An Ohio man is gaining internet fame after posting his thoughts on parenting to Facebook earlier this month.
The Mansfield native was inspired to make a video when his 3-year-old daughter had a tantrum in Walmart.
In the video, Terrel Rico Relz-Crawford took his daughter outside and sat her on the hood of their car for a heart-to-heart conversation.
The six-minute video starts with Ari still crying, and Crawford waiting patiently for her to take a break.
“Are you going to listen?,” he asks her. “Cause everybody see you acting a fool," he said.
Crawford goes on to tell Ari that they aren’t going back into the store until she “stops her mess.”
"I'm not taking you back into Walmart until you stop with your mess," he said to his daughter. "We don't have to walk around Walmart with your mother, that's a privilege."
He said parents don't know how to say no to their children, especially if they have never had anything themselves growing up.
Crawford’s main message is teaching parents about patience.
“Being an African-American father, in general in the world, you don’t get that much credit. Being a father in the world in general, we don’t get as much credit,” Crawford said. “But I’ve always worked against that. It never mattered what I went through personally, I always wanted to be a great father to my children.”
The post was shared more than 312,000 times and viewed more than 21 million times.
In the Facebook post, Crawford addressed the issues many parents deal with—how much is too much until a child is considered spoiled?
WE MUST SPOIL AND TEACH OUR KIDS. my daughter is spoiled to the max seeing how she is the only girl out of four. lol its typical for a child to throw a tantrum in the store, not each occasion calls for a whooping or yelling. it does more harm than help and leaves long term effects. I've learned from experience both living it and carrying it out in early parenting. in this day and age takin things like games, batteries to controllers , tablets or in this case not being in walmart till they calm down! i hope some find the lesson in this and know we ALL must learn!!
Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to his video, the father of four is now planning to host monthly Q&A sessions online titled, Patience in Parenting.
