In the fall of 2023, young mother Sage Pasch’s unique family situation attracted a ton of online attention after the 20-something shared a six-second video on TikTok. The video has now been viewed over 48 million times and rests pinned at the top of Pasch’s page because it shows how hard it can be for young moms to be taken seriously.
In the video, the young-looking Pasch (young-looking because she is indeed in her early twenties) took her teenaged son Nick to the ER after he injured his leg at school. But when the family got to the hospital, the doctor couldn’t believe Pasch was his mother. “POV, we’re at the ER, and the doctor didn’t believe I was the parent,” she captioned the post.
How this family of five came to be
Pasch and her fiancé, Luke Faircloth, adopted the teen in 2022 after his parents tragically died two years apart. “Nick was already spending so much time with us, so it made sense that we would continue raising him,” Pasch told Today.
At the time the video was posted, the couple had Nick and 17-month-old baby Laith, who they lovingly call Bub.
They now have their third child, a baby boy named Luca, making them a big happy family of five.
Their story struck a nerve online
After experiencing the ER doctor’s confusion, Pasch said that people are often taken aback by her family when they are out in public. “Everybody gets a little confused because my fiancé and I are definitely younger to have a teenager,” she said. “It can be very frustrating.”
It may be hard for the young parents to be taken seriously, but their story has made a lot of people in a similar situation feel seen.
“Omg, I feel this. I took my son to the ER, and they asked for the guardian. Yes, hi, that’s me,” one mom wrote in the comments.
“Meee with my teenager at a parent-teacher conference. They think I’m her older sister and say we need to talk with your parents,” another added.
So, what’s new with the family?
Though the confusion is frustrating, it’s not slowing Pasch and her family down. In a recent post, Pasch shared that she and her family had welcomed a fourth baby and were taking their followers on a trip to shop for the nursery.
After a couple seconds, Pasch admits the new baby they’re shopping for is actually their new hamster named Mousey. Judging by some of Pasch’s other videos, though, they’re trying for a fourth human baby and Pasch is hoping for a girl!
Whatever shape their family takes next, Pasch’s story has already done something bigger than go viral. It’s given a lot of young parents, especially the ones who get second-guessed at ERs and parent-teacher conferences, a reason to feel a little less alone.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
