“No child deserves this”: Korean parents draw criticism as a clip of 4-year-old crying on camera from recent My Golden Kids episode goes viral

On November 21, 2023, a clip from the South Korean variety show My Golden Kids went viral online. Episode 169 of the variety show features a 4-year-old kid named Geum Ji-eun, who breaks down during the show while answering a few questions.

Geum Ji Eun, a 4-year-old child, was interviewed for the video on the connection with his parents. When asked which parent he preferred, he said, "I don't know," acknowledging that he is sometimes left alone.

As a result, the clip went viral online, and international internet users were outraged to learn Geum Ji-eun's story. Netizens criticized his parents and wondered how much the 4-year-old kid must have faced mistreatment and made a point that "No child deserves this."

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"This is just so devastating": Netizens are outraged after watching My Golden Kids ep.169 as Geum Ji-eun's parents failed to treat him properly

My Golden Kids, a Korean reality show on Channel A, features parents seeking counseling. Experienced parenting specialists get together for this personalized parenting solution variety entertainment program, which aims to aid parents stuck on what to do with their kids and reflect the latest parenting trends.

Recently, the clip of episode 169 of My Golden Kids that went viral on social media platforms worldwide shows the hosts asking 4-year-old Geum Ji-eun who plays with him the most among both his parents and his grandmother, and he answered that neither of them plays with him. The video clip further showed him playing by himself in his tiny room, alone.

"Because they are always tired. They don't play with me."

When probed further, Geum Ji-eun elaborates that his father is always angry, and he wishes that his father would speak to him nicely.

"When he gets angry, he's scary. I wish that he called me softer. Geum Ji-eun ah...like this."

When the host asked him about his thoughts regarding his mother, the 4-year-old Geum Ji-eun went quiet before answering that he thinks his mother doesn't like him.

"I think she doesn't like me."

After this, Geum Ji-eun retreats to his shell as he looks down, and gets emotional. He tries to hide his face with both hands and quietly but politely requests that the show hosts spare him a moment to compose himself. This not only made viewers emotional but also enraged at his parents.

They stormed to social media and lashed out at his parents for being thoughtless, leaving him all alone at home, and not nurturing the 4-year-old kid with enough love and support.

However, what added more fuel to this outrage is another clip from the same episode of My Golden Kids, where Geum Ji-eun is seen sitting opposite his mother and confesses that he would like to go to art school. His mom, however, responded by saying that he cannot go to an art school because "he is not good-looking enough." Viewers were furious to see his mother give such an unnecessarily harsh reply.

An X user, @ms_matei, tweeted on X,

"My biggest fear has always been bringing children to this world and having them grow up to question their worth or ability to be loved by either of us (their parent). No child should ever experience this."

Another X user, @K3EH0SWRLD, tweeted,

"I just saw another clip of that little boy from my golden kids, and his mom is literally evil??? no wonder he said he thinks she doesn’t like him... he said he wants to do art,she said ‘if you wanna be an art boy you have to be handsome and you aren’t.’"

Online users are furious that these widely shared videos from My Golden Kids might have made the small kid feel unwanted. When he tried to manage his feelings and described them, his maturity astounded everyone. Netizens have expressed rage at the parents for raising their child carelessly and recklessly, only to cry when it is revealed that they are abusing their son.

The video has amassed over 10.4 million views since it was shared on X (previously Twitter). In addition, both parents have full-time careers, and while having her own health concerns, the grandma assists in raising the children.

Other episode snippets suggest that the parents were unaware of the emotional impact of their acts on their son. The father stated that anger management problems were the original reason the parents decided to appear on My Golden Kids.

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Thus, the episode ended pleasantly as Ji-eun's mother spent more time with him, playing games, reading to him, etc., and his father interacted with him more softly.

My Golden Kids is available for free viewing on OnDemandKorea. Additionally, the full episodes can be looked up on YouTube as well.