Mom's 'throwback' video sparks concern and criticism: 'So weird what people will do for fame'

When Odysseus says, “Fame is a strange thing… What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another” in Madeline Miller’s “The Song of Achilles,” he failed to anticipate the type of fame that seems to be abhorred by the public in every generation: A viral TikTok mom.

Christel Holland is the mother of two young kids and has experienced most of the ups and downs a parent can face when raising newborns. When Holland’s 3-year-old daughter was younger, Holland noticed that there was a thick white substance coating her tongue and mouth.

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The condition is called oral thrush, a fairly common occurrence for babies with less mature immune systems or babies who have been exposed to a contaminated pacifier.

Gentian Violet is the anti-fungal medicine typically prescribed for oral thrush that has a violet color that can sometimes temporarily stain the baby’s mouth purple.

When Holland’s 1-year-old son started experiencing the familiar symptoms, she knew exactly what to do.

“I didn’t know much about thrush, since I was a new mom, but with my son, I noticed almost instantly that it was thrush and knew I needed to get the violet medicine as soon as possible because thrush can be a pretty big pain to get rid of,” Holland told BuzzFeed.

Holland consequently posted a TikTok comparing a “throwback” to her daughter’s experience with Gentian Violet and her son’s current experience. Except, instead of explaining the medication to non-moms, Holland joked that both of her kids ate purple Sharpies.

“Throwback to when my daughter ate a purple Sharpie when she was a little baby and it stained her mouth for like a week,” Holland narrates in the TikTok. “My son did it too.”

Holland then tagged “Scoob dance” and “pancake cereal,” which are the names of two popular trends on TikTok, so Holland’s video would pop up when someone was searching either hashtag.

Her addition of “fyp” (“for you page”) and “for you” tags were meant to help filter the video through TikTok’s algorithm so it would show up on the platform’s main page.

Sneakily, Holland captioned the TikTok “Only moms know what this actually is.” The clip now has over 6 million views and over 8,000 comments.

“Uhm so how about GO TO THE ER not take a video!!!!!” one person commented.

“Did you take them to doctor???” another user wrote.

A lot of people backed Holland up, explaining that parents knew what it was and that it was a joke — which didn’t deter people from still expressing concern.

“But why do u purposely say it’s something else just so ppl come on here n question your parenting?” someone said.

“Why would you make a joke out of Thrush Treatment???” said another person.

“It’s so weird what people will do for fame,” a user commented on the BuzzFeed article.

“The point of the app is to either watch people’s viral videos or be the person who makes the viral videos,” Holland explained to BuzzFeed. “I like to make the viral videos!”

If you enjoyed reading this article, you might also likereading about this woman’s insane TikTok on how she makes her tea.

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