YouTube Mom Faces Backlash for Taking Baby on Jet Ski

• A YouTuber mom in Indonesia posted a video showing herself and her baby daughter on a jet ski. 
• The clip attracted attention and backlash, and was re-posted on Twitter where it went viral.
• Commenters were concerned that the child was not wearing a life vest in some clips from the ride.

An Indonesian YouTuber is facing backlash for filming herself taking her infant daughter on a jet ski. 

Ria Ricis, who has 30.8 million subscribers on her YouTube channel Ricis Official, typically posts content about raising her daughter Moana. On January 1, Ricis posted a YouTube video about a jet ski excursion she took with her daughter and husband, Teuku Ryan. In the YouTube clips, Moana is wearing a life jacket, but in an additional video Ricis posted to her Instagram account, Ryan holds Moana in one hand while steering the jetski with another. The video received over 1 million views.

The YouTuber shared a clip of the ride on Instagram on January 2, with a caption that was written in Indonesian but that can be translated through a function in the app.

“Moana loves it on a jet ski,” it read. 

A post shared by RICIS (@riaricis1795)

While Moana could be seen wearing a life jacket in some clips of the jet ski ride in the YouTuber’s vlog, the child was not wearing one in Rici’s Instagram post.

Many comments under the post, which were written in Indonesian but were translated through the app, expressed concern over the YouTuber’s actions. 

Clips of Rici’s Instagram video were reuploaded by other users on Twitter, where they went viral, receiving millions of views and attracting more negative attention from commenters who wrote predominantly in Indonesian. 

“At least wear a life jacket. A child is the most valuable asset you have in the world. What if you fall down and get hit by a jetski fan?” said one commenter. 

—Naim Nawrouz (@NaimNawrouz) January 6, 2023

“I think people who ride motorbikes with their children are the most stupid. This is a jet ski, my goodness,” said another user.

Other users said they did not think people should make judgments about the way other people decide to parent their children.

“Leave them alone. They are entitled to do as they wish. I wish them well,” wrote one Twitter user in English. 

According to multiple personal watercraft websites, there are no laws preventing a parent from taking their child on a jet ski, but most manufacturer guidelines on jet skis recommend that all passengers should be able to reach the floor of the vehicle’s footwells securely with both feet.

Influencer parents have previously come under fire for sharing videos of their young children taking part in high-impact sports. In 2020, two Utah-based parents defended a video of their six-month-old child water-skiing after it led to a wave of online backlash from people who thought the child was too young to be taking part in the sport.

In May, Insider reported that a pair of Kentucky-based family YouTubers said they faced a “witch hunt” of criticism for posting a video of their six-year-old child crying while running a marathon. 

Ria Ricis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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