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A mother has gone viral after she picked up trash for her children right as she was finishing a 5K race.
In a video posted to her Instagram earlier this month, Tennessee-based mother Kacy McKenzie could be seen running across the finish line. Her husband, who filmed the video, was also cheering her on in the background, as he told his children: “There’s mommy!”
While on the sidelines, McKenzie’s son noticed a piece of trash on the racetrack and said that he was “going to tell [his mother] to pick it up.” The runner then proceeded to cross the finish line, before she approached the sidelines and was greeted by her family.
“Mommy, Mommy. Can you pick that up?” her son could be heard saying, referring to the piece of plastic on the floor.
McKenzie then bent down to pick up the trash and hilariously responded to her children’s request. “Yeah, let me stop what I was doing and help everybody,” she quipped. “That’s what moms do.”
She then handed her child the piece of plastic and smiled, before she raised her arms up. The video ended with the parent briefly jogging on the track.
In the caption of her post, McKenzie quipped about how her children asked for her help right after she finished the 5K.
“Can a mom not get a high five first?” she wrote, along with a laughing face emoji.
The video has quickly gone viral on Instagram, with more than 91,800 likes. In the comments, multiple people praised the mother’s reaction to her children’s request to pick up the trash. Social media users also claimed the children’s father should have stepped in by directing the attention towards his wife’s big achievement.
“Love her for calling out the bullsh** on the way by,” one wrote, while another added: “Ah, another married single mom. Good for her for calling that out.”
A third wrote: “Daddy should’ve really redirected the kids here. Or at least cheered himself. Good job mommy all around!”
Others expressed how upset they were for the mother, since her children didn’t applaud her or congratulate her right after she crossed the finish line.
“I’m actually really sad for her,” one wrote. “She was probably looking forward to seeing them cheering for her and that’s what she got.”
“Edit** ‘Don’t bother mommy with that I’ll get it for you in a minute… GOOD JOB HONEY PROUD OF YOU!!’” another person wrote, claiming that’s how they thought the children’s father should have handled the situation.
“The way I would have ran past my family and pretended I didn’t know them,” a third reacted in the comments.
During an interview withToday, she defended her husband from the criticism, while detailing why she posted the video in the first place.
“As (moms), this is our life day in and day out,” she said. “Bless his heart — he was trying his best to get this video, like I had asked. I have a supportive husband.”
The mother of two acknowledged that while she initially wanted to “have a word” with her children about the situation, she instead decided to make what she called a “spicy” comment at them when they asked her to pick up the trash.
She also expressed that she wasn’t going to say no to helping her family after the race. “As a mother who loves her family, I never thought to not pick it up,” she said. “It didn’t cross my mind.”
McKenzie then addressed how people on social media referred to her as the “default parent,” which is phrase used to describe a mother that children turn to for help, even when their father is around. However, according to McKenzie, she didn’t necessarily take issue with how her children asked her to pick up trash after the race.
“You can look at it in two ways: Kids want you to do something for them, but ‘don’t they understand that the moment is bigger than them?’” she explained. “It’s also a privilege that they know moms are there to help. That’s our role, too ... my son knew Supermom was coming.”
After noting that she wanted to share her video with fellow mothers who have a good sense of humor, she praised fellow parents who are constantly the ones that their children turn to for help.
“This happens to moms 100 times a day — maybe not at the finish line of a 5K, but it’s an all day, everyday thing for us,” she said. “I’m happy that my kids see me that way but ... it’s not always easy being the hero.”
The Independent has contacted McKenzie for comment.
