Wiz Khalifa Criticized for Letting 5-Year-Old Son Ride the School Bus

"What a time to be a parent! You can't win."

Rick Davis / SplashNews/Newscom

The rapper Wiz Khalifa has been daddy-shamed—for letting his kid take bus to school and making a cute little social media post about it. As Page Six reports:

The "Black and Yellow" singer posted a photo on Instagram earlier this week celebrating his son's first day of kindergarten. The star waved to the camera while his son waited on a street corner for the school bus to bring him in for his first day. However, what likely started as a way to share a father-and-son moment with his fans quickly turned into an attack on his parenting skills and use of fame.

Fans were quick to note that the star doesn't need to let his kid ride public transportation given that his status as a successful musician likely means he's quite rich.

"All y'all people asking why I would let my son ride the bus, cause I'm rich," Wiz responded. "And he said he wanted to ride the bus with his friends, so let kids do what they want to do. Chill."

Actually, if he had any space left on his skin (the dude has a lot of ink) that would make a pretty great tattoo: a big "chill" that could be flashed at folks sticking their noses where they don't belong.

We don't need to scrutinize every single parenting decision made by every single parent. As my friend Julie Gunlock at the Independent Women's Forum noted in an email: "What a time to be a parent! You can't win. Here's a dad doing a completely normal, routine thing, and even that draws criticism. It's insane. We've become a nation of Gladys Kravitzes—not only nosing into people's private parenting decisions, but offering an opinion when no opinion is sought. I hope Wiz Khalifa ignores these self-appointed parenting experts."

Comments

[Juice]

I (kind of) remember getting on the bus (van actually) to go to Kindergarten. I wanted to be a big boy and do it all myself, so I tried to tell my mom not to walk me to the bus stop and let me do it by myself. I was a bit upset about it when she didn't. Eventually she would let me even though she was really watching from a distance. Anyway, even 5 year olds want to feel independent and capable and they need to learn how, so some independence needs to be granted, even at that age.

[Inigo Montoya]

Your entirely reasonable take on this blasphemy to the ears of the OCD soccer moms who think leaving a child alone for even 2 seconds invites them to be taken by strangers and forced into human trafficking. You can't argue facts with loons like that.

[H. Farnham]

Agreed. I used to walk the two blocks to grade school everyday as a kid (early 90's). Hell I would even walk home for lunch some days. I didn't have to be escorted or even have a parent sign off on it. Things have changed a lot in the past few decades. But then again, we didn't have Facebook to keep tabs on the scourge of Van-wielding child traffickers back then. Thank goodness I survived.

[Juice]

Oh yeah, when I was 5, 6, 7 I remember going all over the place by myself and other neighborhood kids. Since we moved around a few times in that period, it was in different places too. I would get the lay of the land pretty quickly and just go outside and play all damned day. This was the late 70s and early 80s though when no one thought once much less twice about kids playing outside unsupervised.

[MP]

I'm fairly certain there was only a single time during my entire childhood that my parents drove me to a friend's house. And that was only because he lived a good 10 miles away. Otherwise, within a four mile radius, I was on my own.

[H. Farnham]

Incidentally, the child-obesity "epidemic" is simply the result of junk food advertising, food-deserts, and inadequate PE programs in public schools. (Good thing we can legislate our way out of those problems)

My friends and I never had trouble staying trim when we were walking several miles every day and playing outside until the street lights came on.

[perlchpr]

*nod* I walked back and forth, all by myself, every day of the half-day kindergarten I went to.

And before that... I used to walk up the block to my friends house, several houses away, when I was 3. I used to walk around and go visit other adult's houses; people who didn't even have kids, but who were friends of my parents and friendly to me, who were all a fair distance away from my house.

This overprotection frenzy is just insane.

[perlchpr]

I dunno, maybe I was just an ugly kid, and that's why I never got press-ganged into the sex trade. 😉

This was all right around 1980, BTW.

[H. Farnham]

I don't think the sex trade was as big a problem then. However, you're extremely lucky you weren't abducted by a satanic cult.

[MiloMinderbinder]

If Reason is going to post stories about what "outraged" people on social media are saying, you're going to need a bigger website.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The problem with the Gladys Kravitz analogy is that she was right about stuff going on at the Stephens house that wasn't normal, she just could never prove her suspicions. There isn't anything abnormal about letting your kid ride the bus to school.

[Eric L]

'The problem with the Gladys Kravitz analogy is that she was right about stuff going on at the Stephens house that wasn't normal, ?'

But the stuff that was going on was not a problem. If you could twinkle your nose and move a lamp across the room would not that be normal for you. What she saw was not illegal. Gladys was going onto their property and peeking through their windows. That is a problem. The point is that she, Gladys, was sticking her nose in where it did not belong and creating drama where no drama had occurred.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

I guess I'm missing something. Isn't that what the school bus is for?

[MP]

Even more, doesn't liberal equalitarian ideology demand the kid ride the bus?

[Cynical Asshole]

Surely you're not expecting intellectual consistency from these mouth breathers, are you?

[Ron]

school buses are for those who can't afford cars. those who want to be seen as rich and caring drive their kids to school

[Fist of Etiquette]

We don't need to scrutinize every single parenting decision made by every single parent.

If you know of an easier way to show how superior I am to other parents, I'd like to hear it.

[mad.casual]

You kids today don't know how good you have it. Back in my day you had to make more money, have a hotter wife, or get drunk and punch a guy in the face to feel superior.

[mad.casual]

Why when I was a kid you couldn't even get on the bus to go to school without helicopter parents on Twitter berating people for it. Up hill. Both ways. In the snow.

[Echospinner]

It is a charming story. Good for Wiz Khalifa. Here he is a rich and famous guy and he has the good sense to let his son just be a normal kid.j

I remember my daughter taking the bus the first day. My wife waited at the bus stop with her. As the bus pulled away there was a line of cars, hers among them, to follow and watch them get off at school.

[Tony]

To kids, having rich and famous parents just expands the scope of embarrassment.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

Even Ozzy's kids learned that.

[Agammamon]

Just wait another 10 years to when Wiz is 'what old people listen to'.

[Bubba Jones]

If you don't want 100,000,000 people second guessing your life, don't put it on social media.

Perhaps the lesson here is that people disagree about stuff?

[Cyto]

Late to the discussion, but we had a story down here in Florida that is revealing about this helicopter parent attitude.

You know how every mother "just knows" that their little angel is in constant danger of being kidnapped? Well, the story of Jordan Belleveau strangely put the lie to that. Why?

Well, the story went like this.... the mother said someone offered her and her daughter a ride, then struck her in the face, knocking her out. She came to in a local park and her 2 year old daughter was gone.

So far it sounds like it confirms the narrative - your kid can be taken at any time.

But when that story was relayed to a bunch of moms I happened to be with - exactly as I just described it, delivered by another mom recounting the story - they were immediately skeptical. I said, I dunno... that sounds fishy. And everyone immediately agreed.... it just doesn't sound right.

[Cyto]

And what happened? Just a few hours later the police found the girl's body and they have already charged the mother.

So why did everyone react with such skepticism? Not one of these mothers would have left their kids playing on a playground unattended. But they didn't buy a stranger kidnapping story at all, based on scant information. It just didn't ring true... because that sort of abduction is extremely rare.

So even though they will publicly espouse a helicopter-parent ethos, in their heart of hearts they know that it just isn't true. So much so that when confronted by a story of child abduction they didn't believe the mother based on no information other than "a toddler was taken after her mother got knocked out by the kidnapper".

[macsnafu]

At least Khalifa knew how to respond to the critics and not be intimidated.