Mum slammed for cruel cling wrap ‘prank’
Warning: This article contains disturbing content which some readers may find distressing.
Tiktok influencer Savannah Glembin and her husband have come under fire for their decision to wrap their distressed toddler’s entire torso in cling wrap.
In the now deleted video, the couple can be seen taking a concerning approach to discipline with their “stubborn” child. While Enya’s ‘Only Time’ plays in the background, Savannah’s husband Hank is standing behind their son, Gunner, as the toddler perches on a bed, his arms trapped against his sides in layers of cling wrap.
“Grumpy toddler all day?” Savannah can be heard asking her audience, while over the video the text “this is the only way” is displayed.
The family’s dog appears, before Hank lays Gunner on the bed, facedown, and states that “he’s a worm”. Gunner, then on his back, cries as he rolls to his side, unable to move any further.
Although Savannah removed the incident from her feed, many accounts stitched the original video (the TikTok equivalent of a repost with additional commentary) beforehand. One user, known on the app as Aunt Karen, offered a trigger warning at the beginning of hers, stating that “this feels like abuse.”
"I don't see what's funny here,” Aunt Karen concludes. “I don't understand how putting your toddler in an uncomfortable position is funny and then posting it for views.
“Not only did you not just do this for your own entertainment, you thought this was going to be everybody's entertainment.
"This is why I don't like family channels like this, because they will go to any length for views."
People from all around the world were in agreement, outraged at the treatment of the toddler.
The uproar grew so loud that child protective services in the US - where the family reside - got involved, and Savannah was forced to post a tearful ‘apology’ to her account.
“I made the biggest mistake of my life posting this video. Genuinely and truly he was laughing and smiling and was out of the plastic in under five minutes,” she said. Many were quick to point out that while Savannah had apologised for posting the content, she hadn’t actually owned up to what they’d done to their son.
“Right now, we're dealing with a situation where Gunner has been taken from us until CPR can evaluate our home,” Savannah told followers in another video, “because I posted a video of my husband and son playing."
Savannah insisted that her son was not upset, despite his distressed demeanour in the original post.
"That video was skewed in a way [and led to] people thinking we were abusing our child,” she said. “But he was laughing and smiling and it was just a funny thing Hank did because Gunner was getting into the stove that day and tried putting a fork in a socket.
"Hank playfully wrapped him in cling wrap, he had room to move, he looked like a little cucumber. At no point was he in distress or crying.
"We would never hurt our son. He is the best thing that's ever happened to us.”
Savannah noted that they hadn’t expected the response their video received, and claimed that they hadn’t realised anyone felt negatively “until yesterday when cops showed up and our door and separated us, his family.”
"We made a mistake,” Savannah concluded, “and we don't deserve our child taken away because of it."
Gunner has since been returned to the couple, with Savannah captioning yet another TikTok update “home where he belongs”.
Images: TikTok