She Left an Abusive Relationship and Now a Single Mom’s Brutally Honest Facebook Post Goes Viral

A single mom shared a brutally honest Facebook post after her kids had a meltdown at the grocery store. After dealing with both the children’s temper tantrums and the judgmental stares of others in the store, Aly Brothers snapped a photo of her frazzled self in the parking lot along with a long missive on parenting.

The post began, “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. 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.”

She went on to describe how her two sons were misbehaving in the store, before dovetailing into the reactions she was getting from other adults in the store.

“The people in line behind me glared. The cashier glared. Everyone’s eyes were on me as if to say ‘can’t you control your own children.’ One older gentleman whispered, ‘she’s pretty young for two kids’ and I lost it,” said Brothers.

Brothers ended the post with a plea for others to try and be understanding of parents in situations such as hers.

“If you see a kid throwing a tantrum, if you see a mom on the verge of tears…please say something nice. Please don’t glare with judgement (sic). 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.”

The young mom’s message has seemingly struck a chord with many, as it’s been liked over 43,000 times and shared over 17,000 times as of this writing. In addition, the article has garnered nearly 5000 comments, nearly all of which expressed support.

For her part, Brothers was taken aback by the attention her post received.

“It’s insane,” she told Today. “I am so blessed and humbled because I’m a nobody — a single mom, two kids, small town in West Virginia, and all of these people all over the world are messaging me with words of encouragement.”

She also went out of her way to clarify that her kids are generally well behaved.

“I had no idea this post would go viral. They’re great kids. They listen well. They have manners. They love their mom. But they have bad days. I still have bad days, and I’m 22, so it’s to be expected.”