Father sparks debate over his ‘petty’ feud with an 8-year-old about her pool

A father has sparked a debate for his “petty” feud with an eight-year-old girl, after she wouldn’t let his children play in her pool.

The parent, Christian Hardwick, shared a video on his TikTok last month about the child’s inflatable pool. In the text over the video, he described why he had an apparent feud with an eight-year-old girl who lives near him.

“Little girl down the street wouldn’t let my girls play in her $20 general pool,” he wrote. “So now I have beef with an eight-year-old girl,” he wrote.

Hardwick responded to the girl by adding an inflatable triple water slide park, which cost $899, to his Amazon cart. He poked fun at how the eight-year-old could be interested in the water slide, writing: “Can’t wait until she asks if she can play.”

He defended his children in the caption, writing: “Don’t mess with my girls.”

As of 6 June, the video has more than 24.6m views, with TikTok users in the comments expressing their amusement over Hardwick’s decision to buy the inflatable pool.

“This is my type of petty,” one wrote, while another added: “The type of parent I strive to be.”

A third shared: “We did this for my lil brother, and bought a $500 pool cuz they wouldn’t let him in their play set, they dumped a bunch of dirt in it at night.”

However, multiple people defended the eight-year-old girl, and noted that there could be other reasons why she didn’t let Hardwick’s children play it in the pool.

“Sometimes it can be the parents tbh. My people wouldn’t let me play with people, it was weird,” one wrote, while another agreed: “‘Don’t let nobody in this pool with you, you don’t know where they’ve been’ is so common w parents.”

A third wrote: “It def could be pettiness but it could also be safety/liability issues.”

Throughout the last month, Hardwick has shared a series of videos about the waterslide. On 16 May, he shared a video of the inflatable water park fully set up, while his children were playing in it.

The father also shared a video of his child on his lap, as she appeared to be talking about the initial girl who wouldn’t let her play in her pool.

“Can I ask the other girls to come over and play in the pool with us?” she said. The father then asked if she was referring to the girls who were allegedly “mean to [her] and wouldn’t let [her] swim”.

She nodded in response, before explaining that she wanted to give these girls “another chance”. Hardwick told her that she could invite them, as it was “completely up to her” and that the pool in their yard was hers.

In the comments of this video, many fans praised the young girl for the gesture. They also made jokes about the neighbour whom the father had “beef” with.

“So sweet but I lowkey wanted to see the mean girl crying lol,” one wrote, while another joked: “She better than me fr.”

A third added: “You raised such a KIND, sweet, and resilient little girl. Whether they deserved the invite or not, you did great, dad!”

The Independent has contacted Hardwick for comment.