Influencer mom slammed for staging beach day with daughter for online views: ‘Saddest thing ever'
A so-called mommy influencer is catching heat online after a fellow mom exposed her for allegedly staging a sunny bonding moment with her young daughter — then packing up and leaving right after getting the perfect shot.
Ashley Cast (@healthybutno) posted a TikTok video recounting the bizarre incident she witnessed — and it has since ignited a firestorm of debate about online parenting fakery.
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At first, Cast admitted she felt a pang of parenting guilt watching the duo in matching swimsuits carefully crafting a picture-perfect sandcastle, with a phone on a tripod capturing it all.
'I was like, 'That's kind of cute. I wish I was better at that. I should really film more of myself with my kids,' she said in the clip.
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But the warm-and-fuzzy moment didn't last long.
Cast said the woman then checked the footage, looked dissatisfied, and — in a twist worthy of a soap opera — demolished the sandcastle.
Even more shocking? The daughter didn't even flinch.
Cast figured it wasn't the first time this kid's childhood memories were brought to you by Final Cut Pro.
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Once the staged sandcastle shoot wrapped, the mom filmed a quick water-splashing moment with the child. That, too, was cut short.
The child probably had fun for 'ten seconds,' Cast theorized, before the mom told her disappointed daughter, 'We're done,' and dove back into her phone to presumably start editing.
'Are you freaking kidding me? You just took your daughter to the beach for views,' Cast said. 'It's one thing to have a pretend life. But it's another thing to have a pretend life and use your children for views.'
Viewers were equally gobsmacked. 'Imagine if your childhood was made up of cuts and retakes,' one TikTok user commented.
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'This is the saddest thing ever,' read another comment.
Another wrote: 'Fun fact: when you're ACTUALLY parenting, you rarely have brain space to set up a camera and if you're focused on your kid, you'll never take the time to stage a shoot.'
Cast said the woman reviewed the footage, frowned — and in a plot twist fit for a daytime drama, stomped the sandcastle like a true beachside villain.
Andrii – stock.adobe.com
This influencer mom isn't the only parent accused of putting clicks over kids.
As previously reported by The Post, Garrett Gee, a former tech founder turned 'adventure journalist' extraordinaire, recently posted a video that similarly left viewers horrified.
The clip — which shows him tossing his hesitant 7-year-old son off a cliff into a lake — sparked debate, with critics accusing him of 'exploiting' his kids online.
Ultimately, when it comes to parenting for the 'Gram, some moms and dads aren't raising children — they're raising engagement.
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