July 29, 2026 at 2:11pm EDT

Parenting can be full of misunderstandings, especially as kids get older and start to express their own thoughts and plans. Some of these mix-ups can be due to poor communication on the kid’s part, but others stem from our own worries and insecurities as parents. One funny TikToker is poking fun at the latter of these reasons in a funny clip that takes a playful jab at his own communication with his mom.

Matt Puzhitsky (@mattpuzhitsky) shared a funny TikTok recently, captioning it “what I tell my mom vs…” The clip is a cute take on what adult (or teen) kids tell their parents and what parents actually hear. 

https://www.tiktok.com/@mattpuzhitsky/video/7666469525658815764

“Hey mom, check out my new tattoo,” Puzhitsky exclaims, pulling up his sleeve to show a marker-drawn “tattoo” of a heart with “mom” written across it. What his mom “hears,” according to Puzhitsky, is “I joined a crime gang and answer only to a man named Snake.”

Next up? “Mom, I got a motorcycle license,” which Puzhitsky’s mom interprets as “I wanna die.”

A series of these funny mom interpretations follows. Your kid joined a running club? Surely he’s planning to put you in a nursing home and run far away from you. New laptop? You’ve raised a man-child that likes playing with toys. Kid going to therapy? He’s paying a stranger money so he can talk badly about you. It’s extreme, yes, but it’s a funny look at what goes through moms’ heads when their kid shares any type of seemingly-big news about their lives.

“Mom, I started an online business,” shares Puzhitsky, but mom hears “I’m unemployed.” Next, he says he’s “taking up pickleball,” which mom interprets as “I’m gay.”

“Send this to mom,” Puzhitsky wrote when he shared the TikTok, and lots of followers said they can relate to his sense of humor. “OK, the second one is true because I didn’t get my motorcycle license,” said one, “but I bought an electric scooter to get around and that was her reaction.” Another said, according to their mom, “‘online business’ means ‘I’m scamming people.’”

Others joked that they’re on team mom with this video. “The therapy one is right,” one follower commented. Another said, “As a gay man, the last one [pickleball] is true.”

All kidding aside, Puzhitsky’s TikTok is a good reminder to parents to try to keep things a bit more lighthearted with our kids. After all, plenty of serious things will inevitably pop up in our parenting journey, we might as well not sweat the small stuff.