Toddler Allegedly Forced To Eat Cockroach For Camera

In horrifying news you shouldn’t read while eating, a family in Guatemala City is being investigated after videos of a young child eating cockroaches surfaced on YouTube. The video is several years old but only recently gained steam on social media, which has prompted an outcry and an investigation by protective services.

The video, allegedly posted by the child’s father and entitled My Daughter Eats Cockroaches and Rats in Guatemala, shows a two-year old eating a giant live cockroach. Unsurprisingly the child is visibly distressed and makes choking and gagging noises throughout while the adult in the video urges her on, taking shots from several different angles. Parenting: you’re doing it very, very wrong. Aside from starvation (which does not seem to be happening here) how do you even get to a point where you not only have the idea that having your child to eat live animals might be YouTube gold but then also carry it out? How do you not realize that your child will do many things to please you, among them eating a giant live insect? Find another activity for you and your child to enjoy together! (Ideas: anything but forcing your child to eat all manner of living animals on camera, going for a walk.)

According to Prensa Libre, the child will be undergoing physical and psychological testing to determine how she is doing and whether the she had been forced to perform the actions in the video. Which, okay, I mean no one’s holding a gun to her head, but your parent tells you to do something and you generally do it, no? Because sometimes you don’t know any better? Because you’re two?

Authorities state that the child is not likely to stay with the family if it is found that they supported the acts depicted in the video. The child’s siblings have also been removed, with authorities citing “imminent risk.”