A mother on TikTok is livid after a perceived slight at a birthday party, and it kicked off a passionate discussion about proper parental etiquette. It all started when popular TikTok creator Kat Stickler, 28, took her 3-year-old daughter Mary-Katherine (MK) to a neighborhood park in Florida to play. While at the park, the young girl struck up a friendship with some children who were there for a birthday party.
“I’m going to mom shame. The only people I’ve ever mom-shamed are myself and my own mother. But one other mother is going to be added to the list,” Stickler began her video with over 10 million views.
“It was us and this birthday group, right?” Stickler said, adding that her child played with the kids who were there for a party for about 30 minutes. “I thought they were welcoming her with open arms,” she added.
However, things changed after the cake came out.
When the parents at the birthday party began to serve cake, MK lined up with the rest of the kids because they had been playing together. Remember, she’s only 3 years old. So, Stickler approached the people cutting the cake to make sure that it was OK for her daughter to have a piece.
“So I, like, walk over to make sure it’s OK—as a formality. Honestly, I was like, obviously, it’s OK. It’s cake. It’s a massive cake. There’s lots of leftover pieces,” Stickler recalled.
@katstickler No cake for me thanks, I’m full…of rage👹
But according to Stickler, it wasn’t OK, and after MK was served a piece, the mother of the child having the birthday took it away from her.
“The mother takes the plate away from MK, and gets down to her level, and says, ‘You can not eat this cake, OK? This is not your birthday party. These are not your friends. Where’s your mother?’” Stickler said. She couldn’t believe her eyes when a grown adult took her daughter’s cake out of her hands.
“I was right there,” Stickler told Today.com. “The mama bear in me was like, what just happened?”
Over 54,000 people took to TikTok to give their opinion on the story. Most thought the mother who took the cake was way out of line.
“I would be livid!!” Chelsea Campbell wrote. “I shared cake and cupcakes with all of the kids at the park for my daughter’s first birthday. They became her and my other daughters’ friends and I had plenty…the nerve she had to bend down and say that.”
“Public park means you better be prepared for extra! Like how dare she even speak to her like that,” Patience Swinford agreed.
“The cake didn’t get me… ‘these are not your friends’ is such a catty messed up thing to say to anyone, let alone a child,” Hovago08 added.
But some people thought it was wrong for Stickler to allow her daughter to hang around during the cake-cutting.
“That is so sad BUT that wasn’t a party she was invited to so I would’ve grabbed my kid as soon as happy birthday started. It is a bit entitled,” Josephine Mary wrote.
“Although it is VERY RUDE, it is the mom’s right to tell MK no to cake bc she technically wasn’t invited,” Abby wrote.
Some sat on the fence.
“I’m the mom that would call my kid away once they went over for cake, but I’m also the mom that’d offer cake to the ‘extra’ kid,'” Tessa Lewis wrote.
Brian Fike had a very practical response to the situation. “I’m inviting every kid in the park over because I’m not trying to bring all that cake home,” he said.
In the end, MK got over it because, after the party mishap, her mother took her to get some ice cream.
“She was totally fine,” Stickler said. “She was excited to go get ice cream with me!”