+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Family

The way this 2-year-old runs her 'diner' has millions of people coming back for more

Welcome to Willow's Diner, where you order a cookie and get broccoli with a side of sass.

toddler, tiktok, willow's diner
@sarah2themax/TikTok

Willow's Diner has become a huge hit on TikTok.

Two-year-olds are the best. Hands down. People like to complain about the "terrible twos," and yes, there are challenges that arise as a child starts to recognize that they have free will. But there is nothing cuter than a conversation with a tiny human who's only been on this planet for a couple of years. The way toddlers think, the way they speak—it's just nonstop hilarity.

And when we you get a particularly funny 2-year-old? Seriously, the best improv on Earth.

That's why one mom's TikToks of her daughter Willow serving patrons at her little outdoor diner are bringing entertainment to millions.

Willow's "patrons" are primarily her mom Sarah and her three siblings. Her outdoor "diner" is her toy kitchen on the porch with fake food. And the service is … well, you just have to see it.

Willow calls her patrons "ma'am," no matter what their gender, which is adorable. And her facial expressions. Oh my gosh. She's like a semi-grumpy, middle-aged diner lady who's seen it all and has no patience for your foolishness.

Just watch what happens when this "ma'am" tries to order the cookie she's eating:

@saruh2themax

I got put on a strict diet due to my audacity. #willowpenelope #willowsdiner #cute #funnytoddler

"That's mines. I have broccoli. There you go, ma'am," all while continuing to eat the cookie. Totally savage.

Check out how she serves—or doesn't—her brother, Jack:

@saruh2themax

Today at Willow’s Diner: The bonds of family are tested. #willowpenelope #willowsdiner #jackattack

"I don't know what her rules are!" was the best line. Nobody knows what a 2-year-old's rules are. Not even the 2-year-old herself. And Willow's "Can you be the ma'am?" after Jack gave up trying to get his food? Classic.

(Arbitrarily being denied service at Willow's Diner is not unusual, by the way. There's even clever merch that says "I didn't get served at Willow's Diner.")

Does Willow serve rocks at her diner? Sure, why not? As long as she keeps making those faces, she can serve anything she pleases.

@saruh2themax

That time she successfully upsold me on a rock… #willowsdiner #willowpenelope

Just don't mess with her tea-making process. Like, at all.

@saruh2themax

Willow’s diner. Now serving chocolate milk tea! #willowpenelope

And definitely don't try to serve her some tea.

@saruh2themax

Replying to @suppgorjess She tolerates me being the waitress for approximately 2 seconds and no more.

It's the unbroken eye contact, right? You can't train this kind of comedy into a kid.

The thing about 2-year-olds is they're only that age for a short spell. The tyrannical threes and the fascist fours, with all of their complex adorableness, are coming fast, so it's wise of this mom to frequent Willow's Diner—and document the experience—while 2-year-old Willow is still in business.

From Your Site Articles
toddler comedy
Science

Astronaut shares the profound 'big lie' he realized after seeing the Earth from space

This change in perspective could change humanity.

via Rubén Moreno Montolíu/Flickr

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

Keep ReadingShow less
space
Identity

Woman’s experience scheduling an EEG highlights the unconscious bias of textured hair

Though her scalp was exposed for the procedure, they still insisted she take her twists out, making it harder to get to her scalp.

Sadé Naima|TikTok

Woman can't schedule EEG due to unconscious textured hair bias.

Getting a medical procedure done can be scary, or at the very least nerve-wracking, no matter how many times you've had it done. It's something that's outside of your normal routine and you're essentially at the mercy of the medical facility and providers. Most of the time, the pre-procedure instructions make sense, and if something catches you by surprise, it's usually easily explained.

Sadé Naima recently had an experience while attempting to get an EEG that wasn't easily explained away. In fact, the entire situation didn't make sense to the TikTok creator who experiences migraines. Naima uploaded a video to the social media platform explaining the sequence of events that happened after her doctor referred her to receive an MRI and EEG.

An MRI uses a magnetic field to generate images and an EEG uses electrodes that stick to your scalp to create images of your brain waves.

Keep ReadingShow less
unconscious bias
Family

Wife cooks nachos for 'picky' husband who refused to eat her salmon. But she has a point.

Should she be cooking two meals?

via TheMamaBrianna/TikTok

Brianna Greenfield makes nachos for her husband.

A viral video showing a woman preparing nachos for her "picky" spouse after he refused to eat the salmon dinner she cooked has sparked a contentious debate on TikTok. The video was shared on April 26 by Brianna Greenfield (@themamabrianna on TikTok) and has since earned over 2.5 million views.

Brianna is a mother of two who lives in Iowa.

The video starts with Brianna grating a massive hunk of cheese with a caption that reads: “My husband didn’t eat the dinner that I made…So let’s make him some nachos.”

“If I don’t feed him, he literally won’t eat,” she wrote. “This used to irritate me. Now I just blame his mother for never making him try salmon,” Greenfield wrote. The video features Meghan Trainor’s single “Mother” playing in the background.

Keep ReadingShow less
marriage
Joy

Heroic train conductor spots and saves 3-year-old autistic, nonverbal boy lost on tracks

He was dangerously close to the third rail.

via MTA info/YouTube

An MTA employee rescues a 3-year-old child on the tracks.

Five Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees are hailed as heroes for their quick thinking and diligence in the April 6 rescue of a young boy. Locomotive Engineer William Kennedy was operating a southbound Hudson Line train near Tarrytown, a few miles north of New York City, when he noticed an unusual object on the northbound track.

That “object” was a 3-year-old boy.

Kennedy sent an emergency call out to all trains in the area, catching the attention of a northbound conductor, Shawn Loughran, and a trainee. Loughran slowed down his train as he approached the child, who was straddling the electrified third rail.

When the train screeched to a halt, Assistant Conductor Marcus Higgins didn't waste a second. Leaping down the tracks, he sprinted 40 yards ahead of the train, scooping up the young child like a guardian angel.

Keep ReadingShow less
rescue
Health

Here’s how we can use the power of awe to make our lives more fulfilling

Being amazed by things outside ourselves is tremendous for our mental health.

via Benjamin Davies/Unsplash

A young man looking into the sky

The exhilaration of a rock concert. The feeling of deep serenity you experience during a religious ceremony. That sense of connectedness you get while walking through a dense forest. The lightness that flows through your body while dancing and the dissolution of the ego you experience on psychedelics. These are all experiences that give us the feeling of awe.

Most of us love having at least a few of these experiences and believe they help us grow. But now, a team of psychologists has explained why cultivating a sense of awe can benefit our minds and bodies and how we can create these experiences ourselves.

Maria Monroy and Dacher Keltner posit that a sense of awe can help solve the crises of individualism, excessive self-focus, loneliness and a culture of cynicism, and can even improve our physical health. They explain it in a research article titled “Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health.”

Keep ReadingShow less
mental health
Pop Culture

Woman flawlessly breaks down how luxury bags—and other designer brands—keep people 'poor'

"They're targeting the people who want to look rich—middle and lower class folks who don't have a lot of money or savings. That is the bread and butter of designer brands."

Cara Nicole/Youtube

Not worth it.

It feels safe to say that we are all hoping to be more mindful about how we spend our money these days, whether it’s to be kinder to the environment, align better with our values, improve our finances or simply exercise free will against the siren call of consumerism.

That’s why this video essay created by Cara Nicole (who gives all kinds of financials and sustainability education on her Youtube channel) feels so timely.

In just under twenty minutes, Nicole astutely breaks down how luxury brands like Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Rolex create the fake illusion of wealth through “manufactured exclusivity” and getting free marketing from celebrities and influencers—who often don’t even pay for the products themselves. Meanwhile, most real rich people wouldn’t be caught dead in the flashy brands, and in reality consider them "overrated." But still, the illusion persists. Because advertising.

Keep ReadingShow less
finances
Trending Stories