A TikToker drew a wave of sympathy about the struggles of motherhood after saying she forgot to pack her own clothes on a family vacation
Amanda Alayna via TikTok
- A TikTok mom said she forgot to take her own clothes with her to shower on vacation.
- She said her kids all had things to change into, but she had to walk back to the car in her towel.
- TikTokers sympathized with the reality of putting your kids' needs before your own as a mother.
People are rushing to support a mom who said she forgot to finish packing her clothes for a family vacation in a viral TikTok, sympathizing with the difficulties of life as a mother.
On March 1, Amanda Ayala, who is based in Wisconsin, posted a video in which she was walking out of a shower room wrapped in a towel and walked outside heading towards her family truck, where her husband, Efrain, was waiting for her, holding a camera up to her face.
"Why does everybody else have clothes on and you're still in your towel?" Efrain could be heard asking Ayala as he filmed her opening the car door.
Ayala, 43, responded: "Because I'm the mom, and I get everybody else's shit together and not my own, so I come to the shower house with nothing, so here I am."
Efrain then appeared to try and joke with her, saying, "I had a super peaceful shower, it was nice."
Sighing, Ayala replied, "Take me home," at which point the clip ended.
An on-screen caption read, "Moms always suffer," while a caption under the post read, "I hope they appreciate all I do."
The video went viral, receiving 4.3 million views.
In an interview with TODAY.com, Ayala said that the video was filmed while her family was on a trip to Kansas, and that after the entire family went to use the public showers at a state park, she realized that she had packed pajamas for her daughters to change into, but none for herself, meaning she had to walk back to the truck in a towel.
Many commenters sympathized with Ayala and the experience of having to put your children's needs before your own, with several people saying that they believe mothers are especially likely to sacrifice themselves in this way.
"Family vacations are never really vacations for moms," wrote one commenter, while another wrote, "All mamas feel this."
Some commenters expressed anger towards Ayala's husband for appearing to mock her in the video, saying they thought it showed he did not appreciate her. Some went on to say that such behavior might provoke a woman to want to leave her marriage.
"Men. Don't do this. Just don't. It's incredibly hurtful to know that we care for everyone else and no one thinks of us. I feel for this mama," one user wrote.
Ayala told TODAY.com that she disagreed with commenters who suggested that his behavior was "insensitive," saying that he does his fair share of work around the house and that he merely filmed the situation because he thought it was "hilarious."
She told the outlet that the video showed how much energy she thinks moms tend to put into going away on vacation. "The effort it takes a mom to pull a trip like that off — that's a lot of work," she said.
On TikTok, videos complaining about children and the inconveniences they can cause tend to go viral, as many users on the app express opposition to the idea of having kids, but elsewhere on the app, mom influencers remain incredibly popular as they share videos and advice about the reality of being a parent.
Ayala did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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