'You want to be gangster in public? I will return you the same energy': Singapore creator's Tampines Hub encounter with vulgar kids goes viral

SINGAPORE: A video by Singapore content creator Natasha Tan recounting an encounter with a group of children at Tampines Hub has gone viral, racking up over 10,000 likes, 350 comments, and 500 shares, reigniting a long-running debate about parenting styles and child behaviour in public spaces.

In the video, Tan describes walking through the crowded basement of Tampines Hub when her back accidentally brushed against a child approximately waist height. She turned to apologise, but was met with a volley of Hokkien vulgarities from the boy.

“You are a little dwarf midget. Have you even hit puberty? You are shouting [vulgarities] to me,” she said in the video, visibly incredulous.

Rather than walking away, Tan responded by flipping the child off and saying “[expletive] you.” The children, apparently shocked that an adult had responded in kind, followed her to confront her again. She flipped them off a second time.

“This one is not gentle parenting, you know? This one is no parenting,” Tan said. “If there’s one thing that Doreen Tan has taught me growing up is to stand up for myself. And I will be standing up for myself against these crummy little 8-year-olds.”

You may view the full video here.

Netizens react

The video split its audience along fairly predictable lines: those who found Tan’s response satisfying, those who found it unnecessary, and those who wanted to use the incident to start conversations about the parenting debate.

“Gentle parenting, permissive parenting, whatever you want to call it. It’s parenting gone wrong,” one commenter wrote.

“Bring back the cane,” another netizen added.

Several commenters pushed back on the parenting label being applied. “Yes, another content creator confusing permissive parenting with gentle parenting. I’m tired, gang,” one Redditor wrote.

One took a more measured view of Tan’s response itself: “I’m sorry that happened to you, but adults don’t need to ‘stand up’ to children. We can take the higher road. And in case you were wondering, I’m not for gentle parenting either.”

“You go low, I go lower,” one commenter summarised, likely endorsing Tan’s approach.

And one offered a quick appraisal of the situation: “The number of rude kids is increasing. Parents are too permissive. These same kids speak this way to their parents and vice versa. Can’t stand this generation of young kids who act this way.”

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