Why over 500,000 people have shared this mom’s Facebook post about toothpaste
This mom shared a truly incredible Facebook post to inspire her daughter — but, as a ridiculously beautiful byproduct, it ended up inspiring the rest of us, too. The post, which now has nearly 600k likes and over 655k shares, is loaded with grateful comments. It’s a bright light in the middle of all the bad that mars the internet, and it’s a perfect read to kick off the school year.
“My daughter starts middle school tomorrow,” mom Amy Beth Gardner wrote. “We’ve decorated her locker, bought new uniforms, even surprised her with a new backpack. But tonight just before bed, we did another pre-middle school task that is far more important than the others. I gave her a tube of toothpaste and asked her to squirt it out onto a plate. When she finished, I calmly asked her to put all the toothpaste back in the tube.”
Ah, the first day of school. We’re feeling major #throwback vibes to sitting around with new school supplies, picking out backpacks, and stressing about the friends we’d make that year.
“She began exclaiming things,” the mom wrote. “Like ‘But I can’t!’ and ‘It won’t be like it was before!’”
That’s when the mom’s advice got *so* real.
“I quietly waited for her to finish and then said the following: ‘You will remember this plate of toothpaste for the rest of your life. Your words have the power of life or death. As you go into middle school, you are about to see just how much weight your words carry. You are going to have the opportunity to use your words to hurt, demean, slander and wound others. You are also going to have the opportunity to use your words to heal, encourage, inspire and love others.’”
Just like, yes. This is so, so important. Not enough people are having these conversations, and we’re totally loving how this mom handled this necessary dialogue.
“Just like this toothpaste, once the words leave your mouth, you can’t take them back. Use your words carefully, Breonna. Decide tonight that you are going to be a life-giver in middle school. Be known for your gentleness and compassion. Use your life to give life to a world that so desperately needs it. You will never, ever regret choosing kindness.”
We are just *so* on board with this. Like, YES, we need more and more parents encouraging kindness and taking active stances against bullying in a world where cruelty is seen as funny and hurting others is seen as an ego-boost. We need more soft souls, more kind could, and more loving souls, and this is about as good as it gets.
