A 3-year-old girl has gained viral attention for her understanding of her dad’s career.
The finance field was simplified by Carly Porter’s daughter, Joelle, in a recent viral Instagram reel, leaving her father speechless. She offered an unexpected reason she wouldn’t be following in her dad’s professional footsteps, all thanks to a delightful misunderstanding.
Porter told Newsweek about the hilarious moment, which received more than 321,000 likes, in which Joelle said she did not want to work in finance because she did not want to “find red ants.”
@carly__porter/Instagram
Porter explained what led to this moment of pure comedic gold.
“We had been asking our kids what they wanted to be when they grow up, and they were throwing out lots of ideas,” Porter said. “When we asked if they wanted to work with their dad, her older sister said yes, but Joelle adamantly said no. We couldn’t figure out why.”
The family had always simply told their children that dad worked in “finance.”
“It wasn’t until this that we realized she had been hearing ‘find ants’ and was afraid to find red ants,” Porter said. She summed it up as “truly the most-adorable misunderstanding that we could not stop laughing about.”
Porter said this particular incident is Joelle’s “only and best” funny comment about grown-ups’ jobs so far—and Instagram users were eating it up.
“Good reminder how utterly weird life must be for children,” one commenter posted. “Everything’s absolute nonsense and madness, then we get irritated at them for behaving with such madness and nonsense … well, she’s as cute as a bug.”
“Her dad thought this was absolutely hilarious,” Porter added. “We all did. We are still laughing about it.” While the parents did try to clarify the true meaning of “finance,” Joelle remains unconvinced.
“We told her what finance really means, but she is very skeptical and still not fully on board with working with daddy when she grows up,” Porter said. “I don’t think she believes us.”
Joelle, described by her mom as a constant source of laughter due to her hilarious misunderstandings and funny comments, is “an absolute joy without even trying,” Porter said.
And as for her actual career aspirations, the mom said that Joelle has her sights set on two very different, yet equally admirable, professions.
“She currently wants to be a doctor and a mom and was so excited to learn that she could do both,” Porter said. Despite Joelle’s clear career goals, her father hasn’t given up on influencing her path: “Her dad is still trying to talk her into finance,” the mom said.
