‘I Love You, Sweetheart’: Meet the Redditors Who Will Role-Play as Your Mom and Dad Online
On forums like r/MomForAMinute, people pretend to be the family members who may be missing from others’ lives
Growing up, Laura had a tumultuous relationship with her parents, in particular her mother, who was emotionally abusive. As an adult, she would weep after every one of her mom’s visits, and in January, she began distancing herself, seeking advice through Reddit support groups for people in similar situations.
Laura — who, like others in this article, has been granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of their stories — came across a subreddit called r/MomForAMinute. It was through this 140,000-member community that she found online what had evaded her IRL: a caring family.
On r/MomForAMinute, people post thoughts that they can’t or won’t share with their real mothers, and strangers reply with advice or affirmations. Messages run the gamut, from “How do I tell my professor I can’t show up to the final when I haven’t been in class for half the semester?” to “I’m doing okay, mom.” Some r/MomForAMinute members post memorials to lost loved ones in public posts. Others, like Laura, are no longer connected with their parents. Whatever the reason, if someone needs a…
