Some Little People, Big World fans totally freaked out over a photo that Tori Roloff recently shared on her Instagram page. It was supposed to depict a sweet father-son moment , but a few of Tori’s followers accused her and Zach of doing something that put baby Jackson in serious danger, just for the sake of a social media photo op.
However, as reported by PopCulture , 11-month-old Jackson actually wasn’t at risk at all in the photo that had fans crying fowl. In the snapshot, Zach Roloff is seated on a commercial grade riding lawnmower with his baby boy in his lap. Many of Tori’s upset Instagram followers assumed that the machine was in operation when the photo was taken, and they responded to the image with a mixture of anger and concern.
Zach and Tori Roloff were warned that there have been cases of young children losing their limbs and even their lives to the fast-moving blades of riding lawnmowers, and this is true. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , a 3-year-old girl was killed last September when her father accidentally backed over her with a riding lawnmower.
A few of Tori’s followers pointed out that it’s possible to drive a riding lawnmower around without the blades in operation, but this didn’t make critics of the photo feel any better about it.
“No one should ever ride a child on a mower whether the blades are running or not,” read one response to the photo. “This is so dangerous. I’m not a hater. I think Zack’s family is sweet.”
As you can see, Tori originally captioned the photo with a lyric from one of the musical numbers in the movie, The Greatest Showman . She later edited the caption to tack on the all-caps disclaimer informing her followers that “THE MOWER WASN’T ON.” She also threw in an eye-roll emoji to let everyone know how she felt about all the mommy and daddy-shaming that was going on in the comments section of the Instagram post.
Tori Roloff later shared a few less controversial family photos in an Instagram slideshow. They were taken at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm located outside of Salem, Oregon. In the first of the professionally-shot images, she and Zach are squatting down and holding baby Jackson up in a standing position. Jackson is waving to the camera in the second sweet snapshot, and he’s holding hands with his parents in the third photo. The final image is a photo of Zach and Tori in a field of tulips.
Little People, Big World fans may find it hard to believe that baby Jackson will already be a year old in just a few short weeks. However, it will still be a long time before he’s old enough to ride a lawnmower that’s actually moving.