The mother of a 9-year-old girl had to get her daughter a Stanley cup after other kids in the girl’s class gave her a hard time about her Walmart-purchased Christmas gift not being an authentic Stanley.
The creator of the TikTok video documenting it, Dayna Motycka, has attracted more than 3.3 million views and 459,100 likes since putting it up last Sunday. In it, she discusses the saga, which started with buying her daughter a not-Stanley cup for under $10 that she thought was cute. However, after coming back from winter break, the daughter was “upset” after being teased by about 10 other students in her class, who all got the coveted Stanley cups for Christmas.
“They made sure to let her know that this is not a real Stanley, that this is fake and it’s not as cool,” Motycka reports. “She asks if she can have a real Stanley.”
“Do I think that a 9-year-old needs a Stanley?” she asked rhetorically. “No. Do I have one? Yes, I have one. I don’t have 50 Stanleys in all different colors. I’m not going to Target and fighting other women or moms to try and get the new Valentine’s Day one. I have one.”
But then she reasons that if she can make a purchase she can afford that will help her daughter, she’ll do it. So they went to their local Ace Hardware and dropped $35 on an authentic Stanley.
This led Motycka on a long meditation about how we raise kids, but also the seductive power of name brands and how she experienced it as a kid, getting a second-hand Limited Too bathing suit from Goodwill and reflecting, “I felt so good to have that name brand clothing.”
She concludes by working back to a point she first makes in the middle of the TikTok: “We have got to teach our kids to not make other kids feel inferior for not having the thing that they have. That’s it. That’s where it starts and it starts with us as parents.”
Commenters had their say.
@dayna_motycka I in fact did not keep it short and sweet 🤦🏼♀️ apparently needed to get this off my chest! 🤷♀️ #stanleycups #valentinestanley #targetstanley #parentsteachingkids #parentingtips101 ♬ original sound – Dayna Motycka
“The girls who made fun of others in the 2000s for not having Uggs/Abercrombie are the moms of the girls making fun of others for not having Stanleys,” one observed.
Another said, “Okay but her cup IS cute! It’s like the perfect size for her and her taste! Stanleys are BORING.”
Someone else observed, “I’m not sure if I would’ve gotten the “Stanley” cup just to prove the point that she COULD have a Stanley cup. I would tell my kid pick better friends.”
The Daily Dot has reached out the creator via email.
