Mum's horror: 'I Facebooked about swiping a spider off my daughter’s chest - now I've been reported for child abuse'

A mum-of-two is devastated after fellow mums reported her to child protection services after she wrote about 'punching' her toddler to get rid of a spider on her chest.

Megan Garcia, 32, took her daughters Haylee, 11, and 18-month-old Riley to have their photos taken by a friend in a field close to their home. As the photos were being taken, Megan spotted a rogue spider on her daughter's chest. 

Megan wrote in her original post: "I ran to my poor precious child god saw fit to bless me with and PUNCH HER RIGHT IN THE CHEST where that many-legged demon was now sunbathing and sipping a mojito."

After swotting the spider away, Megan grabbed her daughter underneath the armpits and dragged her to safety a few metres away.

The mum - who claims she has always had an "intense fear of spiders" and can't even watch them on TV without breaking into a sweat - added: "It was very dramatic but we burst out laughing afterwards. The baby didn't cry for a second."

But other mums who read her Facebook post, were horrified that she had admitted to PUNCHING her daughter.

The post got more than 93,000 shares in less than a week, even though Megan ended her post by saying, "Yes I punched my child but I did it out of love. She's ok. I don't make that sort of thing a habit and I didn't hit her hard. It was mostly a subconscious effort to battle my ridiculous fear of spiders and saving my child from being eaten whole."

But despite what Megan thought was the comedy tone to her post, she has been reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) THREE times as a result.

Megan revealed to Fabulous: "We had them come to the house - I  figured it would happen about 60,000 shares. There was nothing I could do.

"I couldn't just delete it and it be gone. Also, I didn't have anything to hide - I don't hurt my children."

Inspectors told Megan that they "thought the claim was a little ridiculous" and cleared her after conducting interviews with her husband and children.

But Megan believes that the mums who reported her believed they were doing the right thing, even though the backlash has been harsh.  "I get it. I get that they maybe think they're doing the right thing.

"But if anything, it's given me the chance to prove that I'm a good mom. I don't have anything to hide, I can't say that I would have done anything different."

What's more, Megan's daughter Riley was far from hurt or upset by the whole incident.

Although Megan was prepared for some backlash when her post first started attracting attention, she never expected it to result in a potential child abuse case, saying, "I did expect some of it, I didn't think it would go this far..."