Single Mom Alone At Her Daughter's Graduation Asks Strangers To Cheer Loudly When She Walks The Stage
They may not know it, but it probably meant a lot that they would cheer for this single mother's daughter.
During what looked like an elementary school graduation, one single mom enlisted the help of the strangers near her to cheer for her daughter when she got on the stage to accept her award.
One of the moms there, MJ, started recording the situation as her husband prepared to do some loud cheering for the stranger’s daughter — practicing until the moment came.
The single mom claimed that she would be holding them to cheer for her daughter's graduation.
The video starts with the single mom talking to MJ’s husband, who says “Oh [I’m not] playing,” reassuring the woman that he would be cheering when her daughter took the stage.
“Oh you’re laughing but I’m holding you all to it too since you just sat back here,” the woman turns and says to MJ and whomever else she’s sitting with. “You recruited him to holler for your baby?” MJ asks, making sure the people of TikTok are fully aware of the situation that’s about to unfold.
“Yeah because we’re a party of one,” the single mom says, sarcastically referring to herself as “we.” “So help this single momma out and holler for my baby.” MJ was onboard the whole time and asks the single mom which girl was her daughter. “Aria Thomas, curly hair, green sweatshirt.”
As MJ and the single mom are having this conversation, MJ’s husband has been “practicing” the entire time behind them, making an odd yelling sound with his mouth wide open in preparation for the cheering he’ll be doing for Aria.
“He’s going to show out?” the single mom asks, referring to all the practicing he’s been doing up to this point. “I told him you made the mistake of sitting by me, so.”
During his last little “practice” session, his family had finally had enough, so they told him to stop since he was being so loud, but the single mom couldn’t stop laughing as they all prepared for the moment when Aria would cross the stage.
The moment finally came, and Aria took the stage to graduate from elementary school.
“Right here,” MJ’s husband says, noticing that the girl with the curly hair and the green sweatshirt was getting ready to receive her award. “Aria Thomas,” the announcer called as she walked forward to receive her award for whichever club she was a part of and making it on the “Principal’s List.”
Everyone in their section cheered for the young girl as MJ’s husband made a loud whistling sound for her. “I didn’t even know you could do that,” MJ tells him. “You didn’t do that for Jade! I didn’t know you could whistle like that.”
“I told you he came through! He came through!” The single mom repeated, appearing to be glad that they were all having fun as MJ’s husband claims that he had run out of breath.
Despite the light-hearted, goofy nature of this video, the underlying message resonated with a lot of people in the comments. “He is amazing! I truly believe there should be NO yelling until all names are called. It’s so hard for kids without big families or families who care,” one person wrote in the comments.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, approximately 34% of kids in the United States belong to single-parent families — that’s more than 23 million kids. Imagine all of the graduations where some of these kids will only have one parent yelling for them in the crowd while they hear other kids’ families vibrating the entire stadium.
MJ and her husband received heavy praise for the kind deed that they did, whether or not they realized how important it was for that single mom.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.