+
upworthy
Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

smile uplifting viral

This week's roundup of delightful finds from around the internet.

Hello friends!

It probably shouldn't be surprising, but this week's roundup of delightful finds from around the internet is saturated with babies. Not just human babies, but animal babies, too. Hilarious babies. Adorable babies. Babies babies babies.

It makes sense, what with their unbearable cuteness and all. Babies are the best. No matter how ugly things get in the world, we can always look at the sweet innocence of new life to remind ourselves of humanity's potential. We can delight in the wonderment of their discoveries and try to capture some of that wholesome curiosity ourselves. We can revel in their smiles and giggles and share that contagious joy with others.


Of course, if babies don't make you smile (is that really a thing? no way that's a thing) there are some other fun finds here as well, from a silly Wordle parody to a heartwarming gush of library love.

Enjoy!

Woman stops traffic to help a mama duck and her zillion ducklings cross the street.

A human taking the initiative to help a little animal family avoid getting squished by cars is really sweet. But it's the way the mama duck follows the woman's hand signals that does me in. How does she know??? (And how on Earth does she have that many ducklings at once?)

Author Clint Smith reminds us that public libraries are one of the greatest human inventions.

Writers make money selling books, so saying "get my book for free from a library" is awesome. It's also a reminder that libraries are one of the best things humans have ever come up with. "I mean think about it, a place where you can go and get books...for free!" Smith wrote. "And then pass them along to someone else. And then...get even more books. And it's open to everyone. What a concept! It's a testament to public community institutions, and one we shouldn't take for granted."

Tired of winter? Let these kitties being fascinated with the snow refresh you.

Those of us who live in the northern climes are pretty much over the snow by mid-February. But seeing these cats' wonderment at watching the snow fall is a good reminder of how magical it can be.

Speaking of the magic of snow, watch this humongo doggo freak out over a little lip of snow.

He gives it a go several times, chickens out each time, and then absolutely refuses. Hilarious.

And this tiger kitty spooking its enormous mama momma is hilarious, too.

Snow tigers are gorgeous, aren't they? This little one's pounce is so cute, but its mom's genuinely startled reaction is too funny.

This 3-year-old reacting to "Goofy" calling her through her walkie-talkie is too adorable.

@zeth

I don’t know if we can top this reaction 😂

The video was shared last summer, but it's my first time seeing it. I've now watched it a dozen times. The little mini-hyperventilation is just the best. And the "And he answered!" Find more Zeth and Saylor here.

"A Whole New Wordle" parody hilariously nails the word game phenomenon.

"Let me share my Wordle score with youu..." The Holderness Family does awesome parody videos, and they hit all the high spots in the Wordle phenomenon with this one.

This monkey momma is all mommas. 

"Hey, get down from there!"

"Okay, momma. Now lemme smother you with big, open-mouthed kisses."

Basically parenting a wee one in a nutshell.

Dad gets baby to stop crying in 18 seconds and is so happy about it.

@tuquedaddy

Reply to @king.marcellius I wanna see people try!! Duet this and try if you can!! I wanna see y’all super heroes 🥰🥰🥰 #tuquedaddy #fypシ #parenting

Sorry for the first 10 seconds of this video—baby cries are torturous. But the way he talks to his son and the smile on his face at the end is just the sweetest. That is one dang cute baby. Read more about this video and the baby hold here.

Speaking of cute babies, check out this little one discovering the joy of cheese.

Mmmm, the queso promised land. Been there, baby. Same smile and everything.

Hope you enjoyed this week's roundup! Come back next week for more snippets of delight to make your week a little brighter.

Community

How to end hunger, according to the people who face it daily

Here’s what people facing food insecurity want you to know about solving the hunger problem in America

True

Even though America is the world’s wealthiest nation, about 1 in 6 of our neighbors turned to food banks and community programs in order to feed themselves and their families last year. Think about it: More than 9 million children faced hunger in 2021 (1 in 8 children).

In order to solve a problem, we must first understand it. Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, released its second annual Elevating Voices: Insights Report and turned to the experts—people experiencing hunger—to find out how this issue can be solved once and for all.

Here are the four most important things people facing hunger want you to know.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pets

Family brings home the wrong dog from daycare until their cats saved the day

A quick trip to the vet confirmed the cats' and family's suspicions.

Family accidentally brings wrong dog home but their cats knew

It's not a secret that nearly all golden retrievers are identical. Honestly, magic has to be involved for owners to know which one belongs to them when more than one golden retriever is around. Seriously, how do they all seem have the same face? It's like someone fell asleep on the copy machine when they were being created.

Outside of collars, harnesses and bandanas, immediately identifying the dog that belongs to you has to be a secret skill because at first glance, their personalities are also super similar. That's why it's not surprising when one family dropped off their sweet golden pooch at daycare and to be groomed, they didn't notice the daycare sent out the wrong dog.

See, not even their human parents can tell them apart because when the swapped dog got home, nothing seemed odd to the owners at first. She was freshly groomed so any small differences were quickly brushed off. But this accidental doppelgänger wasn't fooling her feline siblings.

Keep ReadingShow less
via Pexels

A teacher lists his class rules.

The world would be a much better place if humans weren’t so … human. We all fall short of perfection. Common sense is, sadly, not too common. And there’s one guy out there who always manages to screw things up when things start getting good.

Call it Murphy’s law. Call it the great “reason we can’t have nice things.” Call it entropy. It feels like a whole lot of pain could be avoided if we all had just a little bit more sense.

But what if there was one rule that we all agreed to follow to make everyone’s life better? What would this magical rule be?

A Reddit user who goes by the name P4insplatter came to this realization and asked the AskReddit subforum, “What simple rule would fix the world if everyone actually followed it?” They received dozens of simple rules that if everyone got behind would make the world drastically better.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sandra Maria/Youtube, Official Lives & Music Videos/Youtube

You can't not sing this song.

The music of Queen has a profound visceral effect on everyone. Few pieces of art can cause complete strangers to put aside their differences and come together in song, but by golly, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is one of them. It would be cheesy if it weren’t so absolutely beautiful.

This pertains even to non-English-speaking countries, it appears. Recently, thousands of Harry Styles concertgoers in Warsaw, Poland, began cheering as those iconic beginning piano notes penetrated the air.
Keep ReadingShow less

Movie critic Roger Ebert speaking his mind at the Sundance Film Festival.

It’s been ten years since the world lost Roger Ebert to cancer, and his voice is sorely missed. Ebert had a pure love of cinema, and even though he was a film critic in a sweater with a Pulitzer Prize, he wrote and spoke in a way accessible to every man.

He didn’t care if a film was a Hollywood blockbuster or art-house fare; what mattered was whether it deserved his highly-coveted “thumbs up.”

Ebert was an extremely gifted communicator whose interests went far beyond film. In his later years, he often mused about music, politics, and American cultural events with the same eloquence, thoughtfulness and wit.

Keep ReadingShow less
@over40slbmom/TikTok

Feeling nostalgic yet?

It seems like so many iterations of unfettered joy from our childhood haven’t made it to the modern age, and playgrounds are no exception.

Gone are the days of metal slides that scorched the derriere in the summertime, seesaws that doubled as human catapults and the notorious merry-go-rounds that separated the weak from the strong. Good old fashioned character building—safety be damned!

As it turns out, a few of these old relics are still standing. And footage of kids playing at one of these bygone parks is filling adults—particularly Gen Xers—with sweet nostalgia.
Keep ReadingShow less

A couple shares why they decided to leave the United States.

Although it is difficult to tell if there is a trend of Americans moving out of the country, rough estimates show that around 8 million currently live in other countries—double the 4.1 million living abroad in 1999.

The most popular countries for Americans to move to are Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom, in that order.

A big reason why some are leaving the U.S. is that an increasing number of employers allow people to work abroad. Others are choosing to leave because of cost of living increases and “golden visa” programs. Golden visas offer the chance to get a foreign residency permit by purchasing a house or making a significant investment or donation.

Keep ReadingShow less