Serena Williams Shared An Airplane Story Parents Can Relate To
Serena Williams knows that traveling with a little one is no easy feat.
“Kids humble us. The other day on a flight home, Olympia had so much energy and insisted on running up and down the aisle,” the tennis great captioned an Instagram photo on Sunday.
“When I finally got her to calm down and sit still, she threw up all over me and in the aisle. #ThisMama wants to remind all mothers the importance of supporting one another through the highs, lows, laughs and tears,” she added.
Williams then encouraged all the moms out there to share their own stories using the hashtag #ThisMama (which appears to be part of a branded partnership with Chase).
A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Aug 26, 2018 at 1:12pm PDT
Nearly 5,000 people responded with stories of their own, prompting Williams to say on Instagram that “Literally #thismama is loving all the comments.”
She also posted the story to her Twitter account, where it received 31,000 likes and over 1,000 comments. Williams encouraged fathers to share their own stories too.
One user added a funny story that also included bodily functions like Williams’ example.
One of my sons used to ‘paint’ with his own poo. He would wake from a nap, totally silent, remove his diaper & finger paint all over his toys and cover the wheels of his toy cars in poo, then make poo tracks all over his cream walls. Be thankful for a little vomit #thismama
— Sarah Ockwell-Smith (@TheBabyExpert) August 26, 2018
There were also some vomit and poop-free stories to go around as well.
“My daughter and I planted some seeds together, hoping to grow flowers. I went outside to water them and told her to watch,” one Twitter user wrote. “She locked the sliding glass door on me. #ThisMama got locked out of the house by her two year old.”
My daughter and I planted some seeds together, hoping to grow flowers. I went outside to water them and told her to watch. She locked the sliding glass door on me. #ThisMama got locked out of the house by her two year old
— Megan (@m_pedrianes) August 26, 2018
She refused to unlock the door, even though she absolutely knows how, & just stood there and stared at me. After panicking for a few seconds, #ThisMama realized I could just go around the front of the house & go in through our garage. Thank God my husband fixed the key pad!
— Megan (@m_pedrianes) August 26, 2018
Since giving birth to her first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., last year, Williams regularly shares stories about pregnancy, motherhood and being a working mother.
At an event last week, the 36-year-old shared the “baby is like a plane” parenting advice that her trainer once gave her.
“He told me a baby is like a plane,” Williams said, according to The Undefeated. “When you’re in the plane, the people tell you to put on your mask first before helping the person beside you. And I realized I wasn’t putting on my mask first. I was constantly putting on — I was putting on her mask. It’s a hard thing to process. I’m still learning that.”
Williams sits on the board of advisers to Oath, HuffPost’s parent company.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.