Fellow moms come to viral ‘donut mom’s’ defense when she chose to give her toddler donuts

Sometimes, you just want your kid to get something, anything, into their bellies in the morning. And sometimes, that one thing that they will eat turns out to be a donut. Alexandra Sabol shared a video on her TikTok, showing her preparing breakfast for her 1 year old. This particular breakfast happened to be three mini powdered donuts. The horror. While we all would like to think we are perfect moms and make gluten-free, organic pastries, complete with a veggie and a protein for breakfast for our darling angels, life happens. And sometimes, kids just want a treat, and that’s OK. 

But the comment section of her video was not happy, and people spouted mean, nasty comments, including fat-shaming and mom-shaming, all over the place. Thankfully, other moms on TikTok saw the bloodbath occurring on Sabol’s video and came to her defense. 

This stitch from @choosingkatiemac_ begins with the video of “donut mom” putting donuts on her child’s plate. Then it cuts to Katie opening a Dunkin bag and handing a delicious looking donut behind her to her toddler in the back seat. “Sue me,” she says. And then tells moms to do better. Her caption for the video is spot on: “I would never feed my kids donuts for breakfast is the biggest lie I’ve EVER heard. What happened to moms supporting moms? So disappointed.”

Mom Serena also shared a video on her page in response to the mom shaming. Her video shows her eating a cheeseburger while her child sits next to that unmistakable bright red box, with the text, “Wait until the moms who shamed that lady for giving her kid donuts finds out mine gets a happy meal on nights I’m too tired to cook.”  

Dana on TikTok shared a video of her giving her child chocolate covered donuts (only because powdered is too messy, she said), with the caption, “I don’t know this mom’s situation. BUT I’ve had days in the pit of hell that moving to even feed my children felt debilitating,” she said. 

“I also have an autistic child who will one day eat eggs and fruit for breakfast then go on a strike and only eat donuts or pancakes on a stick. It’s 2024, and the one thing we are not gonna do is MOM SHAME,” she continued in her caption. “And in all reality if you want to help a mom make better choices do you think shaming and humiliating them is going to do it?” 

For my family, we enjoy a donut treat on the weekends, and our son can house three donuts at once before we even get home. It’s a fun and delicious tradition, and he is happy, healthy, and just loves donuts like any other 5 year old. I’m glad nobody sees a video on my TikTok of my son’s face completely covered in chocolate from his Boston Creme donut, because I cannot imagine what they’d say.

Out of all the crazy garbage our parents gave us growing up—like literal cookie cereal—we turned out okay. I think we can give moms a break for giving their kid donuts for breakfast. At least they’re fed, right? And let’s stop with the mom shaming, shall we? It’s all hard, and we need to support each other the best we can.

A version of this post was published in January 2024. It has been updated.