An Arizona dad had an app-solutely perfect response after he was shamed for giving his toddlers screen time.
In a hilarious Instagram video, Dante Birden is shown reacting to a comment he received from a follower about tablets. It read: “You give your children an iPad and somebody else will raise your kids!”
“Is that how it works!?” a wide-eyed Birden exclaims. Moments later, he’s standing outside a stranger's house and saying goodbye to his sons River, 4, and August, 2.
“Bud, you’re gonna live with someone else now,” Birden explains to River. He then gestures to the device in River’s hand and says, “As long as you have this, you’ll be just OK.”
Birden starts leaping away to his car — but his freedom is short-lived. The camera pans to River and August, who are following close behind.
"Unfortunately, it didn’t work!” Birden, 30, jokes to TODAY.com.
Before having kids of his own, Birden confesses he judged parents who gave their children tablets. Birden often makes reels about the things he said he would "never" do as a parent.
“I was like, they'll never have iPads, they'll never have juice or sugar and I'll never buy those tiny plastic toys," he says, with a laugh.
Of course, everything changed when River and August came along.
“I realized iPads are fine,” Birden says. “Everything is fine in moderation. We're all just trying to survive the toddler years, and there's no one right way to do things."
Birden was inundated with comments after he shared a video poking fun of new parents who say they'll never allow their kids to use tablets.
“Lazy parenting point blank period! How did our parents do it back in the day!?” One person wrote.
Other reactions included:
- “How else are we supposed to clean and cook?!”
- “6 years and still no iPad. I applaud myself.”
- “Umm ipad kids are a problem and so are thier (sic) parents. Just engage your children.”
- "Or just have willpower and want to engage with your children…"
- "A whole generation of parents admitting to rotting their babies' sensitive developing brains."
- "Raise your hand if you said your kid is not going to watch cocomelon."
Birden says he lets the criticism roll off his back.
“I either laugh at it, or use it for new content!” he tells TODAY.