Parents who film their children crying for clicks should take a good look at themselves | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

"Thanks to the trend for gentle parenting, the concept of big feelings has become big money online, and for the most part I welcome that (Big Feelings isn't the only song that reflects this cultural shift; the animation Small Potatoes on CBeebies has a song that goes Feelings / I've got so many feelings, which my husband likes to sing to me when I'm premenstrual)."

"As a parent, strong emotions are hard to escape: you're feeling them, the small child in your home is feeling them and, in one of the biggest departures for us as a species, so are myriad other children on your social media feed. Indeed, footage of babies and children crying is so commonplace on some platforms that many parents don't even question it."

"What I found was video after video of children at their most vulnerable. Crying, shouting, screaming, and sometimes lashing out physically. I have of course been witness to these moments in my own house, but seeing someone else's child going through it feels excruciatingly uncomfortable, especially when that child is not being comforted by their own parent. Least forgivable is a genre of video in which mothers subject their children to sinus clearing while their baby or toddler cries and screams directly to camera."

The trend for gentle parenting has popularized the language of 'big feelings' and turned emotional validation into profitable online content. Parents increasingly post videos of children displaying intense emotions, often accompanied by songs or slogans that normalize emotional openness. Many videos show children crying, shouting, or lashing out without being comforted, and some content crosses ethical lines, such as filmed sinus-clearing procedures performed while babies scream. Viewing other people's children's distress online produces acute discomfort and raises concerns about consent, exploitation, and monetization. Not all emotional moments are traumatic; routine tantrums and disappointments can be part of development but remain widely shared.

Read at www.theguardian.com