If you’re a parent who’s on TikTok, you’ve probably chanced upon @thatmomchat on your For You page. Started in October 2021 by Agnes (Aggy) Low and Esther Rachel, two mothers in their early 30s, @thatmomchat is a fast-growing account on TikTok, with over 5,000 followers and counting.
In the world of social media, where picture-perfect parenting often takes centrestage, these two mums are breaking convention and creating a space for authentic conversations about motherhood. The duo make for an interesting pair – Aggy, who is a new mum to a 15-month-old son brings a fresh take to parenting, while Esther, who has three daughters (aged 2, 8 and 12), provides a more seasoned perspective.
How it began
It all started when Aggy was pregnant and was seeking advice from Esther, who was introduced to her by her husband. In fact, it was Aggy’s husband who suggested the idea of creating a TikTok channel for mums. As the two women shared their experiences with each other and swapped parenting tips, they realised the value of sharing their collective knowledge to help other mums on their journey. In October 2021, @thatmomchat was born, and quickly became a fun and engaging space for mums to connect and learn from one another.
“When we first started the account, Aggy and I agreed that we didn’t want to sugarcoat our experiences,” Esther says. “Very often, the parenting content out there offers a rose-tinted view of how things really are. We wanted to represent how a parent actually feels in the day-to-day – from the mundane routines to the downright frustrating moments where we feel like we cannot go on but still have to. We wanted to let other mums know that whatever they’re feeling is valid and it’s okay to not be perfect.”
The highs and lows of motherhood
For Esther, who first became a mother at 19 years old, the most challenging part of her journey was struggling to balance school with caring for a baby. “That was really the hardest period of my life,” she recalls. “I was still studying so I had to go to school while pregnant. It was also a big struggle for us, financially.”
Despite going on to have two more children, she admits that she still feels stress and anxiety. “It’s especially stressful when your child is sick,” Esther says. “One of my daughters had five incidences of fever since March this year and my second daughter has dyslexia so I always have to be there to coach her with her homework. This is on top of having my own work to do, household chores to catch up on… it’s really a lot.”
“I feel that I’m luckier than Esther because I only became pregnant later in life, when I was more stable financially,” says Aggy. “It also helps that I have Esther and other mum friends to help me on my journey. That said, I’m still trying to get used to the transition into motherhood. Becoming a mother is a complete shift – physically, mentally and emotionally.”