Lauren Bushnell’s son, Dutton, is only 8 months old, but the Bachelor alum already has strong opinions about him wearing a face mask at school in the future.
“Young children cannot learn with a mask on period point blank,” the former reality star, 32, wrote on her Tuesday, February 15, Instagram slideshow. “This is cruel. I am thankful we are able to travel for now to see family because Dutton is not 2 and in my heart I know for a fact he would never keep a mask on at the young age of 2.”
The former flight attendant, who shares her little one with husband Chris Lane, claimed that she is “not anti-mask,” going on to write, “Will forever fight for this baby and his right to learn. I have the ability to homeschool him or send him to private school if I have to. Not everyone has this ability to do for their children. It’s not fair and cruel to an entire generation.”
The Bachelor Nation member added that she doesn’t “judge” other parents who choose to mask their children, concluding, “Mom knows best and not every child is the same!”
When one of the Oregon native’s Instagram followers bashed Bushnell’s “disgusting” take and told her to “shut [her] mouth,” the former ABC personality reposted the direct message. “This. Is. Scary,” she captioned the screenshot.
The Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? alum went on to post a photo of herself hanging in the pool with Dutton and Lane, 37, zooming in on her expression. “Me when someone tells me how I should raise my children,” she captioned the social media upload.
The Nashville resident isn’t the only celebrity parent to make headlines for their opinions on kids wearing masks at schools amid the coronavirus pandemic. Carrie Underwood, for example, “liked” a tweet in August 2021 bashing students “go[ing] to school all day every day wearing muzzles like rabid dogs.”
Other stars, however, have praised their little ones for sporting face coverings, from Milla Jovovich to Jana Kramer.
“The girls and I love [our masks] so much,” the Resident Evil star, 46, wrote via Instagram in June 2020. “It’s so great to get back to normal life in baby steps and wearing our masks is No. 1 to staying safe and keeping others safe as well.”
That same month, the One Tree Hill alum, 38, posted a photo with daughter Jolie, 6, and son Jace, 3, masked, writing, “It’s so important to be safe and wear our masks. You can cover your mouth, not your personality! I’ll be taking notes from my daughter Jolie who has mastered her #smize and thinks she’s a ninja.”