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A mother has sparked a debate after giving her other children the chance to blow out her daughter's birthday candles.
Earlier this month, mother-of-four and vlogger Cecily Bauchmann took to her social media accounts to share a video from her daughter’s 11th birthday. While her video has since been deleted, a TikTok user, @a.shleycollins, re-shared the video, which showed the 11-year-old blowing out the candles while holding her hand over her younger sister’s mouth.
After the little girl received a hug from her parents, the video showed the candles being lit again for the birthday girl's siblings. Bauchmann picked up her youngest daughter, who blew out the two colorful candles with the number “11.”
The mother lifted her youngest son to blow out the candles, which were then relit. The process continued with Bauchmann's eldest son smiling and blowing out the candles.
During each candle-lighting experience, the birthday girl stood next to her siblings while wearing a silver headband that read “Happy Birthday.”
@a.shleycollins' video then continued with her criticizing Bauchmann, while also asking her own son how he felt about the situation.
“If you were at someone’s birthday party and they had a cake in front of them with candles on it, would you want to blow those candles out?” she asked, before her son responded with a “No.”
After asking her son why she shouldn't blow out the candles, he replied, “Because it's her birthday.”
She then expressed how “crazy” it was that Bauchmann would relight the candles to give the birthday girl’s siblings a chance to blow them out.
“That ruins your special day, huh?” the TikTok user asked her son, before he replied: “Yeah.”
The father continued to question and scrutinize the vlogger in the caption, writing: “Even my six-year-old understands how it works. Why don’t you teach him to respect his siblings’ special time?”
The video by @a.shleycollins quickly went viral, with more than 9.8 million views. In the comments, several people also called out Bauchmann for seemingly taking the spotlight away from her daughter on her birthday, with some claiming that the 11-year-old seemed upset when her siblings were blowing out the candles.
“That poor sweet smile disappeared and I felt so bad,” one wrote, while another added: “Yes my parents did this and I hated them for it.”
A third wrote: “So sad to see that mother having something taken away from her day.”
Other viewers shared how they had discussed the situation with their children, who expressed how important it is for their friends to have their own individual and special moment on their birthdays.
“Exactly! The horror on my own children’s faces when I showed them the video! I feel so sorry for the birthday girl,” read one comment, while another person wrote: “I just asked my four year old if I could blow out someone else’s candles and she said ‘No, that’s not nice! ’”
However, others came to Bauchmann's defence, pointing out that viewers shouldn't be too quick to criticise the family based on the situation. They also claimed that it was common for other children to blow out candles at their friends' birthdays.
“People are judging this whole family based on one event,” one wrote, while another added: “It’s so normal that I do this with my kids and everyone laughs and applauds.”
“We do this all the time with my son, he’s the baby of the family. I don’t regret it!” a third agreed.
The Independent has contacted Bauchmann for comment.
