3-year-old girl puts fellow preschooler in headlock after he asked her to marry him

Kynlee McFetridge learned to wrestle after undergoing heart surgery.

March 4, 2019, 2:21 PM

A 3-year-old Missouri girl is showing there is no age minimum when it comes to girl power.

Kynlee McFetridge of St. Charles, Missouri, was caught last month by her preschool teachers putting a fellow student in a headlock.

When asked why she did it, Kynlee matter-of-factly explained it was because the boy, Jack, asked her to marry him.

“I took a headlock down on Jack and took him down,” Kynlee said in a video captured by her mom, Kristen McFetridge. “Because kids don’t get married so that’s why I put a headlock down on him.”

Kynlee’s dad, Scott McFetridge, said he first learned about his daughter’s ultimate wrestling move when he picked her up from school and saw she was on pink -- not good -- on the school’s color-coded behavior chart.

McFetridge said the teacher was laughing as she recounted Kynlee's headlock, and it took all he had in him not to laugh too.

“I was trying to be a good dad and reprimand her, but it was pretty hilarious,” he said. “It was hard for me to stop laughing and put her in timeout but we made it happen.”

PHOTO: Kynlee McFetridge, 3, poses with her parents, Kristen and Scott McFetridge.
Kynlee McFetridge, 3, poses with her parents, Kristen and Scott McFetridge.
Courtesy Scott and Kristen McFetridge

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McFetridge started wrestling with Kynlee when she was younger as a way to help her gain strength and coordination. She was born with a heart condition that required her to have open heart surgery at just 5-months-old.

PHOTO: Kynlee McFetridge, now 3, underwent open-heart surgery as an infant.
Kynlee McFetridge, now 3, underwent open-heart surgery as an infant.
Scott and Kristen McFetridge

It’s not like I taught her [a headlock],” McFetridge said. “I was just trying to get her stronger and coordinated and I guess she figured out what I was doing and I didn’t really realize she learned it.”

McFetridge described his daughter as a “firecracker” who is wise beyond her years. He said Kynlee recognizes that putting a classmate in a headlock was wrong and that she and Jack are still “really good buddies.”

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McFetridge joked that he just hopes Kynlee remembers the headlock move as a teenager.

PHOTO: Kynlee McFetridge, 3, of St. Charles, Missouri, is pictured in this family photo.
Kynlee McFetridge, 3, of St. Charles, Missouri, is pictured in this family photo.
Courtesy Scott and Kristen McFetridge

“Every dad wants their little girl to put a headlock down on a boy, especially one who had a rough start like her,” he said. “Hopefully she can still do that in about 12 years.”