Father sparks debate after firing babysitter for allowing his toddler to eat ‘11 packs of gummy bears’

A father has ignited a parenting debate after he admitted to firing his babysitting for giving his toddler too many gummy bears.

In a viral post shared to X (formerly Twitter), Texas-based entrepreneur Brandon Avedikian revealed that he and his wife decided to fire their babysitter for allowing their four-year-old child to eat 11 bags of gummy bears. “A babysitter allowed our four year old to eat 11 packs of gummy bears today,” Avedikian wrote on June 17.

“When my wife discovered this, she asked the babysitter why she allowed this to happen,” he continued. “The response: ‘She kept asking for more.’ I told my wife not to let that babysitter anywhere near our children ever again.”

He added: “Nobody with that poor of judgment should be trusted with anything of value. Period.”

Since it was posted earlier this week, Avedikian’s tweet has been viewed more than eight million times on the platform. However, his decision to fire the babysitter for giving his toddler an abundant amount of sweets received some mixed reactions in the comments section.

Many commenters wondered exactly how many gummy bears Avedikian’s toddler had actually consumed. In the comments, he revealed that his family’s brand of choice is Black Forest, an organic brand of gummy bears made with real fruit juice. According to the brand’s nutritional label, one pouch contains 70 calories per serving with 11 grams of sugar.

While it’s unclear exactly what pack of Black Forest gummy bears Avedikian’s family had stored in their home, one responder calculated that Avedikian’s child had likely consumed 770 calories of gummy bears and 121 grams of sugar.

“My wife walked into a pile of empty gummy bear packages,” he replied to another user. “I thought she was joking when she told me as it was difficult to believe an adult could be so incompetent!”

The American Heart Association recommends that children from ages four to eight years old should consume about 1,200 calories per day – meaning Avedikian’s toddler had more than half their daily caloric intake in gummy bears.

Despite the lack of nutritional benefits, a majority of commenters believed that Avedikian had overreacted by firing the babysitter for letting his child eat 11 packs of gummy bears in one sitting.

“How old was the babysitter? If this was a teenager, you have to take it with a grain of salt,” one commenter asked, to which Avedikian explained that “she’s at least 20.”

“Did you have a conversation with the babysitter about food and snack protocol?” another person suggested. “Y’all might have some ownership here if there were not clear expectations.”

“Dude chill. It’s only gummy bears,” a third chimed in. “Send the child in the backyard to run around in circles. That’ll help with the sugar high and will tire her out. Problem solved.”

Others simply poked fun at the viral parenting debate, like one father who said: “My kids want the babysitter’s number.”

Most recently, another parent sparked an online debate when she revealed she charges her young children for rent and utilities. Back in April, one mother took to TikTok to share that her three boys – aged six, eight, and nine – all pay rent, utilities, and their share of the groceries every month.

“Each week, they get paid $6. One dollar per week is expected to go toward their [monthly] expenses,” mom Samantha Bird said in her video. She explained that her sons each owe her $1 for rent, $1 for utilities, and $1 for groceries at the first of every month.

As for her reasoning on why she wanted to introduce the topics of bills and expenses at such a young age, Bird noted that this was a “safe environment” for them to learn about money compared to figuring it out when they’re grown up.

While some commenters praised Bird’s parenting technique, others claimed that young children shouldn’t worry about paying rent or bills. “They should be children, they shouldn’t have to worry about anything,” said one TikTok user.