Massachusetts Mom Does 'Happy' Dance on Sons' 1st School Day
Tracy Moutafis has been dancing on the first day of school for six years.
— -- A Massachusetts mother who, for the past six years, has filmed herself dancing as her sons ride off in the bus on the first day of school says she is just doing what every mother is feeling.
“I’m telling you, every mother feels the same way,” Tracy Moutafis told ABC News. “I just put it out there.”
The latest dance-off by Moutafis, 44, of Framingham came Thursday as her two sons - George, 13, and Angelo, 11 - were picked up by the school bus for the start of their seventh- and sixth-grade years, respectively.
WATCH: 'GMA' Viewers Show Off Their Happy Dances
Mom of Disabled Girl Shoots Own Back-to-School Ads
Be Afraid? Teacher Gets Right Down to Business in Syllabus
Moutafis chose this year to boogie down to “Happy" by Pharrell Williams.
In previous years, the stay-at-home mom has danced to aptly named hits like, “Bye, Bye, Bye” by ‘N Sync, “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang and “Beat It” by Michael Jackson.
“About the third year in, my husband said I needed music,” Moutafis said.
While Moutafis’ dancing is all done in fun now, and at the request of family, friends and neighbors who text and email her weeks in advance, it began on a much more needed basis after a particularly rough summer when her sons were around 5 and 6.
“My youngest was going into first-grade at the time and my older one has autism so he gets a little tough in the summer when he’s not structured,” Moutafis said. “So I try to make it fun.”
Now the boys just view Moutafis as the “fun mom,” she says, and are not embarrassed by her dancing, even almost joining in on the fun this year.
“They chickened out at the last minute,” she said. “It helps also that when the bus shows up in the morning it’s empty, with just the bus driver and no other kids.”
Moutafis says that because she considers being a mom “one of the toughest jobs there is,” she sees her dancing as just a fun release.
“It’s all in fun,” Moutafis said. “My kids aren’t going to need therapy. They think it’s fun and funny.
“It’s just a little bit of freedom for mom.”
