swears by a not-so-gentle parenting hack that always gets her toddler to finish her food. Countless parents have unanimously agreed that this unusual hack is surprisingly very effective. 

The video depicts a father struggling to feed his baby daughter, but like every other toddler, she quickly gets frustrated and walks away, refusing to take a single bite. In the following clip, the man pulls a clever trick to regain his toddler’s attention. He pretends as if he's feeding a doll, and when it "refuses" to eat, another person in the room dramatically throws it to the floor and starts smashing it. Once the exaggerated demonstration concludes, the father returns to the daughter to offer another bite. Much to everyone’s surprise, she quickly eats it without throwing a fit anymore. 

Everyone in the room bursts into laughter after seeing the little girl nearly "traumatized" from her father's antics. The overlay text on the video read, "When your daughter won't eat her food, so her Tio tries this hack." The video sparked numerous reactions specific to the trick, which has apparently helped many parents. One TikTok user, @ashleyfbby, commented, “The reverse psychology method works! I didn’t do this, lol, but would just tell them, ‘OK, I am going to eat all your food.’ Then I act like it was the best food I’ve ever eaten. Then they wanted it lol.”

Another person, @catempress, wrote, “Just know she’s sleeping with one eye open when Tios around hahaha. Her poor baby doll got yeeted to the corner on top of that.” Similarly, @christinavalverd2 chimed in to say, “Her big beautiful eyes looking at mom, like, ‘Wow, ok, mom's not doing anything about it, so I guess I should eat.’” However, @accio.gatti criticized the hack and wrote, “You adults may think it's funny, but you never know how these sorts of things can really mess up a kid in the future.” @lidiamm73 also said, “Poor baby, you’re going to traumatize her.”

As if picky eating isn't tough enough for parents to handle, some kids tend to throw tantrums during mealtime. So, one mom on TikTok, Alivia Cromartie (@jusssliv), shared an unusual hack to control a child's tantrum. When her daughter, Icey, is on the brink of having a meltdown, Cromartie controls the situation by running in circles around her. This cheers up the little girl in no time. Cromartie further shared that she now uses this trick wherever they go — even at the grocery store — proving just how effective it is.