Mom Accuses Music Teachers Of Exploiting Her Six-Year-Old’s Talent For TikTok Views

“They put his face out there without my permission!”

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• March 31, 2024

Ah, the joys of summer! The sun shines brighter, the days get longer, and for Xander, a six-year-old rockstar in the making, the world's a stage just waiting to be rocked—or is it?

Meet our narrator’s (Original Poster’s) son, Xander—a young maestro with a passion for guitars, vocals, and all things musical. 

With summer around the corner, his days were filled with strumming strings and belting out tunes, thanks to private and group lessons that have turned him into a mini rock sensation. But hold on to your guitar picks because things are about to get a bit, well, chaotic.

You see, Xander's journey to musical stardom hit a sour note when his music teachers decided to turn him into a TikTok sensation without OP’s consent. Imagine casually strolling through TikTok only to be blindsided by your six-year-old jamming to tunes from Lil Peep and Eminem. 

As if the song choices weren’t questionable enough, they had Xander showcasing some alarmingly inappropriate moves alongside a young teacher.

OP wasted no time marching up to his teachers with her concerns. They apologized swiftly and promised to take the videos down—but ended up taking down only the most recent one. 

OP was seriously considering pulling the plug on the whole thing, but Xander absolutely adored his teachers and lessons. He cried all day whenever he had to miss lessons.

Now, enter Cousin Katrina, the voice of reason or devil's advocate—depends on who you ask. She argued that OP was overreacting and the TikTok incident was more youthful exuberance than exploitation. 

At this point, OP was at the crossroads. How does she navigate this dilemma? 

The story in detail

A bit of background

While OP’s son absolutely adores his music teachers and has improved under them, OP feels that they are exploiting him.

We gathered some reactions from the Reddit community:

“NTB. It is NEVER okay to post pictures or videos of a minor without the parents’ permission.”

“Good lord ..please no! TikTok is a black hole when it comes to exploitation.”

“Have a lawyer write a formal letter for you to them and give a copy to each saying you will sue them if they don’t take down the videos.”

“NTA. Consent is crucial no matter the age or circumstances.”

“I never had kids, and I don't think you're overreacting at all. You want what's best for your kid, and you want to keep him safe.”

“NTB…contact TikTok or whatever social media to have them removed.”

“You talked to them and they removed one video. Now you talk to the head of the school.”

“These teachers shouldn't be showing any child on SM at all without explicit parental consent.”

Redditors wholeheartedly agreed that posting videos of a minor without parental consent is unacceptable. They also pointed out how refusing to take down all the videos proved they were unreliable.

OP was advised to transfer Xander to a new music school and make it clear to the new teachers that social media is off-limits for him. Xander’s teachers should know better, and their actions are an epic fail on the privacy front.

Do you agree with this verdict? We’d love to get your thoughts in the comments.

Jesse