And just like that, another year is almost over. Another year of the joys and calamities of parenthood, whatever form that takes for you. We all have our own parenting highs — those significant, heartwarming or life-affirming moments that remind us what it’s all about and make the tough times worthwhile. Whether it’s finally getting the diagnosis that you or your child needs or witnessing your kid make a BFF after months of being sidelined at the playground, go ahead and celebrate those small victories.
But before we bid farewell to 2019, let’s remind ourselves of some of the other inspiring (and usually viral) parenting moments from the past 12 months — the ones that made an impact via pop culture, social awareness, or just great humor. Here are 10 of the year’s cutest, sweetest, funniest parenting moments, including a troll-fighting celebrity dad and a mom who put her kids at the very center of her cancer journey. Oh, and there’s a cheer dad from Virginia, because his moves are too good not to make the list.
Maddie’s Magnificent Playpark
For kids who use wheelchairs or walkers, the playground can be a difficult, potentially dangerous place. Worst case scenario? It’s totally inaccessible. Parents Jamie and Michael Mann wanted their daughter Maddie to have an accessible playground — so they built her one, with the help of local government in Colonial Heights, Virginia.
“Maddie’s Magnificent Playpark” is 100 percent barrier-free and is packed with interactive and sensory features for kids of all abilities to enjoy.
Dwyane Wade Claps Back
Internet trolls are no match for Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade. After Union posted a sweet family picture to Instagram in which son Zion is sporting some super-stylish long white nails, the haters crawled out from their caves to mock.
Ex-Miami Heat player Wade was quick to shut them down, writing on Twitter, “I’ve seen some post-thanksgiving hate on social about my family photo. Stupidity is apart of this world we live in—so i get it. But here’s the thing—I’ve been chosen to lead my family not y’all. So we will continue to be us and support each other with pride, love & a smile!”
That’s unconditional love right there.
Mom With Cancer Lets Her Daughter Give Her a Haircut
When Emilie Orton was diagnosed with stage 2 ovarian cancer last summer, her doctor advised her to include her kids in the process — even when it came to her hair loss. So Orton invited her daughter Norah (a.k.a. Shug) to give her a haircut, and the 4-year-old jumped at the chance, especially when her mom said she could do whatever she liked.
Orton posted the sweet video on Instagram, revealing “my most favorite and scariest hairstylist I’ve ever had.”
And the whole world cried.
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka Take Their Kids to Pride
Lots of famous parents involve their kids in their Pride celebrations, but this year there were perhaps none cuter than Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka and their twins Harper and Gideon. Harris shared a picture on Instagram of family in all their rainbow glory enjoying NYC’s 2019 Pride parade. It was also the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the queer community against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in NYC’s Greenwich Village.
Harris summed up this year’s Pride perfectly: “Just an overwhelming outpouring of love.”
DJ Pryor Talks TV With His Tot
More than a super-cute video that will actually have you laughing out loud, the clip of comedian DJ Pryor having a conversation with his not-yet-verbal son, which went viral in June, proves how important it is to communicate with your kids from the get-go. Even if what comes out of their mouths sounds like gibberish.
Shanieke Pryor, 19-month-old Kingston’s mom, shared the video to Facebook and it quickly went viral. Luckily for anyone who still hasn’t seen the final episode of Empire, the toddler doesn’t reveal too many spoilers.
Hilary Duff Gets Real About Breastfeeding at Work
In May, actor Hilary Duff got real about breastfeeding at work, and her lengthy Instagram post struck a chord with nursing moms all over the world. Duff explained that she was struggling to pump on the set of her TV show Younger, revealing how the stress of experiencing a drop in her milk supply made her feel as though she “was going to break.”
Duff said she wanted to share her experience in case it might help anyone else who was struggling. “I cried many times and felt so depressed while weening [sic],” she wrote. “I wasn’t myself at all. Something scary was hovering over my brain and my heart… the part of me that I know is smart and rational.”
Nursing parents, we see you.
It Takes a Villlage
We all know it takes a village to raise a kid, but sometimes, the people who make up our village come as a surprise.
The day Spectrum Internet technician Robert Kinney arrived at Jessica Nash Donnahoo’s home to upgrade her internet and set up her TV streaming, Donnahoo’s young son Sailor, who has special needs, wasn’t in a great place. “He has been crying all morning,” the mom wrote on Facebook. “I’ve been trying to soothe him while also meeting the needs of my two-year-old daughter, cleaning, washing dishes, and doing laundry while my husband works. It’s just been a tough day.”
Enter Kinney, and everything turned around. “[He] held my son off and on for the whole 45 minutes he was in our home,” Donnahoo revealed. “He snuggled him close while I folded laundry. It was a huge relief to this tired momma.”
All. The. Feels.
Mom’s Screen Ban Is a Huge Success
If there was one aspect of kids’ daily routines that parents worried about in 2019, it was screen time. How much is too much? How do you get them off the darn things? We had all the questions, and not so many answers.
But one mom, Molly DeFrank, figured it out — and it was surprisingly simple. She put her five kids (all under the age of 10) on a 30-day screen detox and revealed in a blog post that it turned into “a lifestyle overhaul.”
“My kids play together better, are more creative, more obedient, happier and sleep better,” DeFrank wrote. “To be sure, they are still human beings and can fight with each other like any siblings. But the change in their attitudes overall was instant, noticeable and for the better.”
Pink Had Jessica Simpson’s Back
Parents Who Judge didn’t go anywhere in 2019, sadly. They’re unlikely to get down from their pedestals in 2020, either. We really need everyone to just give each other a break. Luckily, we have Pink on our side.
The superstar showed she had fellow mom Jessica Simpson’s back after Simpson was shamed for dyeing her 7-year-old daughter Maxwell’s hair.
“I heard people were bummed on Jessica Simpson for letting her seven year old get her hair colored. So we thought we’d share what we did yesterday. #bluehairdontcare #getyourownkids #parentpoliceareactuallyjustlonelysadpeople #illdyeyourhairtoolosers #ohlookmanocomments,” Pink wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her dyeing her 8-year-old daughter Willow’s blonde locks blue.
Take that, Parenting Police.
Cheer Dad Knew All The Moves
One Yorktown, VA dad stole the show at a recent high school football game — due to his completely awesome overenthusiastic cheer moves. And he’s clearly been practicing as hard as his daughter, because he nailed every single move. The video of Roland “Hekili” Holland busting out the moves on the bleachers went viral after it was posted to Facebook by the dad of one of the York Falcon players. Will someone just give this dad some pom-poms already?
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