To keep their son from getting upset whenever his mom leaves, these two Japanese parents came up with an ingenious way to comfort him – by having a massive cardboard cutout replace her when she’s away.
The kid’s father, Neji Sato, shared videos of the experiment on Twitter, where he explained that their one-year-old boy would always cry out for his mom, Fuki Sato, whenever she’d leave the room. To prevent it from happening, the dad thought of testing out a “life-sized panel mother.”
A video shows Mrs. Sato placing the cardboard cut out at the entrance of the kitchen, making it appear as if its watching over the tot as he played in front of the TV. She then sneaks out of the room and then closes the door.
The toddler bought the imposter, reassured that his mother was just right there as he was playing. Her husband, who was filming the whole thing, couldn’t help but giggle as his son looks around for his mom and appears to be content knowing that she was just in the kitchen.
During the first time, the toddler caught on within 20 minutes, so his father bought another life-sized cutout which now successfully does the job. He kept it out of reach of the child so he wouldn’t figure out that the mother he was seeing was indeed fake.
Sharing the videos on Twitter, he wrote: “It’s hard because my one-year-old child cries as soon as mom disappears. As a countermeasure, I experimented with what would happen if I set up a ”life-sized panel mother’. As a result, it is not noticed for about 20 minutes. This panel may be useful occasionally…”
The second life-size cutout was that of the mother kneeling and smiling, looking as if she was ready for playtime with her son. Of course, the cardboard cutouts weren’t used as substitute for actual supervision, but instead as a way for the toddler not to miss his mom so much that he would get upset.
Parents know how difficult it is to leave their children at home whenever they need to go to work. That’s why sometimes, moms and dads must learn how to improvise, just like what these Japanese parents did!
The clip has since gone viral, earning millions of views since the dad posted it. Watch it in the video below. Share this story with your friends and family.