A mom kept encouraging her son to take New York’s public 3D street art, and her response to critics was ‘Why they mad tho!’

After videos showing a New York boy collecting small pieces of 3D street art from public trees and structures began circulating online, his mother found herself at the center of a heated debate, as reported by The Nerd Stash. The clips, posted by @40yroldmother on TikTok, spread quickly and divided viewers over whether the mother had crossed a line.

The artwork in question consists of small 3D pieces that artists place on trees and public structures around New York City for anyone walking by to discover, with the understanding that they stay put. The boy had apparently turned finding and taking them into a routine, and his mother framed it as an exciting activity for him. When other viewers pointed out the pieces were not meant to be removed, she kept filming him anyway.

Over multiple follow-up videos, he could be seen reaching high on trees and climbing structures to grab additional pieces. One clip showed the growing pile of items he had collected, gathered from spots across the city. She briefly removed the videos at one point but brought them back and kept posting.

Viewers had a lot to say about the lesson being taught

Her reaction to the backlash did little to calm things down. When a commenter wrote, “You’re not supposed to take them,” she responded with, “Why they mad tho!” A second viewer pushed back directly, writing, “bc your taking the joy away from other people that want to see them.” Parenting decisions that draw public backlash online are nothing new, with another mother going viral after defending her seven-year-old for flashing an obscene gesture at a stranger.

The comments went beyond the artwork itself. Many people zeroed in on what the whole pattern was teaching the boy. “Teaching him the world is just there and he can take what he wants. You’re not supposed to take them,” one person wrote. Another put it more bluntly: “Love when we don’t teach our kids to respect others’ work and to just leave things alone! He’s gonna be a super fun teenager and adult!” Whether the mother intends to have her son put the pieces back has not been addressed publicly.

Street art has a long presence in New York, with neighborhoods like Bushwick, Long Island City, and the Lower East Side particularly known for outdoor murals and public installations. According to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the city has one of the most active public art programs in the country, with hundreds of works placed across all five boroughs.

Small pieces attached to trees and poles fall within a wider tradition of guerrilla public art, where artists leave work in unexpected spots specifically to be discovered in place, not taken. The incident fed into a wider conversation about communal spaces and what gets lost when people treat shared experiences as things to own. Every piece removed from its original spot changes what the next person finds.

The mother has not indicated whether she plans to stop posting or whether her son will return what he collected.