Whether or not one has children, it's very easy to judge when we witness parents make decisions regarding their own children.
This could include the way a parent decides to discipline their child, or allowing them to wear certain clothes or eat certain foods.
Leah Garcia—@leah_txrealtor on TikTok—where she, a mother of two from Texas, found herself sparking a heated debate on the internet after posting a video waxing her 3-year-old daughter's unibrow.
Since being posted on October 3, the 19-second video has received close to 33 million views.
Garcia admitted not everyone would approve of her decision to wax her daughter's unibrow, but she made the decision to do it anyway.
"Idc [I don't care]! Idc! Idc!'
"I'd rather be called a bad mom before I let my 3-year-old walked around with a unibrow like my parents did!"
The video captured Garcia—a Texas mother of two—quickly pulling the waxing strip off her daughter's forehead.
While Garcia's daughter avoided tears or crying, she could be heard sharing how the waxing did hurt.
But the video ended by cutting to Garcia's daughter all smiles as she showed off her freshly separated eyebrows as her mother beamed behind the camera.
"Alright girl now you got two eyebrows."
"No more Flores brow."
Fellow TikToker's had a lot to say in the video's comment section.
Several people fully supported Garcia.
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
Others felt Garcia had gone too far and was unfairly forcing something on her daughter which she didn't ask for.
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
@leah_txrealtor/TikTok
Garcia shared stitches that used her video to criticize her parenting.
With "not all these women taking their mommy issues out on me" displayed in the overlay, the 15-second video featured a split screen of another woman accusing Garcia of perpetuating "mommy issues."
"As someone with severe mommy issues, this is how it starts."
"My mom projected every insecurity she ever had because we looked so similar, and now I live in hell, and your starting it with your daughter, good job."
While Garcia remained silent in her video, she did clap back in the video's caption.
"I'm sorry this is ur story, but it’s definitely not ours."
Garcia chose to defend her actions in several videos on her TikTok page.
In one she claimed someone wanted to call Child Protective Services (CPS) over the waxing.
Garcia began the just under three-minute video by declaring all the hate she received as a result of her decision to wax her daughter's eyebrows had been "taken to a whole nother level that as a mom and as a woman [Garcia wasn't] going to stand for."
Garcia explained she consciously decided not to respond to many of the negative comments and stitches which followed her initial video, which was difficult as she was under attack for "the job she held most precious".
"Y'all are coming for me as a mom."
"The job that I do on the two most important people in this world to me."
"The things that I love the most."
"Y'all are coming for the job that I am doing with these two little girls, and now I'm done sitting back and letting y'all do this to me and my children."
Garcia revealed she had gotten "horrible, hateful, evil" messages on Instagram and via email, including one from an unidentified elementary school teacher who reportedly accused Garcia of injecting her daughter with botox and being a horrible mother.
Garcia later claimed the teacher threatened her real-estate business and to open up a case with CPS.
Garcia made it clear CPS should only be contacted when children are being genuinely harmed by "people who should be loving and caring for them", which she firmly stated did not apply to her.
So confident was Garcia she had done nothing wrong as a mother, she welcomed any possible investigation.
"So to all of you making threats like that, this is what I'm going to tell you: make the report."
"Make the report because I am done, I am so done."
"Call CPS, open a case, do what you've got to do, stay out of my messages and leave my children out of this."
As the video continued to grow viral and stir controversy, several news outlets were eager to interview Garcia, including Good Morning America.
Garcia shared how she didn't expect the video to cause anything close to the viral stir it caused, while also claiming her initial intent was to stand in solidarity with other mothers who wax their children's unibrows, showing them they are not alone.
"I was posting it to relate to moms who do do that, because I knew that I wasn't alone."
"And also let the moms who don't do it but who do have a hairy child who struggle with this, know that it's OK."
Garcia explained she was bullied as a child because of her own unibrow and wanted to spare her daughters from enduring the same.
Garcia also made it clear she in no way forces the waxing on her daughters and if they wanted to keep their unibrow, she would fully support them.
"If at any point, (my children) say, 'Hey, I think I want to rock a unibrow then rock the hell out of that unibrow', I allow my children to express themselves and their appearance however they want to."
Good Morning America consulted Dr. A. Yasmine Kirkorian, a pediatric dermatologist at Washington D.C.'s Children's National Hospital regarding any safety or medical concerns regarding waxing the eyebrows of young children.
Dr. Kirkorian did express some concerns about forcing the procedure on young children who didn't have an opinion, one way or the other, about their physical appearance.
But if any child, no matter how young, was interested in hair removal or similar cosmetic procedures, there was no age too young to start, not were there any safety risks to worry about.
"...as long as the child wants to do it, and you can go through all those ideas of the social ramifications and why you might be doing it, then any hair removal is safe in the setting that a child wants to do it and can participate safely."
" Whether that be shaving, waxing, trimming, or even laser hair removal."
Judging by Garcia's last video it seems clear she has no regrets, nor any doubt about her parenting.
WARNING: NSFW language
Garcia captioned the video "No regrets! My kids are happy, healthy and blessed."
Showing a screenshot from Good Morning America's coverage of the story, Garcia accompanied the 15-second video with one of Al Pacino's iconic scenes from Scarface as background, suggesting she became an easy target for internet trolls.
"You need people like me."
"You need people like me so you can point your f*cking fingers, and say that's the bad guy."
Though as Garcia openly shared in the video's overlay, she had no problem being the "bad guy" in this situation.
"I'll be the bad guy as long as my kids aren't the targets to your bad kids."
If Garcia's children are being loved and raised in a safe and happy household, then that's all that matters in the end.
@themanfromvulcan/Reddit
@buffysmanycoats/Reddit
@jadelikethestone/Reddit
