Upworthy's book GOOD PEOPLE, now available - take a look!

Shop
 Explore 

You don't have to take a class to learn CPR. Learn the basics with this 2-minute video.

CPR is a life skill everyone needs to know.

cpr, first aid, cardiac arrest

Cincinnati Children's/YouTube

You don't need your own mannequin to learn CPR at home.

When 24-year-old Damar Hamlin collapsed on the football field after a tackle on live television, millions of people were concerned. As the Buffalo Bills' quick-thinking assistant trainer began to perform CPR, many feared they had witnessed his death.

Thankfully, CPR began immediately, which likely saved Hamlin's life and may have prevented long-term damage from lack of oxygen to the brain and other vital organs. CPR saves lives. According to the American Heart Association, receiving CPR immediately in an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest event doubles or triples a person's chance of survival.

The key is acting fast when a person shows signs of cardiac arrest, and the key to acting fast is to know what you're doing. That's why everyone should know how to perform CPR.

There are classes you can take to learn CPR and other first aid skills, but in the era of the internet, it's not necessary to take a whole class to get a handle on the basics. While it's certainly nice to have a CPR "Annie" mannequin to practice on, that's also not necessary—you can practice CPR on pillows right at home. You can even make your own CPR mannequin at home using a T-shirt, a two-liter bottle, some rubber bands and some stuffing.

CPR isn't all that complicated and it doesn't take very long to learn. If you've never learned CPR or you need a refresher, there are plenty of videos out there to learn from. However, many of them include a lot of superfluous fluff. Cincinnati Children's Hospital has a very clear, no-nonsense video that shows you how to perform CPR on an adult in less than two minutes.

(Note: This video is for CPR on people ages 12 and older. Cincinnati Children's has similar videos for infant CPR and for CPR for children ages 1 to 12.)

One tip shared by the American Heart Association is to think of the beat to the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" to get the right speed and rhythm while doing CPR. May seem silly and punny, but it's easy to remember.

Also, the reason the person in the video points and says, "You! Call 911!" is because yelling out "Someone call 911!" isn't as effective as telling a specific person to do it. Everyone thinks somebody else will call, so assigning a person is wise.

If you're curious about why and how CPR works, this video offers a cool 3D illustration of exactly what's happening when you do compressions. It also shows what happens if you don't pump hard or fast enough, if you do it too fast or if you don't allow the heart to refill between pumps. Visualizing what's happening inside might help you remember CPR specifics, since the goal is to get blood to pump from the heart to the brain.

It's well worth the few minutes to familiarize yourself with how to perform CPR and do some pillow practice at home. With the availability of AEDs (automated external defibrillators) it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with how to use an AED as well. These machines generally have voice commands that tell you what to do as soon as you turn it on, but always good to know what to expect beforehand.

Most of us hope we'll never be in a situation where someone's life is in our hands, but if it does happen, we definitely want to be prepared.

From Your Site Articles

National Geographic Documentary Films

National Geographic Documentary Films

Nat Geo's 'Blink' tracks a family finding beauty while facing blindness as they travel the globe

“Let's go all in and fill their visual memory with as much beauty as we can."

via Edith Lemay/NatGeo

Mia, Leo, Colin, and Laurent Pelletier pose on top of their camper van in front of adouble rainbow while in Mongolia.

True

“Blink,” a new film by National Geographic Documentary Films shows how a family with four children, three of whom are going blind, embraces life in the face of an uncertain future. It’s a testament to the resilience of the Lemay-Pelletier family but also a reminder for all of us to seize the day because all our futures are uncertain.

Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier are the parents of Mia, a 13-year-old girl, and three boys: Léo, 11, Colin, 9, and Laurent, 7. Over the last six years, they’ve learned that Mia and the two youngest boys have retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease in which the cells of the retina slowly die. As the disease progresses, the person develops “tunnel vision” that shrinks until very little vision remains.

The diagnosis devastated the parents. "The hardest part with the diagnosis was inaction. There's nothing they can do about it. There's no treatment,” Edith says in the film.

However, even though the parents couldn’t affect the progress of the disease, they could give their children’s senses an epic experience that would benefit them for a lifetime.

“We don’t know how fast it’s going to go, but we expect them to be completely blind by mid-life,” said the parents. Mia’s impairment advisor suggested they fill her visual memory with pictures from books. “I thought, I’m not going to show her an elephant in a book; I’m going to take her to see a real elephant,” Edith explains in the film. “And I’m going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images I can.”

The Pelletier family (from left): Mia, Sebastien, Colin, Edith Lemay, Laurent and Leo inKuujjuaq, Canada.via National Geographic/Katie Orlinsky

This realization led to an inspiring year-long journey across 24 countries, during which every family member experienced something on their bucket list. Mia swam with dolphins, Edith rode a hot-air balloon in Cappadocia, and Léo saw elephants on safari.

Colin realized his dream of sleeping on a moving train while Sébastien saw the historic site of Angkor Wat.

“We were focusing on sights,” explains Pelletier. “We were also focusing a lot on fauna and flora. We’ve seen incredible animals in Africa but also elsewhere. So we were really trying to make them see things that they wouldn’t have seen at home and have the most incredible experiences.”

Cameras followed the family for 76 days as they traveled to far-flung locales, including Namibia, Mongolia, Egypt, Laos, Nepal and Turkey. Along the way, the family made friends with local people and wildlife. In a heartbreaking scene, the boys wept as the family had to leave behind a dog named Bella he befriended in the mountains of Nepal.

But the film isn't just about the wonders of nature and family camaraderie. The family's trip becomes a “nightmare” when they are trapped in a cable car suspended hundreds of feet above the Ecuadorian forest for over 10 hours.

annapurna range, blink, nat geo Leo, Laurent, Edith, Colin, Mia, and Sebastien look out at the mountains in the Annapurna range.via MRC/Jean-Sébastien Francoeur

As expected, NatGeo’s cinematographers beautifully capture the family's journey, and in the case of “Blink,” this majestic vision is of even greater importance. In some of the film's quietest moments, we see the children taking in the world's wonders, from the vast White Desert in Egypt to a fearless butterfly in Nepal, with the full knowledge that their sight will fail one day.

Along the way, the family took as many pictures as possible to reinforce the memories they made on their adventure. “Maybe they’ll be able to look at the photographs and the pictures and they will bring back those stories, those memories, of the family together,” Edith says.

But the film is about more than travel adventures and the pain of grief; ultimately, it’s about family.

“By balancing [the parents’ grief] with a more innocent and joyous tale of childlike wonder and discovery, we felt we could go beyond a mere catalog of locations and capture something universal,” the directors Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, said in a statement. “Keeping our camera at kid-height and intimately close to the family, we aimed to immerse the audience in the observational realities of their daily life, as well as the subtle relationships between each of them. This is a film built on looks, gestures and tiny details—the very fabric of our relationships with one another.”

Ultimately, “Blink” is a great film to see with your loved ones because it’s a beautiful reminder to appreciate the wonders of our world, the gift of our senses and the beauty of family.

The film will open in over 150 theaters in the U.S. and Canada beginning Oct. 4 and will debut on National Geographic Channel and stream on Disney+ and Hulu later this year. Visit the “Blink” website for more information.

From Your Site Articles

national geographic

People applauded after Mark Wahlberg confronted the DJ at his daughter's dance party

Dad to the rescue.

via TheEllenShow / YouTube

Mark Wahlberg on "The Ellen Show."

Actor Mark Wahlberg recently attended a daddy-daughter dance with his 10-year-old, Grace. Sadly, Grace had no interest in seeing her father strutting his stuff on the dance floor.

"I didn't get one dance," Wahlberg told Ellen DeGeneres. "And I told her we were going to do the whole big circle and I was going to go off. And she said, 'Dad, if you embarrass me, I will never talk to you again.' But what she did do is she hung out with me."

No matter who your dad is, especially if you're a 10-year-old-girl, you have zero desire to see him dance in front of your friends.

But the parents at the dance probably would have had a blast seeing Wahlberg bust out some of his old-school '90s Marky Mark moves.

However, Wahlberg couldn't help but leave his mark on the music being played at the dance.

Let's not forget, he didn't get famous for his acting but for showing off his abs in the "Good Vibrations" video.

Being that Wahlberg's time as a pop star was three decades ago, he couldn't believe it when he heard the music being played at the dance.

"[Grace] sat there on the edge of the stage, by the DJ. And then I'm sitting there with one other dad and I'm like, 'This is not an edited version of this song. There are explicit lyrics being played at a school dance for girls and I'm like no good,'" he said.

"I told the DJ and he's like, 'Oh, I thought it was.' I said, 'What are you doing?' I'm hearing F-bombs and this and that's not okay," Wahlberg said.

He's right. There's no place for music with explicit lyrics at a dance for 10-year-old children.

Wahlberg says the DJ didn't know he wasn't playing the edited version, but it's probably more likely that he didn't even realize the song was a problem. Pop music these days is filled with a numbing amount of violent and misogynistic lyrics.

A recent study from the University of Missouri found that nearly one-third of pop songs contain lyrics that degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified.

Currently, three of the top five songs on the Billboard Top 40 contain the word "bitch." One of them is sung in Korean.

It's odd that Americans have become more sensitive to misogyny in pop culture in films, television, and comedy, but still have a huge cultural blind-spot when it comes to music.

That's not a good thing, especially when pop music is marketed to teenagers.

"We know that music has a strong impact on young people and how they view their role in society," said Cynthia Frisby, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism.

"Unlike rap or hip-hop, pop music tends to have a bubbly, uplifting sound that is meant to draw listeners in," Frisby continued. "But that can be problematic if the lyrics beneath the sound are promoting violence and misogynistic behavior."

Let's face it, pop stars are role models. Their examples show young people what to wear and how to behave. That's not to say that kids will blindly follow someone just because they like their music. But it has an undeniable effect.

Wahlberg, and any parent who monitors what their kids are listening to, deserve credit for protecting the minds and hearts of their kids.

Frisby has some great advice for parents concerned about negative imagery in pop music.

"Ask your daughters and sons what songs they like to listen to and have conversations about how the songs might impact their identity," Frisby said.

"For example, many songs might make young girls feel like they have to look and act provocative in order to get a boy to like them, when that isn't necessarily the case. If children and teens understand that what they are hearing isn't healthy behavior, then they might be more likely to challenge what they hear on the radio."

He's right. There's no place for music with explicit lyrics at a dance for 10-year-old children.

Wahlberg says the DJ didn't know he wasn't playing the edited version, but it's probably more likely that he didn't even realize the song was a problem. Pop music these days is filled with a numbing amount of violent and misogynistic lyrics.

A recent study from the University of Missouri found that nearly one-third of pop songs contain lyrics that degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified.

Currently, three of the top five songs on the Billboard Top 40 contain the word "bitch." One of them is sung in Korean.

It's odd that Americans have become more sensitive to misogyny in pop culture in films, television, and comedy, but still have a huge cultural blind-spot when it comes to music.

That's not a good thing, especially when pop music is marketed to teenagers.

"We know that music has a strong impact on young people and how they view their role in society," said Cynthia Frisby, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism.

"Unlike rap or hip-hop, pop music tends to have a bubbly, uplifting sound that is meant to draw listeners in," Frisby continued. "But that can be problematic if the lyrics beneath the sound are promoting violence and misogynistic behavior."

Let's face it, pop stars are role models. Their examples show young people what to wear and how to behave. That's not to say that kids will blindly follow someone just because they like their music. But it has an undeniable effect.

Wahlberg, and any parent who monitors what their kids are listening to, deserve credit for protecting the minds and hearts of their kids.

Frisby has some great advice for parents concerned about negative imagery in pop music.

"Ask your daughters and sons what songs they like to listen to and have conversations about how the songs might impact their identity," Frisby said.

"For example, many songs might make young girls feel like they have to look and act provocative in order to get a boy to like them, when that isn't necessarily the case. If children and teens understand that what they are hearing isn't healthy behavior, then they might be more likely to challenge what they hear on the radio."

This article originally appeared on 03.03.20

From Your Site Articles

mark wahlberg scolds dj

Modern Families

Mom discovers her 10-year-old comforting toddler brother at 3am so she could fall asleep

“He said he wanted me to get some rest because I did a lot that day.”

@gloriaugly/TikTok

10-year-old Mason lovingly cared for his 18-month-old brother at 3 a.m. so that his mom could get some rest.

The best feeling as a parent is when your child does something that exemplifies good character without being asked and without expecting any recognition or reward for it. Seeing your kid practicing patience, kindness and helpfulness, even when they think no one is looking—that's when you know that all your hard parenting work is paying off.

So when you're a mom with six kids and the baby monitor you have in your 18-month-old's nursery shows your 10-year-old stepping up to help his little brother—in the middle of the night, no less—your heart might melt a little. And when he tells you the thoughtful reason why he didn't just come and get you when he heard his brother fussing, your heart might just explode.

A viral TikTok captured this scenario at Gloria McIntosh's house in Ohio last December, and it could not be sweeter.

McIntosh told TODAY Parents that she always told her kids that the true test of a person's character is what they do when no one is around—a lesson that her son Mason clearly took to heart when he got up at 3 a.m. to comfort his 18-month-old brother, Greyson.

Watch:

@gloriaugly
@lighteyemason 💙💙🤴🏾

"The baby woke up in the middle of the night," McIntosh wrote. "I heard him fussing so I just checked the camera to see if he would just fall back asleep and saw his brother showing the best example of love and patience. He stayed with him for almost 30 minutes trying to get him back to sleep. I eventually came in and got the baby, and asked my son why he didn't just come and get me."

The reason was as sweet as can be.

"He said he wanted me to get some rest, because I did a lot that day. While parenting is not his responsibility, just the fact that he understood that he is his brother's keeper, and considered my long day as a mom, is much appreciated. ❤️"

When he climbed into the crib with him? Gracious. That's when you know your kid going to be all right.

“I was smiling the whole time,” McIntosh told TODAY Parents. “He has a love for Greyson that is unspeakable. I can’t even really explain it.”

McIntosh said Mason is a natural caregiver. “I’m sure Mason was tired and cranky. He was woken up at 3 a.m.,” she said. “But how you saw him treat his brother is how he is. He steps up."

Well done, Mason. And well done, mama.

This article originally appeared on 1.4.22

From Your Site Articles

Gen X is the 'most stressed' generation alive but they're also the best at handling it

The 'Coolest Generation" is making it work.

via Wikimedia Commons

Generation X, people born between 1965 and 1979, are America's goofy middle children sandwiched between the much larger Baby Boomer and Millennial generations. Gen X prides itself on being individualistic, nonconformists committed to a D.I.Y. ethic whether that means writing a punk 'zine or launching a tech start-up.

(If you just asked yourself "What's a 'zine?" you're clearly not a member of Gen X.)

It's a generation marked by an aloof cool where any personal slight can be written off with a "whatever" that's deathly afraid of taking anything too seriously. It's a generation that was so put off by the corporate, commercial culture of the '80s it rebelled by wearing second-hand clothes and ironically embracing low-brow '70s culture.

It's the generation of hip-hop, Tiger Woods, Quentin Tarrantino, the re-birth of punk rock, John Cusak movies, and Atari.

A big reason Gen X is so self-reliant is that it's the generation hardest hit by divorce. According to a 2004 marketing study it "went through its all-important, formative years as one of the least parented, least nurtured generations in U.S. history."

Gen X was the first generation that experienced both parents working outside the home. But, unfortunately, at the same time, childcare centers and afterschool programs had not yet emerged to a significant extent.

Now, the "Coolest Generation" finds itself somewhere between 42 and 56 and is hitting middle age. Unfortunately, that means it's now the most stressed generation in America. Although, in true Gen X fashion, many refuse to let anyone see they're stressed.

An extensive study by Penn State showed that stress began to hit Gen X sometime in the last decade. The 2012 study discovered that Gen X had an average stress level of 5.8 (out of ten) while Millennials (3.4) and Baby Boomers (4.4) were a lot calmer.

A study from earlier this month shows that the trend hasn't changed. In 2021, 22% of Gen Xers admitted to daily struggles with stress followed by Millenials (17%), Gen Z (14%), and Baby Boomers (8%).

A big reason for the stress is having to take care of multiple generations. Many Gen Xers have to care for their aging parents as well as their children who are just starting to make their way in the world.

Gen X may have aged its way into the most stressful part of its life, but things could be a lot worse. There's no group of people better equipped to deal with stress. When executives at Nike studied Gen X it found the generation's hallmarks are "flexibility," "innovation," and "adaptability." "They have developed strong survival skills and the ability to handle anything that comes their way," the study says.

Gen Xers may think that's just a bunch of corporate B.S. However, it's true. Gen X grew up during the AIDS epidemic, the end of the Cold War, the Challenger disaster, the late '80s and early '90s crime wave, 9/11, the Great Recession, COVID-19, and managed to survive after "My So-Called Life" was canceled.

We've survived tough times and we'll make it through these as well. Just got to follow the advice of Gen X's poet laureate, Tupac Shakur: "And it's crazy, it seems it'll never let up, but please, you got to keep your head up."

We can also look forward to grabbing a big box of popcorn and enjoying the massive Millennial meltdown that happens when they hit middle age. It's not going to be pretty.

This article originally appeared on 4.8.21

From Your Site Articles

Guy who sounds remarkably like Michael Jackson gets 27 million views on first TikTok video

Holy moly that voice.

Constru-centro /Wikimedia Commons

Brandon Conway sounds remarkably like Michael Jackson when he sings.

When Michael Jackson died 13 years ago, the pop music world lost a legend. However markedly mysterious and controversial his personal life was, his contributions to music will go down in history as some of the most influential of all time.

Part of what made him such a beloved singer was the uniqueness of his voice. From the time he was a young child singing lead for The Jackson 5, his high-pitched vocals stood out. Hearing him sing live was impressive, his pitch-perfect performances always entertaining.

No one could ever really be compared to MJ, or so we thought. Out of the blue, a guy showed up on TikTok recently with a casual performance that sounds so much like the King of Pop it's blowing people away.

Brandon Conway posted his first TikTok video ever on July 24, and in less than three weeks it's been viewed more than 27 million times. It's just him standing in a parking lot snapping his fingers and singing "The Way You Make Me Feel," but when he opens his mouth, whoa.

As he keeps going, it gets even more whoa. Then he hits Jackson's signature "he he" and the whoa turns into what?!?

Take a listen:

@brandonconway11
First post on tiktok let me know what you guys think! More videos coming soon feom mj to country to rock so yall be sure to stay tuned!#fyp #singer #usherchallenge @usher @tpain #letsgo #firstvideo

Uncanny, right? If you need a reminder of how Jackson himself sounded when he sang it, here's a live performance from Auckland during his 1996 world tour.

Very impressive. You can follow Brandon Conway on TikTok to hear more from him.

This article originally appeared on 8.10.22

From Your Site Articles

Mom has10 helpful one-liners for raising kind kids so you can stop having to repeat yourself

"You can be mad, but don't be mean."

via RaisingKindKids/TikTok (used with permission)

Nicole shares 10 of her favorite parenting one-liners.

Clear communication and consistency are essential when dealing with children. An excellent way for parents to be consistent in their parenting is to have a hip pocket full of memorable one-liners that remind their kids to treat everyone respectfully, including themselves. These one-liners also help establish and reinforce family rules.

Nicole, a mother of three and founder of the Raising Kind Kids Club, is going viral on TikTok for a post where she shares the memorable one-liners she uses with her children, who are now teenagers. The one-liners are all examples of kind, gentle and respectful parenting. They are also a great way to reinforce rules and values.

“Cause when we say things over and over and over again, it can feel like ‘Oh my gosh, why do I have to keep repeating myself?’ so we have some one-liners that just make things so much easier and more importantly, they work cause our kids know what they mean,” Nicole shared in her video with over 1.9 million views.

@raisingkindkids
Parenting one liners that work to make parenting easier Like this gem: you can be mad without being mean. Add yours! #par#parentsoftiktokr#parentingtipsr#parentinghacksr#parenting101s#respectfulparentingi#raisingkindkids

Here are 10 of Nicole’s go-to one-liners:

When Nicole’s children complain that their friends get to do things they don’t, she says: “Every family has different rules.”

To remind her kids that it’s never okay to make fun of someone’s appearance, she says, “We don't comment on other people's bodies."

Nicole’s husband has a great line for when her kids mock something someone likes: “Don't yuck someone else's yum.”

Nicole doesn’t believe that her children should be forced into friendships, but she does want them to be respectful, so she reminds them that “You don't have to be friends with everyone, but you have to be friendly.”

To teach her children about consent, she regularly says: "Stop means stop" and "No means no."

When they’re being adventurous and could injure themselves: "Make good choices for your body.”

She confronts disingenuous apologies with: "I'm sorry it's just words a real apology is a change in behavior."

When the kids are being sarcastic, she asks for clear speech: "Say what you mean and mean what you say."

When her children are scared and need to push through the emotion, she helps them gain extra strength by saying, "It's okay to be nervous. You can be brave and scared and do it anyway."

If her kids come to her with a problem, she allows them to choose her response: "Do you want help, advice, or just listening?"

The folks in the comments had some additional one-liners that can also be very helpful for raising kind kids. “I learned a ton more great one-liners from our online community,” Nicole told Upworthy. “But my favorite new line is: ‘You don’t have to like them but you can’t recruit other people not to like them.’ This is from @TheLadySarah and it's a great way to remind kids to avoid 'mean girl' behaviors, which can quickly turn into social bullying behaviors.”

Here are a few other memorable one-liners from folks in the comments:

"We keep surprises, not secrets.”

“All feelings are welcomed. All behaviors are not.”

"Dimming someone else's light does not make yours brighter."

As a disability advocate, she shared her one-liner that teaches tolerance: “Everyone’s brains and bodies work differently.”

Nicole told Upworthy she was inspired to start the Raising Kind Kids Club after her daughter was bullied. “The one thing that saved her mental health (and mine) was the kindness of others,” she said. “Kindness can be taught and we can encourage kids to want to be kind more often, eventually making kindness a habit. And that's how we can change the world around us: raise a generation of kind kids who speak and act with more kindness, more often, who stand up to bullying behaviors, who celebrate each others' differences and who show empathy and compassion to those around them.”

You can read more about Nicole and her followers' one-liners at Coffee and Carpool.

From Your Site Articles