TikTok star TheAmazingMara has revealed she narrowly avoided tragedy. Her toddler nearly drowned — and now she thinks the kid’s father is just getting a slap on the wrist!
Mara entertains her 174k+ followers with funny and cute vids of her daily life as a stay-at-home mom to six children. But this story is far from cute. Back in July, she experienced a horrific near-tragedy with her 2-year-old daughter Sunny. In a new interview with People, she said she asked her children’s father to watch five of the kids, while she went inside to change her youngest baby’s diaper:
“I said, ‘Hey, can you just keep an eye on the kids in the water.’ I’m gone for 10 minutes, and I come back outside because everyone’s screaming.”
Horrifying! The mom of six explained that when she came outside, her oldest daughter — who was only 12 at the time — had pulled Sunny out of the pool. She said Sunny had stopped breathing and was blue.
Where the hell was dad? What he was doing?! Mara didn’t have time to think about that. She knew she had to act fast:
“I just started screaming and crying, and I called 911. I just remember being in shock and just saying, ‘I don’t understand. I don’t understand how this happened. I don’t know what’s happening.’ Like, intellectually I can — I knew what happened — but I could not process that.”
Luckily, Sunny was rushed to the hospital in time and they were able to stabilize her. She was discharged later that same night. Whew!
But how scary! Like, she could’ve died! She very nearly did! Sadly we have a very recent example of an influencer mom’s life being turned upside down when her child drowned in the backyard pool, also while her husband was watching. We can’t imagine the fear Mara was experiencing…
At the hospital, the family was approached by a social worker who wanted to look into whether there was neglectful supervision. The worker informed the family that Mara’s baby daddy (who asked NOT to be named, btw) would have to be reported to Child Protective Services because non-fatal drowning is considered a preventable accident. For the next five weeks Mara’s family had to go through CPS being at their front door constantly.
Mara explained:
“I was fine with it. I was angry at her dad for not watching her, so I wanted him arrested. But then, having time to reflect, it was a little bit scary to hear that CPS is going to be in your lives because you don’t know what that means.”
She details how CPS workers came to the house and did their usual investigation — checking the fridge, interviewing the other children in the house, taking pictures. She said the first day they came over they spent about six hours in the home, and even recommended taking Sunny to a pediatrician. The next day, the workers came back and informed them the father was no longer allowed to be alone with the children in the midst of the investigation, meaning he couldn’t drive them anywhere, either. This was a big hassle on Mara — and CPS’s presence really brought some “anxiety” into the family, as well:
“I had six kids to get to school or to wherever they needed to be all by myself. That was really challenging … It caused so much anxiety for everybody, thinking we were being watched or that the kids were being watched. The kids were also really scared. They felt anytime a car would come or somebody they didn’t know, they felt that they could be taken away.”
So sad… But the end result was even more frustrating for Mara. All the kids’ father ended up having to do was enroll in mandatory parenting and water safety classes. But unlike the Kiser family’s attitude towards their son’s accidental drowning, Mara wasn’t exactly relieved that her children’s father got off scot-free.
The mommy influencer said while she was “happy” CPS was out of their lives at the end of the five week long investigation, she was “torn” with their conclusion:
“My daughter almost died. The punishment for that to me was what — take some parenting classes, learn CPR? It didn’t feel like the punishment fit the crime … I don’t know what I wanted to happen. I don’t know what should have happened or what I would’ve been satisfied with, but it just felt like it was nothing. It kind of felt to me like, well, maybe her life is nothing if she could die and you’re just saying, ‘OK, well take parenting classes to do better.’ That doesn’t seem like enough to me.”
We can understand her frustration. But the harsh reality is, the outcome matters in these cases. When someone dies, you get court cases and criminal charges… When someone could have died, you don’t. The important thing is to realize how blessed you are to NOT have to deal with the worst that could have happened — but also to learn from the experience of knowing how close you came.
What do U think about Mara’s feelings, Perezcious readers? Let us know (below).
[Image via TheAmazingMara/Instagram]
The post TikTok Star TheAmazingMara's Toddler Almost Drowned While Dad Was Watching -- And His Punishment 'Doesn't Seem Like Enough' To Her! appeared first on Perez Hilton.