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Parents applaud a 'hot mess mom' for accurately documenting the chaos of parenting

Every parent has been there.

Contrasting images of a sparkling clean white kitchen and a messy kitchen with dirty dishes
Simona Sergi/Unsplash and Moms Who Shop/Facebook

Every parent has been there.

The sink is overflowing with dishes. Legos cover the entire floor, piercing your foot every time you take a step. And you suddenly realize that you've made the kids chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese five nights in a row.

Every parent has moments where it all seems to be spinning out of control.

Mom and blogger Danielle Silverstein recently made an "admission" on Facebook: "I really AM a hot-mess mom."

The post, on her page called Moms Who Shop, detailed a seemingly never-ending list of the ways in which her household is in utter shambles, along with an all-too-real photo of her kitchen sink overflowing with dirty dishes.

a kitchen sink full of dirty dishesDanielle posted this unposed, unedited photo of her kitchen to prove a powerful point.Moms Who Shop/Facebook

"Never once have I thought to myself, 'OMG, I think I’m actually tackling this whole parenthood thing,'" she wrote.

She continued:

"I am that mom who doesn’t do dishes at night before I go to bed. I do dishes when I get around to doing dishes.

I’m that mom who grabs her kids’ clothes out of the dryer in the morning because nothing is folded and put away.

I’m that mom who forgets to send in forms and gets calls reminding me that, yes, I need to send in those forms.

I’m that mom who forgets to RSVP and gets a last minute text asking if my kid is coming to the party.

I’m that mom who packs a crazy, one-food-group lunch because I haven’t gotten around to going food shopping.

I’m that mom who lets her kids have endless screen time sometimes (ok, more than sometimes) just because I don’t feel like fighting and need to get a few things done."

Near the end of the now super-viral post, Silverstein reaches an important realization.

"Do I think I’m a good mom? Yeah, I really do. But I don’t have it all together by any stretch of the imagination," she writes. "And that’s ok, I’m realizing."

Because, despite the overflowing sink and the overdue paperwork, raising happy, healthy kids is what it's really all about:

"I’m also that mom whose kids are safe.

I’m also that mom whose kids are, for the most part, happy.

I’m also that mom whose home has lots of love and laughter.

I’m also that mom who cheers on her kids and is their biggest fan.

I’m also that mom who is constantly working to show her kids they are accepted no matter what.

I’m also that mom who takes her kids to do cool stuff and have great experiences.

I’m also that mom who loves being a mom."

The post has racked up thousands of shares and comments from other parents who want to say, "YES! THANK YOU!"

The truth is that it's never been harder to be a parent. All the usual stuff is still there — the dirty diapers, the tantrums, the picky eaters — but in the age of social media, when every other parent seems to be totally nailing it, the pressure to be "perfect" has never been higher.

It even bleeds over into real life, where we frantically try to make our life appear more presentable before company comes over — a phenomenon which itself has spawned tons of hilarious memes.

Silverstein says enough is enough.

"We don’t deserve to feel down on ourselves," she writes in a Facebook message. "We deserve to feel celebrated. Our job is damn hard."

(That's not an excuse to not try, never feed your kids a single vegetable, or let them get away with whatever they want! But if you have some off-days, you're forgiven.)

We need less carefully filtered Instagrams and more brutal honesty. Silverstein's post was a much-needed rallying cry for moms she calls "hot messes," but in reality are just overworked and under-appreciated.

So let's all raise a glass (or a haphazardly washed sippy cup) to all the parents out there barely holding it together. This one's for you.

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Modern Families

Fed up parents explain why they 'never want to bring the kids over' to visit

Can't you guys come to us for once?

Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash

It's a good news/bad news situation for parents of young kids. The good news? Everyone wants to spend time with the kids! Grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends. They all want a relationship and lots of special moments with the little ones.

The bad news? One phrase: "When are you bringing them over?" Parents have been frustrated by the expectations of orchestrating stressful visits for generations — loading the kids in a car or on an airplane only to spend hours chasing them around in an un-baby-proofed environment and watching routines go to hell.

Now they're sounding off on social media and airing their grievances.

Why visiting grandparents and other relatives is so challenging for parents

A mom recently took to Reddit to vent about everyone in her life wanting her to "bring the kids to them."

"My parents live 30 mins away and always bug me about not coming to visit them," she writes. They constantly ask, "Why don't you bring our granddaughter to come see us?"

The fascinating discussion highlights a few things that make arranging visits with young kids a potential nightmare for parents.

Grandparents' houses are rarely childproofed

Grandparents love their breakable decor! Ceramic doo-dads, glass vases everywhere. They can't get enough. And while they should be able to decorate their house however they see fit (they've earned the right!) that doesn't make it a good environment for toddlers and babies.

Ceramic bowlsThe breakable decor found in every grandparents' houseozalee.fr/Flickr

"Last week was the last straw, I took my daughter to my parents and of course she went EVERYWHERE! flooded their toilet, broke a vase, and tried multiple times to climb their furniture," the Reddit mom writes.

Parents in a foreign environment are on constant safety duty and can rarely sit down

Let's be honest. Sometimes these "visits" are hardly worth the effort. After all, it's hard to get much catch up time when you're dutifully chasing your kid around.

"They don’t understand that my 3 yo ... is absolutely wild," writes another user in the thread. "She has no self preservation and nothing we do works. She doesn’t listen, she throws, she bites, she refuses to use the potty. It’s exhausting and then ... they expect us to entertain them, when I’m trying to just keep my kid from jumping off the stairs and into an ER visit."

Even just putting the kids in the car for a 20-minute drive is more work than it seems

Taking the kids out of the house requires packing a bag, bringing extra clothes, loading up on snacks, etc.

It seems easy to "pop over" but it actually absorbs the majority of the day between prep, visit, and aftermath.

Naps and routines go to hell

Parents with babies and toddlers know all too well — there is a price to pay for taking the kids out of the house for too long.

Chances are, the baby won't nap in a strange environment and then you're stuck with a cranky kid the rest of the night.

Kids with special needs require even more consistency

Kids with autism or ADHD can really struggle outside of their zone of safety. They might become severely dysregulated, have meltdowns, or engage in dangerous behaviors.

Explaining and mediating the generational divide

man in gray sweater sitting beside woman in black and white floral long sleeve shirt Photo by Tim Kilby on Unsplash

Why is this a conflict almost all parents can relate to?

Is this a Boomer vs Millennials thing?

Some experts think that generational values and traditions might play a role.

"Many Boomers were accustomed to more traditional, hierarchical family dynamics, where visiting grandparents was a way for the younger generation to show respect," says Caitlin Slavens, a family psychologist.

But that's not to say this is a new problem. I can remember my own parents driving me and my brothers over an hour to visit my grandparents seemingly every other weekend, but very few occasions where they came to visit us. It must have driven my parents nuts back then!

Plus, it's easy to forget that it's hard for older people to travel, too. They may have their own issues and discomforts when it comes to being away from their home.

"But for today’s parents, balancing careers, kids’ routines, and the demands of modern parenting is a much bigger undertaking. Grandparents might not always see how childproofing their space or making the trip themselves could make a huge difference, especially considering how travel and disruption can impact younger kids' moods and routines," Slavens says.

"So yes, this divide often comes down to different expectations and life experiences, with older generations potentially not seeing the daily demands modern families face."

Is there any hope for parents and grandparents coming to a better understanding, or a compromise?

"First, open conversations help bridge the divide—explain how much of a difference it makes when the kids stay in a familiar space, especially when they’re very young," suggests Slavens.

"Share practical details about the challenges, like childproofing concerns or travel expenses, to help grandparents see it from a parent’s perspective. You might even work together to figure out solutions, like making adjustments to create a more child-friendly space in their home or agreeing on a shared travel plan."

Ultimately, it's a good thing when grandparents, friends, and other relatives want to see the kids.

We all have the same goal.

"It’s helpful to approach the topic with empathy, focusing on everyone’s goal: more quality time together that’s enjoyable and low-stress for everyone involved. For parents, it’s about setting boundaries that work, and for grandparents, it’s about recognizing that flexibility can really show the parents that you are ... willing to make adjustments for their children and grandchildren."

Enjoyable, low-stress quality time — that's something everyone can get behind.

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Humor

Robin Williams doing his thing in a phone commercial from the 1970s is peak nostalgia

A blast from the past in so many ways.

@petermorely_sle/Youtube

Williams was great at everything he did.

Sure, we all know and love the late, great Robin Willams for his work in movies, television shows, Saturday Night Live, and standup. But let’s not forget he also has a slew of commercials under his belt as well. Because honestly, what medium wouldn’t benefit without his signature charm and humor?

Even the biggest Robin Williams fans might be surprised to find this recently unearthed commercial he did for the Illinois Bell phone company (later known as AT&T) back in the 1970s.

In the clip, where Williams unsurprisingly plays a mischievous husband making voices while his wife shops around for the perfect landline phone, we see a delightful foreshadowing of his alien character Mork from the sitcom Mork & Mindy—it certainly helps that the woman playing his wife resembles Pam Dawber, who played Mindy in the show. And the fact that he says "people of Earth” with that perfect alien voice.

Watch:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Of course, it wasn’t just nostalgia for Williams that people felt while watching this video, but also wistfulness for a bygone era…a simpler time when something like a landline was even a thing. Here’s a small smattering of comments from Youtube:

“You bought a phone and it sat on a desk or hung on the wall for decades and did its job, no updates, no 'starting it up', it was always on and always worked.”

“Miss the days when you could slam the phone.”

“The most surprising thing is that they repaired the broken phones rather than simply throwing them out and giving you a new one.”

“Oh, the times when we could make ourselves unavailable.”

“I remember having to go to the phone company. All the different color phones on display.”

“Our yellow kitchen wall phone had a cord like 12 ft long. It got knotted and tangled once and just stayed that way forever.”

“I remember being so excited about the new "pushbuttons" instead of the rotary dial.”

And last but not least, “I want to live in this time period.”

While we have two things to miss because of this video, it also, as one view put it, gave us “something to smile about.” And that’s never a bad thing.

By the way, thanks to the internet we have a few more archived Robin William commercials at our disposal, arguably more chaotic than the one for Illinois Bell.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Especially this rather notorious one, in which Williams drives director Howard Storm insane with his shotgun style improv skills.


Williams’ comedic genius continues to be something we marvel at, and its inexplicable blend of zaniness, tragedy, and existentialism will always be a mystery we can never fully solve. That’s part of what made it so magical, and why we can watch even one of his most seemingly insignificant works, and still be mesmerized. He was one of the greats, no doubt about it.

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Health

Motivation expert explains how two simple words can free you from taking things personally

You don't need to take responsibility for everything and everyone.

via TEDx SF/Flickr and TEDx SF/Flickr

Mel Robinson making a TED Talk.

Towards the end of The Beatles’ illustrious but brief career, Paul McCartney wrote “Let it Be,” a song about finding peace by letting events take their natural course. It was a sentiment that seemed to mirror the feeling of resignation the band had with its imminent demise.

The bittersweet song has had an appeal that has lasted generations and that may be because it reflects an essential psychological concept: the locus of control. “It’s about understanding where our influence ends and accepting that some things are beyond our control,” Jennifer Chappell Marsh, a marriage and family therapist, told The Huffington Post. “We can’t control others, so instead, we should focus on our own actions and responses.”

This idea of giving up control, or the illusion of it, when it does us no good, was perfectly distilled into 2 words that everyone can understand as the “Let Them” theory. Podcast host, author, motivational speaker and former lawyer Mel Robbins explained this theory perfectly in a vial Instagram video.

“I just heard about this thing called the ‘Let Them Theory,’ I freaking love this,” Robbins starts the video.

“If your friends are not inviting you out to brunch this weekend, let them. If the person that you're really attracted to is not interested in a commitment, let them. If your kids do not want to get up and go to that thing with you this week, let them.” Robbins says in the clip. “So much time and energy is wasted on forcing other people to match our expectations.”

“If they’re not showing up how you want them to show up, do not try to force them to change; let them be themselves because they are revealing who they are to you. Just let them – and then you get to choose what you do next,” she continued.

The phrase is a great one to keep in your mental health tool kit because it’s a reminder that, for the most part, we can’t control other people. And if we can, is it worth wasting the emotional energy? Especially when we can allow people to behave as they wish and then we can react to them however we choose.

@melrobbins

Stop wasting energy on trying to get other people to meet YOUR expectations. Instead, try using the “Let Them Theory.” 💥 Listen now on the #melrobbinspodcast!! “The “Let Them Theory”: A Life Changing Mindset Hack That 15 Million People Can’t Stop Talking About” 🔗 in bio #melrobbins #letthemtheory #letgo #lettinggo #podcast #podcastepisode

How you respond to their behavior can significantly impact how they treat you in the future.

It’s also incredibly freeing to relieve yourself of the responsibility of changing people or feeling responsible for their actions. As the old Polish proverb goes, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

“Yes! It’s much like a concept propelled by the book ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k.’ Save your energy and set your boundaries accordingly. It’s realizing that we only have “control” over ourselves and it’s so freeing,” 60DaysToLive2012 wrote.

“Let It Be” brought Paul McCartney solace as he dealt with losing his band in a very public breakup. The same state of mind can help all of us, whether it’s dealing with parents living in the past, friends who change and you don’t feel like you know them anymore, or someone who cuts you off in traffic because they’re in a huge rush to go who knows where.

The moment someone gets on your nerves and you feel a jolt of anxiety run up your back, take a big breath and say, “Let them.”


This article originally appeared last year.

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Man notices a single mom's fence falling down so he stopped to build her a new one for free

"Plus I'm sure if they could afford to get it done, it would've been did by now."

Photo credit: Canva

Man sees neighbor's fence falling down so he builds a new one

It's not unheard of for people to do nice things for their neighbors. Borrowing a bag of rice to finish dinner or collecting the neighbor's mail while they're on vacation. All of these scenarios are within the realm of normalcy of kind neighborly interactions and while some neighbors may even come over to assist with a weekend project, most don't take on huge projects without prompting.

A man that goes by the name Uncle Jhon has made it his mission to go above and beyond for his neighbors. That's why when he was driving through his neighborhood and noticed a neighbor's fence laying on the ground, he decided to get out of his truck and help. But not just help, no. Jhon took the entire fence down, cut it up and built a new one that wouldn't require replacing for many years to come.

"So today I was riding down the street and that's when I noticed my neighbor's fence laying on the ground, so I decided to replace it completely for free. Just because I' retired y'all and I ain't got nothing better to do. Plus I'm sure if they could afford to get it done, it would've been did by now," the friendly neighbor says in the video he uploaded to social media.

Farm Life Building GIF by WIESEMANN 1893Giphy

Jhon quickly clarifies, "Now I didn't just jump out of my truck with a saw and start cutting these people's fence up. I actually knocked on their door to see if this was something they actually wanted me to do and they was more than excited to tell me yeah when I told them I was going to do it for free."

The woman that owns the home is a single mom who lives with her own mother who was recently involved in a car accident that left the car totaled. While the family are having a small rough patch, they have been attempting to get the fence replaced for several years but the cost is too much. The removal and installation of a new six foot privacy fence can run anywhere from $4,000 to well over $10,000 depending on the size of the yard, type of gates, and style of privacy fence being installed.

Guy Tearing Down Fence Takes A Tumble GIF by ViralHogGiphy

Jhon explains that the family had been quoted over $6,000 by multiple contractors in order to the fence replaced, "and we all know with the state the world in right now, $6,000? You might as well say that's a million dollars."

It took the man just under three hours to complete the new fence and cost him a total of $2,173.89. He explains that he has big plans for his neighborhood by doing his part to make it look more desirable. Jhon uses the money he makes off of TikTok to purchase materials for the free projects he does. The handy neighbor also has a website that has free blueprints of DIY projects like raised garden beds, sheds, mailboxes and more.


@unclejhonn Level 2025: Rebuilding the Community… #unclejhonn #diy #diyfence ♬ original sound - Uncle Jhonn

People can't stop praising the man's action and dedication to his neighborhood with one person writing, "This is what we need more of neighbors helping neighbors!

"That fence looks amazing!!! You can tell that you didn’t take shortcuts either. Built it like it was for yourself!!! Good on ya," another writes.

"As a single mom thank you I know that family are so grateful and appreciate you," someone else shares.

"You are such a good human. My mom was a single parent for many years and an older gentleman rebuilt our front and back porch because he was worried my Nana would get hurt. My mom was so grateful," one person reminisces.

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Pop Culture

Woman relieved to find her lost dog was rescued by none other than Hilary Swank

Thanks for saving my doggo. Can I get an autograph?!

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Hilary Swank is a bona fide dog magnet.

It’s already great news when a lost pup finds its way back home. But it’s even better when the story involves a movie star.

When her beloved dachshund named Blue disappeared, Chelsea Blackwell did what any distraught dog mom would do—she immediately went searching for him. She desperately drove through the streets of New York for an hour before seeing a line of squad cars and people with cameras near the Greyhound bus station in Albany.

Blackwell had prepared for even more bad news. “I pulled over and thought, oh man, did someone get shot?” she told local publication Times Union Albany.

As she would soon find out, Blackwell had just made it one huge step closer to finding Blue, along with a celebrity surprise.

Blackwell had actually stumbled onto a filming location rather than a crime scene. Resuming her search, she began to ask the film crew if anyone had seen a small brown dog. To her shock, the answer was yes, someone had found a small brown dog. Not just anyone, in fact, but a household name.

Blackwell was in disbelief until about an hour later when a car pulled up and she saw Blue sitting in the lap of none other than Hilary Swank.

Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering Swank has a reputation for being a dog lover and hero. In her 2021 interview with People Magazine, Swank shared how "every dog I’ve ever rescued and also shared my life with have all had their unique way of being in the world.”

The two-time Oscar winner even created her own foundation called Hilaroo (named after own rescued pup named Karoo), which pairs abandoned animals with at-risk youth. Perhaps little Blue was just in the right place at the right time…or maybe Swank has transformed into a dog magnet. Who knows?

Either way, it was a truly happy ending. Relieved, and a little star struck, Blackwell asked Swank for an autograph. Instead, the actress offered a picture together because who wouldn’t want to capture this once-in-a-lifetime moment?

So happy that Blue is back home, and that he has his own celebrity sighting story.


This article originally appeared three years ago.

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