Single Mom Goes Viral on TikTok For the Way She's Raising Her Daughter to Embrace Their Family Dynamic

On the brink of 2022, it should go without saying that families come in all different styles and sizes. But it actually does need to be said—to little ones especially, as single mom Cassie, founder of Traveling the Lunaverse, points out. The New Jersey mom to toddler Luna, who documents her parenting journey—and family of two—on social media, recently posted a TikTok in which she discussed the importance of explaining family dynamics to children from the time they're young.

"Some families have one parent, some families have two parents, some families may have three, four, five, six—who knows," she notes. "A parent can be a mom. Some families are a mom and a mom, some families are two dads, some families might be a mom and a dad, you might have a mom and a bonus dad. Family dynamics in 2021—going onto 2022 need to be taught to our children ... so as they grow up, it's more normalized."

She explains that she's raising her daughter with honesty. "I got pregnant on a one night stand," says Cassie. "Is that something I'm going to tell her when she's 3 or 4 years old? No. We're gonna start in layers."

The first thing she's going to learn is "the differences between family dynamics and how every family is different and every family is special." Then, when Luna asks her how babies come about, Cassie says she's going to ask her daughter what she thinks and what she knows.

"We'll see what stems from there," shares the mom of one. Eventually, she knows her daughter will learn the science of conception, and "what she's going to know is there are many ways to do it."

And when she asks about her father, she's going to tell her that they met in the Caribbean and that he also loves scuba diving and traveling, but he wasn't ready to be a parent, and that has nothing to do with her. "But he gave us the greatest gift of each other," says Cassie.

She asserts that being open and honest about all of this is "a game-changer." Ultimately, Cassie implores parents to raise their children to be open-minded and to teach them that family dynamics are important. She hopes that we all embrace our own families, because "that's the change we need in this world and [for] this generation that we're raising—acceptance in every aspect of their life."

Cassie also added in the comments that if when Luna is older and wants to pursue a relationship with her father, she will support her in that.

Commenters applauded the single mom for her take. "'He wasn't ready to be a parent, and that has nothing to do with her' is soooo important," wrote one TikToker.

"This is so healthy," another chimed in.

And one summed it up perfectly: "The fact that you even have to break this down just shows how stuck society is. You're doing great, Mama. Keep doing you!"