Julia Mancuso, the Olympic gold medalist, received intense backlash after posting a video to Instagram that shows her tossing her 1-year-old, Sonny, into a snowbank.
The clip of the mom and son duo quickly went viral after many commented, worried, how Mancuso was putting her son in danger. But the 36-year-old is here to slam trolls who have accused her of ‘throwing’ her toddler into the snow.
The mom first posted the footage on November 30 to Instagram, showing Mancuso playfully tossing her 1-year-old into the snow that’s so high, he disappears. But this doesn’t happen as his momma is close by and pulls him out quick!
“Sonny loves the snow,” she posted in the video’s caption. “Winter is coming! Who is excited?”
Mancuso also addressed how the video may make some nervous.
“But if you grow up in the snow — you know these days don’t come often so when they do you send it!” she wrote.
And on December 24, the mom revealed a follow-up post where she shared how Sonny and her prepped for the stunt.
Mancuso first showed her son the snow prior to doing a couple practice throws closer to the snowbank. And after doing a few tosses, the mom does the toss that made it to the final video, but Sonny is grinning the whole time.
“Just wanted to share because I’ve gotten some messages that just really don’t understand this video,” she wrote. “Sonny loved it — there was zero risk of something being buried in the snow since it happened over the course of a day on our patio — we literally watched the snow fall.”
That being said, the mom did defended the stunt.
“We practiced — then we went for it!” she added. “You really don’t get these conditions often and can only enjoy the fluffy softness the very next day — so yeah — I don’t think it’s a good idea to [throw] your kid into any snow bank … but when it snows like this! It’s game on.”