Woman hails fellow mom's like-minded 'strong parenting' after viral photo of child doing pushups in public
A Texas mother was surprised to see a show of "strong parenting" in a public restroom, so she snapped a photo, shared it on Facebook and was pleasantly surprised to see the resounding support from like-minded moms.
Molly Wooden was at Hobby Lobby in Killeen, Texas, on Saturday when she walked into the restroom and saw a "calm and collected" mother watching over her son as he completed 10 pushups for talking back.
"First, 'strong parenting' is huge for me, but you rarely see it being implemented," Wooden told ABC News. "So when I finally saw it with my own two eyes, let alone in public, I felt strongly compelled to capture that moment."
Along with the photo in her Facebook post, Wooden wrote, "If my hands weren’t full of children I would have applauded you."
"We need more parents like you, who aren’t afraid to parent their own children because of what someone else might think," she continued in the caption. "He said 'Mama, this is the bathroom floor, gross.' She said 'maybe you shouldn’t have been acting obnoxious -- They have soap for a reason -- 10 more.'"
Wooden, a mother of two, told ABC News she expected the post to resonate with her friends on the social media platform, but did not expect it to go viral.
"I knew many of my family members on social media would approve of her tactics so I decided to post it, not realizing just how many times it would be shared," she said.
The post on Facebook has garnered over 8.2K comments, 41K likes and nearly 30K shares.
Through the power of social media, Wooden said she got in touch with the mom in the photo, who she said thanked her for sharing the post and appreciated the support. The pair are trying to plan a coffee date for the future, Wooden said.
Wooden also explained what strong parenting means to her.
"Parent first, friend later," she said simply. "When you’ve asked your child for something, like the simple request to behave, or to clean up after playing, and it’s not being fulfilled, whatever consequence you’ve stated for their lack of actions, must be followed through firmly. You can’t back down."
While she recognized that "good ol push ups might not be for everyone," Wooden explained that "whatever discipline you decide on, you have to stand behind it with a firm foot."
