Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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THE STORE — Taking the wrong child home is generally reserved as a television cliche, played for laughs in sitcoms and family movies. "The Parent Trap" also shows us the reverse, where twins pull miraculous hijinks on their parents by switching places.
These cliches, while exaggerated, have an inkling of truth in them. Children are exhausting and even the best of parents are often tired with a capital T. The sleep schedules of children are about as predictable as cryptid sightings or these election results (too soon?), and the threadbare sleep schedules of parents are the only ones who give college students a run for their money.
If that weren't enough, part of the joy of sentient offspring is that they move at startling speeds in every unexpected direction. Leave something expensive too close to the ground? Now it's broken. Taking the kids on a walk? How'd they get so far away?! Oh, of course, they reached the laundry detergent and now the kitchen's drowning in bubbles.
Basically, parents are superheroes; parenting is a full-time job and then some. Keep that in mind when you watch this video. This mom is likely very tired and busy.
If that weren't enough, her kid also looks surprisingly like the other kid she mixed hers up with.
That's right: this mom, wearing a blue hoodie, accidentally picked up the wrong toddler, and was in the middle of checking out at the grocery store with her when another mom pointed out the switcheroo.
The mom in the blue hoodie is then led to the aisle where her actual child is waiting, dressed in a similarly colored coat and hat that the other toddler wearing.
Mom of the Year 🏆🥇😂 pic.twitter.com/INEAivnYxK
— Holy Cow! (@HolyCow_Inc) November 5, 2020
To be honest, this is less bad than the time when I was 3 years old and walked out of the house while my dad was napping. He had to come pick me up — kicking and screaming, of course — from the sidewalk beside the busy road behind our house. Some people saw him put me in the car and called the cops. My mom had to come from work and find my birth certificate and family photos before they gave me back.
I'm so sorry, Dad.
It's the little incredulous, imperfect, hopefully hilarious in retrospect, and human moments like this that come off like genuine parenthood to me. Hopefully, this clip brings you your own eyebrow-raises and incredulous laughter.
Feel free to share your own wild parenthood stories in the comments below.
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