A young mother’s teary selfie accompanied by candid remarks about parenthood has gone viral.
Allison Brothers, 22, posted an image of herself with tears welled up in her eyes on Facebook. The tears were an accumulation of the day’s events following a shopping trip to the grocery store with her two young sons.
“This is motherhood. No fancy filters, no good lighting, no new lipstick. It’s messy hair that’s wet from the rain, yesterday’s makeup that I was too tired to wash off, and tears,” Brothers began in her lengthy post.
“Motherhood is HARD. Single-motherhood is HARD. These tears started as the cashier of Giant Eagle handed me my receipt and continued for the entire drive home.”
In need of milk, Brothers gathered her toddlers and headed to a local grocery store at 8 a.m. on Aug. 21. The outing took a turn for the worse when 1-year-old Levi began to have a temper tantrum in the store and 3-year-old Bentley knocked over shelves and bumped into strangers. The childrens’ behavior drew the unwanted attention of shoppers.
“Everyone’s eyes were on me as if to say ‘Can’t you control your own children,’” she continued. “The glares and whispers and judgments are hard. Sometimes I can control my children and sometimes I can’t. Sometimes they listen and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes I can handle it and sometimes I break down.”
It was a comment about her age by a fellow shopper that led to her emotional breakdown. The West Virginia native said the judgement from strangers was particularly hard on her, given that they don’t know anything about her. All they see is a young mother, but there are more layers to her than meet the eye. She is a divorcee who escaped an abusive marriage to give her children a better life.
Brothers concluded her post with a challenge to others to “say something nice” rather than offer judgmental looks.
“And to all moms out there having a day like mine...I see you, I know you, I love you. You are strong and you are doing just fine,” she wrote.
In an interview with ABC News, Brothers said her intention with the post was to foster a sense of community among parents.
“I posted it to let parents know that they’re not alone,” she said. “Parenting is an everyday struggle and battle, and we all go through the same things...so be kind to each other.”
The post has been shared more than 15,000 times.
