Mom says she was shamed for teaching infant son to take pride in his appearance

A mother has revealed was shamed for dressing her five-month-old son every morning, in order to teach him how to take pride in his appearance.

On 27 July, Geordian Abel - a 29-year-old fashion influencer and boutique owner from Fort Worth, Texas - received “brutal” backlash after her TikTok explaining that she dresses her son, Hutton, every day went viral.

In the video, Abel was seen in a tan maxi dress adorned with a bow, while her son was dressed in a green polo onesie. She told viewers: “I think it’s important to instill in him from a young age that we get up, we get dressed, we take pride in what we’re wearing and how we look.”

She captioned the video: “Teach ‘em young.”

In an interview with Insider, the Flourish In Frills owner said that she made the TikTok video after receiving many comments on her “outfit of the day” (OOTD) videos, as viewers questioned why she and her son get “dressed to the nines” every day.

The video has since received more than two million views and an onslaught of negative comments on the platform, which Abel later described as “brutal” in a follow-up video.

“I too wear a one shoulder cocktail dress on a Monday morning,” one user snarked, while someone else wrote: “The greatest gift you can give him is to teach him not to care what other people think.”

TikToker @bugsbryant added to the discourse when she stitched Abel’s video with her own TikTok, which quickly went viral with 2.3m views. “We are in the same clothes we slept in,” she replied to Abel’s post. “It is currently 3pm, and we will stay in this attire until tomorrow or until I decide to do the mountain of laundry that’s upstairs.”

In a follow-up video, Abel told viewers that while she’s decided to take the criticism with a grain of salt, the “mom-shaming’s gotta stop.” She doubled down on dressing her son Hutton every day in a 29 August video, where she shared that the routine could “set him up for success for job interviews” or help counteract depression in the future.

Viewers in the comment section agreed with Abel, writing: “Exactly!!! I hate that people were mom shaming you about this.” Another person commented: “There’s so many benefits to changing out of PJs in the morning.”

Speaking to Insider, Abel admitted that she didn’t expect her video “would get such negative reaction,” as she’s “never known any different than getting up and getting dressed.” However, she’s decided to turn the other cheek and has since been posting videos on TikTok that poke fun at the backlash.

In a video from 25 August, the boutique owner jokingly dressed up her baby boy in a tiny tuxedo, while other videos showed Abel dressed in a fancy gown as she tackled household chores.

She hasn’t let the online negativity change the way she gets her son ready for the day, telling Insider that she’s a proponent of dressing with panache and flair. “I am super passionate about look good, feel good,” Abel said. The mom of one added that her positive attitude was instilled by her own mother from a young age. Plus, a boutique owner, she lives and breathes clothes and wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I probably love clothes a tad more than the next girl,” she explained. “But even getting up and putting on athleisure, if that’s their jam, does a world of difference.”

The Independent has reached out to Geordian Abel for comment.