“Cruel and Heartbreaking” — Postpartum Woman Reveals the Gift That Her "Almond Mom" Gave Her

Almond Mom: It's the term given to parents who stringently police their kids' meal choices. Want a snack? Grab some unsalted almonds and cucumber slices. Processed sugar? No way, they can't have that at a friend's birthday party. Happy Meal? Yeah, those kids have a better chance of getting a party of six into Four Charles Prime Rib on short notice.

A TikToker named Rei (@rei.dec), who is a self-proclaimed child of an almond mom, said in a recent upload that the Almond Mom mentality continues way into adulthood.

She showcased the lifelong dedication to this food philosophy as she displayed the gift her mother decided to get for her four months after she gave birth to her child, and users on the platform are calling the thought of such a present "disgusting" and "toxic."

"In case you're wondering what it's like to have an 'almond mom.' I will tell you — I am four months postpartum, my parents visited me this weekend," she says, smiling into the camera as she begins to back away from the camera.

"This is what my mom brought me? As a gift," she says, before reaching for the almond mom gift in question off camera. She removes was looks like a folder off of it and then shows it up to the camera: It's an electronic bodyweight scale.

She grins toward the camera again. "Wait for it ... not done. The scale," she says in high-pitched voice that one could construe as being communicative of the disbelief she feels in response to the gift her mother handed to her.

"Yup, you saw that right," she says, placing the scale down on the bed behind her. It turns out the blue folder actually contains some documentation that's part of the gift her mother handed to her as well.

"And an entire folder of these," she says, holding the sheet of paper up to the camera. "I hope you can see that correctly."

The paper shows a graphic of a woman's body pointing to different measurements corresponding to different parts of her body.

The papers are meant to be used to gauge a person's work toward a certain aesthetic they're going for. It appears that Rei's mother thought four months after giving birth was the right amount of time for her daughter to get back in the groove of dieting and keeping her figure in check.

The sheet of paper reads "Charting My Progress Measurements" followed by another snippet that states: "We suggest measuring on a weekly basis."

There are several factors users are expected to key in on the sheets: "Date, Chest, Waist, Abdomen, Hips, Thighs" are the key target points of the progress chart. These fillable charts are repeated four times per sheet.

"Charting my progress," she says, smiling into the camera again, before giving a thumbs-up.

In a caption for her post, Rei wrote that she was running for a very specific office: "Children of almond moms support group president."

Several people who said that they, too, were the children of almond moms wrote about how they didn't become obsessed with eating healthy and wanted to ensure their children weren't imparted with the same mindset either: "I have an almond mom. And I have broken the cycle and I am now a mac and cheese mom," one said.

Whereas someone else wrote that they've developed an emotional coping mechanism that ensures they don't get too riled up whenever they interact with their own almond mom: "The only way I have been able to remain mentally healthy is to just not react emotionally and tell myself I am shielding the next generation from this toxic mindset."

Someone else thought of another way to re-frame the gift Rei's mother got her, but still put it to good use: "Send your almond mom a pic of your baby every month on the scale…"

One person said that they regret being an almond mom themselves and know that they've created what they believe to be unhealthy habits in the minds of their kids as a result: "I was an almond mom, raised by an almond mom. My oldest is now 22 and I can see the damage that I’ve done. I’m trying my hardest to repair it, but I know it will always be there."

Someone else wrote that they thought her mom was being really, really toxic with the post partum gift: "That's absolutely cruel and heartbreaking. You look fabulous and she is being horrid."