"I had to cupcheck my son today."

It was an accident of course.

Some may say what this father did was crossing the line of parental discipline, but everyone in this conversation said it was the perfect parenting response to his son’s behaviour.

Reddit user and single father, CabayeByeBaby said that he had (accidentally) hit his son in the nether region as a reaction to protect his own crown jewels.

The dad wrote, “He’s five and lately has found it funny to try and hit people in the “private parts”. I’ve explained multiple times to him calmly that it’s not appropriate, hurts, etc. However today that little testicle assassin snuck up on me and nailed the family jewels, he laughed at my pain so I nailed him back out of instinct. He cried and eventually said he wouldn’t do it again…. Im not sorry, but I could be a bad parent maybe?”

I have been in a similar situation – but I was the young child who found a strange pleasure in causing people pain – not that I realised what I was doing at the time (until a family member showed me). When I was a toddler I used to bite people, at daycare, at home, in public. I thought it was a funny game. My family member tried all the tactics to teach me that it was wrong. I didn’t want to listen.

So one day said family member bit me back. Not hard. Not so it broke the skin. But just enough so I felt it. I never bit anybody again.

It turns out everyone is in support of the dad and his reflexive actions. (Which means they're in support of the family member that bit me once too). The discussion from Reddit users was completely in support of the dad.

"I'd say that the lesson of 'causing physical pain can result in receiving physical pain' is a lot safer to learn from a parent who has a strong instinct to hold back than learning from another kid who may decide to save face in front of their friends. I don't run around doing eye-for-an-eye with my kids or anything, but in this case, I can't really fault OP [original poster]," said tddawg.

Another Reddit user said she had had a slightly similar experience with her daughter and the father shouldn't feel guilty.

Goodlittlewitch wrote,"Oh man, yes. My daughter came and stuck her hand right up my dress the other day (she's 2) and I instinctively hip checked her. Not hard, she wasn't hurt or anything but it definitely made her aware of a don't randomly touch people there clause."

Another Reddit user said that he had had a very similar experience to CabayeByeBaby .

"I've done this before. Not too this extreme, but my boy clocked me in the head at 17 months and I instinctively swatted him. I felt like a jack ass, but it was pure muscle memory. I couldn't control it. You're definitely not alone or wrong. That little old lady is legit," godbois said.

After all the support and kind words CabayeByeBaby replied with an overwhelming positive reaction.

"I want to thank this sub, I'm a single dad and have never posted here before because I was afraid of being criticised for not writing the perfect note on my sons lunch bag everyday or something else parentally inadequate. However, I've had a lot of fun posting this! 10/10 overall, will post again!" he said.

While the full Reddit thread has a lot more discussion than is shown here - everyone believed that sometimes a little action like this dad's was absolutely fine. As long as it's not aggressive and the child is safe.

What do you think about the dad's accidental 'cupcheck'?

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