The Little Couple star Jen Arnold issued a public statement asking fans to give her son, Will, “some grace” after he shared an “inappropriate” video to his TikTok page.
“Hey parents out there, Jen here from The Little Couple. I thought I would just send a note out to everyone because, oh boy, I had one of those difficult digital media and kid weeks,” Jen, 49, began in an apology video shared via Instagram on Friday, September 15. “You may have seen that Will recently posted a dance trend on TikTok that unfortunately had a very explicit and foul language to the song that he chose.”
The reality star continued, “Let me tell you this was hard. And I think it's hard for all of us parents right now. We're in this era where with social media and all the trends, it's hard for us to keep up, hard for us to guide our kids and for our kids to navigate this world.”
She went on to say that she “struggled” with allowing her son, 13, to join social media, but ultimately decided it was best to permit his use with “supervision” than to forbid it and “worry that he might be trying to create an online presence without me.”
“I wanted to hold off as long as I could, but it’s almost impossible in today’s world,” Jen continued, adding that her daughter, Zoey, is still too young. “You all know that I’m a very active member of social media. I think social media is a great tool when used properly and safely. And I also knew that I couldn’t keep him away from social media forever.”
Jen – who shares her two children with husband Bill Klein – shared her feelings two days after the teen shared a clip of himself dancing with the TikTok viral penguins from Madagascar while Three 6 Mafia’s “Half On a Sack” played in the background. “Will veered off the road,” Jen said of her son’s since-deleted video.
“At first when I saw this post in silent mode, I thought it was just another adorable video of Will dancing with some penguins, until I saw the comments. I had watched the video in silence because I never have my audio on my phone, then I realized that the music behind it was bad with explicit language,” the pediatric doctor explained in her Friday statement, adding that while “Will understands some of these words,” but he does not understand the “implications of such language.”
The TLC personality added that she and Bill, 48, “discussed” the situation with Will, and he “agreed to make better decisions because his social media is viewed more and that means he has a greater responsibility if he would like to use it.”
“I hope you all will give Will some grace on this as he is like so many kids out there, new to social media and still learning,” she concluded.