The fear of our parents doing something that could embarrass us is ongoing, no matter how old we get.
And in this modern age, social media allows our parents to embarrass us not only in front of our friends, but potentially the entire world.
One mother of a college-aged son, Jessica Tapscott, or @jtapscott on TikTok, may have brought embarrassing parenting to a whole new level thanks to a viral video that has now received over 3.7 million views.
@jtapscott say I won’t 😂 I dont remember the black X’s being that big either 😂 #over40mom #boymom #boymomlife #intheclublike #lifegoesfast
With an overlay that read "that one time I showed up to surprise my son in college," the 23-second video began with Prescott dancing at a bar next to her son, who gave an annoyed glare into the camera, before he shook his head and pointed his thumb and Prescott.
The video then cut to Prescott and her son sitting next to one another, the latter initially on his phone before he eventually looked up at the camera thanks to Prescott's urging, and then waved his thumb, index, and middle finger at the camera.
Prescott then stood up and brought the camera with her to show an extravagantly lit, if fairly empty, dance floor behind her.
The video then cut to a shot of Prescott's son among a crowd of young folk, jamming along to music.
Prescott's video received a highly divided reaction from its 3.7 million viewers on TikTok.
Many felt Prescott was exacerbating the stereotypical behavior of "boy moms," a slang term that initially referred to mothers of sons, but has come to mean a mother showing slightly obsessive behavior regarding her son.
Some felt the latter accurately described Prescott in the video.
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Others found humor in the video, believing that Prescott's son was clearly in on the joke.
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Following all the comments, good and bad, Prescott later posted a follow up video:
@jtapscott 🤪🥰💋💅🏼 I knew this one would come in handy one day lol #drafts
Prescott revealed in the video's caption that this video, which features her lip-synching to Moneybagg Yo's "If Pain Was A Person," was initially a draft she had been waiting to use.
She said:
"I knew this would come in handy one day lol."
The fact that the the lyric to the song went "I know you obsessed with me and I get it" made it fairly clear that this video was in response to polarizing previous video of her and her son at the club.
And what's more, she didn't seem to pay any attention to the overall negative response her previous video received.
Further proven by a subsequent video:
TikTok · Jessica Tapscottwww.tiktok.com
The short, three-photo montage features a screenshot of the Daily Mail article with the headline "'Obsessive' mom sparks fierce debate after surprising her son at a college bar," with the hashtag "holyfrknairball" overlaid on the image.
The video also featured a picture of Prescott with her son from the earlier video, as well as her two other sons, enjoying a meal together with the overlay "I told them how much I loved my sons."
The third and final picture in the montage featured a picture of Prescott's three sons with the overlay "they said you're such a good mom."
In sharp contrast to her earlier video, this time Prescott was met with nothing but support from her fellow TikTokers, who all seemed to agree that people needed to mind their own business, and the only thing that mattered was that Prescott loves her sons, and they clearly love her right back:
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It's easy to judge how other people parent—almost as easy as it is for children to be embarrassed by their parents.
As long as there's love and happiness, though, the only opinions that truly matter are the mother's and the son's.