Video of Mexican American toddler crying because she’s not Chinese goes viral

About the video: The video, uploaded to TikTok by Jose Reyes, a realtor in Arizona, on Feb. 16, has garnered over 6.1 million views.

The viral clip shows Reyes’ sobbing daughter, telling her father how she wants to be Chinese and does not want to be Mexican anymore, with her reasoning being, “because I do.” When Reyes asks her if she can speak Chinese, the girl says she can only say “xishou,” which means “wash your hands” in English.

The context: In his post, Reyes explained that his daughter is attending a fully immersed trilingual school, which includes Mandarin as part of her curriculum alongside Spanish and English. He added that he believes her being upset has something to do with the Chinese New Year celebrations in February.

“With all the recent celebrations of Chinese New Year I think she came home feeling a little left out,” Reyes explained in his post description.

“Of course, as she gets older, we will teach her to love and appreciate all cultures, especially her own,” he added.

Celebrating CNY: While Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, is considered a Chinese holiday, anyone can celebrate the occasion, regardless of ethnicity or the country they are living in, most notably in the United States, where the celebration signifies solidarity among various communities.

Some countries that host big celebrations for Chinese New Year include South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines. Additionally, several cities in the U.S. host their own celebrations, such as Seattle, Honolulu, Oakland, San Francisco and New York.

How people reacted: Many parents on TikTok found Reyes’ post relatable, with one user sharing their hilariously similar experience, “When my daughter was this age she cried because she couldn’t fly, she said ‘you said I was an angel!’”

“Mine wants to be a remote,” another user shared.

“My toddler cried because she wanted her daddy to be Michael Jordan,” one TikTok user commented. “My response was, ‘Me too, Baby! Let’s tell Daddy.’”