Mum criticized for making homework ‘optional’ for little boys

When it comes to virtual vitriol, this “lazy” mom slammed the mom.

For deeming homework “optional,” green-lighting unlimited screen time and encouraging her kids to fight their bullies, mom Danielle Gallacher is practically getting hammered by social media metrics.

“Things we do as parents that not everyone agrees with,” Gallacher, 32, an engaged mum-of-two from Glasgow, wrote in the closed caption of her controversial TikTok clip. “Homework is optional.”

“We don’t force them to do that,” she added. “Who needs the stress?”

The Scottish maverick’s laissez-faire attitude towards the schoolwork of sons Caiden, 9, and Oliver, 5, is just one of her many permissive parenting strategies that is now sending digital critics into a mother-shaming spiral.

“The [optional] homework [rule] it’s a path to disaster,” one keyboard critic wrote under Gallacher’s post, which has garnered over 1.7 million views.

“He should take an IQ test before he’s allowed to grow up,” added one mean-spirited commenter.

“Basically the kids rule over you and do what they want,” said another cynic.

“Lazy parenting dressed up as ‘progressive parenting,'” wrote one equally unhinged bugbear. “You portray it as ‘cool’ or ‘hip’ to make yourself feel better about doing a bad job. It’s not hard to see.”

But Gallacher is the only outside mother who has caught the eye for her atypical tactics.

Mami Onami, a spiritual influencer and mother of two, has also found herself in the ire of the Internet for “disappearing” — a pedagogical philosophy that encourages children to learn through self-directed learning rather than a curriculum — her breast.

Arizona mom Cayley was recently grilled on TikTok after admitting she let her five-year-old son “choose” his homework.

“I just sent my son’s teacher a cute little email saying I’m sorry, based on the stress, mental and physical anguish it’s causing my son, we’re done,” said the brunette, whose little one felt Overloaded with a 15-page pack full of tutorials. “No more homework.”

Gallacher, a civil servant, and fiancé Jordan O’Donnell, 32, agree that the pressures of learning at home are too much to handle.

“I feel like kids these days have a lot of stress on them and a lot of expectations,” she told Kennedy News. “So we parent the old school way we grew up, without any stress.”

Her cool-mom vibe aside, Gallacher denies being anti-academic.

“People have said that I don’t value education. But I do,” she insisted.

“You have to have a balance between education and being a child,” continued the rebel, “parents and children don’t have much time between coming home and bedtime.”

“I wanted to [the] post to show that there are different ways to parent children and no one way is right or wrong.”

But Gallacher wasn’t always so easy when it came to securing control of her sons at ABC and their 123.

“We were very different with homework and [made] Caiden does it before he does anything else,” she confessed. “But it just caused chaos and he didn’t want to do it – he wasn’t benefiting from it.”

Since switching from strict parenting to strict parenting five years ago, Gallacher claims her eldest son has managed home, school and social schedules with ease.

“He has a week to do his homework. So if he’s too tired to do that and wants to play with his friends, that’s fine,” she said. “It is one [9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.] school, so it’s basically a full-time job.”

“If he wants to do [his homework]then great,” added the gentle mother. “But if he doesn’t, then he has to go to school and maybe get into trouble for not doing it.”

“So he learned.”

And Gallacher claims she is more than willing to help her children with their courses when needed.

“My way is not lazy,” she asserted. “Just because it’s optional, that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t help him with something.”

“Most of the time he doesn’t need help,” the blonde explained. “If he is making mistakes, then that has to be given [in] to tell a teacher that you are doing something wrong.”

For Gallacher, parenting isn’t about making sure her kids make the grade.

“There’s more to life than just doing well in school,” she said. “There are social skills to be had and worlds to see.”

“As long as my kids are educated and doing their best, then I don’t think we can ask for more.”

Online, Gallacher was also criticized for giving her sons as much time on their iPads, phones and TVs as they wanted. She also chastised herself for encouraging her co-defendants to “hit” people who were looking for a fight.

“I understand the screen time limitation for some kids, but I don’t think mine spends too much screen time to do that,” she explained. “We don’t limit our screen time as adults – and we use our phones all day and then watch TV at night. So that’s a bit hypocritical.”

And when it comes to the backlash she faced for inciting violence against children, the unapologetic mum isn’t turning the other cheek.

“[With] the amount of bullying in kids’ lives,” said an unflinching Gallacher, “I think it’s good that they’re able to stand up for themselves as well.”