Moving away to college is a huge transition for students and parents alike. While teens and young adults are basking in their first real taste of freedom, their parents are left behind with an empty room and a large chunk of time previously dedicated to their child. It can be easy to get carried away with all the on-campus happenings and be bogged down by school work, and for one art school freshman from Pennsyvania, it was apparently such a massive change that he forgot about his family altogether.
Ann Pinto McCarney’s son, Liam, went off to school and didn’t get in touch with her for weeks. She decided to take to Facebook for a gold old fashioned rant, as most do in 2015, but the post wound up going viral with one million views and over 25,000 shares.
“I haven’t heard from you in a while and I thought maybe you forgot about me,” the mother wrote, and throughout the lighthearted post highlighted all of the jobs she took on as a mom, from Liam’s personal chef to his chauffeur. At the three minute mark of the video, Ann reminded her son of the proper way to use a smart phone (that his family had paid for, of course) and quipped, “So now I know I’m going to hear from you, especially before your mother and father have to pay the next installment for your tuition in November.”
While the rant was done in love, Ann’s video resonated with moms and students alike around the country, as it underscored all the underappreciated work that mothers do for their children, even after they fly the coop. Hopefully her son came around, and the video inspired other busy college students out there to take a break from eating life and give their parents a call to give a much-deserved thank you.