A mischievous toddler who decided to draw on her younger sibling's face has gone viral thanks to her hilarious reaction to getting caught.
The arrival of a new baby can often lead young children in the family to act out. This is especially true in cases when an only child has to make the adjustment from being the sole focus to sharing the attentions and affections of their parents with a sibling.
Maybe that's why Kelly, the young girl featured in a video upvoted 24,000 times on Reddit, did what she did. Or maybe not. Judge for yourself here.
The clip begins with a close-up of a baby with red pen or lipstick scrawled across their face being inspected by their off-screen mom, who voices concern from behind the camera.
"Oh dear, oh no," she says as she takes a closer look at the damage. "Who did that?" she asks aloud. The likely culprit is soon revealed as the camera pans up to show Kelly, sitting up in bed, looking gleefully down at her red-marked sibling.
The camera zooms in on Kelly as her mom asks: "Was it you?"
Without missing a beat, she casually looks up from what she is eating before taking a bite. No answer is forthcoming as the video ends, but in the space of a few seconds, her expression was enough to ignite a series of responses on social media.
Some saw it as Kelly refusing to incriminate herself. Miked272 wrote: "Kelly taking the 5th! Nice!" while fshlash commented: "She's about to call her lawyer! She's not talking."
For others, her expression spoke more than any words ever could. "That smile and smirk," Additional_Wind_3732 said. "This looks like her origin story." Positionworth1399 agreed, calling it the physical embodiment of "Yeah? And what about it?"
Sixgun_surge meanwhile saw it as "the cat that ate the canary look" with thatwyvern seeing it as her saying "maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Guess we'll never find out." Enders_Game commented: "that baby is in trouble" prompting zordtk to respond: "I think the mom is in more trouble."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.
According to advice published by parenting charity the National Children's Trust (NCT), there are a couple of simple ways you can help foster a positive bond between a toddler and a new baby. It recommends parents encourage toddlers to help with simple tasks like bottle feeding or entertaining their siblings if they get upset.
The NCT advises parents to make a point of putting their toddler first when undertaking certain tasks and making it clear to the child that they have their undivided attention. It also says it's important to acknowledge your toddler's point of view on the new arrival as part of an ethos of "open, participative communication" that will help them better manage the stress and disruption.
Kelly isn't the first toddler to go viral with her reaction to something. One young child recently went viral thanks to her response to being shot with a Nerf gun.
In another instance, a tube-fed toddler's reaction to trying a popsicle proved similarly popular.
