5-year-old 'mutes' talkative mom by taking off his hearing device — and we all felt that

Sometimes, the best way to deal with overwhelming noise is to turn it off. One little boy took that idea literally—and the internet can’t get enough of it. Cooper, a 5-year-old born profoundly deaf, removed his cochlear implants to take a break from listening to his mom, and his blunt reasoning has everyone in stitches. Beth Leipholtz, a Minnesota-based photographer and content creator, shared the hilarious moment on TikTok via her account @beth_and_coop. Leipholtz frequently shares glimpses into life-raising Cooper, who was diagnosed with Waardenburg syndrome, a rare genetic condition that often causes hearing loss, according to Buzzfeed. 

Leipholtz captioned the video, "Welp. It’s been a long time since Coop simply *muted* me." Leipholtz had originally been recording for a different reason, chatting with Cooper as he played, when he suddenly reached up and pulled off his cochlear implants, instantly cutting off the conversation. Leipholtz switched to signing and asked, "What?! Why?" Cooper replied, "BREAK! I need a break." Amused, Leipholtz asked him, "Why did you need a break?!" Cooper reconnected his cochlear implants and said, "Because I want a break." Leipholtz laughed, asking, "From me?" Cooper clarified, "Talking."

Beth then jokingly asked him, "What if I want a break from you talking? I don’t have a cool superpower like you." Cooper immediately responded, "That means you have to order them," referring to cochlear implants. Leipholtz, referring to the part the magnet sticks to, asked, "Who's gonna put that in my head?" Cooper said, "My audiologist!" When Leipholtz pointed out that she wasn't deaf, Cooper hilariously said, "The other doctors that aren't audiologists would have to make you deaf." People couldn’t get enough of Cooper’s no-nonsense approach to the conversation, flooding the video with reactions, with many saying they wished they had the same ability.

@thecopacabana04 said, "Okay, but needing a break from talking and hearing is so real." @oktinola wrote, "The way he said 'BREAK! I need a BREAK'… I feel you, kid, I feel you." @doctorelly added, "As an audiologist, my heart melted extra seeing this." @abbiebishop97 shared, "My toddler takes her glasses off when she’s annoyed with me. 'I don’t want to see you!' Is what she tells me, lol." @danni__elyse commented, "As a deaf person with Cochlear Implant, I relate to Cooper! I need breaks, too!"

Leipholtz told Buzzfeed that since Cooper's diagnosis, she and her husband have prioritized letting him make choices about his hearing. 

She explained, "When he was younger, it was a way for him to self-regulate and calm down. There would be times he would be having a meltdown, then take his implants off and immediately be more at peace." Now, at age five, he does it much less often. "But the important thing is that he KNOWS that he can and has every right to do so," Leipholtz explained. At home, Cooper primarily communicates verbally, but ASL remains an important part of his life. Both Leipholtz and her husband learned to sign after his diagnosis, ensuring that Cooper would always have multiple ways to express himself. She said, "We have tools in place in his preschool classroom for that exact reason. The beauty of it is that he gets to decide."

You can follow Beth Leipholtz (@beth_and_coop) on TikTok for more content with Cooper.