This Mom’s Parody of “Dance Monkey” Is the Definition of Parenting in Quarantine

As we all sit in our houses and wonder when quarantine will end, some parents are taking to social media to express their frustrations with their new normal of 24/7 parenting—along with juggling a job, house chores, and pretty much everything else. One such mom is Jennie Borders, who’s going viral for her quarantine-themed rendition of “Dance Monkey.”

In the parody, titled “Hey Mommy,” Borders, who’s a mom to three from Thermopolis, Wyoming, sings about constantly having to clean up after the family, her dreaded trips to the grocery store and her fear that she’ll run out of wine before the quarantine ends.

“Oh my god, I’ve been locked up inside for 18 days and now I’m gonna lose my mind. Kids yelling ‘mom, oh mom, hey mom’ 6,000 times, and I’m begging them just for some quiet time,” Borders sings, swapping the lyrics in the chorus for “They say 'hey mommy, hey mommy, hey mommy, hey hey hey, can we please just go and play with friends today? And I say, 'no babies, no babies, no babies, not today, because we’re stuck inside ‘til corona goes away.’”

Borders wrote the song after a tough day of being inside and said that her words are “100% based off of real life.” Her kids range from 9 months to 6 years old. “My daughters were yelling at me from the bathtub and it seemed like every time I walked out the door, they were hollering ‘Mom!’ for me again,” Borders told TODAY Parents. “My kids had been fighting much of the day, my kindergartner was fighting me on doing schoolwork and they had all been clingier than normal. I was actually thinking to myself, ‘Oh my god, if someone says mom one more time, I’m changing my name and moving to Madagascar.’”

Borders, who frequently performed on stage and sang in choirs as a kid, had had the tune stuck in her head, so she decided to create her own parody and, with a little encouragement from her husband, Nick, recorded herself singing and uploaded it to her Facebook.

To date, the video has been viewed over 2 million times, shared over 119,000 times and has thousands of comments from parents who can relate (and are amazing by ger fantastic voice). “It’s amazing! I have been feeling the same way but with teenage girls. This has brightened my day, thanks!” one person commented. Another wrote, “Love it! So perfect what every parent and kid is battling through around the block. Amazing voice!”

“My children are constantly telling me how bored they are and asking me to go play with their friends,” Borders told the outlet. “As a matter of fact, the very last few seconds of the song, you can actually hear one of my daughters barging in saying ‘mom’ as she’s tapping on my hip.”

However, even with everything going on, Borders explains that she’s thankful she’s been able to spend so much time with her kids and watch them grow. “As a mother, it has made me realize that it’s OK sometimes for me to not be the perfect mom and wife…it has also taught me that I am absolutely not cut out to be a teacher, and made me realize how thankful I am that there are people who take the time to teach our kids,” she added.

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