As a teenager, I’m sure I had moments when I wondered if my parents somehow fed off of my mortification at things they did. Now, as a grown-up, I know for sure that they did. It’s really a source of joy to see how so little effort can have such a wonderfully animated effect on a teen. Just think of what it looks like when you try!
As teens, we were all, at one point or another, hopelessly embarrassed by our parents.
And most likely our parents knew it, because they had been embarrassed by their own parents as well. It’s a rite of passage, part and parcel with acne and armpit hair. And when parents finally get to embarrass their own teenage kids, it’s to be blast.
Wendy Chupp Gossett saw an opportunity to have a little fun with her kids when they were stuck in a traffic jam.
They spent four hours stuck on the I-25, and in those situations, you have two options: get frustrated and stew on it, or try to have some fun with it.
Wendy chose the latter, turning up the Backstreet Boys and hopping out of the car to bust a move.
Clearly, she was ready to do the most ridiculous stunts to mortify her son — and his reaction was perfectly plagued with embarrassment.
As she explained to Fox 8, her son was “totally stressed” and hungry, as teenage boys will be, so she tried to cheer him up.
And, okay, maybe she was enjoying his reaction a bit too, as he plugged his ears and was almost certainly trying to summon up a happy place in his mind to escape to. You can’t blame her, can you?
Even from this tiny clip you can just tell he’s not having as much fun as his mom.
I guess when you give birth to a child, you also get the rights to how you’d like to entertain them. Seems fair to us!
The vid of Wendy doing the running man between cars on a snowy highway got posted on Facebook and then picked up by local news on Twitter.
From there, some pretty special folks took notice of her sweet moves, and her son’s absolute mortification. No less than actual Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson tweeted his appreciation for Wendy’s style.
Nick Carter couldn’t resist a tweet as well, praising Wendy’s “nice jam” even as he told her to get back in the car.
Wouldn’t want her to slip and fall out there, after all! The weather was pretty unfortunate, because you just know other folks would be getting out of their rides to join her impromptu dance party otherwise.
Twitter was LOVING this hot mess of a moment, and the reactions were pouring in from all over.
Aside from a few casual celeb’ responses, people were giving their two cents, and a lot of ‘em had some valid points.
Besides raising and caring for your child, it’s also an unwritten rule of parenting that one must always take it upon themselves to have fun at the expense of their kid’s coolness.
Wendy Gossett just happens to be an expert.
But let’s not forget, this is all about the precious bond between a mother, her son, and her son’s everlasting embarrassment that his mother might dance in public.
It’s a time honored tradition, practiced by mothers around the world. Remember this mom who managed to make her son disappear into the depths of his hoodie while singing along to Kelly Clarkson on the fan cam at a college basketball game? Classic.
And then there’s this mom, getting her groove on in her Daisy Dukes on the Jumbotron at a Padres game.
I mean, that’s a kid who’s praying for a hole to open up and claim him and seal over again, or possibly for a tornado to suddenly sweep in and save him from this torment.
So Wendy’s son is in good company, at least.
And you can see from the slight smirk on his face that he’s trying to hold back a laugh even as he turns beet red. Well done, Mom.
She even took to Twitter to voice her own opinion on this little traffic shenanigan.
According to her tweets , she’s “a parenting specialist who teaches parents to “learn” their kids by using temperament psychology.”
She claims that her son has warmed up to her car singalongs and “LOVES” them now!
Wendy left us with some positive wisdom that many other parents could benefit from.
And her son definitely won’t forget that day — especially ‘cause his mom has gone viral!
Check out Wendy’s full vid right here !
