‘Entitled parent’ says airline moved their toddler’s seat right before flight took off

This wasn’t your typical ‘entitled parent’ story.

Jul 27, 2025

A child sits alone in a plane seat – Photo credit: Image via Canva

I took a long Amtrak train trip from Atlanta to Baltimore with my 9-year-old daughter this summer. As far as I could tell, there was no way to reserve specific seats in coach on our particular train ahead of time. But we arrived as early as we could and, to our delight, were treated to a near empty train. We sat together in a two-person row and had a really nice trip up to Baltimore.

On the way back? We boarded at Union Station and the train, having arrived from New York, was already packed. The conductor told me he would try his best to seat us together but couldn’t guarantee it. You should have seen the terror in my daughter’s eyes. It would be a 14-hour overnight train ride. Sitting her next to some stranger that whole time? Absolutely not. No way.

They eventually found us seats across an aisle from each other, which kind of worked, but wasn’t ideal. Luckily, the guy I was supposed to sit next on the other side flew into a rage that he wouldn’t have a row to himself and stormed off to sit elsewhere, freeing up the row for us.

Delta, flying, Delta airlines, kids on planes, children's seating on planes, Reddit — A mother sits with her two children on a plane Image via Canva

But for a few horrible minutes, I had become “that dad” desperately asking anyone in the area if they’d be willing to move so we could sit together.

I had become the dreaded entitled parent from all the viral travel stories.

Stories of “entitled parents” desperately trying to get other passengers to switch seats go viral all the time. But a recent thread on Reddit shows why we don’t always get the full story.

Delta, children on flights, plane flights, flight etiquette, Reddit — A parents reveals how they were separated from their toddler on a flight Image via Reddit

User u/takeme2themtns recently shared a nightmare travel story in the r/Delta subreddit:

“In typical Delta fashion, they just switched up our seats and placed my toddler in a row away from us,” they wrote. “Booked three seats … in comfort plus months ago. Now, several hours before the flight we get notifications that our seats have changed. They put wife and me in exit row seats and the toddler in a window seat a row away.”

With no way to fix the seating snafu digitally, the OP would have to rely on the Gate Attendant or even Flight Attendant to make a last-minute change — which would force someone else on the plane to move.

“I’m confident the GA (gate attendant) will take care of it,” they wrote, “but it’s still so frustrating that we have to worry about it. I know we see posts like this all the time, but that’s because it happens all the time to people. Delta needs to fix this trashy system.”

Another user in the comments wrote to share a similar story:

“I had this happen to me. The check-in person said to talk to the gate.

The gate said to talk to the flight attendant.

The flight attendant told me to ask people to trade seats.

I asked people. People said no. Other passengers started berating me for not planning ahead and saying my lack of planning isn’t their responsibility.

I defended myself by saying I reserved seats months ago and Delta moved me at the last minute. Then passengers started yelling at each other about my situation.

The FA had someone move and I got to sit with my daughter.”

The user noted that the situation was chaotic and traumatizing.

These stories are far from rare.

Delta, Delta airlines, children on flights, separated children, Reddit — woman carrying baby while sitting on gray seat Photo byu00a0Paul Hanaokau00a0onu00a0Unsplash

I found another story just like this from a few months ago on the r/United subreddit. The user’s family booked seats together only for the system to separate them right before the flight, leaving an 8-year-old to fly seated alone. The flight crew’s only solution was to ask other passengers to switch, causing the OP’s family to get lots of dirty looks for the duration of the flight.

Having a young child or toddler seated away from you while traveling is just a complete No-Go, for many reasons. But as a dad, leaving a kid of nearly any age to sit alone — even if they’re 8 or 10 or 14 — is not acceptable.

It’s not just about convenience, it’s a huge safety issue. There are plenty of horrifying news stories that support why a parent would do absolutely anything to avoid it.

When we hear these stories, they’re almost always framed as the parents being unprepared, lazy, and entitled. But maybe we’re missing the point.

Delta, Delta airlines, children on planes, flying, switched seats, Reddit — boy sitting on plane seat while viewing window Photo byu00a0Hanson Luu00a0onu00a0Unsplash

A story from January of this year praises a passenger who refused to switch seats with an “entitled dad” as a “hero.”

People are fed up with parents asking them to switch out of airline or train seats that they paid good money for. And I don’t blame them!

But we need to stop beating each other up and start holding the airlines and other travel companies accountability for putting parents and non-parents into this mess in the first place.

There needs to be a better system for families booking plane and train tickets. When you buy tickets, you have to enter in the ages of the children you’re traveling with — so it stands to reason that these mix-ups flat out shouldn’t happen!

Families shouldn’t have to panic at the gate or on board about this! Other paying passengers shouldn’t have to give up their seats!

The good news is that the Department of Transportation has recently gotten involved with a dashboard of which airlines guarantee family seating at no additional cost.

The DOT is looking to even make it illegal to for airlines to charge parents and children fees to sit together. Parents and children under 13 would be required to be seated side by side or immediately adjacent, and if not, they’d get a full refund or free rebooking — it’s known as the Families Fly Together Act.

Traveling in 2025 is stressful enough, from seat changes to unruly passengers to high numbers of cancelled flights.

Seating kids and parents together seems like one small problem we should be able to solve.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Youth-led party for community engagement, MEDEA, Tanzania Captured by James Roh for Pura

Culture, Education, Empowered Women, Equality, Family, Identity, Modern Families

The next generation of female leaders has arrived. Here’s how they’re making sure they (and every girl) get a chance to learn.

Malala Fund and their local partners, with support from Pura, help girls find their voice. The result: greater access to education and a better world.

Sarah Watts

3/8/2026

Music, community and joy drive real change

In a small village in Pwani, a district on Tanzania’s coast, a massive dance party is coming to a close. For the past two hours, locals have paraded through the village streets, singing and beating ngombe drums; now, in a large clearing, a woman named Sheilla motions for everyone to sit facing a large projector screen. A film premiere is about to begin.

It’s an unusual way to kick off a film about gender bias, inequality, early marriage, and other barriers that prevent girls from accessing education in Tanzania. But in Pwani and beyond, local organizations supported by Malala Fund and funded by Pura are finding creative, culturally relevant ways like this one to capture people’s interest.

The film ends and Sheilla, the Communications and Partnership Lead for Media for Development and Advocacy (MEDEA), stands in front of the crowd once again, asking the audience to reflect: What did you think about the film? How did it relate to your own experience? What can we learn?

Sheilla explains that, once the community sees the film, “It brings out conversations within themselves, reflective conversations.” The resonance and immediate action create a ripple effect of change.

MEDEA Screening Audience in Tanzania. Captured by James Roh for Pura

Across Tanzania, gender-based violence often forces adolescent girls out of the classroom. This and other barriers — including child marriage, poverty, conflict, and discrimination — prevent girls from completing their education around the world.

Sheilla and her team are using film and radio programs to address the challenges girls face in their communities. MEDEA’s ultimate goal is to affirm education as a fundamental right for everyone, and to ensure that every member of a community understands how girls’ education contributes to a stronger whole and how to be an ally for their sisters, daughters, granddaughters, friends, nieces, and girlfriends.

Sheilla’s story is one of many that inspired Heart on Fire, a new fragrance from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection that blends the warm, earthy spices of Tanzania with a playful, joyful twist. Here’s how Pura is using scent as a tool to connect the world and inspire action.

A partnership focused on local impact, on a global mission

Pura, a fragrance company that recognizes education as both freedom and a human right, has partnered with Malala Fund since 2022. In order to defend every girl’s right to access and complete 12 years of education, Malala Fund partners with local organizations in countries where the educational barriers are the greatest. They invest in locally-led solutions because they know that those who are closest to the problems are best equipped to solve and build durable solutions, like MEDEA, which works with communities to challenge discrimination against girls and change beliefs about their education.

But local initiatives can thrive and scale more powerfully with global support, which is why Pura is using their own superpower, the power of scent, to connect people around the world with the women and girls in these local communities.

The Pura x Malala Fund Collection incorporates ingredients naturally found in Tanzania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil: countries where Malala Fund operates to address systemic education barriers. Eight percent of net revenue from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection will be donated to Malala Fund directly, but beyond financial support, the Collection is also a love letter to each unique community, blending notes like lemon, jasmine, cedarwood, and clove to transport people, ignite their senses, and help them draw inspiration and hope from the global movement for girls’ education. Through scent, people can connect to the courage, joy, and tenacity of girls and local leaders, all while uniting in a shared commitment to education: the belief that supporting girls’ rights in one community benefits all of us, everywhere.

You’ve already met Sheilla. Now see how Naiara and Mama Habiba are building unique solutions to ensure every girl can learn freely and dare to dream.

Naiara Leite is reimagining what’s possible in Brazil

Julia with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura

In Brazil, where pear trees and coconut plantations cover the Northeastern Coast, girls like ten-year-old Julia experience a different kind of educational barrier than girls in Tanzania. Too often, racial discrimination contributes to high dropout rates among Black, quilombola and Indigenous girls in the country.

“In the logic of Brazilian society, Black people don’t need to study,” says Naiara Leite, Executive Coordinator of Odara, a women-led organization and Malala Fund partner. Bahia, the state where Odara is based, was once one of the largest slave-receiving territories in the Americas, and because of that history, deeply-ingrained, anti-Black prejudice is still widespread. “Our role and the image constructed around us is one of manual labor,” Naiara says.

But education can change that. In 2020, with assistance from a Malala Fund grant, Odara launched its first initiative for improving school completion rates among Black, quilombola, and Indigenous girls: “Ayomidê Odara”. The young girls mentored under the program, including Julia, are known as the Ayomidês. And like the Pura x Malala Fund Collection’s Brazil: Breath of Courage scent, the Ayomidês are fierce, determined, and bursting with energy.

Ayomidês with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura

Ayomidês take part in weekly educational sessions where they explore subjects like education and ethnic-racial relations. The girls are encouraged to find their own voices by producing Instagram lives, social media videos, and by participating in public panels. Already, the Ayomidês are rewriting the narrative on what’s possible for Afro-Brazilian girls to achieve. One of the earliest Ayomidês, a young woman named Debora, is now a communications intern. Another former Ayomidê, Francine, works at UNICEF, helping train the next generation of adolescent leaders. And Julia has already set her sights on becoming a math teacher or a model.

“These are generations of Black women who did not have access to a school,” Naiara says. “These are generations of Black women robbed daily of their dreams. And we’re telling them that they could be the generation in their family to write a new story.”

Mama Habiba is reframing the conversation in Nigeria

Centre for Girls' Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura

In Mama Habiba’s home country of Nigeria, the scents of starfruit, ylang ylang and pineapple, all incorporated into the Pura x Malala Collection’s “Nigeria: Hope for Tomorrow,” can be found throughout the vibrant markets. Like these native scents, Mama Habiba says that the Nigerian girls are also bright and passionate, but too often they are forced to leave school long before their potential fully blooms.

“Some of these schools are very far, and there is an issue of quality, too,” Mama Habiba says. “Most parents find out when their children are in school, the girls are not learning. So why allow them to continue?”

When girls drop out of secondary school, marriage is often the alternative. In Nigeria, one in three girls is married before the age of 18. When this happens, girls are unable to fulfill their potential, and their families and communities lose out on the social, health and economic benefits.

Completing secondary school delays marriage, and according to UNESCO, educated girls become women who raise healthier children, lift their families out of poverty and contribute to more peaceful, resilient communities.

Centre for Girls’ Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura

To encourage young girls to stay in school, the Centre for Girls’ Education, a nonprofit in Nigeria founded by Mama Habiba and supported by Malala Fund and Pura, has pioneered an initiative that’s similar to the Ayomidê workshops in Brazil: safe spaces. Here, girls meet regularly to learn literacy, numeracy, and other issues like reproductive health. These safe spaces also provide an opportunity for the girls to role-play and learn to advocate for themselves, develop their self-image, and practice conversations with others about their values, education being one of them. In safe spaces, Mama Habiba says, girls start to understand “who she is, and that she is a girl who has value. She has the right to negotiate with her parents on what she really feels or wants.”

“When girls are educated, they can unlock so many opportunities,” Mama Habiba says. “It will help the economy of the country. It will boost so many opportunities for the country. If they are given the opportunity, I think the sky is not the limit. It is the starting point for every girl.”

From parades, film screenings to safe spaces and educational programs, girls and local leaders are working hard to strengthen the quality, safety and accessibility of education and overcome systemic challenges. They are encouraging courageous behavior and reminding us all that education is freedom.

Experience the Pura x Malala Fund Collection here, and connect with the stories of real girls leading change across the globe.

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Were medieval parents less attached to their children? – Photo credit: Living History by Dr Julia Martins/YouTube

Family, Parenting

Historian debunks the notion that grief in ‘Hamnet’ was portrayed unrealistically for the time

Knowing you were likely to lose a child didn’t make it any easier.

Annie Reneau

3/20/2026

The majority of parents today have never known the pain of losing a child. Sadly, that was not the case throughout history. Before the 20th century, many parents could expect one or more of their children to die before reaching adulthood, usually due to infectious disease.

As in the book it was based on, the film adaptation of Hamnet centers on parental grief. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the tear-streaked aftermath of others who have.

Jessie Buckley’s Oscar-winning performance as a grieving mother wrecked audiences far and wide. Her improvised, guttural scream after her child’s death went straight to the heart. Her calling the scream “ancient” couldn’t feel more accurate.

@screenplayed
Jessie Buckley talks about this moment in Hamnet wasn’t in the script. It came up on the day. Buckley is nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. What do you think of the film? 🎥 #hamnet #jessiebuckley #academyawards #oscars #filmtok
♬ original sound – Screenplayed

However, some people have questioned whether the film’s intense portrayal of grief is realistic for the time period. Naturally, we would expect a child’s death to devastate a parent today. But was that the case historically? Did parents mourn the loss of a child as hard or as long when nearly half of children died? Would knowing you were likely to lose a child, or multiple children, make their deaths easier to handle?

The idea that parents hundreds of years ago weren’t as emotionally attached to their kids isn’t new, even in academic circles. Dr. Julia Martins, a historian, explored the debate in a YouTube video titled “Did They Love Their Children? The History of Grief.”

It began with French historian Philippe Ariès, who published a book in 1960 about childhood through the centuries.

“Ariès argued that the concept of childhood as a distinct, protected phase of life is a modern invention that only emerged around the 17th century,” Martins said. “Children were understood as mini adults and, from the time they were around seven, they mixed with the adult world. He suggested that, because of the incredibly high infant mortality, parents were forced to be emotionally distant and not get too attached to their children, who might not live to see their first birthday. This indifference would be a defense mechanism. Expecting to lose half the children you had would make you not as emotionally invested in them.”

In his 1977 book The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500–1800, historian Lawrence Stone also posited that colder, more pragmatic family relationships were the norm. In his assessment, the affectionate, loving bonds we associate with family today developed late in our history.

‘Hail! Potita was the sweetest and most gentle child. She lived 3 years.’

(Ave Potita dulcissima et humanissima annorum III )

Gravestone of a young girl named Potita, 1st-2nd century AD pic.twitter.com/mGPpFgO7E0
— Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) February 28, 2025

However, by the 1980s, historians began to question this idea. Martins pointed out that Ariès relied on paintings from the past to draw his conclusions.

For her 1983 book Forgotten Children, historian Linda Pollock focused her research on diaries and autobiographies from the 16th to 19th centuries. She argued that parents have always had intense love for their children and felt a deep sense of loss when they died.

Martins’ own examination of the historical record has led her to the same conclusion. The difference, she suggested, lies in how parents coped with the pain of losing a child.

“We forget how deeply religious early modern Europe was,” Martins said. “Could this indifference be religious resignation, instead of lack of affection? In a world where people understood death as God’s will, parents might console themselves thinking things like ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.’ That doesn’t mean they weren’t grieving, but rather that they were focusing on the child being in heaven and accepting God’s will. Ariès interpreted this as a lack of feeling. But you could argue that this was a coping strategy for deep pain. The grief was real; the cultural script for expressing it was different.”

Hamnet is a tidal wave of grief and beauty at its stillest. There’s something enchanting in how stories transcend time, finding us in loss to anchor us in the present. A lush world inviting cathartic release, where emotion flows deep, asking you to surrender to feel it all pic.twitter.com/GQc9MlOiuT
— Jillian (@JillianChili) October 6, 2025

And of course, grief is and has always been an individual experience. Even in Hamnet, the parents express their grief differently, despite losing the same child.

People in the comments on Martins’ video reiterated how historical artifacts demonstrate expressions of parental grief:

“Sometimes I find myself thinking of the skull of the ancient Greek child with the crown of painted ceramic flowers on her head. Someone loved that child to the point that they couldn’t bear the thought of those flowers wilting.”

“Whenever I hear the claim that people didn’t grieve their children, I think of the ancient graves we find where children are so carefully prepared for burial, with a toy (obviously made by hand, so carrying a time cost and not quickly replaceable) buried with them. That doesn’t seem like the actions of a parent who doesn’t care.”

“My favorite example about children always being children are ancient Egyptian ‘hot wheels’: toys shaped like a tiny chariot or wagon with wheels on it, and holes to put a string through… I can’t erase the mental image I got of an ancient Egyptian child thousands of years ago running around lugging A TOY CAR around, forgetting or breaking it and crying to parents, or being happy about getting a new one as a holiday gift, nothing really changed.”

“Cicero was inconsolable when his daughter Tullia died. Julius Caesar, who had also lost his daughter Julia, his only child, wrote to him to offer sympathy. They had a whole correspondence on grief. Cicero built a temple (lost today) to the memory of his daughter. The idea that parents from the past did not care is ludicrous.”

“It always felt to me so strange to figure that people in the past ‘wouldn’t care so much’ for their kids because a lot of children died. Two things can be true at the same time. People surely knew that lots of people died in a very early age AND that doesn’t diminish any kind of bond or attachment. Ironically, it’s this theory itself that IS detached (from reality): humans are social creatures!”

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A child with glasses laughing. – Photo credit: Canva

Family, Kids

‘Old soul’ kid chooses his own name, then cracks himself up for a full minute

“His little laugh gets me every time.”

Cecily Knobler

3/20/2026

Donna Whelan describes her young son, Jacob, as an “old soul,” and well over a million people on social media seem to agree. She shares many adorable clips of him online, but one recent video of Jacob choosing his own name might just take the cake.

In a clip from Donna’s Instagram page, she begins to ask Jacob a question: “Right, if you could choose a name for yourself…” She doesn’t even have a chance to finish before he confidently answers, “Roberto,” playing with a small lock of hair behind his ear. Just as quickly, he bursts into laughter and can’t seem to stop. “Didn’t even finish the sentence, and I gave ya an answer. Roberto!”

View this post on Instagram

Donna asks, “Do you like that name?” It’s now time for Jacob to get serious. “Yeah. Roberto is my favorite name.” He puts his hands into a pyramid, not unlike a politician or a TED Talk speaker. “When you think of… say Roberto slowly, though. Ro-bert-to. Ro-ber-toe. Rubber toe.” The laughing fit continues, his cheeks turning pink beneath his thick glasses.

“Why does that name make you laugh so much?” Donna asks. Jacob immediately dissolves into giggles once again. “It’s just a funny name! Rubber toe!” It’s clear he’s not mocking it in any way, but simply delighted by his quick reaction and the joke.

The laugh is truly infectious. Nearly 75,000 likes and over 3,500 comments (and counting) just heap love onto this child.

One commenter says, “His little laugh gets me every time.” Another adds, “I actually laughed out loud too when he said ROBERTO😂😂 We never know what he’s going to say next.”

And of course, a few “Robertos” chime in. “My name is Roberto,” one person says. “What’s so funny about being called Roberto? 😂” Another commenter adds, “Ya gotta say it slowly, though. Then it’s funny, haha.”

View this post on Instagram

Another Instagrammer shares that their son wanted to change his name when he was young: “My son wanted to change his name to Fun because he just wanted to have fun. His name is Benjamin or Ben. We call him Funjamin or Fun to this day, and he’s 29 years old!”

This isn’t uncommon. In a piece I wrote for Upworthy a few months ago, I explored a popular parenting Reddit thread where people discussed their kids choosing new names, or even wanting to reinvent themselves.

“For what it’s worth, I wanted to change my name a million times growing up,” one person confessed. “First, I wanted Dawn, then Angel, and lord knows what after that. I’m sure I went by Lilith during high school for a moment. My parents were so blasé about it. I never did change my name.”

Another joked, “My son went by Spider-Man for almost a year at age 4. He’s 23 now and happy with his given name.”

View this post on Instagram

As for Jacob and his mom, who have more than 4 million followers on social media, they continue to delight the Internet with little Jacob-isms. In another popular clip, Jacob shares that he has “had about a million lives.” When Donna asks, “Would you like me to be your mum in every life?” Jacob slyly smiles, nods, and gives a resounding “Yes.”

In a book by Donna and Jacob, The World According to Jacob: Hilarious Words of Wisdom From a Little Old Soul, they reveal that “Jacob has captured millions of hearts around the world with his infectious sense of humour, his fun, and his cheeky smile.”

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Maria DeLorenzo discusses the MIL/DIL dynamic. – Photo credit: @mommom.maria/Instagram

Family, Parenting

The 1 mistake grandparents who don’t see their grandkids enough make with their daughter-in-law

“It’s not rocket science.”

Heather Wake

3/19/2026
A grandmother’s candid take on family dynamics is getting people talking, and for many, nodding in agreement. After noticing a recurring question from frustrated grandparents online, one woman decided to address a sensitive topic head-on: why grandchildren often seem to spend more time with their mother’s side of the family.

In a recent Instagram reel, Maria DeLorenzo, 59, responded to a wave of comments, particularly from mothers-in-law (MIL), wondering how to “counteract” what feels like an uneven relationship. Her answer was simple but eye-opening.

“Kids live their lives in proximity to their parents,” she said, implying that they’re often closer to their mother. As a result, if grandparents on the father’s side don’t try to “cultivate” a relationship with the mom, aka the daughter-in-law (DIL), they may have fewer opportunities to see their grandchildren as a consequence.

“It’s not rocket science,” she added. “That’s all there is to it…so choose.”

View this post on Instagram

That opinion is shared by Cheryl Groskopf, a holistic therapist at Evolution to Healing.

“It’s important to understand that grandparent relationships usually grow out of the parent relationship first,” Groskopf said. “A child’s primary sense of safety runs through their parent—especially early on. So if a mother feels supported, respected, and emotionally safe with a grandparent…the most effective mindset shift is understanding that connection with the grandchild comes through connection with the parent.”

Video sparks thoughtful debate

The Instagram video drew more than 100,000 views and sparked a thoughtful discussion in the comments.

Many parents shared personal experiences that supported DeLorenzo’s perspective. However, others felt it was an “outdated” view of MIL/DIL dynamics and argued that both the DIL and the son share responsibility for cultivating closeness.

Even Groskopf agreed that “DILs can also be intentional about creating space for connection. Many grandparents are trying to figure out what their role is in a new family system. Small gestures like sharing updates, inviting them into moments with the child, and acknowledging their excitement about being a grandparent can go a long way toward building safe and supportive relationships.”

No matter how you slice it, effort and intention from all sides seem to be necessary ingredients for building relationships.

What a grandparent can do to build a relationship

Here are some helpful ideas, courtesy of certified parent coach Sari Goodman:
1. Ask the parents, “How can I help?” and then follow through.
2. Show up without judgment. Your grandkids may not be raised the way you would raise them, but it’s best to keep that to yourself.
3. Show up with compliments. Notice something the parents do well and share the observation. When the grandkids do something brilliant, adorable, or sweet, point it out.
4. Follow the rules the parents have established. If, for example, the children aren’t allowed to have sugar, don’t give it to them.
5. Compliment the DIL’s parents. Did they bring the grandchildren a clever toy? Tell them. Do they have a method for getting the grandchildren into the car calmly? Say you want to learn from them.
What a DIL can do to cultivate a relationship

@heyjanellemarie
Getting On the Same Page ✅ Honestly regardless of age, both parties should always be coming to any relationship with the intention and expextation for mutual respect. But noting that just because a Daughter-In-Law or future daughter-in-law isn’t a child and is in fact a grown person may help guide the approach you take as a parent of an adult or MIL. #relationshipbuilding #healthyrelationships #inlawrelationships #toxicmil #toxicdil #toxicinlaws #mutualrespect #mutualbenefit #opencommunication #effectivecommunication
♬ original sound – Janelle Marie

Here are some helpful ideas from Goodman:
1. Ask for help. Grandparents want to feel needed. Raising kids is hard. It’s a win-win.
2. Ask grandparents for their opinion once in a while.
3. Ask grandparents how things were done when you were a child.
4. Be clear about the rules and policies you have established for your family.
5. If the grandparents are babysitting, be sure to show them where the drinks and snacks are.
6. If the grandparents are babysitting over a mealtime, have a meal prepared for them to eat.
7. Compliment their grandparenting skills.
Bottom line: all relationships take work. And very often, whether it’s with grandparents or within friendship circles, that effort pays off exponentially.
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A young mom with her kids in the ER. – Photo credit: Coffe4LifeSage/TikTok

Family, Parenting

Mom took her teenage son to the ER, and the doctor seriously doubted their relationship

“They doubted I was the parent.”

Tod Perry

Upworthy Staff

3/19/2026

Sage Pasch’s unique family situation has attracted a lot of attention recently. The 20-something mother of 2 shared a 6-second TikTok video on September 29 that has been viewed over 48 million times because it shows how hard it can be for young moms to be taken seriously.

In the video, the young-looking Pasch took her son Nick to the ER after he injured his leg at school. But when the family got to the hospital, the doctor couldn’t believe Pasch was his mother.

“POV, we’re at the ER, and the doctor didn’t believe I was the parent,” she captioned the post.

@coffee4lifesage
He really thought i was lying😭
♬ After Last Night (Sped Up Version) – sped up nightcore

Pasch and her fiancé , Luke Faircloth, adopted the teen in 2022 after his parents tragically died two years apart. “Nick was already spending so much time with us, so it made sense that we would continue raising him,” Pasch told Today.com.

View this post on Instagram

The couple has two sons together, including toddler Laith, and is now a family of five.

Pasch says that people are often taken aback by her family when they are out in public. “Everybody gets a little confused because my fiancé and I are definitely younger to have a teenager,” she said. “It can be very frustrating.”

It may be hard for the young parents to be taken seriously, but their story has made a lot of people in a similar situation feel seen. “Omg, I feel this. I took my son to the ER, and they asked for the guardian. Yes, hi, that’s me,” Brittany wrote in the comments. “Meee with my teenager at a parent-teacher conference. They think I’m her older sister and say we need to talk with your parents,” KatMonroy added.

View this post on Instagram

This article originally appeared last year.

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A man and a woman talk at a bar – Photo credit: Canva

Family, Home Life

Her husband got kissed by a stranger at a bar. Her response got more criticism than the woman who did it.

A night out in Los Angeles turned into a debate about consent, boundaries, and what it actually means to keep your cool.

Adam Albright-Hanna

3/19/2026

When a drunk woman grabbed her husband’s face and kissed him at a Los Angeles bar, @toastedciabatta stayed cool. No confrontation, no scene. When the woman’s friend rushed over to apologize, she smiled and said, “He’s a hot guy, I get it.” Later, when their groups crossed paths again, she let it go entirely.

She thought she’d handled it well. Then she went home and couldn’t stop replaying it.

In a TikTok posted in late August, she walked through the whole night, explaining that as her husband stepped up to order drinks, a woman approached him, held his face, and tried to kiss him on the mouth. He turned away just in time, so it landed on his cheek. The woman walked off. A friend of hers spotted the wife nearby and immediately started apologizing. The wife, not wanting to embarrass anyone, kept things light. The friend apologized again, explaining that her friend was very drunk. The wife told her not to worry about it.

@rjchild
Is there a “right” way to handle something like that? Did I completely miss my shining opportunity for a justified bar brawl?! #storytime #fypage #dramatiktok #couples #relationships
♬ original sound – RJ

But something about the moment stuck. Not because she wished she’d gotten angry, she made that clear, but because she felt she’d let something genuinely not okay just dissolve into the noise of a crowded bar. In the video, she said she imagined going back and calmly asking the woman if she remembered what she’d done, and making clear that kissing a stranger without their consent isn’t acceptable regardless of how much you’ve had to drink. “Is there a ‘right’ way to handle something like that?” she asked viewers. “Did I completely miss my shining opportunity for a justified bar brawl?”

The internet had opinions, and they weren’t all what she might have expected. The Mary Sue covered the response, noting that while some viewers backed her composure, “Girl, you’re GENTLE PARENTING at a BAR???” became something of a rallying cry in the comments. A number of people pointed out that the real issue wasn’t how she handled a social awkwardness but that her husband had been kissed without his consent, full stop, and that framing it as a question of her reaction somewhat missed the point. “He was just assaulted in front of you,” one commenter wrote, “and you just asked like ‘you OK that was weird?’”

Bar patrons drinking on a busy night. Photo credit: Canva

Others pushed back on that framing, arguing that the woman was clearly too drunk to have a meaningful conversation and that nothing said in that moment would have landed anyway. “That is a conversation she needs while sober,” one user noted.

A smaller contingent said they would have handled it very differently. “I probably would not have been that understanding,” wrote @brooklynn_beast. “I’d start swinging.” @birdmo_k was more measured: “It’s assault. I would have called security.”

The split in the comments is the real story. Most people watching agreed the kissing woman was wrong. What divided them was whether a calm non-reaction is grace under pressure or something closer to normalizing behavior that shouldn’t be normalized.

For more videos like this, you can follow @toastedsourdoug on TikTok.

This article originally appeared earlier this year.

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A young boy plays with his dog – Photo credit: Canva

Family, Modern Families

A mom noticed her dog acting strange around her son for days. His explanation left her speechless.

“Sometimes they’re better at checking in than I am.”

Adam Albright-Hanna

3/18/2026

Annie noticed her dog acting strange on a Saturday and spent the better part of the weekend trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

The dog had become completely fixated on her son, following him from room to room, nudging him, hovering nearby. “Like Velcro,” as Annie, who posts on Threads as @annie.wade00, put it. She ran through the usual checklist: was he limping? Off his food? Showing any signs of pain? Nothing. He seemed physically fine. He just wouldn’t leave her son alone. “I thought the dog was sick or something was wrong with him,” she wrote in a post that has since racked up more than 21,000 likes, comments and shares.

After a few days of watching the behavior continue, she finally asked her son if he had noticed the dog “acting weird.” That’s when the real story came out.

Young child walking the dog. Photo credit: Canva

Her son told her he had been under serious stress about an upcoming school presentation. He’d been losing sleep, replaying worst-case scenarios, dreading the moment he’d have to stand up in front of his classmates. He hadn’t said much about it to anyone. The dog, it turned out, had been responding to something her son had been quietly carrying for days.

“Now my son says having the dog nearby actually helps him feel calmer,” Annie wrote. “Animals pick up on things we don’t talk about. Sometimes they’re better at checking in than I am.”

A frollicking dog running with its rope toy. Photo credit: Canva

The story landed because so many people recognized it. In the comments, readers shared their own versions. One person described how their dog, Snoopy, grabbed a sock and hid under the bed the morning they were scheduled for cancer surgery. He had never stolen a sock before, and never did it again. “He knew I was anxious that morning and was trying to keep me home,” they wrote.

As Newsweek reported, animal behavior expert Kate LaSala said none of this is really surprising from a scientific standpoint. “Dogs are also very attuned to routines and our own emotions,” LaSala said. “They have evolved to be especially good at reading our body language, much better than we are at reading theirs.” Stress and disrupted sleep both alter a person’s scent, their body language, and their daily patterns, and dogs register all of it. Research published in the journal Biology Letters backs this up, finding that dogs can integrate visual and auditory cues to identify emotional states in both humans and other dogs, an ability researchers described as previously known only in humans.

This article originally appeared earlier this year.

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Siblings perform their unique rap version of a song from "The Little Mermaid." – Photo credit: Tara Annan/Instagram

Family, Kids

Siblings rap version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ song has people hooked

“This is a Grammy-level performance in the world of ‘mom look at this!'”

Cecily Knobler

3/18/2026

It was just an average Friday night for Tara Annan and her family of seven. Everyone was enjoying downtime in the living room when suddenly the two youngest kids created a unique spin on a Disney musical classic. The world took notice.

Cohen, who goes by the nickname Buggy, stands casually next to his older sister, Joee (pronounced Joey). In a light purple shirt, Joee begins to set the beat while singing, “Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat? Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?”

View this post on Instagram

The Little Mermaid

The song the kids are singing/rapping is “Part of Your World” from the hit movie The Little Mermaid. (Alan Menken composed the music, and Howard Ashman provided the lyrics.) It’s a beautiful, swooning ballad and a pivotal part of the musical. For those unaware, the story centers around a lovely redheaded mermaid named Ariel. She gets a glimpse of life on land, and she wants in.

In the song, Ariel admits to herself that no matter how wonderful her world is under the sea, she wants more: “I’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. I’ve got whosits and whatsits galore. Want thingamabobs? I’ve got twenty. But who cares? No big deal. I want more…”

So of course the song deserves a hype man. That’s where Buggy comes in. Clad in his signature glasses and plaid pants, he begins his interpretive dance, adding in ridiculously hilarious sound effects and dance moves. The best part? The siblings just play off one another, as though they’re an old Vaudeville act that’s been doing it for ages.

A musical family

Upworthy had a chance to chat with Annan, a busy mom of five, who shared what her family’s typical weekends look like.

“I didn’t cook that night so we all were hanging out in the living room after our DoorDash,” she says.

She admits that having five kids creates a rather bustling energy:

“We are a very loud bunch. We love music. Either my kids are making up their own beats or we have music on. We listen to all types of music. One thing I love is my home sets the tone for my kids to be themselves.”

@okiemomlife
Morning vlog!!
♬ original sound – Tara | Okiemomof5

As for that particular song? “I just so happened to capture that little mix that night and the world loved it,” she says.

The loving reaction

This clip has over 850,000 likes on Instagram alone and more than 21,000 comments. One person jokingly writes that a “trap” version of the rendition would be done by rapper Lil Wayne—or, as they call him, “Lil Mermayne.”

There are so many wholesome and funny comments pointing out the magic this family seems to have when creating together.

“Imagine you tell your daughter to ‘go play with your little brother’ and 15 minutes later, they come down with this MASTERPIECE,” a commenter notes.

Another commenter gives it the highest praise, writing, “This is a Grammy-level performance in the world of ‘mom look at this!’”

Finally, this commenter shares that if they’d had these particular kids, they might have made different choices in life: “It’s embarrassing how many times I’ve watched this. If I knew this was guaranteed, I’d consider having kids.”

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A dad got a sweet note from a fellow father after camping with his kids. – Photo credit: Canva, Note image via RCampR6/Reddit

Dads, Family

A dad was camping with his kids when a fellow camper slipped him this handwritten note

“From one dad to another.”

Annie Reneau

Upworthy Staff

3/17/2026

There are a lot of challenging things about being a parent; take your pick. The sleep deprivation, the overwhelming responsibility, the lack of free time. But truly, one of the hardest parts of being a parent is never being sure whether you’re doing a good job or totally bombing it. If you’re conscientious enough to even wonder if you’re a good parent, you probably are, but parenting entails a million little choices and interactions, and there’s always a lingering voice in your head saying, “What if you’re really screwing this whole thing up?”

Reassurance and encouragement are always appreciated by parents, but not always received, which is why a note from one camping dad to another has people celebrating the kindness of anonymous strangers.

“You are killing it as a dad.”

Someone on Yosemite Reddit thread shared a photo of a handwritten note with the caption, “To the man who left this thoughtful note on my windshield at Lower Pines Campground this weekend, I extend my heartfelt gratitude; your acknowledgment of my efforts to be a good father means a great deal to me.”

The note reads:

Windshield Note.
byu/RCampR6 inYosemite

“Bro,

I camped in the spot behind you last night. Let me just say, you are killing it as a dad. First off, I watched your wife guide you in as you backed up your trailer and nailed it on the first try without any yelling. Then your kids unloaded from the truck and were mild-mannered and well behaved. You told stories around the campfire and I had the pleasure of listening to the sounds of giggles and laughter.

From one dad to another, you are killing it. Keep it up.

P.S. Whatever you cooked for dinner smelled delicious!”

How often do we share these thoughts with strangers, even if we have them? And who wouldn’t love to get a surprise bit of praise with specific examples of things we did right?

Everyone needs to hear a compliment once in a while.

A handwritten note with the words Photo credit: Canva

So many people found the note to be a breath of fresh air and a good reminder to compliment people when we feel the urge:

“That would make any daddy’s eyes water.”

“It’s always nice, as a guy, to get a compliment.”

“I complimented a guy’s glasses at work (I’m also a guy, and btw they were really cool glasses, I wasn’t just being nice) and now he keeps trying to tell me where he got his glasses and how I should get some. But I’m just having to be polite because I already have glasses and I’m not in the market. I finally had to tell him I’m not going to buy them lmao I just like them on him.

Made me feel like that’s the first compliment he’s had in years because he can’t stop talking about it. Also I mainly liked the glasses because I think he’s cute but he really thinks it’s just the glasses haha jokes on him that cute bastard.””I was in the store with my wife and one of our ‘adopted nephews’ yesterday (we’re close friends with his parents and we’ve known him and his brother since they were newborns and 2yo, respectively). A woman came up to me at checkout while my wife was running out to the car and said ‘I’m not sure what your family relationship is here, but I just have to tell you how nice and refreshing it is to hear all the laughter and joy from the 3 of you. You both seem like such a good influence on him and it warms my heart.’ It’s such a small thing but as a dude, I can’t remember the last time someone gave me a compliment in public and it made my freaking day.”

“10/10 letter. The and not yelling part gave me a good chuckle lol.”

“We need so much more of men getting such heartfelt and sincere compliments. Thanks for sharing. ❤️”

A man smiling Photo credit: Canva

“I’ve never considered leaving a note, but when I see a harmonious family with good parenting, it’s healing for me. My childhood was awful.”

“Such an awesome compliment! Even though I don’t have children myself, I like to remind my friends too that they’re doing great & it brings them happy tears.”

“This made me cry. I love that you are getting your ‘flowers.’ My dad sucked, I’m so glad you are one of the good ones.”

“This made me cry too. It’s so hard to be a human. Let alone a parent. Getting a good job sticker every now and then really means a lot these days.”

“I’m a big bearded guy and I would cry if I got this note. More people like this, please.”

The best part of this story is that no one knows who the dad who wrote the note is, not even the dad who shared it. It wasn’t written for clout or notoriety, it wasn’t to get attention or make himself look good. No name or signature, just an anonymous act of kindness to uplift a stranger whether he needed it or not.

A dad with his kid on his shoulders Photo credit: Canva

We all need to hear or read kind things said about us, and sometimes it means even more coming from an anonymous stranger who has nothing to gain by sharing. A good reminder to share it when you feel it—you never know how many people you may move and inspire.

This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

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