Copyright newsweek
A mom of two has sparked debate after listing what she called four “slightly unethical” things she did to give her now-adult children a better life. Michelle Fairburn (@michellefairburn) posted a clip on TikTok of the unconventional parenting hacks, starting with lying about her address to get her kids, Kamaia and Amoi, into a better school. The mom of two from Miami, Florida, explained that when her children were young, their local school district was “turning into a disaster.” Mom Michelle Fairburn speaking to the camera for her TikTok video. Desperate for change, she used an address outside her zone to secure a spot in what she described as “the best elementary school experience.” Fairburn told Newsweek that the line between doing what’s best for her kids and crossing a boundary has “always been a little grey.” “I’ve never made choices that genuinely harmed another family or deprived someone of opportunity, but I have bent rules to give my children a better chance,” she said. “The truth is, the system isn’t designed for fairness. Families with resources find workarounds every day, and it’s accepted as strategy, but when a young single mother does the same thing out of necessity, it suddenly becomes an ethical debate.” Her second confession was a failed attempt to enroll her children in a francophone school—a public school for native French speakers. Despite her children being in French immersion, Fairburn admitted she herself didn’t speak the language. During the application process, she even asked her daughter to help translate the paperwork before ultimately being rejected when the school discovered she couldn’t pass the language test. The third “unethical” act, Fairburn said, was her stance on what she called “modern cheating.” After her daughter had to repurchase an expired online course, Fairburn encouraged her to resubmit her completed work rather than start from scratch—only to be accused of plagiarizing herself. “I have never heard anything so damn stupid in my life,” Fairburn said in her clip. “Even ChatGPT… that is resourcefulness because in the real world, you’re going to be able to use those tools. If you’re not… you’re gonna [sic] be left behind.” Finally, she explained her decision to place her daughters in French immersion, not just for the academics, but for the culture. Fairburn’s clip has been viewed 2.2 million times and sparked debate among TikTok users in the comments. Some users were critical of the mom changing their home address to enable her kids to get into a better school. “Cheat systems, not people. Got it?” one user wrote. “It’s annoying because it puts the burden on the other taxpayers to subsidize those students,” another added. Some users admitted their parents had done the same which, one said, “changed the trajectory of my life.” Others agreed with Fairburn’s hacks, with some saying that she only did it for the sake of her children. “I don’t see anything wrong. This is being smart in a world where money gets you the same opportunities as people being tactful,” one said. “Play the system or it will play you,” another commented. Fairburn understood why her story has divided parents. “It’s easy to call something a ‘bad example’ when you’ve never been in a position where the system is stacked against you,” she said. “Teaching my kids to fight for opportunity, even when the odds aren’t fair, isn’t the same as teaching them to cheat, it’s teaching them resilience and resourcefulness.” Now that Kamaia and Amoi are 19 and 21, Fairburn said they view those choices as lessons in empathy. “They know why I did it, and because of that, they’ve developed real empathy for families who are in the position we once were,” she said. “Every year, we run a winter drive where we fill stockings with gifts for young single mothers,” Fairburn continued. “For us, it was never about stepping on anyone else to get ahead, it was about leveling the playing field for those who start with less. I would absolutely do it again.”
