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Bullies told this boy Irish dancing was 'for girls.' An NFL player disagreed.

It all started with a mother desperate to help her son.

Carl Tubbs, 12, of Des Moines, Iowa, has been taking Irish dancing lessons for four years — and he's really good at it. According to ABC News, Carl spends extra time practicing during recess at school to help him get ready for competitions.

But there's one big problem. Carl's choice of hobby has made him a target for school bullies. Dancing is "for girls," they tell him, and he's often teased mercilessly.

Feeling powerless as her son was being tormented, Carl's mom, Joanne, did what any loving parent would do. She ... reached out to an NFL star on Twitter?

Recent profiles of Baltimore Ravens running back Alex Collins revealed a surprising aspect of his training: He, too, was a fan of the Irish jig.

The quick-moving, foot-focused dance style helps Collins stay light on his feet while avoiding crushing blows from opposing linebackers, and with Collins emerging as a top player at his position this year, his unique training style has garnered a lot of attention.

Joanne Tubbs reached out, hoping there was some way Collins could help her son.

To her surprise, Collins responded to her tweet. But that was only the beginning.

"Never stop doing the things you love because someone else doesn't agree," Collins replied. "Chase your dreams Carl and don't let them stop you from being great!"

Collins offered to meet Carl before the next Ravens game in Minnesota — which is driving distance from Carl's home — to give him some more words of encouragement.

Carl meets his NFL hero. Photo via Chad Steele/Baltimore Ravens.

Before and after the game, Collins met with the Carl, introduced him to his teammates, gave him a team-signed football, and told him to keep his head up.

In other interviews, Collins has revealed that he was also teased and bullied for his interest in dance. But not anymore.

Carl said Collins simply told him, "Just keep on moving forward and they’ll learn that picking on someone is not OK and eventually it’ll get better." He also noted that, with an NFL star in his corner, the bullies have since apologized.

We need more dudes like Collins who are willing to break down tired old ideas about what makes a man.

Not every kid who gets bullied receives a public show of support from a major sports figure. There wouldn't be enough time in the day. The best thing male role models can do is lead by their own example.

Men can be physically big and strong, or not. They can like football or dancing, or both. But the one thing they should never have to be is ashamed of being who they are and enjoying the things they do — especially when it breaks with traditional standards of masculinity.

Kudos to Collins for living the message, and for taking the time to make sure the next generation knows it's OK to just be themselves.

Family

Korean mom has a perfect response to the teacher who called her son's lunches 'disgusting'

Good for her for standing up for her child's culture.

via Roman Harak/Flickr

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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Pop Culture

Rick Astley covered Foo Fighters' 'Everlong' and it's shockingly great

Consider yourself Rick-Grohled.

Rick Astley/YouTube

Rick Astley rocking his Foo Fighters 'Everlong' cover.

Rick Astley has to be the luckiest '80s musician on the planet. The whole "Rickrolling" phenomenon has given his hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up" a reach far beyond its natural life span, and kept the guy a household name far longer than he probably would have been.

(For those who are unfamiliar, Rickrolling is when you make someone think they're being sent to a website, but the link goes to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video instead as a joke. It's a silly viral bait-and-switch gag that's been going since 2006.)

But what people may not realize, because his most famous song has become an internet joke, is that Rick Astley is actually a really freaking great musician. The man can saaaang and it seems he's only gotten better with age.

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Family

Dad found out his son bullied a kid at school and came up with a brilliant teaching moment

"I told him that we have the opportunity to make things right."

@thehalfdeaddad/TikTok

Dad on TikTok shared how he addressed his son's bullying.

What do you do when you find out your kid bullied someone? For many parents, the first step is forcing an apology. While this response is of course warranted, is it really effective? Some might argue that there are more constructive ways of handling the situation that teach a kid not only what they did wrong, but how to make things right again.

Single dadPatrick Forseth recently shared how he made a truly teachable moment out of his son, Lincoln, getting into trouble for bullying. Rather than forcing an apology, Forseth made sure his son was actively part of a solution.


The thought process behind his decision, which he explained in a now-viral TikTok video, is both simple and somewhat racial compared to how many parents have been encouraged to handle similar situations.
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fatherhood
Education

People are raving about how much easier it is to read with 'bionic reading' font

This viral tool could be a game-changer for some.

Photo via Canva, @WhattheADHD/Twitter

The 'bionic reading' font is designed to help keep you focused and read faster.

Reading is a fundamental tool of learning for most people, which is why it's one of the first things kids learn in school and why nations set literacy goals.

But even those of us who are able to read fluently might sometimes struggle with the act of reading itself. Perhaps we don't read as quickly as we wish we could or maybe our minds wander as our eyes move across the words. Sometimes we get to the end of a paragraph and realize we didn't retain anything we just read.

People with focus or attention issues can struggle with reading, despite having no actual reading disabilities. It can be extremely frustrating to want to read something and have no issues with understanding the material, yet be unable to keep your mind engaged with the text long enough to get "into" what you're reading.

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Joy

Airbnb host wakes his guest up in the middle of the night so she wouldn't miss the northern lights

Best. Host. Ever.

@penslucero/TikTok

Pency Lucero taking in the Northern Lights

Seeing the northern lights is a common bucket list adventure for many people. After all, it ticks a lot of boxes—being a dazzling light show, rich historical experience and scientific phenomenon all rolled into one. Plus there’s the uncertainty of it all, never quite knowing if you’ll witness a vivid streak of otherworldly colors dance across the sky…or simply see an oddly colored cloud. It’s nature’s slot machine, if you will.

Traveler and content creator Pency Lucero was willing to take that gamble. After thorough research, she stumbled upon an Airbnb in Rörbäck, Sweden with an actual picture of the northern lights shining above the cabin in the listing. With that kind of photo evidence, she felt good about her odds.

However, as soon as she landed, snow began falling so hard that the entire sky was “barely visible,” she told Upworthy. Martin, the Airbnb host, was nonetheless determined to do everything he could to ensure his guests got to see the spectacle, even offering to wake Lucero up in the middle of the night if he saw anything.

Then one night, the knock came.

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nature
Family

Badass bikers show up for abused children, offering advocacy and protection

They become an abused child's "biker family," and they let the child—and everyone else—know that NO ONE messes with their family.

Bikers Against Child Abuse/YouTube

When you are a child who has been abused by people who are supposed to protect you, how do you feel safe?

That question is the heart of Bikers Against Child Abuse International (B.A.C.A.), an organization dedicated to creating "a safer environment for abused children." With specific training and extensive security checks, the frequently big and burly members of B.A.C.A. serve as protectors of chid abuse survivors, giving vulnerable children people to call on when they feel scared, and even showing up in court when a child asks them to.

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bikers
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