A mom has candidly opened up about the "icky" comments strangers keep making about her newborn son.
Alysse Gilbert - who goes by the handle @alysse.gilbert on TikTok - shared a video on the social media platform about questionable compliments her child receives that have left her uncomfortable.
The mom wrote in the overlay text "weirdest comment since becoming a boy mom" and revealed in the video: "Anytime I'm in public, and I have my son with me, if he remotely smiles at a stranger, I swear the comment I get is, 'He's such a flirt. He's flirting with me!'"
Gilbert stated that she has been left perplexed by these strange observations aimed at her child, and hit back: "I’m like, 'Diane, you’re nearing 65, and he’s a baby. He’s not flirting with you.'"
Watch Gilbert's TikTok below:
The TikToker revealed that she never got these comments with her daughter, but has with her son.
She then concluded her rant by saying she finds it "bizarre" before asking her viewers if they also agree with her. "Like no, he’s actually just a happy kid," she penned in the caption, criticizing those who make those remarks.
Many people in the comments agreed with Gilbert's video, sharing other things they’ve heard about their kids and what they say back to those who make assumptions about children.
"I always say 'What a strange thing to say about a child,'" one user responded, while another agreed: "YES It’s an icky comment."
Gilbert responded to the latter comment, writing: "Right?! Makes me so uncomfortable."
A third shared their personal experience: "People always tell me 'they’re gonna take my daughter home with them' like actually no ma’am you are not," while a fourth added: "I’ll come back with 'he’s 21 months. He’s not flirting- he’s saying hi' shuts it down real quick. lol."
Others contended that the word "flirting" is nuanced and doesn’t always have an inappropriate connotation.
"I use the word flirting in a 'they’re trying to dazzle you' kind of way. My kids are always trying to dazzle everyone with smiles. I say they’re flirting, but no one thinks I’m trying to marry them off. I feel like flirting can be used as a platonic term and doesn’t always indicate sexual attraction I know it can be weird sometimes but I don’t think it’s always meant in a weird way," one person explained.
Another shared a similar thought process, writing: "I think flirt can mean teasing playfully, or trying to draw attention by being cute without the sexual connotation," to which a mom agreed and said: "My daughter does this with my husband/her dad, like cheekily smiling at him and then running or hiding her face and I’ll be like 'awww are you flirting with dada?'"
However, a user responded to their comment, clarifying that by definition, flirting means "Behaving as if attracted to or trying to attract someone else," and added that it's "a gross and creepy thing to say about a father and daughter".
Do you guys agree with Gilbert's view that the comments about her son being a "flirt" are creepy?
