A stepfather has gone viral for using exercise as a form of discipline after his stepson told his mother to ‘chill’ during an argument at home. The incident, captured in a video shared on Instagram, shows the boy being ordered to do pushups and squats for his disrespectful comment. The video, which has since received millions of views on social media, sparked a wide range of reactions online, with some people praising the stepdad’s approach while others called the punishment too harsh for a child.
The mother, who wrote the caption for the video, explained that she was trying to send a work email while making breakfast for her family when her son kept asking her to use her phone multiple times. After she repeatedly told him ‘No, you need to wait,’ the boy’s dad overheard him tell her to ‘chill.’ The stepdad then instructed his stepson to do several pushups followed by 60 squats, saying, ‘Count ‘em. Keep squatting. All the way down.’
The punishment was followed by a conversation where the stepdad made it clear that the boy should not speak to his mother that way. The boy replied, ‘No,’ and the stepdad responded, ‘Absolutely not. I will not let you talk to my girl that way. Would I let anyone else talk to her like that? No. So, you don’t get to talk to her like that.’
The two eventually reconciled, and the boy apologized to his mother with a wholesome, ‘Sorry, Mom.’ The stepdad concluded the conversation by reassuring the boy that he was loved, saying, ‘Hey, I love you.’
The video, which was posted on the family’s Instagram account, has since gone viral on social media, receiving millions of views. While the stepdad’s use of physical punishment has been praised by some, the parenting approach has also been criticized for its potential to cause emotional harm to the child. The mother, who posted the video, explained that she was grateful to be raising her children with a ‘real man’ who knows how to be a father, especially to his boys.
Educational psychologist and parenting expert Dr. Michele Borba commented on the incident in an interview with Fox News Digital, noting that discipline is not one-size-fits-all. She praised the stepdad’s calm approach but warned that posting the punishment online turned it into a public humiliation rather than a private consequence. Borba emphasized the importance of age-appropriate discipline and noted that making a child perform strenuous exercise they are not comfortable with could be considered inappropriate.
Despite the mixed reactions, the stepdad’s actions have sparked a broader conversation about parenting methods and the use of physical punishment as a means of discipline. The incident highlights the ongoing debate about how best to teach children respect, responsibility, and the importance of treating others with kindness and consideration.