Mother defends getting son to do push-ups in bathroom after photo goes viral

She says she's 'the person that has to teach' her children

Mothers defend parenting moment after it goes viral

A mother has defended herself from backlash after a photo of her punishing her son went viral.

Last week, Molly Wooden, a mother of two, was shopping at a Hobby Lobby in Texas when she visited the restroom and saw another mother, Nicki Quinn, forcing her son to do push-ups as punishment for “back talk”.

The encounter prompted Wooden to take a photo of the fellow mother’s parenting and share it to Facebook, where she wrote: “If my hands weren’t full of children I would have applauded you. As your son gave you the back talk of the century, you stayed calm and collected while adding 10 more push ups to his already growing number.

“We need more parents like you, who aren’t afraid to parent their own children because of what someone else might think.”

Shortly after recounting the incident, Wooden’s photo went viral and eventually captured the attention of Quinn, who reached out to thank the other mother for her praise.

However, on social media, where the post was shared more than 43,000 times, not everyone was as supportive of Quinn’s choice of punishment.

Some accused the mother of embarrassing and publicly humiliating her child and said Quinn’s parenting should not be “applauded”.

Both mothers have since addressed the controversy during an interview with Today, where they defended the parenting tactic.

“I’m the person that has to teach them,” Quinn said. “I gotta do what I have to do to make sure my son is respectful to me, because when he’s respectful to me, he’s going to respect everyone else, like his teachers and fellow students.”

Wooden also reiterated her support of the fellow mum, telling the outlet when she first saw Quinn’s display of “strong parenting” she was “in awe”.

“I was like: ‘Yes! You are amazing!” she recalled.