Tonia Erin and son Ashton.Photo: courtesy Tonia Erin
As for how the video came to be, Tonia tells PEOPLE that she originally had a different plan in mind, which her husband talked her out of.“I knew that I wanted to say something shocking, right?” she says. “I was talking to my husband about it the night before and I told him I was going to say, ‘I’ve loved you since the day I pushed you out of my vagina.’ And he was like, ‘No, you can’t say that. You can’t say that in front of the school.’ ““So I settled on my ‘hoo-haa’ instead,” she adds.
Tonia Erin with sons Ashton and Jonathan.courtesy Tonia Erin
In terms of how the videos work, Tonia says that while her son never knowswhat’scoming, she always gives him a heads up.“I always ask him if he’s good with it,” she says. “But he doesn’t know what I’m going to do, or what I’m going to say — he just knows that something’s coming.“Tonia says the videos are a hit among his classmates and school, and “have actually elevated his cool-kid status.““All of his friends and teachers think it’s really awesome,” she says.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
However, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t a little nervous when she got a message from the school’s secretary one day.“I was like, ‘Oh crap, I’m about to get in trouble,’ " she recalls.Much to her surprise, the secretary was just reaching out to come up with a plan to collaborate on a video.
When it comes to thesecret to their viral success, Tonia — who now has over 420,000 followers — says it’s all about the special bond she has with her son.
“People love seeing the relationship between me and Ashton,” she says. “I think it just makes people smile.““We are both so appreciative of all of the love and positive feedback that we have gotten. We really hope that we just inspire other families, and parents and kiddos to have fun with each other and not care what anybody else thinks about ‘em,” she says. “Life is short. Just enjoy it.”
Tonia Erin and son Ashton.courtesy Tonia Erin
As for what the future may hold, Tonia says an “embarrassing-my-mom” series might be on the way.
“Apparently my husband and Ashton are working on that. We shall see,” she says. “I don’t get embarrassed or very rarely do I get embarrassed, so we’ll see what they come up with. I’m a little nervous.“She also hopes that she and her son can meetEllen DeGeneres.
“We loveEllen DeGeneres,” she says. “We know that this is her last season and we’re just going to hopefully manifest that into our reality.”
“It’s just a way to be able to record everything we love doing and that makes us laugh,” she adds. “And be able to go back and look at it years into the future.”
source: people.com
