ossip to rest, If you ever wondered what parenting in 2026 looks like, skip the parenting books and classes. Just get yourself into a mom WhatsApp group. The wisdom and chaos (and entertainment) you’ll get there? Priceless. Earlier this year, Ashley Tisdale’s viral breakup from her toxic mom group (seemingly about celebrity moms Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff) sparked opinions. Now, a sugary snack—the beloved Oreo—has entered the mom WhatsApp group chat.
It all started when Michelle, one of the six moms on the group chat, expressed outrage that her daughter Ava’s classmate brought Oreos to school in their snack box. Ava, you see, isn’t allowed the sugary treat, and the temptation at breaktime is too much for her to resist. Charlotte, the mother of the classmate, took it further by sending in the Double Stuff version the next day. As Michelle got more and more furious, insisting on rules around snacks (basically trying to control what another parent packs for their child), the other mums pushed back. Text exchanges went sour. Side chats started. And it’s all out there for everyone to snack on.
A week ago, @ashleighjamz started chronicling the WhatsApp group chat drama into songs using the music generator Suno (apparently the new trending way to get your content noticed, but that’s for another piece). ‘Oreogate’ has since extended into a 17-part series (and counting) and has got me scrolling way over my screen time limits. Each video has garnered over 2 million views since.
I’m not going to lie: it’s been a riveting watch, and the internet, of course, is eating it up with multiple opinions jumping into the fray, including those from the school, who, responding to Michelle’s email request, stressed that they had a hands-off snack policy.
While there is much debate about the veracity of this chat—its credits confirm that it was created by Ashley in partnership with AI music generator, Suno, so we may never know how much of it was real—the truth is that it isn’t all that unlikely. We are, after all, living in the age of the unhinged mom group chat. What is meant to be an easy device for communication can slowly expand into something more charged and toxic. And snack-box politics are not a new phenomenon. Ask any immigrant child, and they’ll share the disdainful response their cultural cuisine received in their new home countries. In India, the divide between vegetarian and non-vegetarian due to religious affiliations has long been a source of debate, and sometimes ridicule, extending from the school tiffin to the office.
In my opinion, the reason for the virality of the chat is none of these but the fact that in 2026 it’s couched in the idea of what it means to be a ‘good parent’. Let’s face it: we all know that one know-it-all, sanctimonious mum, especially when it comes to what their child is consuming. So many kids are now being raised dairy-free, nut-free, sugar-free. While there can be many rationales for that, given the widespread prevalence of ultra-processed food now versus when we were children, the fact is that we are also at a time when everyone seems to be an expert, especially on the right way to parent.
Over the past decade, I’ve had mothers call me before birthday parties and tell me to not let their kids eat the cake. I’ve heard about parents creating an uproar over the distribution of sweets of any kind (and before you get your pitchforks out, yes, I have read the reports on sugar). I’ve encountered a mother who was horrified when I told her my child will only eat Amul cheese sandwiches. In an ideal world, would we rather our children live on greens, natural foods, and whole grains? Of course. But in reality is that going to happen? And how much sleep (and friends!) are we willing to lose over it?
As we speak, the government has entered the chat, with new guidelines prohibiting the sale of junk food near schools, a good measure, given how as a country we’ve gone from taking pride in fresh homemade food to relying on packaged goods marketed by global conglomerates. But at the end of the day, I do believe that the habits and rules we create around the food our kids consume need to begin at home while remaining mindful of their long-term effect.
When it comes to food politics, I’ve been lucky to find a group of likeminded mums who, I would say, lie somewhere in the middle. We’re all centrist—we’d prefer it if our kids ate a healthier version of a snack, but if they had a couple of Oreos or Cheetos on occasion, none of us would really have a conniption over it.
If I had to choose a winner in Oreogate, it’s not Charlotte or Michelle (and it’s definitely not her poor daughter Ava). It’s Suno. Putting all subreddit gossip to rest, the AI music app confirmed to Business Insider that @ashleighjamz is one of their paid partners and if you watch all the 17 reels, and look slightly past the drama, you will spot the giveaway: the #sunopartner hashtag. So much so for the drama then.
