Anyone who's had to deal with putting a toddler to sleep knows the struggle that comes with the job.
Something about bedtime—especially when you can tell they're tired—just makes kids want to do everything in their power to stay awake.
The FOMO is REAL for toddlers.
Comedian Shaun Johnson encapsulates this exact frustration parents have with a new sketch on his Instagram account.
It's eerily accurate.
The video depicts Johnson as both toddler and exasperated mother at bedtime. The inquisitive "child" continuously tries to find ways to delay bedtime.
It begins with the mother asking a very familiar question and receiving a very familiar response.
"Why are you out of bed?"
"I can't sleep!"
What follows are excuses and questions, relatable to any parent.
"I'm just getting this! I left this down here."
"I was scared, but then I wasn't very scared, but then I got scared again."
"I was in bed but one of my socks was itching so I came to tell you that one of my socks was itching."
The parade of responses to being told to go to bed is not just hilarious, but uncanny in how accurate it is.
The child goes on, with the sketch taking the child's excuses and questions to weird places.
"I'm just up thinking whether you're going to be one of the Housewives of Salt Lake City."
"I was just wondering like whether if they were going to impeach Trump."
"Mom, I was gonna ask, how long do you think I-15 construction will be so cumbersome?"
You might think these are just there to make the video funnier—and they are—but they also highlight how kids will often know more than you think.
We've all been asked a question from a child we weren't expecting.
Little pitchers, big ears.
Which shows the real appeal of this video as other parents shared their own toddler stories.
Johnson almost didn't release the sketch, telling TODAY:
"I'm not a parent so I wasn't sure if I got it right."
Obviously though, he did.
There's something about the melodramatic and manic nature of children that is universal, and so recognizable, especially when it's time for bed.
This success led to the video being viewed over 300,000 times on Instagram before being shared to further parts of the internet.
@thekalenallen/Threads
U.S. Mint
