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Pint-Size Star of YouTube Cooking Video Stirs Up Sweet Success
Filed under: In The News, Funny Stuff
Zaylee Jean loves to watch other kids perform on YouTube. So it wasn't a stretch when the 3-year-old and her parents talked about making a video of the toddler starring in her own "Yippity Yo Cooking Show."
Now, more than 100,000 viewers have watched the energetic child do battle with a spatula and cookie dough, toss flour, demand milk and call her dad "Old Man" in demonstrating how to bake Grandma Wendy's Chocolate Chip Cookies.
"Zaylee Jean loves to help out when we cook, when we allow her to. We got the idea to make a video," her father tells ParentDish in a phone interview. "We said, 'We'll make a video sometime and you can make your own cooking show.' She got all excited."
(Although the family originally posted the video publicly, they requested their names not be used. "There is too much scary stuff out there and people can identify you too easily," the child's dad says. The video has now been removed from YouTube by the family.)
One weekend in January, 2010, shortly after Zaylee Jean's third birthday, her dad says he bought some chocolate chips and set up the video equipment. Before filming, the girl picked out her dress while her mom fixed her hair.
The main reason the family created the "Yippity Yo Cooking Show," the family tells ParentDish, was to have fun and to be able to easily share the video with friends and family -- without having to deal with capturing e-mail addresses to send out a link.
Watching the hits grow from 100 a day to more than 5,000, the couple suspects the popularity of the "Yippity Yo Cooking Show" is due to the fact that many parents can relate to the rambunctiousness of Zaylee Jean's love for chocolate. Mainly, the feedback has been positive, but there are some naysayers out there.
"People with children seem to get it. But people, especially on YouTube, people are going to make fun of you. Commenting with insults," Zaylee Jean's dad says, noting comments that say "we are exploiting our child and should be arrested for child endangerment. You let the comments roll off your back."
His wife of five years chooses not to read the comments, instead focusing on the fun their "very theatrical" daughter had in making the video.
Keeping in mind the attention span of a 3-year-old, the couple says it took about an hour-and-a-half to videotape Zaylee Jean preparing the cookies. Her father spent 20 hours editing the 10-minute piece together.
"It is a lot of editing," Zaylee Jean's mom says.
Zaylee Jean shows her personality in the video, singing her own made-up song, however, her father says she also repeated some of what her parents told her to say. For example, Zaylee Jean mentions Rachael Ray while preparing the batter.
"I don't know if she's really seen Rachael Ray -- maybe Gordon Ramsay," he says with a laugh. "Zaylee Jean's so good at repeating and parroting, but I don't think she has any idea who Rachael Ray is."
Zaylee Jean's parents say she enjoys cooking and during the interview the 3-year-old could be heard "cooking in her Fisher-Price kitchen." But while Zaylee Jean really does enjoy to "cook," her vocabulary is a little different in reality than what you hear in the video.
"We gave her permission to say 'Shut up, old man!' " her dad says, adding that Zaylee Jean has managed to slip that phrase into a couple conversations since the filming.
Zaylee Jean's father says making a video is a "great way" for parents to bond with their children and have fun with their kids, and it's something most parents can do, even if they want to keep it private.
"Kids love that creativity," he says. "I know I did when I was a kid."
Zaylee Jean's family has taped a second video and would like to keep the fun going to not disappoint friends, family and new YouTube fans.
However, fans of Grandma Wendy's recipes and Zaylee Jean's choco-love may be disappointed: Her next video involves birds.
Related: Opinion: 'Scarface School Play' Video Not a Big Effing Deal
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 21)
4-19-2010 @ 8:23AM
Gee-Gee said...What a horrible, awful child. Her language shows what kind of class (or lack thereof) her parents have. Her awful behavior merely demonstrates what is wrong with so many people. If respect for others is not instilled in a person by this age the person grows up disrespecting others and either expecting special treatment or having a sense of entitlement. Too bad their friends and family won't be honest with them and tell them how awful this makes not only the little girl look but also how trashy it makes them seem.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:24AM
Grandma said...Her parents REALLY need some parenting skills. She eats raw cookie dough - no sensible parent allows that. The rudeness which "appears" cute at age three will come back to bite the parents at a later age. She needs basic lessons also about keeping her hands out of the dough, because you can bet they are not clean. And at some point she even spit into the mixture - totally disgusting. Who would want to eat at their house?
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4-19-2010 @ 10:53AM
LOLFLA said...HAHAHAHAAA!!! THAT WAS ADORABLE!!!! LOVED IT!! C'mon people, where's your sense of humor??? That's what's wrong with this society anymore....um, HELLOOOO she's a THREE year old baking cookies for goodness sake...get a grip! With all the sex, and violence in the media, this was a breath of fresh air. THANK YOU for the laughs!!!
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4-19-2010 @ 8:26AM
shirley said...I started out wanting to like this little girl, but ended up wanting to give her time out. She needed that smart alec little mouth of hers washed out with soap. unfortunately this is how kids seem to relate anymor.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:30AM
Karen said...Zaylee Jean is very cute and this was a great ideal, but if she showed manners she would be even more of a cutie and the ideal would be better! It's funny now but her lack of manners will not be funny when she is older!
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4-19-2010 @ 8:42AM
keylab said...Thought the video was cute until she told her dad to shut up. I hopw that part was scripted. But if not, It might be cute at 3, but wait until she says that in public....crazy what parents think is acceptable.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:30AM
Janet Warner said...What is the matter with you people? It was a SPOOF that her PARENTS set up..including the "old man" phrase....
I think it was darling and so was she!
Read the dang article....this was hours of editing and it was fun for the whole family!
She was charming and I bet her folks had fun too!
GADS....People need to get over themselves.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:31AM
Kelly said...That kid is a BRAT....ewwwww what a monster
good luck with her in 10 years....yuk
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4-19-2010 @ 8:34AM
Becki said...Retarded...no. Typical 3 year old out of control little brat type that makes me me leave stores and restaraunts, yes. Bad parenting skills very apparent. Typical internet stupidity, yes. I would rather watch jerk who got carried away about bad press about Brittiant Spears.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:38AM
SUSIE H. said...Did any of you nit-twits try out the recipe?
Was it any good?
These questions only apply if you were able to find your way from the couch to the kitchen.
The danged kid is 3-4 years old.
What did you nit-twits expect, Martha Stewart?
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4-19-2010 @ 8:44AM
ladiwolf said...the video has great ideas....what was scarey were the words coming from her mouth at times. It's a reflection on how the parents talk. Send the next video out when she's a teen and see if the parents think it's funny then.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:51AM
Celeste said...For God's sake, shes THREE YEARS OLD. Lighten up people with your negative comments.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:52AM
elizabeth said...I can't believe people find this entertaining. This little girl is very rude and I can not believe she talks like that!
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4-19-2010 @ 8:51AM
xcrazylilma24x said...Everyone on here is acting ridiculous. Yes, this may not be how you want your child to act, but they obviously find it cute in their family. Everyone raises their child differently...and for all of you who are saying she is rude and not well mannered...HELLO! They are telling her what to say! I highly doubt she knew to say half of that on her own. She is very cute; bottom line: Leave her alone. If you hate it so much, don't watch it! Go stare at your own kids. This was meant for their family; it is obviously entertaining or else there wouldn't have been so many YouTube "hits".
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4-19-2010 @ 1:28PM
Linda said...I have a granddaughter that just turned two. I chuckled and laughed out loud at this video. I thought it was hilarious. Having been a mother of 3 and now a grandparent (best thing in the world) I think grandparents can have more fun with something like this. Parents are too uptight and it's too bad it has to be that way.
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4-19-2010 @ 8:59AM
Sandi said...How old are you people??? Calling a little girl names? Grow up and before you click add your comment, make sure all your spelling is right.
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4-19-2010 @ 9:05AM
aerobicM said...You people who don't like this need to get a life, this was very cute and it looked like she was having a blast!
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4-19-2010 @ 9:26AM
sam said...I find it so horrible by some of your comments calling a little 3 year old retarded!!!! It wouldn't matter if she's 30 you just don't call people that!!! Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourselves for doing that!! I found it to be very cute & if you read the "DAD's" comment he even states he told her some of the things to say.. Kids are the greatest joy & gift "GOD" can give to a family & people like you idiots evendently don't understand that!! So get a life!!!
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4-19-2010 @ 9:08AM
Dub said...I think all of you who called the little kid names like tard and brat need to actually read the article. first off its just wrong to call a little kid a tard, and second her rude brattyness was scripted, and if you actually read the article you'd know that. I think its cute, and she and her parents had fun making the video, thats all that matters. And to all the people that call little kids names like tard, You people are just jealous and a bunch of a**holes.
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4-20-2010 @ 11:07PM
DeBi said...First of all this child is definitely not retarded, and for all the people who said it, "shame on you". At the beginning I thought it was cute, but as it went on, I as a parent would have been embarassed if a child of mine talked like she did to her father. Yes, out of the mouth of babes, we as parents have heard our children say some not so funny things that they have heard from tv or another source, but don't instigate it by posting it publically. I agree what the parents think is cute an adorable now will come around in later years and bite them in the rear.