Sending a child off to college is a milestone that parents look forward to and dread, both at the same time. Suddenly your most prized possession is far away and you no longer have 24/7 access to them. It’s enough to make some parents do crazy things. Like Jessica Tapscott, for instance.
Jessica Tapscott just wanted to surprise her son where he least expected to see her, on the dance floor of the club with a little shimmy and a vodka soda. So she went ahead and did it. And the internet came at her to say, “Respectfully ma’am, no.”
In a now-viral TikTok, boy-mom of three, Jessica (@jtapscott) did what most college students fear most. Yea. Mom shows up at the club. Not just a club. His club. On his night out. With his friends.
And she definitely brought the mom energy.
The video opens on a bar scene where Jessica’s casually dancing beside her son, who is giving strong “Please tell me this is NOT happening” vibes. He’s wearing a white hoodie and a very visible chain with the initials “JT,” which in this context now stands for “Just Traumatized.”
Jessica’s caption reads, “That one time I showed up at the club to surprise my son in college,” as if this is a charming rom-com moment and not a deleted scene from How to Mortify Your Offspring in 10 Seconds or Less.
Later, she’s perched on a couch armrest next to her son, who is trying to escape into his phone like it’s a portal to another dimension, preferably a mother-free one.
She’s smiling, drink in hand, clearly having the time of her life. He throws up the peace sign, which some are interpreting as either “cool, Mom” or “RIP my social life.” We’re going with the latter.
As if that weren’t enough cringe for one night, Jessica continues documenting her son’s every dance move like she’s filming his first steps all over again.
Once he notices her stage-five clinginess?
Oh, it’s game over. His reaction screams, “Woman, you gave me life. Must you now take my dignity?”
The internet had thoughts in response to the mom’s surprise video. The backlash came fast and ruthless. TikTok users turned up with opinions stickier than a frat house ping pong table corner. “Boy moms are not beating the allegations,” one user said. Another pleaded: “May this level of obsession never find me.”
Even Daily Mail jumped in with a headline that Jessica herself dubbed an “airball,” calling her behavior “obsessive” and sparking debate over whether surprising your kid at a club is a quirky bonding moment or a federal coolness crime worthy of a life sentence in Mom Jail.
Jessica clapped back with another post. This time it was a wholesome photo montage of her with her three sons, captioned with, “I told them how much I love my sons.” (Translation: I can embarrass them whenever I want.)
Look, we get it. Struggling with an empty nest is real.
One minute you’re packing lunchboxes and up to your ears in PTA meetings, and the next you’re lurking in the shadows of a campus bar trying to derail your grown child’s reputation.
Maybe next time we just opt for a FaceTime call. Or a nice care package? Or literally anything that doesn’t make you the only mom in a college bar with your son.
As one commenter summed it up perfectly: “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
Touché.
