Meghan Trainor’s viral ‘expectation vs. reality’ TikTok is 100% accurate

I know I’m not the only one who scrolls through photos of my kids when they’re napping, swooning over those chubby cheeks and tiny fingers and wispy hair, only to be literally pulling out my own hair as soon as they wake up and start terrorizing the house. 

In photos, they’re perfect lil beautiful angels, in real life, they’re using the toilet lid as a canvas and grinding cracker crumbs into the living room rug mere minutes after I’ve vacuumed. But you know, they’re still perfect. 

In a now-viral TikTok, Meghan Trainor shared a few gorgeous family photos from a magazine cover shoot, which she labeled ‘expectation’, contrasted with ‘reality’—cut to a shot of her toddler, Riley, fighting the good fight against the childproof locks on Trainor’s kitchen cabinets. 

The juxtaposition of the serene, naturally lit photos full of cozy sweaters and flowy dresses against the incessant banging of a toddler in the kitchen? Truly a *chef’s kiss* moment. 

If TikTok provides us anything, it’s a glimpse into the actual lives of celebrities—uniting us all in the joys and struggles that is parenting young children—even if you’re doing a cover shoot one day and simply trying to stop your kid from pulling out all your pots and pans the next.

In an interview for her March cover of Parents, Trainor shares that she’s still grappling with the ups and downs of motherhood, anxiety chief among them. “I’ll lose control for a minute, then I snap back,” Trainor says. But those moments are also punctuated by so much joy. “I think when you have a kid you just realize, ‘Wow, life is beautiful and precious. I want to be the best for my kid.’ I’ve never been more motivated,” she says.

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