Why This Ordinary Snap of a Mum Doing the Groceries is Going Viral

When was the last time you took a happy snap of yourself and the kids at the supermarket? 

No, it’s not a trick question. And that selfie you took with the Vegemite flavoured ice-cream to send to your partner with a ‘WTF? Poo emoji’ caption doesn’t count.

Can’t recall EVER taking a supermarket selfie, brood in tow? Let’s broaden the parameters a little bit. How about a quick pic of the school run? Or hanging out the washing? Cooking dinner? Packing lunch boxes?

What we’re looking for is a snap of everyday life. A sneaky capture of what 1.5 million Instagram images hashtag as #our_everyday_moments. Life, just being life.

Surprising request from a stranger

It’s what one mum in the US experienced while doing her groceries. Mum-of-four Jess Wolfe was running the Aldi gauntlet, offspring in tow and trying not to lose her mum cool when a stranger packing shopping at the next bench asked if Jess’s phone took photos.

Instead of giving the stranger the side eye and mouthing; ‘Look away from the crazy lady kids’, Jess replied that she did indeed have a phone that took photos. And then the stranger made a surprising request.

“She asked to take a picture of me with the kids. At the grocery. Together,” Jess shared on her Facebook page later that day. “She told me that she wishes she had photos of herself doing everyday things with her kids. She validated the fact that a simple grocery trip is hard. She told me that what I do matters.”

Cherish the everyday

“She doesn’t miss what made the days hard, but she misses what made them sweet. I will always cherish this picture and the message that came with it,” Jess writes.

Cue parents everywhere taking a deep breath, possibly wiping away a little tear and pulling out their iPhones.

The post has had more than 26,000 shares and 158,000 likes and close to 5,000 comments. What’s even better is how a whole bunch of other parents have jumped onboard to share their own #parentingeveryday moments.