A Texas mom forged a surprising friendship with a stranger thanks to a viral Facebook post and some pushups.
Mom of two Molly Wooden took her kids to the Hobby Lobby bathroom in Killeen, Texas and noticed a 10-year-old boy giving his mom attitude.
In return for his bad behavior, the mom ordered her son to drop to the ground and give her 10 pushups. Wooden snapped a photo to show her husband.
“I was in awe,” she tells The Post. She posted it to her 950 or so Facebook friends, writing, “As your son gave you the back talk of the century, you stayed calm and collected.”
“I was so proud to know that some parents still got it,” says Wooden. Her followers were in awe too and began sharing. Soon, the post went viral with more than 40,000 shares.
The woman didn’t stay random for long, though. The pushup mother — Nicki Harper Quinn of Copperas Cove, Texas — heard from an old pal in Georgia that a photo with Quinn in it was blowing up.
“I was surprised it went viral,” Quinn tells The Post. “I knew we were onto something and that this was bigger than me. It opened up a conversation and a debate that is making everyone think outside of the box as far as discipline is concerned.”
The two women and their kids (both have two) then met in real life on Friday at a Starbucks.
“I immediately burst into tears and hugged her and said ‘Thank you for not shaming me,’” says Quinn. “Molly and I are getting to know each other and trying to figure out where do we go from here. This has momentum.”
However, Quinn’s son Kingston, the 10-year-old doing pushups, is somewhat embarrassed by his newfound fame. “I explained to him that everyone in the world that knows the story cares and loves him very much and just wants to see him do better,” says Quinn.
Wooden, who has a 19-month-old and a 4-year-old, plans to hold off on pushup punishments for the younger children, though.
“They aren’t age-appropriate yet,” she says. “Taking away toys is enough for now!”
