Picture this: a young millennial mom, armed with nothing but a smartphone and a burning question, reaches into the depths of TikTok to unravel one of life’s great mysteries. No, she’s not asking why leftovers always taste better or why socks never come out of the laundry in pairs. Her query is far more profound: How on earth did past generations of mothers balance raising a family with everything else life throws at them?
It’s no secret that each passing generation faces its own unique set of challenges and victories. We’ve got the past clad in mom jeans battling grocery-store checkouts, and the present juggling parenting with the latest episode of their favorite streaming series. But one thing remains eternal—parenting is no stroll in the park.
Enter FamPhiji, the TikTok sage and today’s asker of the age-old question to her fellow followers. She’s dropped a bombshell of a query, ripe for internet debate: “How did our parents do it?” Essentially translating to, “Did our mothers possess magical powers, or what?”
Solving the mystery of modern parenting wasn’t enough, FamPhiji went on to pepper her feed with relatable confessions: “How did you get up every day, get me ready, go to work, come back to feed and bathe me, then hit the repeat button for years? Somebody, please, explain that sorcery.”
It seems many parents indulge in reminiscing about past childhood marvels. These confessions even break down to tidbits like perfect school attendance records—thanks, mom—and iron will discipline, driven by a scarcity of sick day flexibility.
“I’m telling you, it felt like my mother had an unending battery,” FamPhiji shares, all while racking up hashtags like #momtok and #millenialmom.
Our brave mothers of yesteryear, those guardians of simplicity, had their own Everest to climb. Discrimination was rife, and donning the title “working mother” was akin to sporting a T-shirt with ‘high-risk financial liability’ printed on it. After all, who needs job security when you’re juggling spit-up and spreadsheets?
Some followers chimed in with tears and tales of newfound gratitude—”Considering what our moms went through, sneaking candy into our diets was the least of their concerns!” Many shared stories that revolved around the sacrifice and determination etched into family lore.
The balance of yesterday wasn’t just maintained with sheer willpower alone; real home-cooked meals graced the table daily, not a drive-thru wrapper in sight. The historical culinary feat is a eulogy much noted among the comments.
Some moms from the past made it a point to chime in, attributing their superpower to prioritization—children were at the top of the totem pole. To them, the math added up differently back then: one part love, two parts necessity.
Times, as they say, have changed. Rental prices have skyrocketed to dizzying heights, morphing frugal apartment living into a full-time job necessity. It’s a dizzying game of chance where the numbers don’t always play fair.
Yet, amidst this tumultuous modern landscape, FamPhiji finds herself caught in the tug-of-war of understanding. While we navigate different waters today, we can’t ignore the Herculean feats our mothers achieved. Perhaps, while we’re convincing ourselves of our inefficiencies, we might accidentally stumble upon the secrets of our mothers’ success—they made it all happen, somehow.
And here’s the twist in this tale—the secret sauce, if you will—maybe they didn’t know how to do it either. But they did, and isn’t that the kind of accidental magic we’re all chasing?
