Kayla Acevedo, creator of the “Sad Single Mom” series on TikTok, filmed her first installment shortly after announcing she was getting divorced.
“Someone made a comment on my page that I was going to regret it because no one wants to date someone with kids,” Acevedo told TODAY Parents. “I was like, ‘Who is this person to assume I’m just waiting around for Mr. Right?’"
That’s when Acevedo, a massage practitioner on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, decided she would film herself talking up the best parts of being a single parent.
The clip, which she published in May, instantly went viral, Acevedo said.
“A day in the life of a sad single mom,” Acevedo begins in a somber voice. “First I wake up in my big queen bed without anyone poking me with their frisky eggplant.”
“I make my way to the washroom, where the toilet seat is down, and I have to sit on a seat that’s not covered in urine splashes,” she continues.
In the kitchen, Acevedo discovers there’s still coffee in the pot.
“I head to a nice clean fridge where I find a full container of creamer. I then water my plants, and think about buying another one because there’s no one to tell me I have too many,” she says.
Acevedo brushes her teeth in a sink free of beard trimmings.
“It’s a sad life, I know,” she says. “But maybe one day if I’m super lucky, I can have a third adult child to take care of all on my own.”
More gems from Acevedo’s “Sad Single Mom” series:
"Since I didn’t have a man to vacation with, I settled for going with my girlfriends who wanted to do all the same things I did.”
“I started my morning with a load of laundry — but when I went to move it to the dryer, I realized the dryer was empty. I wish I lived with a man who would keep all his dry laundry in the dryer for a week.”
“Today I bought some new throw pillows for the couch, but no one was here to realize these weren’t for their sweaty bald head.”
"I got some takeout wondering if I’ll ever find a man who will tell me that we have food at home that he has no intention of cooking. How will I go on knowing that my leftovers in the fridge are still going to be there tomorrow?"
Acevedo also reminisces about her former spouse blaming her for his missing car keys, and shopping trips where he would repeatedly ask “What are you looking for?” and “Are you done yet?” He also gave her a hard time about her “17 half-full shampoo and conditioner bottles.”
Acevedo and her ex-husband, Freddy, share 3-year-old daughter, Atlas. She told TODAY that they remain good friends and noted that Freddy even gets a kick out of the videos.
“Listen, being a single mom isn’t always easy. It can be difficult of course. But there are some really amazing parts,” she said. “There’s this notion that single women are incomplete — and I think that comes from men. I think it really bothers men that we might not need them as much as they think that we do.”
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