We're back! If you happened to be one of the few who watched this the first hour before it was taken down, please play the video and let it run if you can so the platform doesn't punish us! This video is fully censored, and contains no images or audio of minors, and no graphic discussions. That's how we do in a Swoop doc! >>>Thank you Helix Sleep for sponsoring! Click here helixsleep.com/swoop to get 25% off your Helix mattress (plus two free pillows!) during their Memorial Day Sale, now until June 5th. If you miss this limited time offer, you can still get 20% off using my link! Offers subject to change. #helixsleep
I got to see it the first go, but you know I’ll give you the watch. My sons dig your work too, so we are fine to give you clicks and views. Your hard work is incredibly appreciated 💖
Oh, that explains it jajaja I thought it was a second part when I saw the "8 minutes ago" but when I checked it was the same video I had already watched 😂 I was so confused. Jajajaja
What is wrong with youtube and their censoring beneficial, educational content and letting absolute trash (like the subject of this doc and other fam vloggers) to run unchecked?
And here the only "prank" my dads ever pulled on my family is finding a weird painting of a cat and making copies to hide around the house. We were finding the fucking things for weeks
That's so chaotic good and awesome, might file away this idea for future use 🤣. I generally don't like pranks because so many of them are cruel and designed to be humiliating, but I love this sort of prank that's benign and a bit silly 🥰
The last 'prank' my dad ever played on me was at christmas when i was a teen. Now he would contine to make us jump and scream for years, but that was common. On christmas, not sure of the year completely, i was sitting on the beanbag next to our Rottweiler dog, who was a total teddybear. She was chewing on a cow bone my mom got from the butcher's, so bloody/meaty. Again, teddybear, meaning no food agression at all. I was opening a huge thing of beads and necklace making items. I can laugh about it now but in the moment....terror. my dad barked as i opened this massive bead kit with the dog next to me. Those beads went flying and even the dog took off at my reaction. My dad starts dying of laughter, my mom scolds him but was also laughing. But me? Not laughing. Not at the time at least. I ran to my room in tears, hid between the bunkbeds and window. My dad came to the bedroom door still chuckling and apologized. I screamed "not f-ing funny" the whole word, first time ever cursing. My dad laughed harder but apologized again a few more times, but his laughing as he did didnt feel like he was. I refused to talk to him for a while after that. After that the most my dad would do is hide behind a tree or next to the door and scare my sister and i as we go past. And i scare my 15 yr old son when he comes out of the bathroom quite often, but i dont harm my kids or play cruel pranks.
The way Heather psychotically laughs after screaming her lungs out at her stepchild and then revealing she pranked him to tears - that sent shivers down my spine. Like that's just wild.
It’s so messed up. And so manipulative and narcissistic. You can tell she has major issues with herself and how she feels about herself. She takes it out on poor Cody. I feel so bad for him. She is so evil. She knows what she is doing is abuse. Emotional and physical abuse.
My heart breaks for Cody, I was the 'family punching bag' and the damage that caused is DEEP. Not to mention the added layers of having it all on youtube.
Me too, these people are monsters and they broadcasted that evil online for everyone to laugh at. But no one was laughing with them, they were all laughing at them
This poor child deserves so much better and I'm glad he got out, just wish stupid asshats didn't get a chance to "parent" him. Some people don't deserve to be parents!!!!
40:48 Even if your kid DID get ink all over their room, no halfway decent parent would react like that. That is the reaction of an abusive parent. Layer that with this all being a setup, that abuse is quadrupled.
My mother used physical punishment on myself and my sister. When my nephew was born, my sister swore she would never be like our mother. She actually stuck to her word and he could be a handful. When he took a magic marker and went up and down most of the walls with it, she said she wanted to paint it a new color anyway. When he got expelled in the 2nd grade, she asked me to meet her at the school in case this was the day that she lost her cool. She stayed cool, but smoked a LOT of weed.
Biggest "prank' I ever did? Bought my niece a pokemon figure for christmas, placed it inside a lightbulb box then wrapped it in gift paper. Loved seeing her open the paper to see the "lightbulb" not knowing the truth within. These are the only types of pranks I would pull on my family, especially children.
nah see i love these types of pranks, or i guess “anti-pranks”? cause lots of pranks involve taking away a persons joy for the prank, even harmless ones just makes you kinda embarrassed or annoyed. but having someone go from a bit disappointed to actually stoked seems like a much better cause/effect reaction to me
@@candyzombieeit's called abuse oml, you have to be 5, yelling at your kid for something you didn't do can cause the child mental harm, that's why Cody literally committed self-harm.
Annoying that YT requires the word “children” to be censored like it’s a slur so half of this video is just beeps. It’s so important to highlight this topic as a major problem. Children deserve love and comfort above all. What this “family” did was just cruel and disgusting
This is the great irony (in a not funny way)…the reason arises from …well, measures used to protect them from predatory individuals. And yet, it’s that very thing that might hurt those it tries to protect in the end. Topics like this, all kinds of exploitation and predation etc esp of children, needs to be brought up more for education but then we run into a sort of catch-22…we need to bring it up, and yet, we also have to keep up with social norms for language …and legal…and then the platforms own rules (since the platform is a private company, free speech rights are not as they’d be offline….it’s more than enough to get a migraine going for me 😭
When he asks if they’re abused and the one child says very loudly and clearly “yes I am.”only to let out a dejected “no” when ignored. It’s so telling.
I don’t know what Cody has. But I have autism and I can say that this treatment is horrendous and psychologically damaging. If I grew up in this house, I would have no idea what social boundaries are and I would be forever scared. Justice for all the kids, but Cody especially. I hope he’s okay and is in a happy house
I’ve followed this situation since Phil Defranco covered it on his show and I’m glad it’s continued so the family can’t sweep it under the rug and act like it didn’t happen
The invisible ink prank actually made me cry. As the family "scapegoat" i can sympathise with what that poor kid had to go through. Cody deserves a parent that loves him and cares about him. Gaslighting and abusing your child is not funny. My heart goes out to him. I hope he gets the help he needs and never has to see those horrible excuse for parents ever again.
I am so deeply disturbed that not only did YT allow this content, but that there were millions of viewers who encouraged it. I just found your channel a couple days ago and love your approach.
And there are more. Multiple "family" channels have been under fire for abuse. The most recent Ruby Frank scandal shows how dark these families can get. Family channels are considered "ad friendly" and garner signficant ad revenue for youtube, so despite multiple family channels coming under fire, and the numerous complaints from users pointing out abuse, youtube continues to do NOTHING about the problem. I would argue they encourage it by incentivizing revenue for the channels to do whatever it takes to get more views. We can see how off the rails that went with this family. Other issues include family channels adopting kids for views (adoption content is extremely popular) or showing their underage daughters erm... with phallic items, in bathing suits, or discussing their puberty on camera. We desperately need more regulation about content involving children! The government also needs to step in and make laws protecting children who are appearing on social media. This shit is so out of control and no one in a position to make changes is doing anything!
That is just outrageous. I will never understand how parents can do this, how YT allows it, then YT stifles influencer’s verbiage when they call people out on their antics.
He's really lucky none of his kids stabbed him or set the house on fire or something and then told him "it's just a prank, bro". Like, if that happened, i would not be surprised. And a jury would probably on the kid's side...
@@bubblegumrose777 Pretty hard not to enjoy pain when your legal guardian literally TRAINED you to be sadistic....Bro just throw away the entire planet.
I used to actually enjoy watching their videos as a kid because I related to the kids so much. As I grew older and people started calling abuse, it actually made me realize just how wrong not only the kids were treated, but how wrong I was treated, too. I now empathize deeply for these children and what they went through and I hope, as I have, that they are able to heal from what was done to them
Mike there started to enjoy his power a bit too much and yes he's a useless deadbeat when actual work is involved. Those kids shuld be removed from the house. These " parents " don't deserve children.
@@cheeling794 I think it was the elevation of "fame" (for a lack of better words) and probably a lot of kids watching, not knowing it was wrong or thinking it was funny and unknowingly encouraging him to continue. It's a sad rabbit hole that seems to continue even now years later...
@@cheeling794 it started out from what i remember to be somewhat innocent pranks, but like @Cookie 4811 said, it progressively got worse over time. But as a child who was always told to "take a joke" or "why can't you just have fun?" I thought it was innocent and that's how all families were. I think there were some adults in the comments egging it on as well, with similar personalities and definitions of what "fun" was that inspired some of the brunt of what was happening. There was no voice of reason until it became obvious that the children were being abused
How sad that Heather’s 3 kids didn’t have someone to advocate for them and remove them from that environment. I hope they’re well in spite of this and can use commentary like yours to understand what they went through and heal from it.
cody is a textbook description of a scapegoat in the family. everyone participates in abuse as long as it gets the abuse off them for at least some time. it's horrible to see and i just hope all the children will get needed treatment and safe place from this onwards
It amazes me that you have to censor the word “child” and “children” yet this family gets away with almost everything they did🤦♀️ thank you for keeping the faces of the children private. As always, great video and cuddles to the billing department 🥰
the algorithm and moderation has changed drastically in the intervening years, there is still bad stuff on YT but the use of AI has caught some amount of things and gotten them to moderation to be removed at faster rate than manual moderation of the past
@@Riftweaver1981abusive toxic family channels still run rampant on YT, YT really doesn’t care unless someone throws a big stink about it because it makes them money
@@LizStaplesoh yeah, while it has its drawbacks (I’m assuming she’s censored all the words in this because she got a takedown or the like and it was the only way to get it up, or out of an abundance of caution based on some other experience) using AI to moderate has made huge strides in making online spaces at least a bit safer
I always forget just how legitimately vile the Do5 parents were. The invisible ink clip in particular I remember making me shake with rage when I saw it in another exposé video. The idea that a parent would even want a reason to scream at their children to the point of making them legitimately cry is vomit-inducing. Like you mentioned too, it’s wild that not only did people watch & award these parents for their abuse but that they’d cultivate into an audience that actively joined in the humiliation & harassment. I already feel sorry for Family Channel kids who get treated as props & Do5 was just an exponential increase in disgust.
Seriously. The way they SCREAM at their kids is terrifying! No one can ever convince me they were not taking out their own problems on their kids through these pranks. The disgust and anger in their voices is not fake. Those kids where their whipping boys.
I was just trying to imagine getting my four year old girls to cooperate and participate to the level that would be needed for the stuff I see on the family channels. I cannot imagine the bribery, coercion, prepping I would need to do. And one of mine loves the camera and videos. It would still take allot. These poor kids have no one looking out for them. Heartbreaking
I had an interesting childhood, and I'm slowly dealing with it all with my therapist, and every clip of him screaming and shouting at his kids had me on edge instantly. I remember being that terrified kid. I don't understand how someone can do that to their own child.
Same. This topic never ceases to make me emotional yet it’s oddly cathartic to see how many people think the behavior is beyond awful. We didn’t deserve this type of treatment and people keep saying so.
I’m so glad you’re free and healing. I’m on the same journey and every time he and the ‘mother’ were screaming and cackling, my heartbeat started to race. I don’t know how anyone could do that let alone think it was “funny”
I've said it before and I'll say it again: These two parents were clearly bullies in school and this is what they genuinely think is funny. Disgusting.
the "dad" looks like he was? on drugs and religious BS or something and the "mom" was most likely taught to listen to the "man" of the house he can do no wrong if something happens its your fault kind of thing and the only way to keep a man is to pop out a kid
@@M123XoxoI'm sure most of their audience are young, probably children themselves. Any adult who pays to watch their content these days (and it isn't actually a child who "borrowed" their parents credit card) should be investigated.
@@alyssawarnock4847Your never any fun.. Your always angry... it's just affection. What's the big deal, it's just how I show love. You take things so seriously, find her a safe space!... Yeah triggering indeed.
I’m so livid over this. Some people should NEVER be allowed to have children. And the authorities who are supposed to be looking out for these children, don’t even get me started. I was a paralegal for over 20 years, five was spent on the juvenile docket. I quit law altogether after that. The things I saw were just indescribable. These parents should be in jail. Great video, Swoop.
When I stumbled on their videos I would report them, and at the time it seemed like nobody cared. It was heartbreaking to watch the abuse of those 2 kids so badly. I hope they get lots of hugs and I love yous now!
A lot of people are raising children that shouldn’t be, and the state of our current society is the direct proof. The problem is who gets to make that determination?
Ok, I really thought I was slipping when I was watching this,paused it to take my dog out, and when I came back in it was gone. Thank you Swoop for all of the blood, sweat and tears you put into all of your work. Long live Petty U's founding Mother
No fr. I had to take a break from the original upload to do a test for school and it was gone when I got back. And ofc thank you mother swoop for the research and effort you put into alll your docs
From the first literal minute of this documentary, I was already crying. My heart aches for Cody, and all the children in that household. As horrid as what has happened with Colleen Ballinger is, I hope desperately that these two incidents reopen the conversation about children on the internet - not just in the videos themselves, but as viewers. My niece, who was like 5 years old when she started going on TH-cam unsupervised, watched SO MANY of these abhorrent "family" channels and "prank" channels. The shit that would come out of her mouth was mortifying. I've had this conversation OVER and OVER and OVER with her mother and grandmother, ESPECIALLY as someone who actively participates in the TH-cam community. But nothing ever really changes because it's just so much easier to plop the kid on the couch with an iPad and go about your day doing other shit that's menial compared to actually being with your fucking kid. When she moved in with me because of the pandemic, her vocabulary, mood, and even sleeping and eating habits SIGNIFICANTLY improved because I vetted EVERYTHING she was watching. When I was working, I set her up on video calls with my friend who would have playful science lessons, and a family member who would tutor her in math. I also gave her grandmother the SPECIFIC instruction to only let her watch Netflix or Disney movies. When I wasn't working, she and I would be together either doing art projects or reading books. When we did watch things on her iPad, it was channels that I was already watching that happened to ACTUALLY be kid-appropriate (mainly artists), or it was children's shows on Netflix or Disney or Cartoon Network. My point is that the ONLY people who consider this prank/abuse shit funny or an acceptable form of entertainment are cruel adults, and children. These kids are completely unsupervised and clicking video after video after video, getting short spurts of dopamine hits without actually understanding what's happening and getting either groomed or inappropriately socialized. It's fucking heart breaking. And yes, it is largely the parents'/guardians' responsibility to protect kids and watch over what they're watching - but what if that's not happening? This is a CLEAR, BLATANT example of parents who are negligent and abusive. We NEED to put fail safes into these platforms to COMPLEMENT the responsibility that parents have. The priority isn't who is at fault but about how children are being impacted and what the fuck we're gonna do about it all. Why did it take THIS LONG for the Martins to gain SO MUCH traction and popularity before CPS even became part of the conversation? It's heartbreaking. TH-cam - and now TikTok - really need to get their shit together because this is only going to get worse. And my heart fucking aches for all of these children who are experiencing any part of this horrible spectrum instead of having a proper childhood. It's just completely unacceptable.
TH-cam (and every other social media platform) is totally ignoring this problem. Content with kids has become so dangerous and the views encourage adults to do more and more extreme things, essentially monetizing abuse. We've seen several scandals involving family channels on youtube and their children and still youtube has done NOTHING to address it through new rules. Personally I believe videos should be required to blur children's faces, bleep out their names and never disclose any provate identifying information like what school they attend. Absolutely NO content about the children's sexuality or puberty should be allowed on vlogging channels. No video of toddlers buying dick shaped candy, no content about your tween daughter going bra shopping, no posts of you having the period talk with your kid, no showing your daughter's first time shaving. These are all videos that ACTUALLY EXIST and were left monetized! The government needs to step in and make laws about this as well. It's out of control!
I babysit my friend's kid a lot so she told me that he can only watch certain Netflix kids shows she's ok with him watching and PBS kids on his tablet. And playing on his switch for 20 min intervals only
One of their worst videos IMO is “Microwaved Pokémon Cards”, where Mike decided it was appropriate to upload a video of himself punishing Emma because her brothers were pulling her hair and harassing her, and then refusing her pleas to have the camera turned off by telling her if she was gonna “act stupid, then we’re gonna get it on video, you know how we roll” Imagine needing to make yourself feel so big that you punish your own daughter for being bullied, and then bully her yourself This video should have cancelled them before the ink prank did (a lot of them should have really) because this is just obscene treatment of a child and it can’t even be dismissed as a ‘prank’, but I think the reason the Ink prank was so effective against them was because it was shorter and more digestible, while most of their other videos stretched out in time. The fact that the title clickbaits “microwaved Pokémon cards” instead of “EMMA LOSES HER MIND” or something didn’t help either
okay that is- i kinda relate to that long story short i was harrassed by my bully infront of several people and they had to _pull her off me_ yet i got suspended for 3 days while she got off scott-free bitch hit my head repeatedly while keeping me in a choke hold so i couldn't breathe and was getting head trauma that along with my very much known asthma yeah i was pissed (so was my mom)
@@dannyvalward1524 no it wasnt a break. it was cause the new principal (a black woman) was bias and my bully was black so obviously i mustve been lying.(there were many other instances where she held bias on anyone who wasnt black saying something remotely negative that would make a black student look bad, even though most of the time the things people were saying were true and were genuine issues and not lies and also cause my alibi that was there when it went down blatantly lied saying she saw nothing _some 'bestfriend' she was_ and me not being allowed to pick litterally anyone else for my alibi not even the people who _pulled her off me_ her, her friend and my alibi spun a lie that i hit _HER_ and they fucking believed it not bothering to check the cameras that it _literally happened right infront of_
The attorney thing was way worse than you said. They actually CALLED a bunch of attorneys near her. Just so that they could say there was a conflict of interest. It makes it so so so much worse. And so much more manipulative. That’s just crazy and should be illegal and seen as harassment.
I think it is illegal because they're preventing her from getting fair representation in her area since now all the attorneys are unable to work with her. It could be considered a tactic to cheat the system in their favor by forcing her to spend more money and time to get anything done or just to be represented. I'm probably butchering my statements, but I hope that it's understandable enough to convey what I mean.
I cant express how damaging it is to force you’re children to address an adult figure as “dad” or anything else when you don’t see them as such. My dad passed when I was 7, my mom moved on within a year and next thing I knew there was a stranger in my house taking me to “daddies with donuts” at school. Not to mention he didn’t even try to get us to like him, my mom gave him full authority of us (there was 5 inconveniently) it was confusing, weird, and most of all hurtful Edit; to this day I can’t forgive my mom for how he was introduced (moved in the same day we met him) and overall how she allowed him to treat us
I’m sorry to hear that. I’m also a single mum, and the thing I feared the most was if my only daughter couldn’t accept the man I dated. I prioritise her happiness, so I’d introduce him to my daughter first, before the relationship getting deeper and serious
I met my stepdad after he moved from Georgia to Massachusetts to move in with my mom. I came to visit my mom from Florida and anytime I’d talk to my mom, my “stepdad” would just make out with her. Needless to say, I was upset lol. Wanted to adopt me in my early 20s. It’s sad what some people will do to their kids.
I'm just so grateful people like NerdCity and Phil DeFranco (and a bunch of others) called these people out. That was honestly the main reason any of this came to light and those kids got removed from that horrible home situation. Thank you for not letting up and not letting this stuff get swept under the rug like it does in so many cases.
I remember seeing the "ink on the floor" prank when it first came out and I was so disgusted. I was only 11 but I literally wanted to reach through my screen and comfort those poor kids and get them out of that horrible home. It was the first and last video of theirs that I ever saw but the fear, sadness and confusion on those kids' faces has yet to leave my mind. I hope they are able to heal and find peace despite the horrific treatment they received at the hands of the people that were supposed to always love, support and care for them. Swoop, thank you for bringing light to the subject and being so informative and respectful of the victims, as always. Love you
I was my familys lightening rod, and always the one left to suffer in silence. If I were to get visibly upset or speak up for myself at all I would get met with "You just have to ruin everything, don't you?" I definitely feel for Cody and hope he finds really good friends.
God. How many times did I hear that same thing? Family: Traumatizes their kid. Also Family: "Stop showing signs of trauma! People will think you're being abused!"
Cody and Emma took so much abuse, it was absolutely sick, but I hope the other kids seek mental health and hopefully realize what their parents did to them and their younger siblings
Traumatic pranks reminds me of Greg Austin Gingrich in 1992. It’s a story of another father traumatising his daughter, though accidentally in this instance, when the “prank” resulted in his death. The dad had a history of doing somewhat annoying but ultimately harmless pranks on his teenager. However, on a trip to the Grand Canyon, the dad jumped on a guard wall and pretended to lose his balance, planning to land on the ledge on the other side. Unsurprisingly, he misjudged the distance or lost his footing, plummeting to his death 400 feet below. What makes this even sadder is the daughter, used to stuff similar though probably not as dangerous, kept walking so as not to give it attention with the goal of it stopping the behavior. Hundreds have died in the Grand Canyon, often doing dumb stuff. It’s a great place to visit, just don’t ignore the signs or warnings and be super careful
I was so disappointed when I was watching this originally and it was taken down. Excited too rewatch it. I remember this situation from the beginning and it’s always very much disturbed me and broke my heart for those kids. But it needs too keep being retold so these people can never pretend it didn’t happen. These kids were voiceless and people like you telling this story gives them their voice.
@@PettyUniversity I swear you get hit harder on TH-cam than some of the other creators I follow! Our pal Philly D and many others also covered this situation extensively, clips and all, uncensored and all those videos are still up. Plus I aways have to search this channel up because I never get post notifications ): the video went down while I was watching but I will make sure to finish this iteration!
I see it differently Everytime they retell the humiliation it rehumilates the children And what if children come in TH-cam and see their humiliation living on
The copyright claim that took this video down the first time seems pretty shady. I already watched most of this when you posted it the first time, but I'm going to watch it all the way through again to support the reupload. ❤️
Poor Cody. Just hearing those video clips made me relive the anxiety I felt as a child in an abusive environment, living in that family must have been absolutely horrible. I hope he's healing and surrounded by people that care about him.
I remember when Philip DeFranco talked about this....and you could just TELL how LIVID he was regarding the situation cause he himself came from a troubled family.
Didn't him and his wife also have a kid or were pregnant with a kid at the time I remember watching his second channel and then talking about it this situation will always be so infuriating from all perspectives
@@blustephenson9227 Yes, Carter. Lindsay had a channel which featured Trey & Carter for a while. Then when Carter was still very little stopped 🤷🏻♀️ It’s still on TH-cam but the last video was like 5 years ago
@@LizStaplesYeah, I believe he was a dad himself when he did that video on them. You can tell he loves his babies and can't imagine ever "pranking" them in such a way.
The original video was so harmless and so well done. I’m so sorry you had to edit and reupload swoop. Thanks for the time and effort you put into you content.
Just stopping by to thank you for putting these documentaries together. As a former reporter and producer, I can appreciate the amount of work you put into them. These are some of the best long-format stories out there. Seriously, productions that rival content put out by major heavy-hitters... Dateline, 48hrs, etc. I dont know if you're a one woman show but the editing, research, graphics.... just BONKERS!!! 💪🙏🙌🙌🙌 I wish you nothing but HUGE success and recognition going forward... so deserved!!! 🫡🏆🏆🏆
I can't imagine even yelling at another adult like this, let alone a child. The volume and maliace in so much of his shouts and laughs are just monsterous.
Uggh! I hated the father’s laugh. It makes him sound more spiteful, monstrous and sadistic. I swear that laugh makes him sound like a 1960s Batman villain.
When I got married my daughter said she who was 8 at the time said she wanted to call her step dad dad. She is the one who brought it up of course we were thrilled by that. The first few months she would still instinctively call him by his first name which we were fine with. Now she calls him dad and everytime we hear it it just brings so much joy to our heart.
As someone who was abused as a child, I will never agree with any of these “family” YT channels. Exploiting/abusing children for clicks, views, and monetization is abhorrent. I swear the whole platform of YT is a 💩 show for allowing so many problematic people to have channels.
Curious for your opinion (and other's)-- do you think that YT channels that feature kids without this overt abuse could still be abusive? I get nervous following some YT'ers because their kids are sort of central to their content-- like cooking or food- tasting-- and I fear we aren't seeing the full situation. Thoughts?
I was a very anxious, sensitive nine year old and I had a normal home. Kids are going through things we aren't aware of, especially at school and in their minds. I can't imagine growing up in a house like that. I know a lot of people with kids and their home is so chaotic and toxic but the parents don't even realize it.
I think that in a way, it's good that this family got as famous as they did because otherwise poor Cody and Emma might never have escaped that awful situation, but at the same time those poor kids should never have been put through something like this to begin with. I hope that they're doing well and getting the support they need to heal. There's this odd paradox where I want to know if they're doing better but also don't want them to have to have their lives exposed to public scrutiny any more. I don't really know how to resolve that conflicting set of priorities but I hope they're doing better.
I think the problem is that social media incentivizes abusive behavior, so although one might argue it's good to 'catch' predators it also ramps up the abuse and often takes far too long to actually get addressed. Only the most extreme abuse on the very large channels seems to ever get attention. And think of all the other parents seeing these channels become extremely successful and copying them, figuring "well they are doing it right in front of everyone and nothing has happened, so certainly it's not a problem." Plus you have to factor in the financial abuse. The parents can make tons of money of their kids and are not required to use any of it for their kids, even if the kids are the reason the channel is so successful.
@DimaRakesah right? It took other people speaking out and calling YT out for this behavior to even be sort-of stopped. They need better screening systems implemented on this platform.
55:48 the Disney World part honestly Made my stomach turn. That has to be the ultimate cruel, and usual punishment. He seriously had to go through all that and miss out on a vacation that he WORKED and got abused for and then when his family got back, he hast to hear all about it. That is a traumatizing experience. It’s gonna be a memory that’s gonna hurt him forever. 🤢🤮🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬💔💔💔💔😢😢😢
It makes me wish I could take him, I can't believe a mother could be so cruel to let a man do such disturbing things to your child who you are supposed to protect and unconditionally love
I’ve seen the “prank” videos on other channels. Cody reminded me of someone I love dearly, and I felt nearly sick with rage and wanting to protect that poor little boy. He needed patience and kindness instead of constant torment. It was such a relief to learn he got away from his so-called “dad.”
As someone who grew up with parents like them. It is absolutely horrific and majorly affects my mental health, even to this day, over a decade of leaving. Thank you for keeping this in the spotlight and talking about it
Hi Klayton, I saw your comment and wanted to send you best wishes. I'm glad you got away, and I hope you are doing as OK as is possible. From this stranger on the Web, sending you a hug from the UK.
@@dawnrowlands2408 this is incredibly sweet, thank you! I'm also in the UK so it's an extra cozy hug! Despite how I may feel on a day to day, I'm always getting better year after year. I wish you the best as well, sweet internet stranger!
Right?!?!? What an absolute PROFESSIONAL!! @Swoop turned what could have been a boring, typical ad spot into a GORGEOUS GIFT 🎁 for her mom on Mother’s Day!! Fantastic, 10/10, no notes. 😌😂👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽💗💗🤌🏽💋
My heart just breaks for the younger kids especially Cody. Parents are supposed to be ones protecting their kids from these horrible situations. Mike and Heather however ARE the horrible situations. For the love of the poor innocent kids, this family needs to be banned from making any sort of channel or website or anything that gives them attention! It's apparently not enough to take down their TH-cam channels. Then again, it also scares me to think what they're capable of off camera. I'm just glad Cody and Emma are back with their mom.
49:30 this made me cry. This is exactly why I got into Childcare and I’ve been in Childcare for over 10 years. My mother was very much like this, and it played a lot on my self-esteem. She thought she was trying to protect me from my father, but it was really her that I needed protection from. I found out at a very early age if I did not comply, so her thoughts her wishes in the way that she formed me to be then until I became legal she was going to make my life pretty much a living hell she tried to do it to me as an adult but by then I had a bit more freedom , emotional manipulation leaves deeper scars than physical because you’re constantly second-guessing yourself as an adult because your parent wanted to make all the decisions kind of like living through you instead of accepting you truly are. I literally had to cut her off in order to really find out who I was hope this makes sense to some people, the level of narcissism and emotional manipulation in effect that I have a children becoming adults. As a mother, I let my daughter have a lot of independency and accept her for what her personality is, instead of trying to conform her to my personalit
In my entire life, my parents never screamed at me that horribly for even the worst things I did. There was sometimes yelling, but never such vile words, and never for something they knew they did and accused me of doing. These parents are cruel and they're teaching their kids that it's okay to be cruel to others, provided they call it a prank.
I love you Swoop. Parents like these are disgusting. I respect the way you handle situation. Due to brain damage from parents that was abusive and suffering with epilepsy this situation is extremely hard to see and hear. The emotional outburst from the children is so undeserved. This damage can last a lifetime and anyone who condones this behavior is sickening to me. I still have emotional outbursts and PTSD from my childhood. Sometimes I feel so stunted and feel so alone in the world. I do hope these children can move on
Definitely not alone. I suffer from PTSD & my brother has severe brain damage as a result of my fathers abuse. This situation hurt me when it first came out. I couldn't imagine my own abuser uploading footage on the internet..
Step parenting goes both ways. I was a step mom for a long time. All of the kids called me mom because they wanted to. Their mom crawled out of a gutter somewhere and won visitation. They never called me mom again after that day. Their mom wouldn't allow it and she would buy them things if they could make me cry, or if they could get me and my hubs to fight. She ended up breaking up our family via her children. They are not doing well now. Dropped out of school, behavioral issues. It's so freaking sad.
The fact that Cody was able to speak about his feelings and to tell his mom that he was mad, hated her,,, because of what Mike and Heather told the kids about Rose was a good sign. He'll be able to work through it,,over time,,I think.
God. I got my own bullying -> "learn to take a joke" treatment as a kid by my own step-dad and my heart breaks for Cody. I hope he's doing well now and getting all help he needs.
Me too. Although I'm sure he wouldn't ever want to be public on the internet about all of this, I hope he's doing better now that these scumbags are hopefully entirely out of his life. Same for the other kids.
Yeah I got the "You're too sensitive! Learn to take a joke!" from my dad too. The difference is he didn't put it on the internet. He didn't even do it on front of anyone other than my mom, but that was hurtful enough!
Jesus Christ, they made you censor the word "child"????? I'm glad this is up again--I'm REALLY interested in this case, as I followed it as the story broke. I seriously suspect YT made you jump through hoops because they don't like this getting talked about--they paid these people money for YEARS for abusive content!!!
sadly I had a friend who was living with similar abuse. she wasn’t being filmed but her parents were immature and neglectful. she had to care for her siblings herself because her parents were busy with video games and social media. she couldn’t go to them with her problems because they would just put it on Facebook or make a “big deal” about it, but they definitely didn’t care.
I'm pretty sure I've seen the other endings that could have happened here in other Crime cases. I'm shocked "Daddy" & "Mommy" of 5 didn't factor in that kids under the age of 10 have killed their parents for MUCH less.
When this came out, like the scandal, it triggered a lot of pain from my own family. I would also get verbal abuse disguised as jokes and when I got upset, I'd be called a killjoy. I'm autistic and have adhd but went undiagnosed until now when I'm 30. It damaged the way I connect to people and the way I show love, all the way to getting in the way at work.
As someone who has a sibling who has ODD, this video made me so angry. Yes, living with someone who has ODD is hard, HOWEVER, imagine how hard it is having ODD. My brother is difficult to deal with, but if my parents ever did even a FRACTION of what these “parents” did to their kid, he would be in such a worse place rn. I can’t even imagine how that child if feeling rn. I feel so awful for those kids. I hope they are doing well.
I stupidly found the invisible ink prank. THOSE POOR CHILDREN. I feel like the mom is WORSE than the "dad" if that is even possible. She laughed, pointed and berated her OWN CHILDREN. She was gleefully entertained by their tears and red faces. They are living MONSTERS. I hope those children are doing okay.
What the mom did was basically take over what the dad normally did except the dad often also used physical force against his children. Neither was worse or better
@@EvanBournes-xh8mqhe broke the PlayStation with a baseball bat …. Not violent at all … smh he doesn’t have to punch his kid on camera to be violent ! He obviously is and imagine what he was doi when the cameras were off
They’re both evil but it’s definitely true that dad got the most out of the power trip and excuse to yell, and mom FOR SURE got the most out of seeing the kids cry and be upset “over a prank”. Monsters.
I've seen this family before and my heart just breaks for Cody :'( Poor little guy. Love you, Swoop, thank you for covering things like this and uncovering dangerous behaviour online!
Oh wow, I thought this was going to touch on the history of it, not lead to the fact that they're STILL GOING omg. How do you learn NOTHING from that experience? What they did was so beyond disgusting and abhorrent. Those kids deserved a better childhood. I hope they're healing now. And I really hope these 'parents' look back on all of this one day with so much shame and regret. The gall of them to call themselves creators when all they've done is destroy lives. Horrible.
Im only 3 minutes into the doc & I alrdy have angry chills running through my body towards these adults. I refuse to call them parents. As the oldest of 7 siblings, & a mom to 1 amazing boy, I couldn't imagine doing what they did. I have no respect for any adult that gaslights, manipulates w malice, or otherwise abuses little humans/children. Absolutely infuriates me.
Personally, I think it's important that we call them parents. They remind me of the way I grew up and how being raised in that environment still effects me now at age 34... We have to acknowledge that, unfortunately, parents like this are out there treating their children this way and even worse. We have to acknowledge that them being parents is a huge factor in how traumatic this all is. It's understandable on paper that you don't want to call them parents but I hope you understand my point and consider it. Food for thought.
@sourgreendolly I understand where you're coming from & appreciate your thoughts on it. I don't want to negate who these children are raised by, or how they were raised. However, in many cases to say some people were parents is a far stretch. Speaking from a place of experience - I was neglected & and verbally abused in parts of my up bringing. As an adult, I've witnessed & had to call 911/CPS on behalf of children who I saw or knew were being outright neglected & living in abusive households. Some of these people were just adults who happened to reproduce.
I remember seeing the "shelf clip" when it was made way back, it was autoplayed on the site I saw without warning and it burned into my mind. I was aware of what was happening and followed the story loosely, but refused to watch any clips of the abuse because it was too much for me. Today I was ready to learn and listen to the full story and god, the way their laughs sounds that's targeted at these children is straight up evil in every sense of the word. I fear the people who were fans of this channel and encouraged it. Amazing video as always swoop, you're always so delicate with these difficult topics.
Something else to stress is that most cases of ODD are caused by or influenced by trauma. So if Cody had some aspects of it before, it definitely got worse because of these events. So glad he got out of that mess.
I've been following this story for years. I helped Nick Monroe find some info for his article. They deserve to never live this down for what they did to Cody and Emma. Hopefully the new baby is safe and not the new punching bag.
I went to buy a smiley shirt but they don't come big enough. Girl, your docs are always spot on! When i married my husband, i told my kid she could call him anything she wanted. As she's grown up, my philosophy for her decisions was always if it's not harming her or someone else, there's no reason for me to decide for her. She's always had options, lessons, and the ability to tell me her side and change my mind if appropriate. It worked well for us. Your info about the way these parents have treated their children is so relatable, and accurate. I'm glad there's someone like you to show the actual harm that can be caused by this ish.
The edits she had to do for this re-upload is why TH-camrs upload original versions to Patreon. TH-cam is heavily tripping while actual vile videos go untouched.
I have a stepDAD. It was consensual. I just wanted to show him that he had a very valid place in my heart ❤️ I think, as any good parent, he was first taken back and almost surprised when I started to initiate being “family”. He just married my mom out of love and he loves anything she does. So he started to love us too and vice versa. That’s how you do it. He cried on Father’s Day because he didn’t expect a call. I know he values us, and I value him. He taught me things my father could not. They are both helping me grow in different ways. It hurts to see how other people treat the gift of being a parent.
I’m think I’m in the same situation as you. Just got the courage to tell my stepdad I view him as my dad a few weeks ago. He cried tears of joy-said it was the best thing he’s heard in years. Really emotional for both of us. I call him my stepdad because that means I CHOSE him. My biological dad isn’t my father figure. Fk this mofo Mike all the way
I know the disorder Cody has, and it’s most likely a direct result of his parenting. There’s no way he could have gotten better with a family (with parents) like this. ODD (along with conduct disorder) is the child version of antisocial personality disorder because a child cannot have ASPD. A percentage of kids with ODD end up with ASPD, and it’s the saddest damn shit to me.
Fun fact: There's an easy way to explain that push not being fake. There's no way he'd fall that hard if it was choreograped stage/show combat. In staged combat, the 'victim' is almost always the one in control of the force & making it look real. The 'aggressor' just makes the first motion to make it appear legitimate. In typical staged combat, the aggressor never even touches the victim. There is no way that Cody would hit the shelf THAT HARD if it was voluntary & staged
I have pretty severe PTSD from growing up in a home like this, and I cannot begin to imagine what it must do to a kids head to have all of that uploaded to TH-cam on top of living it every day. I guess I can only hope those kids manage to heal somewhat now that they're in a home with someone who cares about them. That's more than some people get, sadly.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel so much less crazy now. My adoptive parents did this to me for my entire childhood. Every single thing aside from video-taping was done to me as an only child. Ontop of the belittlement, coercion, and physical abuse, I was spiritually and psychologically abused, homeschooled from 4-12th grade. I feel for Cody, my heart breaks for him 💔💔
I really feel you on this one; my husband has two sons and a daughter from another relationship, the daughter calls me mommy nr 2 and the sons see me as a friend. Daugther is 10 and the sons are 18 and 20, the sons sees me as a good friend and I am good with that. I would NEVER try to push them in any way, I'm just grateful that they see me as a person that is good. Also, I love your channel Swoop! You are more than awesome! ❤❤❤
I despise pranks with every fiber of my being, but especially when it involves people with a power imbalance (wether due to age, strength, relationship, whatever). Pranks are so often cruel, I can’t remember the last time i saw one that wasn’t horrible
The thing I most hated about this whole situation was that the comments in DOF videos were filled with shit like "Cody deserves this." "I want Cody to bleed" "Cody is evil!" and unlike other family channels were kids watch the content it was obvious it was mostly adults commenting those things. They had a facebook page for fans were he went all out in blaming Philip Defranco to the point where there were videos posted of their adult 'fans' masked and promising retribution by threatening good ol' Phil
I really feel like parents who use their kids for content are doing tremendous damage to their children--these guys being a terrifyingly extreme example. And the fact that they've really faced no significant consequences is frightening. I hope they do fade into obscurity, and I hope those kids get the healing they need
It infuriates me that they did not get any jail time DESPITE doing THE SAME THING AGAIN after getting their already lightened sentence and going on and on about how they were just "misunderstood". They clearly did not actually care to learn any lesson and were just butt hurt that they were caught.
Hi Swoop, this is so heartbreaking to watch. I grew up in a wonderful, loving household. I'm lucky to still have both mum and dad and speak to and see them frequently. Those poor, poor children. That excuse for a human and his waste of oxygen wife should be behind bars. This is sickening.
I came into my step son's life and always encouraged him to simply call me by my name. It never once bothered me nor made me feel inferior and now at 20+ years later I feel so very honored when he introduces me as 'his dad'. The feeling and work behind that through many tumultuous years makes our bond so very special.
I’m only 21 minutes in, but I love the way you frame our perspective as from the kids. Imagining myself (or my daughter) as the kid in question, really brings it home about what these kids (or whoever) are experiencing. Your docs are well researched, informative, fun (love Petty U), and I actually learn something. Keep up the great work! 💖
Big grown bullies who got kicks out of people viewing their sick behaviour. Reminds me of my mum... she would always swear she was just joking & it was all my fault because I was an easy target, I can really see myself in poor Cody. I just hope he got help & the other kids now feel safe & loved. Must have such a huge impact having your life put out there without consent😢 .
Intro on this video insane, where you have us put ourselves into the shoes of Cody and what he must have felt. I'm familiar with this family channel and when I partook in the visualisation exercise I'm certain it captured some extent of what Cody must have felt. I've had some reservations of Swoop myself, but if you didn't feel the effect of that visualization I don't think you did it right. Even just the fact that you had us do a visualization in the first place is something that I've recently been practicing and is changing my life, so thank you Swoop for what you're doing. Keep it up!!
Coming out of an abusive household, Mike’s screaming is so triggering, because my dad was the exact same if not worse, all not for a prank. As a person who grew up in an abusive environment, I feel so awful for these kids because I know firsthand how much harm abuse of ANY kind causes.
Seriously, the screaming is so triggering. I grew up with an alcoholic father, and although he didn't direct his anger towards me and didn't scream at me, he would scream at other people or punch things or what-not. Even that has made the sound of raised voices kind of terrifying to me. I cannot imagine if I was screamed at like these poor kids.
I'm disgusted that TH-cam had the nerve to try and take this down. As always you remain entertaining, informative and the best damn researcher around. Much love to you Swoop x
Hi @Swoop I discovered your channel a week ago and have been binging it since then. I jumped to this doc, at your request, after watching the Bryan Kolberber series. My heart started racing with anxiety after hearing the description on manipulation. Once you showed the description of coercion I stopped playing the video as I went into a severe panic attack. I have always thought that my mother was just controlling and it turns out that it’s so much worse. Even worse is the fact that I’m 52 years old and am still going through it. I was not diagnosed with my mental health disorder until my 40’s. For almost 5 years now, because I have not had access to health insurance, I had to stop my treatment. My symptoms have quadrupled and I’m sure that if by any chance it was possible to start treatment again I would be diagnosed with so much more. My mother and the rest of my family see my reactions they still don’t believe in mental health, call me dramatic and have even been called a drug addict for taking the medications that I was given by my last psychiatrist through my PCP which I pay for out of pocket. What I get from all of them is to look at myself in the mirror and smile each day at it will all miraculously go away. I just want to thank you for always going into your very soothing voice and advising that we are important, that we deserve love etc. I wish I could believe the words because I always feel like wasted space in an overpopulated world.
We're back! If you happened to be one of the few who watched this the first hour before it was taken down, please play the video and let it run if you can so the platform doesn't punish us! This video is fully censored, and contains no images or audio of minors, and no graphic discussions. That's how we do in a Swoop doc!
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I was among the first girl! And i'll be happy to watch it all over to support You!😊😊😊
I got to see it the first go, but you know I’ll give you the watch. My sons dig your work too, so we are fine to give you clicks and views.
Your hard work is incredibly appreciated 💖
Normally I'd actually rewatch instead of just running it on my pc while doing other things, but I'm not up to it this time
@@danielsantiagourtado3430 Thank you so so much!!!
Oh, that explains it jajaja I thought it was a second part when I saw the "8 minutes ago" but when I checked it was the same video I had already watched 😂 I was so confused. Jajajaja
What is wrong with youtube and their censoring beneficial, educational content and letting absolute trash (like the subject of this doc and other fam vloggers) to run unchecked?
THIS!!!😠😠😠
Literally
It’s WILD
Absolutely. Makes me so fucking angry.
Because it’s all about the moneyyyyy 💲💲💲💲💲💲
And here the only "prank" my dads ever pulled on my family is finding a weird painting of a cat and making copies to hide around the house. We were finding the fucking things for weeks
Lmao that's adorable
That's so chaotic good and awesome, might file away this idea for future use 🤣. I generally don't like pranks because so many of them are cruel and designed to be humiliating, but I love this sort of prank that's benign and a bit silly 🥰
That's so wholesome and adorable.
The last 'prank' my dad ever played on me was at christmas when i was a teen. Now he would contine to make us jump and scream for years, but that was common.
On christmas, not sure of the year completely, i was sitting on the beanbag next to our Rottweiler dog, who was a total teddybear. She was chewing on a cow bone my mom got from the butcher's, so bloody/meaty. Again, teddybear, meaning no food agression at all. I was opening a huge thing of beads and necklace making items. I can laugh about it now but in the moment....terror. my dad barked as i opened this massive bead kit with the dog next to me. Those beads went flying and even the dog took off at my reaction. My dad starts dying of laughter, my mom scolds him but was also laughing. But me? Not laughing. Not at the time at least. I ran to my room in tears, hid between the bunkbeds and window. My dad came to the bedroom door still chuckling and apologized. I screamed "not f-ing funny" the whole word, first time ever cursing. My dad laughed harder but apologized again a few more times, but his laughing as he did didnt feel like he was. I refused to talk to him for a while after that. After that the most my dad would do is hide behind a tree or next to the door and scare my sister and i as we go past. And i scare my 15 yr old son when he comes out of the bathroom quite often, but i dont harm my kids or play cruel pranks.
That right there is an ACTUAL prank. THAT is a good prank. That's acceptable behavior. Hiding goofy things everywhere? Good.
The way Heather psychotically laughs after screaming her lungs out at her stepchild and then revealing she pranked him to tears - that sent shivers down my spine. Like that's just wild.
She sounds absolutely deranged!
It’s so messed up. And so manipulative and narcissistic. You can tell she has major issues with herself and how she feels about herself. She takes it out on poor Cody. I feel so bad for him. She is so evil. She knows what she is doing is abuse. Emotional and physical abuse.
It sounded like Rosanne Barr not in a good way.....
@@laurasc84366is it possible to sound like roseanne barr in a good way lmao 😂
Some parents are stupid, some parents are evil. Some parents are stupid and evil.
My heart breaks for Cody, I was the 'family punching bag' and the damage that caused is DEEP. Not to mention the added layers of having it all on youtube.
honestly I just want to cry every time I see Cody upset
Cody deserves so much better. He deserves a family that truly loves and appreciates him.
Me too, these people are monsters and they broadcasted that evil online for everyone to laugh at. But no one was laughing with them, they were all laughing at them
This poor child deserves so much better and I'm glad he got out, just wish stupid asshats didn't get a chance to "parent" him. Some people don't deserve to be parents!!!!
@@CattReed I hope that all 5 of the children sue Heather and Mike, because wtf
40:48 Even if your kid DID get ink all over their room, no halfway decent parent would react like that. That is the reaction of an abusive parent. Layer that with this all being a setup, that abuse is quadrupled.
Ah, so, my parents :)
Yep my parents
@@KiwiFox3Lol. Psycho parents club! (It's not funny, but it's how I deal, lol)
Got room for one more?😕
Hugs to all of y’all who completely understand!🤗
My mother used physical punishment on myself and my sister. When my nephew was born, my sister swore she would never be like our mother. She actually stuck to her word and he could be a handful. When he took a magic marker and went up and down most of the walls with it, she said she wanted to paint it a new color anyway. When he got expelled in the 2nd grade, she asked me to meet her at the school in case this was the day that she lost her cool. She stayed cool, but smoked a LOT of weed.
Biggest "prank' I ever did? Bought my niece a pokemon figure for christmas, placed it inside a lightbulb box then wrapped it in gift paper. Loved seeing her open the paper to see the "lightbulb" not knowing the truth within. These are the only types of pranks I would pull on my family, especially children.
nah see i love these types of pranks, or i guess “anti-pranks”? cause lots of pranks involve taking away a persons joy for the prank, even harmless ones just makes you kinda embarrassed or annoyed. but having someone go from a bit disappointed to actually stoked seems like a much better cause/effect reaction to me
@@candyzombieeit doesn't matter, if the person is not laughing at the end then it's not a prank.
@@candyzombieedo you not see the videos? They are literally always allowing their other child to hit Cody
@@candyzombieenvm you probably don't have friends, there's no way someone with friends would say this 5 yr old logic.
@@candyzombieeit's called abuse oml, you have to be 5, yelling at your kid for something you didn't do can cause the child mental harm, that's why Cody literally committed self-harm.
Annoying that YT requires the word “children” to be censored like it’s a slur so half of this video is just beeps. It’s so important to highlight this topic as a major problem. Children deserve love and comfort above all. What this “family” did was just cruel and disgusting
Why is this? When did it start?
This is downright scary…too much censorship of such important topics.
This is the great irony (in a not funny way)…the reason arises from …well, measures used to protect them from predatory individuals. And yet, it’s that very thing that might hurt those it tries to protect in the end. Topics like this, all kinds of exploitation and predation etc esp of children, needs to be brought up more for education but then we run into a sort of catch-22…we need to bring it up, and yet, we also have to keep up with social norms for language …and legal…and then the platforms own rules (since the platform is a private company, free speech rights are not as they’d be offline….it’s more than enough to get a migraine going for me 😭
Why does the word "children"/"child" need to be bleeped out?
Other youtubers use that word with no issues
Yeah, especially when I just saw a Bailey Sarian video that talked about children. Seems like arbitrary censorship...
When he asks if they’re abused and the one child says very loudly and clearly “yes I am.”only to let out a dejected “no” when ignored.
It’s so telling.
Agreed. That little pause, regardless of it being small, speaks wonders. I felt like the mom stared at him, so he felt uncomfortable.
I noticed that as well. Hurts my soul.
Also the one that says they don't even know what that word means..
I seriously laughed over daddy oh fart mouth
Or when they ask the kids if they r being traumatized, the kid that says I don't know what that word means but no
I don’t know what Cody has. But I have autism and I can say that this treatment is horrendous and psychologically damaging. If I grew up in this house, I would have no idea what social boundaries are and I would be forever scared. Justice for all the kids, but Cody especially. I hope he’s okay and is in a happy house
Swoop states in the video Cody was diagnosed with ODD.
I have say has be autism some others stuff mostly likely but def now ptsd and trust issues
He has ODD
I’ve followed this situation since Phil Defranco covered it on his show and I’m glad it’s continued so the family can’t sweep it under the rug and act like it didn’t happen
Same!
Same! It’s been years. It’s so depressingly impressive that this has been allowed to go in as long as it has
Me too.
same!
Ooh same! So glad he pushed this out into the open.
The invisible ink prank actually made me cry. As the family "scapegoat" i can sympathise with what that poor kid had to go through. Cody deserves a parent that loves him and cares about him. Gaslighting and abusing your child is not funny. My heart goes out to him. I hope he gets the help he needs and never has to see those horrible excuse for parents ever again.
I am so deeply disturbed that not only did YT allow this content, but that there were millions of viewers who encouraged it.
I just found your channel a couple days ago and love your approach.
Thats what i dont understand? Is the idiots of millions of so called people watching this and laughing. I would of called CPS on there ass.
And there are more. Multiple "family" channels have been under fire for abuse. The most recent Ruby Frank scandal shows how dark these families can get. Family channels are considered "ad friendly" and garner signficant ad revenue for youtube, so despite multiple family channels coming under fire, and the numerous complaints from users pointing out abuse, youtube continues to do NOTHING about the problem. I would argue they encourage it by incentivizing revenue for the channels to do whatever it takes to get more views. We can see how off the rails that went with this family. Other issues include family channels adopting kids for views (adoption content is extremely popular) or showing their underage daughters erm... with phallic items, in bathing suits, or discussing their puberty on camera. We desperately need more regulation about content involving children! The government also needs to step in and make laws protecting children who are appearing on social media. This shit is so out of control and no one in a position to make changes is doing anything!
All trash.
That is just outrageous. I will never understand how parents can do this, how YT allows it, then YT stifles influencer’s verbiage when they call people out on their antics.
He's really lucky none of his kids stabbed him or set the house on fire or something and then told him "it's just a prank, bro". Like, if that happened, i would not be surprised. And a jury would probably on the kid's side...
There’s still time. That older one would be my guess, he seems to enjoy causing pain.
Same.
@@bubblegumrose777 Pretty hard not to enjoy pain when your legal guardian literally TRAINED you to be sadistic....Bro just throw away the entire planet.
I used to actually enjoy watching their videos as a kid because I related to the kids so much. As I grew older and people started calling abuse, it actually made me realize just how wrong not only the kids were treated, but how wrong I was treated, too. I now empathize deeply for these children and what they went through and I hope, as I have, that they are able to heal from what was done to them
was it always abusive and intense from the beginning or did it get worse as time went on?
Mike there started to enjoy his power a bit too much and yes he's a useless deadbeat when actual work is involved. Those kids shuld be removed from the house. These " parents " don't deserve children.
@@cheeling794 I think it was the elevation of "fame" (for a lack of better words) and probably a lot of kids watching, not knowing it was wrong or thinking it was funny and unknowingly encouraging him to continue. It's a sad rabbit hole that seems to continue even now years later...
@Cookie 4811 yeah I hope the kids are in a safer place
@@cheeling794 it started out from what i remember to be somewhat innocent pranks, but like @Cookie 4811 said, it progressively got worse over time. But as a child who was always told to "take a joke" or "why can't you just have fun?" I thought it was innocent and that's how all families were. I think there were some adults in the comments egging it on as well, with similar personalities and definitions of what "fun" was that inspired some of the brunt of what was happening. There was no voice of reason until it became obvious that the children were being abused
How sad that Heather’s 3 kids didn’t have someone to advocate for them and remove them from that environment. I hope they’re well in spite of this and can use commentary like yours to understand what they went through and heal from it.
cody is a textbook description of a scapegoat in the family. everyone participates in abuse as long as it gets the abuse off them for at least some time. it's horrible to see and i just hope all the children will get needed treatment and safe place from this onwards
My sister and I traded being the scapegoat kids our entire life. It was such a horrible, endless cycle
my sister tried saying she was the scapegoat of the family but she wasnt, we were just calling her out and she got butthurt.
@@s.sydneyw im gonna be honest, what youre saying and the way youre saying it makes me think she might have been the scapegoat
It amazes me that you have to censor the word “child” and “children” yet this family gets away with almost everything they did🤦♀️ thank you for keeping the faces of the children private. As always, great video and cuddles to the billing department 🥰
I was wondering that.
except... they 'didnt' get away with what they did. they are one of the main reasons WHY youtube has ramped up the rules and censorship
the algorithm and moderation has changed drastically in the intervening years, there is still bad stuff on YT but the use of AI has caught some amount of things and gotten them to moderation to be removed at faster rate than manual moderation of the past
@@Riftweaver1981abusive toxic family channels still run rampant on YT, YT really doesn’t care unless someone throws a big stink about it because it makes them money
@@LizStaplesoh yeah, while it has its drawbacks (I’m assuming she’s censored all the words in this because she got a takedown or the like and it was the only way to get it up, or out of an abundance of caution based on some other experience) using AI to moderate has made huge strides in making online spaces at least a bit safer
I always forget just how legitimately vile the Do5 parents were. The invisible ink clip in particular I remember making me shake with rage when I saw it in another exposé video. The idea that a parent would even want a reason to scream at their children to the point of making them legitimately cry is vomit-inducing. Like you mentioned too, it’s wild that not only did people watch & award these parents for their abuse but that they’d cultivate into an audience that actively joined in the humiliation & harassment. I already feel sorry for Family Channel kids who get treated as props & Do5 was just an exponential increase in disgust.
That prank was so awful. I remember it bringing me to tears seeing it the first time. I just wanted to take that little boy and keep him safe.
Seriously. The way they SCREAM at their kids is terrifying! No one can ever convince me they were not taking out their own problems on their kids through these pranks. The disgust and anger in their voices is not fake. Those kids where their whipping boys.
So. Crazy.
So crazy. I spend so much time and energy desperately trying NOT to mess up my kids!
I was just trying to imagine getting my four year old girls to cooperate and participate to the level that would be needed for the stuff I see on the family channels. I cannot imagine the bribery, coercion, prepping I would need to do. And one of mine loves the camera and videos. It would still take allot.
These poor kids have no one looking out for them.
Heartbreaking
I had an interesting childhood, and I'm slowly dealing with it all with my therapist, and every clip of him screaming and shouting at his kids had me on edge instantly. I remember being that terrified kid. I don't understand how someone can do that to their own child.
Mike Martin is just Pure Evil.
Hey, same hat
Same. This topic never ceases to make me emotional yet it’s oddly cathartic to see how many people think the behavior is beyond awful. We didn’t deserve this type of treatment and people keep saying so.
I’m so glad you’re free and healing. I’m on the same journey and every time he and the ‘mother’ were screaming and cackling, my heartbeat started to race. I don’t know how anyone could do that let alone think it was “funny”
Yeah… I grew up having ADHD and it only caused me pain and fear when my dad yelled at me.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: These two parents were clearly bullies in school and this is what they genuinely think is funny. Disgusting.
- And the Nerve of them to both Look and Sound slow!! They are the absolute, worst.
Lol I appreciate Swoop's Snap because I would 1v2 them irl
the "dad" looks like he was? on drugs and religious BS or something and the "mom" was most likely taught to listen to the "man" of the house he can do no wrong if something happens its your fault kind of thing and the only way to keep a man is to pop out a kid
Shocked dad isn't a cop or mom a nurse
They just seem like pure whisky tango. Crazy anyone ever watched them
@@M123XoxoI'm sure most of their audience are young, probably children themselves. Any adult who pays to watch their content these days (and it isn't actually a child who "borrowed" their parents credit card) should be investigated.
“you can’t take a joke” is so triggering for me I can’t even
Same. Or “it’s just a joke” “it’s just a prank” are so triggering. If the person cries, it’s not a joke or a prank. I hate these adults.
@@alyssawarnock4847Your never any fun.. Your always angry... it's just affection. What's the big deal, it's just how I show love. You take things so seriously, find her a safe space!... Yeah triggering indeed.
I’m so livid over this. Some people should NEVER be allowed to have children. And the authorities who are supposed to be looking out for these children, don’t even get me started. I was a paralegal for over 20 years, five was spent on the juvenile docket. I quit law altogether after that. The things I saw were just indescribable. These parents should be in jail. Great video, Swoop.
When I stumbled on their videos I would report them, and at the time it seemed like nobody cared. It was heartbreaking to watch the abuse of those 2 kids so badly. I hope they get lots of hugs and I love yous now!
A lot of people are raising children that shouldn’t be, and the state of our current society is the direct proof. The problem is who gets to make that determination?
Ok, I really thought I was slipping when I was watching this,paused it to take my dog out, and when I came back in it was gone. Thank you Swoop for all of the blood, sweat and tears you put into all of your work. Long live Petty U's founding Mother
Thank you so much for being here and early!
No fr. I had to take a break from the original upload to do a test for school and it was gone when I got back. And ofc thank you mother swoop for the research and effort you put into alll your docs
Legit AF thought I was having a glitch in the Matrix lol
glad you said something here bc i was like i SWEAR ON MY MOMMA i have heard this intro before!
@@cherishlynn5496 me too😂
From the first literal minute of this documentary, I was already crying. My heart aches for Cody, and all the children in that household. As horrid as what has happened with Colleen Ballinger is, I hope desperately that these two incidents reopen the conversation about children on the internet - not just in the videos themselves, but as viewers.
My niece, who was like 5 years old when she started going on TH-cam unsupervised, watched SO MANY of these abhorrent "family" channels and "prank" channels. The shit that would come out of her mouth was mortifying. I've had this conversation OVER and OVER and OVER with her mother and grandmother, ESPECIALLY as someone who actively participates in the TH-cam community. But nothing ever really changes because it's just so much easier to plop the kid on the couch with an iPad and go about your day doing other shit that's menial compared to actually being with your fucking kid.
When she moved in with me because of the pandemic, her vocabulary, mood, and even sleeping and eating habits SIGNIFICANTLY improved because I vetted EVERYTHING she was watching. When I was working, I set her up on video calls with my friend who would have playful science lessons, and a family member who would tutor her in math. I also gave her grandmother the SPECIFIC instruction to only let her watch Netflix or Disney movies. When I wasn't working, she and I would be together either doing art projects or reading books. When we did watch things on her iPad, it was channels that I was already watching that happened to ACTUALLY be kid-appropriate (mainly artists), or it was children's shows on Netflix or Disney or Cartoon Network.
My point is that the ONLY people who consider this prank/abuse shit funny or an acceptable form of entertainment are cruel adults, and children. These kids are completely unsupervised and clicking video after video after video, getting short spurts of dopamine hits without actually understanding what's happening and getting either groomed or inappropriately socialized. It's fucking heart breaking.
And yes, it is largely the parents'/guardians' responsibility to protect kids and watch over what they're watching - but what if that's not happening? This is a CLEAR, BLATANT example of parents who are negligent and abusive. We NEED to put fail safes into these platforms to COMPLEMENT the responsibility that parents have. The priority isn't who is at fault but about how children are being impacted and what the fuck we're gonna do about it all. Why did it take THIS LONG for the Martins to gain SO MUCH traction and popularity before CPS even became part of the conversation? It's heartbreaking. TH-cam - and now TikTok - really need to get their shit together because this is only going to get worse. And my heart fucking aches for all of these children who are experiencing any part of this horrible spectrum instead of having a proper childhood. It's just completely unacceptable.
TH-cam (and every other social media platform) is totally ignoring this problem. Content with kids has become so dangerous and the views encourage adults to do more and more extreme things, essentially monetizing abuse. We've seen several scandals involving family channels on youtube and their children and still youtube has done NOTHING to address it through new rules. Personally I believe videos should be required to blur children's faces, bleep out their names and never disclose any provate identifying information like what school they attend. Absolutely NO content about the children's sexuality or puberty should be allowed on vlogging channels. No video of toddlers buying dick shaped candy, no content about your tween daughter going bra shopping, no posts of you having the period talk with your kid, no showing your daughter's first time shaving. These are all videos that ACTUALLY EXIST and were left monetized! The government needs to step in and make laws about this as well. It's out of control!
I babysit my friend's kid a lot so she told me that he can only watch certain Netflix kids shows she's ok with him watching and PBS kids on his tablet. And playing on his switch for 20 min intervals only
And yet ….TH-cam allowed this, sponsors paid them,people watched it and loved it, and the wheel of greed goes around and around. And here we go again…
Yup.
Because money.
So sick of this but this type of corruption wont ever end.
One of their worst videos IMO is “Microwaved Pokémon Cards”, where Mike decided it was appropriate to upload a video of himself punishing Emma because her brothers were pulling her hair and harassing her, and then refusing her pleas to have the camera turned off by telling her if she was gonna “act stupid, then we’re gonna get it on video, you know how we roll”
Imagine needing to make yourself feel so big that you punish your own daughter for being bullied, and then bully her yourself
This video should have cancelled them before the ink prank did (a lot of them should have really) because this is just obscene treatment of a child and it can’t even be dismissed as a ‘prank’, but I think the reason the Ink prank was so effective against them was because it was shorter and more digestible, while most of their other videos stretched out in time. The fact that the title clickbaits “microwaved Pokémon cards” instead of “EMMA LOSES HER MIND” or something didn’t help either
😊j
okay that is-
i kinda relate to that
long story short i was harrassed by my bully infront of several people and they had to _pull her off me_ yet i got suspended for 3 days while she got off scott-free
bitch hit my head repeatedly while keeping me in a choke hold
so i couldn't breathe and was getting head trauma that along with my very much known asthma yeah i was pissed (so was my mom)
@@Jay_hates_his_readers for some fu**ed up reason, so often the victim gets sent home. I kinda hope it was to get you a break.
@@dannyvalward1524 no it wasnt a break. it was cause the new principal (a black woman) was bias and my bully was black so obviously i mustve been lying.(there were many other instances where she held bias on anyone who wasnt black saying something remotely negative that would make a black student look bad, even though most of the time the things people were saying were true and were genuine issues and not lies
and also cause my alibi that was there when it went down blatantly lied saying she saw nothing _some 'bestfriend' she was_ and me not being allowed to pick litterally anyone else for my alibi not even the people who _pulled her off me_ her, her friend and my alibi spun a lie that i hit _HER_ and they fucking believed it not bothering to check the cameras that it _literally happened right infront of_
That’s literally insane, holy shit
The attorney thing was way worse than you said. They actually CALLED a bunch of attorneys near her. Just so that they could say there was a conflict of interest. It makes it so so so much worse. And so much more manipulative. That’s just crazy and should be illegal and seen as harassment.
I think it is illegal because they're preventing her from getting fair representation in her area since now all the attorneys are unable to work with her. It could be considered a tactic to cheat the system in their favor by forcing her to spend more money and time to get anything done or just to be represented. I'm probably butchering my statements, but I hope that it's understandable enough to convey what I mean.
I cant express how damaging it is to force you’re children to address an adult figure as “dad” or anything else when you don’t see them as such. My dad passed when I was 7, my mom moved on within a year and next thing I knew there was a stranger in my house taking me to “daddies with donuts” at school. Not to mention he didn’t even try to get us to like him, my mom gave him full authority of us (there was 5 inconveniently) it was confusing, weird, and most of all hurtful
Edit; to this day I can’t forgive my mom for how he was introduced (moved in the same day we met him) and overall how she allowed him to treat us
@@trailertrish I’m srry to hear that:/ idk what I would’ve done if there were multiple men coming in and out my home
I’m sorry to hear that. I’m also a single mum, and the thing I feared the most was if my only daughter couldn’t accept the man I dated. I prioritise her happiness, so I’d introduce him to my daughter first, before the relationship getting deeper and serious
@@mumumaxima We love a responsible mama! 💕
I met my stepdad after he moved from Georgia to Massachusetts to move in with my mom. I came to visit my mom from Florida and anytime I’d talk to my mom, my “stepdad” would just make out with her. Needless to say, I was upset lol. Wanted to adopt me in my early 20s. It’s sad what some people will do to their kids.
@@mumumaxima that’s amazing to hear🫶🏼🫶🏼prioritizing you’re children’s happiness before ur own
I'm just so grateful people like NerdCity and Phil DeFranco (and a bunch of others) called these people out. That was honestly the main reason any of this came to light and those kids got removed from that horrible home situation.
Thank you for not letting up and not letting this stuff get swept under the rug like it does in so many cases.
I remember seeing the "ink on the floor" prank when it first came out and I was so disgusted. I was only 11 but I literally wanted to reach through my screen and comfort those poor kids and get them out of that horrible home. It was the first and last video of theirs that I ever saw but the fear, sadness and confusion on those kids' faces has yet to leave my mind. I hope they are able to heal and find peace despite the horrific treatment they received at the hands of the people that were supposed to always love, support and care for them. Swoop, thank you for bringing light to the subject and being so informative and respectful of the victims, as always. Love you
I was my familys lightening rod, and always the one left to suffer in silence. If I were to get visibly upset or speak up for myself at all I would get met with "You just have to ruin everything, don't you?"
I definitely feel for Cody and hope he finds really good friends.
Never watched that show but I watched your video only because you asked but please don’t ever talk about them again
@@sherrykrause3410 what?
_hugs_ you didn't deserve any of it. What they did was wrong.
@@sherrykrause3410 what?
God. How many times did I hear that same thing?
Family: Traumatizes their kid.
Also Family: "Stop showing signs of trauma! People will think you're being abused!"
Cody and Emma took so much abuse, it was absolutely sick, but I hope the other kids seek mental health and hopefully realize what their parents did to them and their younger siblings
Traumatic pranks reminds me of Greg Austin Gingrich in 1992.
It’s a story of another father traumatising his daughter, though accidentally in this instance, when the “prank” resulted in his death.
The dad had a history of doing somewhat annoying but ultimately harmless pranks on his teenager. However, on a trip to the Grand Canyon, the dad jumped on a guard wall and pretended to lose his balance, planning to land on the ledge on the other side. Unsurprisingly, he misjudged the distance or lost his footing, plummeting to his death 400 feet below.
What makes this even sadder is the daughter, used to stuff similar though probably not as dangerous, kept walking so as not to give it attention with the goal of it stopping the behavior.
Hundreds have died in the Grand Canyon, often doing dumb stuff. It’s a great place to visit, just don’t ignore the signs or warnings and be super careful
The fear that poor child felt in his home is heartbreaking. He has no where to go to feel safe.
I was so disappointed when I was watching this originally and it was taken down. Excited too rewatch it. I remember this situation from the beginning and it’s always very much disturbed me and broke my heart for those kids. But it needs too keep being retold so these people can never pretend it didn’t happen. These kids were voiceless and people like you telling this story gives them their voice.
Thank you for being here!
@@PettyUniversity I swear you get hit harder on TH-cam than some of the other creators I follow! Our pal Philly D and many others also covered this situation extensively, clips and all, uncensored and all those videos are still up. Plus I aways have to search this channel up because I never get post notifications ): the video went down while I was watching but I will make sure to finish this iteration!
Build it up . I got half way they and am ready to watch the whole doc
Same!! I was in the middle of it when it got taken down :/ so glad it’s back!
I see it differently
Everytime they retell the humiliation it rehumilates the children
And what if children come in TH-cam and see their humiliation living on
As a single (widowed) mother, I’d be in jail if a guy tried any of this shit with my kid. Shame on both of them.
Oh my goodness sending you a 🤗.
The copyright claim that took this video down the first time seems pretty shady. I already watched most of this when you posted it the first time, but I'm going to watch it all the way through again to support the reupload. ❤️
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your support!
@@PettyUniversity I had seen the first upload in its entirety but I'm going to let this one run and finish it again because damn YT.
Same. I'm playing spot the difference 😝
Poor Cody. Just hearing those video clips made me relive the anxiety I felt as a child in an abusive environment, living in that family must have been absolutely horrible. I hope he's healing and surrounded by people that care about him.
Your mom's reaction to her bedroom makeover made me tear up. That was really sweet.
I remember when Philip DeFranco talked about this....and you could just TELL how LIVID he was regarding the situation cause he himself came from a troubled family.
Didn't him and his wife also have a kid or were pregnant with a kid at the time I remember watching his second channel and then talking about it this situation will always be so infuriating from all perspectives
@@blustephenson9227 Yes, Carter. Lindsay had a channel which featured Trey & Carter for a while. Then when Carter was still very little stopped 🤷🏻♀️ It’s still on TH-cam but the last video was like 5 years ago
I don’t know the timeline but Phil might have been a dad by then too (he’s got kids himself)
@@LizStaplesYeah, I believe he was a dad himself when he did that video on them. You can tell he loves his babies and can't imagine ever "pranking" them in such a way.
@DrapedInDread Phil seems like a wholesome dad, I love him and Ethan’s friendship
The original video was so harmless and so well done. I’m so sorry you had to edit and reupload swoop. Thanks for the time and effort you put into you content.
100% agree ❤
Just stopping by to thank you for putting these documentaries together. As a former reporter and producer, I can appreciate the amount of work you put into them.
These are some of the best long-format stories out there. Seriously, productions that rival content put out by major heavy-hitters... Dateline, 48hrs, etc.
I dont know if you're a one woman show but the editing, research, graphics.... just BONKERS!!! 💪🙏🙌🙌🙌
I wish you nothing but HUGE success and recognition going forward... so deserved!!!
🫡🏆🏆🏆
I can't imagine even yelling at another adult like this, let alone a child. The volume and maliace in so much of his shouts and laughs are just monsterous.
I'm sitting in the safety of my dining room and the yelling gave me a strong feeling of fear and stress every time it happened
Uggh! I hated the father’s laugh. It makes him sound more spiteful, monstrous and sadistic. I swear that laugh makes him sound like a 1960s Batman villain.
This is actually horrifying. Imagine what was happening OFF camera. I can’t.
When I got married my daughter said she who was 8 at the time said she wanted to call her step dad dad. She is the one who brought it up of course we were thrilled by that. The first few months she would still instinctively call him by his first name which we were fine with. Now she calls him dad and everytime we hear it it just brings so much joy to our heart.
As a mom of 6, including a child with ODD.....this was so hard to watch. I wanted to cry for 90% of the video.
As someone who grew up in an emotionally ab--ve home….this was so hard to watch. I haven’t finished the video yet but I hope Cody is safe and ok 😢
As someone who was abused as a child, I will never agree with any of these “family” YT channels. Exploiting/abusing children for clicks, views, and monetization is abhorrent. I swear the whole platform of YT is a 💩 show for allowing so many problematic people to have channels.
Curious for your opinion (and other's)-- do you think that YT channels that feature kids without this overt abuse could still be abusive? I get nervous following some YT'ers because their kids are sort of central to their content-- like cooking or food- tasting-- and I fear we aren't seeing the full situation. Thoughts?
I'm a parent and I am absolutely mortified that anyone can treat their kids like this 🙁
Being a parent is a privilege not a right
I was a very anxious, sensitive nine year old and I had a normal home. Kids are going through things we aren't aware of, especially at school and in their minds. I can't imagine growing up in a house like that. I know a lot of people with kids and their home is so chaotic and toxic but the parents don't even realize it.
I think that in a way, it's good that this family got as famous as they did because otherwise poor Cody and Emma might never have escaped that awful situation, but at the same time those poor kids should never have been put through something like this to begin with. I hope that they're doing well and getting the support they need to heal. There's this odd paradox where I want to know if they're doing better but also don't want them to have to have their lives exposed to public scrutiny any more. I don't really know how to resolve that conflicting set of priorities but I hope they're doing better.
I think the problem is that social media incentivizes abusive behavior, so although one might argue it's good to 'catch' predators it also ramps up the abuse and often takes far too long to actually get addressed. Only the most extreme abuse on the very large channels seems to ever get attention. And think of all the other parents seeing these channels become extremely successful and copying them, figuring "well they are doing it right in front of everyone and nothing has happened, so certainly it's not a problem." Plus you have to factor in the financial abuse. The parents can make tons of money of their kids and are not required to use any of it for their kids, even if the kids are the reason the channel is so successful.
@DimaRakesah right? It took other people speaking out and calling YT out for this behavior to even be sort-of stopped. They need better screening systems implemented on this platform.
55:48 the Disney World part honestly Made my stomach turn. That has to be the ultimate cruel, and usual punishment. He seriously had to go through all that and miss out on a vacation that he WORKED and got abused for and then when his family got back, he hast to hear all about it. That is a traumatizing experience. It’s gonna be a memory that’s gonna hurt him forever. 🤢🤮🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬💔💔💔💔😢😢😢
I will wish I colud take him to disnyeland paris
Right? I would never leave one of my kids behind while going to Disney That's insane
It makes me wish I could take him, I can't believe a mother could be so cruel to let a man do such disturbing things to your child who you are supposed to protect and unconditionally love
No child should ever be denied a trip to Disney World.
so fucking sad.. :((
I’ve seen the “prank” videos on other channels. Cody reminded me of someone I love dearly, and I felt nearly sick with rage and wanting to protect that poor little boy. He needed patience and kindness instead of constant torment. It was such a relief to learn he got away from his so-called “dad.”
I will never understand how parents can do this to their own babies.
Or anyone else's, for that matter... it disgusts me to no end.
As someone who grew up with parents like them. It is absolutely horrific and majorly affects my mental health, even to this day, over a decade of leaving. Thank you for keeping this in the spotlight and talking about it
Hi Klayton, I saw your comment and wanted to send you best wishes.
I'm glad you got away, and I hope you are doing as OK as is possible. From this stranger on the Web, sending you a hug from the UK.
@@dawnrowlands2408 this is incredibly sweet, thank you! I'm also in the UK so it's an extra cozy hug! Despite how I may feel on a day to day, I'm always getting better year after year. I wish you the best as well, sweet internet stranger!
@@klaytonalexandermatthews2047 sand you hopefully your future is brighter than your parents
Please tell me what it’s like when you’re away from abusive parents. Does it get better, and do I keep enduring?
@@lavender9844 maybe, sand you a lot of hope with that in your future
Okay but the bedroom remodel for your mama was so wholesome and adorable 😭😭😭
Right?!?!? What an absolute PROFESSIONAL!! @Swoop turned what could have been a boring, typical ad spot into a GORGEOUS GIFT 🎁 for her mom on Mother’s Day!! Fantastic, 10/10, no notes. 😌😂👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽💗💗🤌🏽💋
💛
What's crazy is that we have to spend any energy convincing anyone that this constitutes abuse.
My heart just breaks for the younger kids especially Cody. Parents are supposed to be ones protecting their kids from these horrible situations. Mike and Heather however ARE the horrible situations. For the love of the poor innocent kids, this family needs to be banned from making any sort of channel or website or anything that gives them attention! It's apparently not enough to take down their TH-cam channels. Then again, it also scares me to think what they're capable of off camera. I'm just glad Cody and Emma are back with their mom.
They just need to lose custody of any children they have. I guarantee you more abuse goes on "off camera" and people like this never change
49:30 this made me cry. This is exactly why I got into Childcare and I’ve been in Childcare for over 10 years. My mother was very much like this, and it played a lot on my self-esteem. She thought she was trying to protect me from my father, but it was really her that I needed protection from. I found out at a very early age if I did not comply, so her thoughts her wishes in the way that she formed me to be then until I became legal she was going to make my life pretty much a living hell she tried to do it to me as an adult but by then I had a bit more freedom , emotional manipulation leaves deeper scars than physical because you’re constantly second-guessing yourself as an adult because your parent wanted to make all the decisions kind of like living through you instead of accepting you truly are. I literally had to cut her off in order to really find out who I was hope this makes sense to some people, the level of narcissism and emotional manipulation in effect that I have a children becoming adults. As a mother, I let my daughter have a lot of independency and accept her for what her personality is, instead of trying to conform her to my personalit
In my entire life, my parents never screamed at me that horribly for even the worst things I did. There was sometimes yelling, but never such vile words, and never for something they knew they did and accused me of doing. These parents are cruel and they're teaching their kids that it's okay to be cruel to others, provided they call it a prank.
I love you Swoop. Parents like these are disgusting. I respect the way you handle situation. Due to brain damage from parents that was abusive and suffering with epilepsy this situation is extremely hard to see and hear. The emotional outburst from the children is so undeserved. This damage can last a lifetime and anyone who condones this behavior is sickening to me. I still have emotional outbursts and PTSD from my childhood. Sometimes I feel so stunted and feel so alone in the world. I do hope these children can move on
Definitely not alone. I suffer from PTSD & my brother has severe brain damage as a result of my fathers abuse. This situation hurt me when it first came out. I couldn't imagine my own abuser uploading footage on the internet..
I hope you continue to find peace and healing ❤️🩹, however that looks for you & yours. 💗💪🏽❤️🩹💋
Step parenting goes both ways. I was a step mom for a long time. All of the kids called me mom because they wanted to. Their mom crawled out of a gutter somewhere and won visitation. They never called me mom again after that day. Their mom wouldn't allow it and she would buy them things if they could make me cry, or if they could get me and my hubs to fight. She ended up breaking up our family via her children. They are not doing well now. Dropped out of school, behavioral issues. It's so freaking sad.
I’m sorry that happened to you, but you definitely deserve better.
The fact that Cody was able to speak about his feelings and to tell his mom that he was mad, hated her,,, because of what Mike and Heather told the kids about Rose was a good sign. He'll be able to work through it,,over time,,I think.
God. I got my own bullying -> "learn to take a joke" treatment as a kid by my own step-dad and my heart breaks for Cody. I hope he's doing well now and getting all help he needs.
Me too. Although I'm sure he wouldn't ever want to be public on the internet about all of this, I hope he's doing better now that these scumbags are hopefully entirely out of his life. Same for the other kids.
Yeah I got the "You're too sensitive! Learn to take a joke!" from my dad too. The difference is he didn't put it on the internet.
He didn't even do it on front of anyone other than my mom, but that was hurtful enough!
Jesus Christ, they made you censor the word "child"????? I'm glad this is up again--I'm REALLY interested in this case, as I followed it as the story broke. I seriously suspect YT made you jump through hoops because they don't like this getting talked about--they paid these people money for YEARS for abusive content!!!
sadly I had a friend who was living with similar abuse. she wasn’t being filmed but her parents were immature and neglectful. she had to care for her siblings herself because her parents were busy with video games and social media. she couldn’t go to them with her problems because they would just put it on Facebook or make a “big deal” about it, but they definitely didn’t care.
I'm pretty sure I've seen the other endings that could have happened here in other Crime cases. I'm shocked "Daddy" & "Mommy" of 5 didn't factor in that kids under the age of 10 have killed their parents for MUCH less.
I’m kinda curious now..
When this came out, like the scandal, it triggered a lot of pain from my own family. I would also get verbal abuse disguised as jokes and when I got upset, I'd be called a killjoy.
I'm autistic and have adhd but went undiagnosed until now when I'm 30. It damaged the way I connect to people and the way I show love, all the way to getting in the way at work.
As someone who has a sibling who has ODD, this video made me so angry. Yes, living with someone who has ODD is hard, HOWEVER, imagine how hard it is having ODD. My brother is difficult to deal with, but if my parents ever did even a FRACTION of what these “parents” did to their kid, he would be in such a worse place rn. I can’t even imagine how that child if feeling rn. I feel so awful for those kids. I hope they are doing well.
I stupidly found the invisible ink prank. THOSE POOR CHILDREN. I feel like the mom is WORSE than the "dad" if that is even possible. She laughed, pointed and berated her OWN CHILDREN. She was gleefully entertained by their tears and red faces. They are living MONSTERS. I hope those children are doing okay.
What the mom did was basically take over what the dad normally did except the dad often also used physical force against his children. Neither was worse or better
@@AleksandarBellwhen has he ever hit his kid on camera
@@EvanBournes-xh8mqhe broke the PlayStation with a baseball bat …. Not violent at all … smh he doesn’t have to punch his kid on camera to be violent ! He obviously is and imagine what he was doi when the cameras were off
They’re both evil but it’s definitely true that dad got the most out of the power trip and excuse to yell, and mom FOR SURE got the most out of seeing the kids cry and be upset “over a prank”. Monsters.
I've seen this family before and my heart just breaks for Cody :'( Poor little guy. Love you, Swoop, thank you for covering things like this and uncovering dangerous behaviour online!
Oh wow, I thought this was going to touch on the history of it, not lead to the fact that they're STILL GOING omg. How do you learn NOTHING from that experience? What they did was so beyond disgusting and abhorrent. Those kids deserved a better childhood. I hope they're healing now. And I really hope these 'parents' look back on all of this one day with so much shame and regret. The gall of them to call themselves creators when all they've done is destroy lives. Horrible.
Watched it all before it was taken down originally, but absolutely rewatching it again! Never stop making your wonderful docs!
❤❤❤
Im only 3 minutes into the doc & I alrdy have angry chills running through my body towards these adults. I refuse to call them parents. As the oldest of 7 siblings, & a mom to 1 amazing boy, I couldn't imagine doing what they did. I have no respect for any adult that gaslights, manipulates w malice, or otherwise abuses little humans/children. Absolutely infuriates me.
Personally, I think it's important that we call them parents. They remind me of the way I grew up and how being raised in that environment still effects me now at age 34... We have to acknowledge that, unfortunately, parents like this are out there treating their children this way and even worse. We have to acknowledge that them being parents is a huge factor in how traumatic this all is. It's understandable on paper that you don't want to call them parents but I hope you understand my point and consider it. Food for thought.
@sourgreendolly I understand where you're coming from & appreciate your thoughts on it. I don't want to negate who these children are raised by, or how they were raised. However, in many cases to say some people were parents is a far stretch. Speaking from a place of experience - I was neglected & and verbally abused in parts of my up bringing. As an adult, I've witnessed & had to call 911/CPS on behalf of children who I saw or knew were being outright neglected & living in abusive households. Some of these people were just adults who happened to reproduce.
I remember seeing the "shelf clip" when it was made way back, it was autoplayed on the site I saw without warning and it burned into my mind. I was aware of what was happening and followed the story loosely, but refused to watch any clips of the abuse because it was too much for me. Today I was ready to learn and listen to the full story and god, the way their laughs sounds that's targeted at these children is straight up evil in every sense of the word. I fear the people who were fans of this channel and encouraged it. Amazing video as always swoop, you're always so delicate with these difficult topics.
Something else to stress is that most cases of ODD are caused by or influenced by trauma. So if Cody had some aspects of it before, it definitely got worse because of these events. So glad he got out of that mess.
YEP
THIS
Thank you for mentioning.
I've been following this story for years. I helped Nick Monroe find some info for his article. They deserve to never live this down for what they did to Cody and Emma. Hopefully the new baby is safe and not the new punching bag.
I'm sorry WHAT??? They have a new baby???
@@orbweaver9750 It should be about 3-4 I think.
Ugh no, that makes me sick thinking they have another victim 😭😭😭😭
People like them never change..Kid is doomed if someone doesn't act to protect him/her. 😟
My 18 year old son had ODD as a child and the amount of permanent damage that would happen with this kind of "parenting "
I went to buy a smiley shirt but they don't come big enough.
Girl, your docs are always spot on! When i married my husband, i told my kid she could call him anything she wanted. As she's grown up, my philosophy for her decisions was always if it's not harming her or someone else, there's no reason for me to decide for her. She's always had options, lessons, and the ability to tell me her side and change my mind if appropriate. It worked well for us.
Your info about the way these parents have treated their children is so relatable, and accurate. I'm glad there's someone like you to show the actual harm that can be caused by this ish.
The edits she had to do for this re-upload is why TH-camrs upload original versions to Patreon. TH-cam is heavily tripping while actual vile videos go untouched.
As a parent of a child with ODD, their treatment would almost assuredly ruin any chances to rehab him
There is a special place in hell for these family vlog channels... allegedly. Another great doc, Swoop.
I have a stepDAD. It was consensual. I just wanted to show him that he had a very valid place in my heart ❤️ I think, as any good parent, he was first taken back and almost surprised when I started to initiate being “family”. He just married my mom out of love and he loves anything she does. So he started to love us too and vice versa. That’s how you do it. He cried on Father’s Day because he didn’t expect a call. I know he values us, and I value him. He taught me things my father could not. They are both helping me grow in different ways. It hurts to see how other people treat the gift of being a parent.
I’m think I’m in the same situation as you. Just got the courage to tell my stepdad I view him as my dad a few weeks ago. He cried tears of joy-said it was the best thing he’s heard in years. Really emotional for both of us. I call him my stepdad because that means I CHOSE him. My biological dad isn’t my father figure.
Fk this mofo Mike all the way
I know the disorder Cody has, and it’s most likely a direct result of his parenting. There’s no way he could have gotten better with a family (with parents) like this. ODD (along with conduct disorder) is the child version of antisocial personality disorder because a child cannot have ASPD. A percentage of kids with ODD end up with ASPD, and it’s the saddest damn shit to me.
My heart aches for him.
Fun fact: There's an easy way to explain that push not being fake. There's no way he'd fall that hard if it was choreograped stage/show combat. In staged combat, the 'victim' is almost always the one in control of the force & making it look real. The 'aggressor' just makes the first motion to make it appear legitimate. In typical staged combat, the aggressor never even touches the victim.
There is no way that Cody would hit the shelf THAT HARD if it was voluntary & staged
I have pretty severe PTSD from growing up in a home like this, and I cannot begin to imagine what it must do to a kids head to have all of that uploaded to TH-cam on top of living it every day. I guess I can only hope those kids manage to heal somewhat now that they're in a home with someone who cares about them.
That's more than some people get, sadly.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I feel so much less crazy now.
My adoptive parents did this to me for my entire childhood. Every single thing aside from video-taping was done to me as an only child. Ontop of the belittlement, coercion, and physical abuse, I was spiritually and psychologically abused, homeschooled from 4-12th grade.
I feel for Cody, my heart breaks for him 💔💔
I really feel you on this one; my husband has two sons and a daughter from another relationship, the daughter calls me mommy nr 2 and the sons see me as a friend. Daugther is 10 and the sons are 18 and 20, the sons sees me as a good friend and I am good with that. I would NEVER try to push them in any way, I'm just grateful that they see me as a person that is good. Also, I love your channel Swoop! You are more than awesome! ❤❤❤
Thanks for being better mom than this mon in video
@@moonbook12 thank you so much for this, for me this is not really an issue, love is love ❤️❤️
@@Biatch_pleeeease :)
I despise pranks with every fiber of my being, but especially when it involves people with a power imbalance (wether due to age, strength, relationship, whatever). Pranks are so often cruel, I can’t remember the last time i saw one that wasn’t horrible
The thing I most hated about this whole situation was that the comments in DOF videos were filled with shit like "Cody deserves this." "I want Cody to bleed" "Cody is evil!" and unlike other family channels were kids watch the content it was obvious it was mostly adults commenting those things. They had a facebook page for fans were he went all out in blaming Philip Defranco to the point where there were videos posted of their adult 'fans' masked and promising retribution by threatening good ol' Phil
There’s no shortage of trashy people who enjoy watching trash.
I really feel like parents who use their kids for content are doing tremendous damage to their children--these guys being a terrifyingly extreme example. And the fact that they've really faced no significant consequences is frightening. I hope they do fade into obscurity, and I hope those kids get the healing they need
It infuriates me that they did not get any jail time DESPITE doing THE SAME THING AGAIN after getting their already lightened sentence and going on and on about how they were just "misunderstood". They clearly did not actually care to learn any lesson and were just butt hurt that they were caught.
Hi Swoop, this is so heartbreaking to watch. I grew up in a wonderful, loving household. I'm lucky to still have both mum and dad and speak to and see them frequently.
Those poor, poor children. That excuse for a human and his waste of oxygen wife should be behind bars.
This is sickening.
I came into my step son's life and always encouraged him to simply call me by my name. It never once bothered me nor made me feel inferior and now at 20+ years later I feel so very honored when he introduces me as 'his dad'. The feeling and work behind that through many tumultuous years makes our bond so very special.
I’m only 21 minutes in, but I love the way you frame our perspective as from the kids. Imagining myself (or my daughter) as the kid in question, really brings it home about what these kids (or whoever) are experiencing. Your docs are well researched, informative, fun (love Petty U), and I actually learn something. Keep up the great work! 💖
Big grown bullies who got kicks out of people viewing their sick behaviour. Reminds me of my mum... she would always swear she was just joking & it was all my fault because I was an easy target, I can really see myself in poor Cody. I just hope he got help & the other kids now feel safe & loved. Must have such a huge impact having your life put out there without consent😢 .
Intro on this video insane, where you have us put ourselves into the shoes of Cody and what he must have felt. I'm familiar with this family channel and when I partook in the visualisation exercise I'm certain it captured some extent of what Cody must have felt. I've had some reservations of Swoop myself, but if you didn't feel the effect of that visualization I don't think you did it right. Even just the fact that you had us do a visualization in the first place is something that I've recently been practicing and is changing my life, so thank you Swoop for what you're doing. Keep it up!!
Coming out of an abusive household, Mike’s screaming is so triggering, because my dad was the exact same if not worse, all not for a prank. As a person who grew up in an abusive environment, I feel so awful for these kids because I know firsthand how much harm abuse of ANY kind causes.
Seriously, the screaming is so triggering. I grew up with an alcoholic father, and although he didn't direct his anger towards me and didn't scream at me, he would scream at other people or punch things or what-not. Even that has made the sound of raised voices kind of terrifying to me. I cannot imagine if I was screamed at like these poor kids.
Same. I hope you’re able to find peace and happiness.
I'm disgusted that TH-cam had the nerve to try and take this down. As always you remain entertaining, informative and the best damn researcher around.
Much love to you Swoop x
Hi @Swoop I discovered your channel a week ago and have been binging it since then. I jumped to this doc, at your request, after watching the Bryan Kolberber series. My heart started racing with anxiety after hearing the description on manipulation. Once you showed the description of coercion I stopped playing the video as I went into a severe panic attack. I have always thought that my mother was just controlling and it turns out that it’s so much worse. Even worse is the fact that I’m 52 years old and am still going through it. I was not diagnosed with my mental health disorder until my 40’s. For almost 5 years now, because I have not had access to health insurance, I had to stop my treatment. My symptoms have quadrupled and I’m sure that if by any chance it was possible to start treatment again I would be diagnosed with so much more. My mother and the rest of my family see my reactions they still don’t believe in mental health, call me dramatic and have even been called a drug addict for taking the medications that I was given by my last psychiatrist through my PCP which I pay for out of pocket. What I get from all of them is to look at myself in the mirror and smile each day at it will all miraculously go away. I just want to thank you for always going into your very soothing voice and advising that we are important, that we deserve love etc. I wish I could believe the words because I always feel like wasted space in an overpopulated world.