CHRISTMAS might not be far away, but the Cost of Living Crisis means that many parents will have to forgo big presents and even the basics this year.
One mum-of-three is bucking the trend though and has bought her two-year-old son a £400 iPad – with trolls claiming she used benefits to pay for the lavish gift.
No matter how much you spend on your little ones, it seems the internet will always have an opinion about it and find an excuse to mum-shame.
This hasn’t stopped Whitney Ainscough from spending extreme amounts on her three kids: Cora, 11, Addison, five, and Adley, two.
Despite the backlash, the proud mum shared a video of her youngest son playing with the £400 gadget on Tiktok and explained the reason for the expensive purchase.
“It’s educational… he’s got all sorts of different games on there…[He is] learning what different things are,” she insisted, showing her son play a matching games besides her.
She even defended her decision in the short clip, saying: “Sometimes people jump to conclusions…it is not to sit and put YouTube on…it’s educational as well. He absolutely loves that, so why not?”
It’s unsurprising that the influencer, also known as @itsmebadmom, felt the need to explain her parenting choice as she’s already come under fire this year.
The mum shared with Fabulous how much she’d spent on her daughter’s back to school outfit.
With her daughter due to start secondary school, the pre-teen received Vivienne Westwood ballet flats, a £1000 iPhone 14 and a £230 Michael Kors handbag.
It wasn’t just her spending that spark debate though, as Whitney had been receiving £1200 a month in benefits and even had a council tax break.
Though the mum stopped receiving the payments in August, thanks to her TikTok channel taking off, trolls still accuse her of milking the system.
One particularly cruel comment read: “Me, wondering why someone on UC can afford this, but my two full time working mums cannot.”
Another added: “The UC paid for it.”
Others accused Whitney of being a lazy parent, with a third writing: “Yeah because you can’t be bothered to sit down with your child like people used to and teach your child.”
Whilst the mum-of-three seems unfused by the backlash, many of her 231,000 followers defended her in the comments.
“…nothing to do with anyone what you buy your kids,” a fourth said, with many users also commenting on how useful they’d found iPads in their home.
“My boys have had one each since were small. They are really bright cos of games & learning apps like that,” revealed a fifth.
One grandparent even got involved with the debate, recalling how her grandchild would use the gadget throughout the day.
“Brilliant. I bought 1 for my granddaughter to watch her toons, later she will use it for learning [just like] how many little ones play games on their parents phone,” she revealed.
With Whitney gaining more and more followers, we doubt this will be the last controversy involving the content creator.
