Outrage over viral parenting technique that sees teddies tortured

2 July 2019, 13:01 | Updated: 2 July 2019, 13:16

The footage was deemed too graphic to be shown on Loose Women after the panel were 'horrified'

Social media users have been left outraged after the latest parenting trend sees teddy bears being beaten in an attempt to get children to eat their meals.

Footage went viral that showed a parent offering a teddy bear a spoonful of food, but delivering several violent punches when it refused. A child can be heard laughing in the background.

Loose Women discussed the shocking trend during yesterday's show, but decided the footage was too violent to be broadcast, instead they chose to show viewers their reaction.

Host Andrea McLean explained: "In the videos that we watched, the babies look terrified and did actually eat the food on the second time around. It was traumatising. Utterly traumatising to watch."

Andrea went on to claim the 'technique' is actually child abuse and that it's a physical threat to the youngster, despite the violence being carried out on the soft toy.

Loose Women pannelist Coleen Nolan agreed: "They are just training them through fear... They will grow up, probably, almost definitely, with genuine issues regarding food."

Denise Welch was concerned that if the parents in question were doing this method for meal-times, they could be adopting it for any occasion that they need to impose discipline.

After Loose Women shared the discussion on their social media, viewers flocked to comment on the controversial topic.

One slammed the parents for the "absolutely disgusting" behaviour, insisting that they should be jailed for the act.

Another was hoping that social services had been alerted, adding: "My heart feels so sore and aches for these innocent babies."

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