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

A father has sparked a parenting debate when he admitted to firing his babysitter for giving his toddler too many gummy bears.

In a viral post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Texas-based entrepreneur Brandon Avedikian announced that he and his wife have decided to fire their babysitter because she allowed their four-year-old 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 found out, she asked the babysitter why she had let this happen,” he continued. “The answer: ‘She always wanted more.’ I told my wife never to let that babysitter near our children again.”

He added: “No one with such poor judgment should be trusted with anything of value. Period.”

Since being posted earlier this week, Avedikian’s tweet has been viewed more than eight million times on the platform, but his decision to fire the babysitter for giving her toddler an excessive amount of candy drew mixed reactions in the comments section.

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

While it is not clear exactly which package of Black Forest gummy bears Avedikian’s family had stored at home, an employee calculated that Avedikian’s child probably consumed 770 calories in the form 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 kidding when she told me this because it was hard to believe an adult could be so incompetent!”

The American Heart Association recommends that children ages four to eight should consume about 1,200 calories a day—that means Avedikian’s toddler was getting more than half of his daily calorie intake from gummy bears.

Despite the lack of nutritional value, the majority of commenters felt that Avedikian overreacted when he fired the babysitter for letting her child eat 11 packs of gummy bears in one sitting.

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

“Have you talked to the babysitter about meal and snack protocol?” another person suggested. “You could take some responsibility here if there weren’t clear expectations.”

“Stay calm. They’re just gummy bears,” a third person chimed in. “Send the child out into the backyard and let her run around in circles. That will help with the sugar rush and make her tired. Problem solved.”

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

Just recently, another mother sparked online debate when she revealed that she charges her young children for rent and utilities. In April, a mother shared on TikTok that her three boys — ages six, eight and nine — pay rent, utilities and their share of groceries every month.

“Every week they get $6. One dollar a week is to go toward their (monthly) expenses,” said mother Samantha Bird in her video. She explained that her sons owe her $1 on the first of every month for rent, $1 for utilities and $1 for groceries.

Explaining why she wanted to address the topic of bills and spending at such a young age, Bird said it was a “safe environment” for children to learn about money compared to having to deal with it as adults.

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