Pink Tote Lid Moment / Pink Tote Mom

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About

Pink Tote Lid Moment, also known as Pink Tote Mom, is a slang term used on TikTok to describe an incident in which parents berated their child over a confusing and minor offense. The term comes from a viral TikTok in which a girl related that she had just been loudly scolded by her parents for not understanding their confusing request to move the "pink things" into their room. Following the video going viral, other TikTok users began describing traumatic moments from their childhoods in which their parents berated them for confusing reasons as their "pink tote lid moment," often using the hashtags "#pinktotemoment" and "#pinktotelid" alongside the posts.

Origin

At some point in mid-November 2024, TikToker user9356145314915, named Jaycie, posted a video in which she whispered a story to the camera about a frightening incident she'd just had with her parents. In the story, she said her mom angrily demanded she help her move the "pink things" into her room. When Jaycie questioned what she meant, her mom berated her further, demanding she help her move "pink tote lids" into her room. Her father joined in on scolding her amid the incident. The TikTok was deleted but widely reposted elsewhere. One significant repost by TikTok user recardocausey^[1] on November 13th, 2024, gained over 3.3 million views in six days.

@recardocausey Mom's pink tote lids.#fyp #foryou #tiktok #mom #pink #tote #lids ♬ original sound – Recardo Causey

Spread

As the video spread on TikTok, other users began relating similar traumatic stories from their childhoods, referring to them as their "Pink tote lid moments." For example, on November 18th, 2024, TikTok user @rileysav_audio^[2] posted a video with their story, gaining over 587,000 views in one day.

@rileysav_audio #pinktotemoment #pinktotelid #trauma #childhoodtrauma ♬ What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish

On the same day, TikTok user @the_lickk^[3] posted an example that gained over 1.6 million views in one day.

@the_lickk Lmk if i should start a series bc theres plenty more where this came from 🤪 #pinktotemoment #pinktotelid #trauma #childhoodtrauma ♬ What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish

The trend also spread to other platforms in mid-November 2024, such as a Reddit post to the subreddit /r/EstrangedAdultChild^[4] that received roughly 100 upvotes and 50 comments in about a day, and then numerous tweets on X^[5] mentioning it, though none received significant engagement.

Various Examples

@eroomirot Turns out it was him and he had forgotten about it, but I will never forget that day. #pinktotelid ♬ What Was I Made For? [From The Motion Picture "Barbie"] – Billie Eilish

@avaadore444 LMK what y'all want because I could do a full SERIES about my childhood/teen years✨ #pinktote #childhoodtrauma #childhoodmemories #pinktotemoment #trauma #fyp #fypシ ♬ som original – neil

@laurarogersthat This isnt even half of it🫠 #fyyyyyyyppppppppppppp #pinktotelid #narcissisticabuse #narcissisticparent #generationaltrauma #generationalhealing #traumahealing #childhoodtrauma ♬ original sound – Laurita

@drwilloughjenkins Pink tote lid moment – lets discuss this trend, I dont think parents realize the impact of their behavior sometimes and most parents arent intending to be hurtful, its truely hard from all sides but i do think parents need to do better not displacing their anger and frustration onto their children #pinktotelidmoment #momtok #parenting ♬ Emotional Hopeful Epic Piano – DensoMusic