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A mother says children are being bullied by their peers for owning knockoff Stanley Cups.
In a recent TikTok video, mother Dayna Motycka revealed that owning the popular water bottle has now become something of a status symbol among children. She shared that she had bought her daughter a $9.98 cup from Walmart for Christmas, and at the time, her daughter told her that she thought it was cute.
But one day, when her daughter returned to school after the holidays, Motycka said her daughter was upset because she was made fun of for owning an off-brand cup. The mother explained that many of her classmates had been gifted Stanley Cups for Christmas and went out of their way “to let her know that this is not a real Stanley, that this is fake and it’s not as cool”.
“Can we afford to buy her a Stanley? Yes. Did I think that she needed one? No,” Motycka vented. “Apparently I’ve been proven wrong by the children in our school that are making fun of her for not having a real, name-brand Stanley.”
Motycka – who already had her own Stanley Cup at the time – promptly went ahead and spent $35 to buy her daughter a real 30-ounce white Stanley cup. She explained: “If you’re a parent and you can do something to keep your child from getting made fun of, to help fit in, you’re gonna do it.”
She noted that the children who bully learn it from their parents. “This doesn’t start with the kids,” she said. “We have got to teach our kids to not make other kids feel inferior for not having the things that they have.”
The video has since garnered over 3m views and 400,000 likes on the platform, with some viewers taking to the comment section to tell Motycka how they would’ve handled the situation. A few wrote that the mother should’ve taken the situation as a teaching moment for her daughter to show her that there is more to life than being materialistic and that what she owns doesn’t define her.
“My daughter tells her middle school classmates her value is not tied to that of her belongings and she hopes they figure that out someday too,” one mother wrote, to which Motycka replied with heart emojis.
“My boys have followed my example,” another mother commented. “So they respond [with] things like: ‘Well at least I have a thing I like instead of the thing everyone else likes.’” Motycka responded, saying: “I LOVE that response!!! You’re a great mama!!”
Others wrote that Motycka’s daughter should hold her head up high and rock her cute new water bottle even if it isn’t a real Stanley Cup.
“In a flock of pigeons, be a flamingo,” one viewer wrote, while another added: “Okay but her cup IS cute! It’s like the perfect size for her and her taste! Stanleys are boring!”
Someone else commented that her daughter should flaunt the fact that she likes her off-brand cup better than a Stanley Cup to make a point. “She needs to take it to school and then take the ‘not Stanley’ the next day and be sure to tell them she likes it better because it is so cute!”
In a follow-up video, Motycka said that her own penchant for brand-name items may have inadvertently influenced her daughter’s perspective. Reflecting on the situation, she said that she should be setting an example at home and place less importance on brands.