Mom who felt she was messing up her kids by 'not being a cool mom' gets warm influx of support

Moms always feel that they are inadequate and they are not doing enough when it comes to their kids. One such mother and pediatric dentist Taylor McFarland shared her struggles of not being a "cool mom" and how she feels not having "mom friends" is really messing up her children. 

She posted the video on her TikTok @themamadentist. It begins with the mom talking about what happened at a camp. “I know we all feel like at some point or another we’re messing up our kids,” says McFarland.

“I just dropped my eldest off at camp and I’m struggling so hard with just, like, not being a cool mom, which is weird, but, like, I don’t have a lot of friends, I don’t have a lot of mom friends. I struggle with my daughter with ballet; I’m having trouble with him with baseball,” says the mom in tears. 

McFarland then talks about how her son was not wearing baseball attire for his camp. “He was the only kid who showed up in shorts and a T-shirt, and everybody else had on their baseball pants and a baseball shirt, and they played on a team before,” she says. “And I played T-ball and softball, even baseball with my brother when I was younger. I thought it was really fun and I wanted him to learn baseball and do a camp this year.” 

The mother shared that she felt like she "threw him to the wolves" because she didn't know what she was doing. "He walked in and he could tell he was the only kid without all this baseball stuff,” McFarland explains in the video. To sort the situation for her son, she reveals that she was recording the video while sitting in Dick’s Sporting Goods because she wanted to get him baseball pants.

“I just feel so bad, like, because I am anxious, and I don’t have a lot of close friends, I’m not like a baseball mom or a dance mom,” she continues. “I feel like I’m holding my kids back in some way, because I don’t understand what all I need, like, all the cool things and the stuff they need to be doing.”

McFarland concludes the video by posing a question to her followers, "Am I alone in this?" Many people in the comments told the mom that she is not alone.@cylieco commented, "I feel the same way! and if the kids don't start a certain sport as a toddler then they are so behind if they want to try it out at a later age." @ishouldbefoldinglaundry wrote, "You are an empathetic mom!! No one needs a cool mom." @killerhoneybees said, "The fact that you're pushing through the discomfort of not knowing everything is such a resilient thing you get to model. I'm sorry it's so hard!" 

In a follow-up video, the mom gave an update on the summer camp. “I’m not sure I’m going to survive the camp season, but, update, I did get baseball pants for my son and he looked more like the other baseball players today,” McFarland says in the follow-up video. “He still doesn’t love it, he’s a little bit nervous. I underestimated my ability, or lack of ability, to get all three of my kids there on time, so we were late today, so that was my fail today. I got them there, like, two minutes late, everyone was on the field, and he was almost in tears because he was like, wasn’t sure what to do, so I was like, ‘Just go on out and join them,’ but I felt bad.” 

She says that she is learning from her mistake and wants to be there on time, leave early and also make sure that her son has the pants he needs to "match everybody."