Mother reveals ‘one regret’ after parent refused to give her daughter cake amid viral debate

‘We don’t have to share our cake, but we should be nice to three-year-old kids,’ the mother says on TikTok

A mother has revealed the “one regret” she had after a parent refused to give her daughter a slice of cake.

The parent, Kat Stickler, shared a follow-up video amid the now-viral debate about how her child joined a birthday party in a park. In her initial video – which has more than 13.7m views so far – Stickler said that a parent grabbed a plate from her daughter, MK, while she was on line for cake at the park. The woman allegedly told the three-year-old that she couldn’t eat the dessert, and that other kids at the party were “not her friends”.

In her most recent clip, Stickler addressed how people had been reaching out to her, before sharing the one thing that she wished she did differently in the situation.

“I wanted to take full responsibility for the fact that I should have gotten to MK faster,” she said, referring to when her daughter was waiting to get cake at the party. “That’s my one regret. That I did not get to her before she could grab the plate.”

Stickler noted that her issue was “not with this person” who didn’t let “[her] kid have cake”.

“She wasn’t invited to the birthday party. She had just met these kids,” she explained. “I get that, don’t give her cake.”

The mother then explained that the main problem she had was with the way that the parent spoke to MK. “It’s getting down to a level and telling a three-year-old girl that those aren’t your friends,” she said. “It was cruel, unnecessarily, in my opinion. Like just tell her she can’t have cake, OK.”

She added: “We don’t have to share our cake, but we should be nice to three-year-old kids.”

As of 14 June, the follow-up video has more than 2.4m views, as TikTok users in the comments questioned people who didn’t understand that Stickler initially had a problem with the stranger’s remark to MK.

“The fact that this wasn’t immediately clear to everyone from the beginning is CRAZY to me!!! #itwasneveraboutthecake,” one wrote, while another agreed: “Imagine needing to explain this to full adults….”

A third wrote: “Actually, the ONLY thing that mom should have said to MK is, ‘Please ask your mommy if it’s ok.’ In case of allergies.”

Other people noted that they still would’ve given MK cake at the party, despite the fact that she wasn’t invited in the first place.

“Idk… I would’ve gave her a piece of cake just because that’s how I grew up. If we had enough we gave, always,” one wrote.

“Sure but also I’ve never been to a party where there wasn’t half a cake left after everyone already had what they wanted,” another added.

In her initial video posted last week, Stickler sparked a viral debate when she revealed that MK introduced herself to a group of children at a party in a park. “She’s one of the group right now. They’re welcoming her with open arms,” she said. “Or, so I thought.”

As MK joined the line of kids getting cake, Stickler said that she decided to follow her “to make sure it’s OK, as a formality”.

“Honestly, I was like, obviously it’s OK. It’s cake. It’s a massive cake. There’s lots of leftover pieces,” she explained.

However, Stickler then shared that the party host stepped in and stopped her daughter. “The mother takes the plate away from MK, and gets down to her level, says: ‘You cannot eat this cake, OK. This is not your birthday party. These are not your friends. Where’s your mother?’”

Speaking to Today last week, Stickler noted that after this situation happened, she took her child to get ice cream. She also said that MK was “totally fine” after hearing the parent’s comment.

“People have been asking me, ‘What did you say to the mom?’ The mom was literally the least of my concerns,” she explained. “I was worried about MK.”

The Independent has contacted a representative for Stickler for comment.