Do you think the mother of this toddler was clueless?

He probably would have cried if he had actually seen RDJ in full IronMan getup, too. He’s just a baby. Seeing something on TV and then seeing it in real life is a huge disconnect, and terribly confusing.

My son spazzed when he saw the big Barney dinosaur at Universal for the first time. And I get it – I mean, Barney’s this little thing on the TV, perfectly safe, and then here’s some 6 foot tall purple thing trying to hug me.

That little IronMan kid—“Mom! Who is this guy? Why are you giving me to him! Are you going away forever?!?!”

Oh no! Iron Man isn’t real? The illusion is shattered!

He’s 18 months old. What difference does it make?

I’m looking at that pic & inserting a speech bubble just above the kids head…
“No fair mommy, me no like Charlie Chaplin, he do smell of poopie doop”

@livelaughlove21 Before I respond…exactly what is your point “He’s 18 months old. What difference does it make?” ?

@Dutchess_III My point is exactly what I said – what difference does it make? It’s not like the kid will be scarred for life because the mom called Robert Downey Jr. “Iron Man.” Parents aren’t “clueless” every time they make a kid cry. Kids cry all the time. So, again, what difference does it make?

Wait…are you saying that just because he’s 18 months old, his feelings can be dismissed? His feelings are just as intense for him as they are for an adult who is promised something REALLY exciting, but then denied it. Ha ha ha, sucker?

@Dutchess_III The other day I saw a child burst into tears because another child was looking at him. Who should we fault for that one?

It’s nothing the kid will ever remember, mom didn’t do it on purpose, and he’s probably forgotten all about it by now. Kids are resilient – no one’s life was ruined because Robert Downey Jr isn’t actually Iron Man. So, why blame the mom? Who cares?

It really depends on the depth of his feeling as to whether he may remember it or not. Gosh, I remember when I was about 2, watching Bugs Bunny. He’d whip this black hole out of his pocket, throw it on the ground, then he could jump in the hole. I asked my mom to make me one. She cut out a circle from a piece of black cloth. I hesitated a loooong time before jumping on that home made black hole because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, or where I was going to end up. But I finally gathered my courage up and jumped. I remember the feeling of relief and disappointment that nothing happened. I remember it.

My dad remembers as a child going to the old Mobile station with his dad. Their logo was the flying horse. The attendant came out and asked my dad if he wanted a horse. My dad said yes, and got soooo excited thinking this guy was going to give him a horse!
He never forgot his disappointment when the guy handed him a little plastic horse.

Kids remember disappointments. Not all of them, not every incident, but they remember. You can’t dismiss anyone’s feelings because “Well, they won’t remember it.”

I blame the mom because according to the story she told the kid he was going to meet Iron Man.

I mean, how would you feel if your SO said, “We’re going to Jamaica!” Had you convinced you were going to Jamaica. Then took you to a movie about Jamaica.

@Dutchess_III I’d be disappointed. So? Disappointment is a part of life. Not going to Jamaica won’t ruin my life, however, and the same goes for this kid. And considering Jamaica’s crime rate, I’d probably rather not go.

Mom is a human being that doesn’t always do everything exactly as everyone thinks she should? Surprise!

This woman let her 18-month old watch Iron Man? That’s a little weird. Doesn’t he look a little older than that in the picture?

I guess I’m feeling some compassion for the kid.

Children are going to come face-to-face with reality at some point in their lives, being confronted with the fact that an actor is just playing a role and is not the person he/she is playing seems harmless. I must agree with @livelaughlove21, disappointment is a part of life, something we come up against again and again and again, no way to avoid it.

We have really (really) old 16 mm. home movies of me when I was under three. I am caught in the act of snatching a lollipop out of little Stevie Schuster’s mouth and putting it into mine. He starts to cry. I am triumphant. He turned out well, eventually, according to my cousins.

Of course children come face to face with reality. But to have your parent (apparently) set you up for such disappointment just seems mean. I’m only going off of what the article said. It said Mom told the child he was going to meet Iron Man. It appears that she didn’t forewarn him, or educate him, that Iron Man wasn’t a real person and that he would be meeting the actor that played Iron Man. Robert Downing Jr. looks a little distressed with compassion too. Everyone’s compassionate distress and disappointment was so cute Mom had to snap a picture of it.
I still feel sorry for the kid, even if ya’ll don’t.

@Dutchess_III he’s 18 months old. It’s highly unlikely he even registers that Iron Man isn’t real. His mother explaining RD Jr is an actor would not make sense to him. They’ve done research with children to try to understand how children comprehend what they see on TV. In one study they researched how children who were aged 4–9 perceived the characters on Sesame Street. Many of the younger children believed Sesame Street really exists, that television characters can see and hear us, and that what you see is in the television set. (Nikken, P & Peeters AL1988).

So, at 18 months if the mother was going to do anything to avoid the child being upset, she probably should have said nothing about Iron Man at all.

How is this a question with 15 answers, that’s my question.

I sporfled wine up my nose. It’s so cute, funny, and sad.

I mean, kids that age cry at almost anything, an ice cream cone they drop on the floor, a balloon bursting, a car alarm startling them, grumpy santa’s at the mall.
What the fuck was the mother supposed to say, “you wanna go see Robert Downey?”
One thing I do blame her for is the kids name Jaxson…she probably wanted to meet “Iron Man” & just dragged her kid along with her for the cute factor.

@ucme You have a point. Perhaps this article belongs in the “weird names” question instead.

@glacial Exactly what I was thinking.

@Bellatrix Exactly. The child believed Iron Man is real, and that he was going to meet him. Mom said he was.

@Dutchess_III He’s a year and a half old. It’s not like this was a rational conversation. If he was going to cry, he was going to cry.

I guess I just never would have told my child that we were going to go see Iron Man knowing that he would take it literally. I just felt sorry for the kid.

I think you’re being a bit harsh on the mum @Dutchess_III. She was probably excited. It might be the movie he wants to watch 329239472397 times a day. We don’t really know why he got upset. Perhaps he was tired. Perhaps RD Jr pinched him.

At worst the mum made a small mistake that this kid will get over, he probably already has (and if he doesn’t then there are bigger issues that he will need to address). My parents thought that it would be a good idea to take me to see Mr Blobby (@ucme will know who I’m talking about) when he was at a local amusement park, I was about 5 years old and he scared the crap out of me. Yes, I remember that but I laugh about it now, it hasn’t scarred me for life. Parents make little mistakes like this all the time.

@Leanne1986 Never, ever put my name & the fat spotty twat together, just looks so wrong ;-}
When my son was very little, a guy dressed in a massive Bob the Builder costume turned up as part of the xmas lights turn on. He absolutely terrified him, cried all the way home & he loved that show too…some things are best left on the telly.

@ucme But Mr. Blobby looks just like you!
Yes, some things are best left on the boob tube. Well put.
Also, where did this “scarred for life” business come from? I never suggested that it would.

Now come on @Dutchess_III, you know fine well Mr.Blobby is your husband & I ain’t never gonna go there, uh-huh…no maam.

LOL! :)

@Dutchess_III I know you didn’t say anything about the kid being scarred for life but my point is, something like this is a minor upset for five minutes and not something that will leave him traumatised forever and so what the mum did is not that big a deal in the long run.

If I was that mom, I would feel like an absolute asshole. I know I’d never forget it.