What is the "boy moms" Tiktok trend and why is it receiving so much backlash?

Since its emergence, the "boy moms" social media trend has been quite popular among the masses. So what exactly is this trend and who all are participating in it?

The trend was first started by Tiktok user lauraelizabethgraham who posted a video of her and her son cooking in their kitchen. On top of the video she had written:

“Making sure my son can cook so he’s not impressed by your daughter’s [Stouffer’s] lasagna."

To that she further added:

“He’s gonna need a home-cooked meal, Felicia.”

Soon the video gained traction, and other moms also started sharing their own versions of the video reflecting a similar sentiment.

Another user by the name of sivanaylarichards participated in the "boy moms" trend and wrote:

“Teaching my son how to cook so he’s not impressed with your dusty daughter’s takeout skills.”

Although some mothers willingly participated in the trend, some went ahead and called the trend "toxic" due to its nature.

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Does the "Boy moms" trend promote toxic parenting?

Some have accused the viral "Boy Moms" trend of promoting toxic parenting (Image via pexels/pixabay)

Since its inception, the "Boy Moms" TikTok trend has been quite popular, specifically among moms who have young boys. However, over time, the trend has gone on to receive extremely mixed reviews from the audience.

Some have said that it promotes "toxic parenting" as young mothers are shown to teach their sons how to cook and do other household chores in anticipation of the women in their lives being incapable of doing so in the future and not as a necessary life skill that should be learned by all.

Some users started posting videos in retaliation for the ongoing trend by writing on them:

“Taught my 12-year-old son how to cook so you daughter doesn’t have to deal with a man who thinks cooking is a [woman’s] job.”

Another user posted a video and wrote:

“Teaching my son how to cook in case he ever needs to… feed himself. I’m not putting that dusty MIL energy out there.”

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Is the Boy Moms trend insensitive towards women?

Some people who came across the "Boy Moms" trend have dubbed it as being insensitive towards women (Image via freepik/vecstock)

Some would argue that the "Boy Moms" trend is insensitive towards women. Since the beginning, the trend has been promoted as one that teaches young children, specifically boys to cook for themselves.

However, the idea does not exist in a vacuum. The storyline of the trend is fashioned in such a way that it is expected that these learned skills will come in handy for the son later in life only when his wife or partner is unable to cook meals for him.

The narrative of the video thus promotes cooking as a "last resort" for men and not as an acquired skill that should be learned by all irrespective of gender thereby reinstating the idea that women are responsible for all the domestic work while men only take up that responsibility when they have to.

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When a particular trend arises, it is easy to get swayed by it without being aware of its social implications. But as individuals, it is important that we remain mindful of certain things around us and then partake in them accordingly.