When life gave these St. Thomas sisters a puddle, they made a viral social media splash

Isha Bhargava · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 24, 2025 4:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

When their ma took distant their mobile phones for the time connected Good Friday, sisters Lillie and Harper O'Reilly were fixed the old-fashioned bid to spell extracurricular to play. 

That's erstwhile the O'Reilly sisters noticed a immense puddle crossed the thoroughfare from their location successful St. Thomas, Ont. They decided to trade a motion that read, "Splash us," and past stood successful beforehand of the puddle, waiting for vehicles to thrust by. 

"We thought wherefore don't we make a motion and get cars to splash america with the puddle," said Lillie, 11. "A batch of cars drove into the puddle and splashed us, we were bedewed ... really wet," added Harper, 10. 

Some vehicles adjacent went astir the artifact and made a U-Turn, accelerating done the puddle for a 2nd circular of splashing, the girls said.

Impressed by the effect the sisters got from passersby successful existent life, their mom, Taylor Brooks, captured a video of the splashing and posted it connected TikTok with the caption, "Remember erstwhile kids played outside?". It has since gone viral and garnered much than 10 cardinal views, along with thousands of comments.

"Every azygous 1 of those vehicles went location and told idiosyncratic what happened to them today. I cognize I would," wrote 1 TikTok user. "I deliberation the adults had much amusive than the kids," different spectator commented. 

"You conscionable cognize idiosyncratic who had a unsmooth time astatine enactment instantly started cackling erstwhile they did this. Entertaining for some sides," work different comment. 

'Let them beryllium bored' ma says 

Brooks said she didn't expect the station to get truthful overmuch attraction and the household was stunned to see how galore radical recovered themselves relating to the video. She believe it's due to the fact that kids playing extracurricular without tech devices isn't arsenic communal anymore arsenic it was a fewer decades ago.  

"I personally deliberation it's 90s nostalgia," said Brooks. "Lots of america grew up successful the 80s and 90s, we had amusive earlier exertion and it conscionable truly resonated with radical to spot kids having fun, nary devices and it conscionable deed home for a batch of people."

The comments connected the video thin to agree. Many viewers recalled doing akin activities erstwhile they were children and complimented the O'Reilly sisters for being bully sports. 

Brooks's message to different parents? A small boredom each present and past doesn't wounded and tin motivate kids to travel up with innovative ways to entertain themselves without technology.

"Just fto them beryllium bored for a fewer minutes, and they volition travel up with something. It was bully to spot them doing thing together, they were conscionable extracurricular enjoying each infinitesimal of it, so they volition fig retired thing and they volition person fun. It's instinctual for them," she said.  

The girls said they "definitely" program to bash this again, and the experience taught them that they are capable to person amusive with little surface clip and much extracurricular time. 

"We learned that you don't request to walk each rainy time wrong connected your phone," said Lillie.