Woman Shares $5 ‘Babysitting Hack’ to Keep the Kids Busy, Gets Controversy

Woman Shares $5 ‘Babysitting Hack’ to Keep the Kids Busy, Gets Controversy
The Great Seal of the United States, printed on the American dollar bill, has a 13-level pyramid. (Stephanie Lam/The Epoch Times)
Jack Phillips
6/2/2019
Updated:
6/2/2019

An Australian woman revealed a clever $5 babysitting “hack” that drew praise and criticism online.

Bree Tomasel, of Brisbane, said that parents and babysitters need a $5 bill and a wall.

“Do you guys want to win $5? Do you want to play the $5 game? You’re both in?” she asks the two children. They reply with “yes.”

She then gets the kids to place the $5 bill between their foreheads and the wall. Whoever can stand the longest without dropping the bill wins. “The first person to touch it with your hands or to drop it, doesn’t win the money. Don’t move, because whoever keeps it there the longest wins the $5 note,” Tomasel says to the kids.

Her video has garnered more than 3 million views on Facebook, as of Jan. 16.

In the video, she declares both children winners and they get the $5 bills.

Tomasel said that she was praised for the stunt, but some accused her of abuse.

“The reaction [to her video] was amazing, a lot of comments from parents and people saying that it was genius,” she told the Daily Mail. “After being posted to other third party pages I’ve copped a bit of flack saying that it was child abuse and harmful to the kids which I think is actually disrespectful to people who have actually been through something horrible.”

She added that “people these days look for something to be upset about and the internet can be a dark place.”

“But I’m just looking to create a bit of light and laughter in this dark world we live in today,” she said.

“I love to make people laugh,” she told the publication. “It’s a gift to have a platform to be able to do that. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet and don’t take everything so seriously because a lot of the time you don’t know the full context and just learn to have a bit of a laugh. Life is already too serious.”

Tomasel told the Mail that she wasn’t actually babysitting the kids, and their parents were around

Of the stunt, she said the unnamed “kids were faced on the wall for about 10 minutes — not very long and they were supervised the entire time.”

She said, “But I’m just looking to create a bit of light and laughter in this dark world we live in today. I love to make people laugh,' she said. It’s a gift to have a platform to be able to do that. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet and don’t take everything so seriously because a lot of the time you don’t know the full context and just learn to have a bit of a laugh. Life is already too serious.”

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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