upworthy
Add Upworthy to your Google News feed.
Google News Button
Joy

Entire family secretly raids Grandma's closet on Thanksgiving and her reaction is so wholesome

"The cutest and sweetest prank ever. What a blessed woman!"

grandma, family, prank, humor, funny
Photo credit: Canva

Wholesome, harmless pranks can bring a family together.

An entire extended family pranked their matriarch in a way that's making hundreds of thousands of people celebrate. It's not an easy feat, as pranks can often come off as insensitive or they simply don't work out as intended, but in the case of Paige Kampsen's family, it was utter perfection.

Kampsen shared a video with the explanation, "Seeing how long it takes Grandma to notice us wearing her clothes." In the video, we see a large family preparing Thanksgiving dinner, milling about, chatting, and doing puzzles together while also surreptitiously going into Grandma's bedroom one by one. Every family member takes an item of clothing from her closet, puts it on, and rejoins the family in the dining room and kitchen area. Meanwhile, Grandma is bustling around, completely oblivious to her family’s antics.

That is, until she notices one unmistakable item from her closet.

The robe was too much to miss. Grandma's "What the hell?!" as she began noticing her clothing on the rest of the family was hilarious, and the way she laughed as hard as everyone else speaks to the joy of a close family with a good sense of humor.

People in the comments of the video, which has been liked over a million times, absolutely loved it:

"I'm so glad her genuine reaction was recorded. This is going to live rent free in her mind forever!! This is the best kind of carrying on 😂😂"

"Grandmas just thought everyone was finally well dressed 😂"

grandma, family, prank, humor, funny An elderly woman. Photo credit: Canva

"This is that healing laughter! You guys are rich. 💕 This kind of family connection isn’t something everyone gets to experience."

"The cutest and sweetest prank ever. What a blessed woman!"

"Formally requesting an invitation to next year’s dinner! This is hilarious!!"

"I love how it wasn't at ALL obvious until one of them wore her robe 😂"

"It took her awhile because grandmas are too busy looking at the beautiful faces to notice the clothes. ❤️"

grandma, grandparents, aging, elderly, humor Grandma power Giphy

Naturally, no family is perfect or gets along all the time, but this example of a big crew going all in to bring a smile to Grandma's face is simply delightful. People who have lots of family to spend holidays with may forget that not everyone has that in their lives, and many people wish they did.

And grandparents aren't just nice to have around (absent problematic family dynamics). Research shows that grandparents have a profound effect on the development of kids' cognitive and verbal abilities, mental health, and overall well-being.

"Recent research suggests that grandparent involvement during childhood, conceptualized as the amount of contact and emotional closeness, is positively linked to emotional development, cognitive functioning, and social adjustment in early adulthood," writes Dr. Thomas R. Verny. "The lessons learned from grandparent-grandchild relationships in childhood, especially those related to spirituality and moral development, persist into early adulthood."

And the benefits often flow both ways. Grandparent involvement in kids' lives can stave off the loneliness and isolation that is often experienced by aging adults, according to Michigan Medicine, which is a link to the mental health and overall well-being of elderly folks.

Of course, it helps if you have a grandparent who is as playful and quick to laugh as Grandma Kampsen. What a wonderful holiday memory for all of them.

From Your Site Articles
family
JoyHumor
Family

A man discovered a letter his wife hid from him for 56 years. It held a life-changing secret.

"Tony, please don't be angry or surprised to hear this..."

old letter, 1959, tony trapani, letter, secret letters, love letter, love stories, dads, fatherhood, father and son, parents, parenting
via SHVETS production/Pexels and Suzy Hazelwood/Pexels
Tony Trapani discovers a letter his wife hid from him since 1959.

Writing a letter is truly a lost art form, and many young people will never know the joy of it. You had to choose your words carefully and say everything you wanted to say. Once you sent it off, there was no way to be sure it was delivered. No way to know if it had been opened or read. You couldn't take it back or send it again. You just put it in the mailbox and hoped for the best. It was excruciating and magical all at the same time.

One story of a letter never delivered has captured the hearts of readers everywhere. A heart-warming local news story gone viral for the best reasons.

Tony Trapani and his wife were married for 50 years despite the heartache of being unable to have children. "She wanted children,” Trapani told Fox 17. "She couldn't have any. She tried and tried." Even though they endured the pain of infertility, Tony's love for his wife never wavered and he cherished every moment they spent together.

letter, secret letters, love letter, love stories, dads, fatherhood, father and son, parents, parenting Tony Trapani received the most important letter of his life, but he didn't see it for 50 years Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

After his wife passed away when Tony was 81 years old, he undertook the heartbreaking task of sorting out all of her belongings. In particular was a mountain of papers stuffed into filing cabinets. Trapani diligently went through every single one.

That’s when he stumbled upon a carefully concealed letter in a filing cabinet hidden for over half a century.

The letter was addressed to Tony and dated March 1959, but this was the first time he had seen it. His wife must have opened it, read it and hid it from him. The letter came from Shirley Childress, a woman Tony had once been close with before his marriage. She reached out, reminiscing about their past and revealing a secret that would change Tony's world forever.

"Dear Tony, I bet you are surprised to hear from me after so many years. I was just thinking about you tonight like so many other nights. But I thought I would write you and find out how you are," the letter reads. "Tony, please don't be angry or surprised to hear this. I have a little boy. He is five-years- old now - grey eyes and beautiful black hair. What I am trying to say Tony is he is your son."



"Please, Tony if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, please come and see him," Shirley wrote in the letter. "Every day he asks me where is his daddy and believe me Tony I can't even answer him anymore. I would be forever grateful to you if you would just see him. ... I'll close now hoping and praying you will answer. P.S. His name is Samuel Duane."

Now, Tony faced the fact that he had a son that would be around 60 years old and he set out to find him.

For over a year, Trapani’s sister tried to track down the mysterious Samuel Duane Childress, until she finally contacted his wife, Donna.

Tony and Samuel met in January 2015 and he felt like a new dad. After meeting his father, Samuel said his mother told him she sent the letter, but Tony never responded. "Why my wife didn't tell me," said Trapani, "I don't know. She wanted children. She couldn't have any. She tried and tried."

It's easy to understand why it may have been hard for Trapani's late wife, Dolly, to pass along that sort of news. Though we'll never know what exactly must have been in her heart and mind when she hid the letter all those years ago.

"I always asked my mom, I said, 'Well what does he look like?'' Samuel said. "She said, 'Well, go look in the mirror."

The two met and caught up on a lifetime of memories with the understanding that they could never change the past. "Just to know him now is so important to me. It's going to fill that void," Samuel said.

But just to be sure, Tony took a paternity test to ensure they were father and son. Stunning everyone involved, the test came back negative. Tony was not the father.


letter, secret letters, love letter, love stories, dads, fatherhood, father and son, parents, parenting Tony and Samuel didn't waste time thinking about what might have been if he'd seen the letter earlier. Photo by Ire Photocreative on Unsplash

The news upset Tony and Samuel, but they still had a unique bond. They shared a relationship with Samuel’s mother and both have been on an incredibly wild ride after Tony found the mysterious letter.

“They're keeping that bond,” Donna said. “That paper doesn't mean anything to him. That bond has been made—and we're going to move on from here.”

Tony Trapani passed away in 2017, leaving him just two short years to connect with the man he once believed to be his son. If he'd seen the letter earlier, maybe they would have had more time. But that's all in the past, and by all accounts the men treasured the time they got together, and the relationship that they did have — not the one they wished for.

This article originally appeared earlier this year. It has been updated.

From Your Site Articles
family
FamilyFatherhood
Family

After 10 years of 'gentle' parenting, mother of two admits why she got it all wrong

"High warmth is beautiful. But without structure? It creates anxiety."

frustrated mom, homework, upset mom, gentle parenting, homework, child homework
via Canva/Photos

A frustrated mom helps her daughter with homework.

Over the past 15 years or so, a trend known as gentle parenting has gained popularity among mostly millennial parents. The parenting style emphasizes emotional validation, empathy, respect, and understanding over punishment. Proponents of gentle parenting say it promotes healthy bonds between parent and child as well as emotional intelligence and confidence.

However, critics of gentle parenting say that it can easily slip into becoming permissive parenting, where boundaries erode. It can also lead to children growing up with difficulty following orders or anyone telling them "no."

Jaclyn Williams, a graduate student in clinical mental health counseling who specializes in child and adolescent therapy, recently kicked the parenting hornet’s nest with a viral Instagram reel in which she laments raising her two children with gentle parenting over the past 10 years.

What's wrong with gentle parenting?

In the comments, Williams recounts her journey, admitting she backslid from gentle to permissive parenting. This led to a lack of boundaries and had profound impacts on her children. One child became a people-pleaser who suppressed their real feelings, absorbed everyone’s emotions, and became withdrawn. The other became anxious, insecure, neglected, and emotionally dysregulated.

The changes became profound after Williams moved her family across the country and began easing up on the rules. "I felt like I was protecting them or really just letting them feel all their feelings, but what ended up happening was they were looking at me to help them regulate and for safety and security, not join them in their feels," Williams told Newsweek. "My kids were longing for the safety, security, and structure—a leader, so to say."

frustrated mom, child behavior, problem child, mom and phone, pulling hair A mom has her hair pulled by her child.via Canva/Photos

Seeing the results of her parenting style, Williams shifted to an authoritative style, emphasizing high warmth (connection, validation, empathy) and high structure (clear boundaries, consistent limits, natural consequences). Soon she saw her kids become less anxious, more confident, less entitled, and better at regulating their emotions.

Williams' post received significant criticism from parents who practice gentle parenting, many of whom argued that her issues stemmed from being too permissive. "Thank you for acknowledging the fact that what you did was permissive parenting, not gentle parenting. Gentle parents still hold hard boundaries," BareFootNTP wrote. But Williams stuck by her post, adding that it’s very easy for gentle parents to backslide.

Gentle parenting can become permissive parenting

"The point is to show how easily it is to slip into permissive parenting, especially when life happens. Everyone is so quick to defend gentle parenting; nobody is seeing the human side. A first-time mom trying her best, dealing with their own childhood issues, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, and trying to raise those sweet babies better.... the point is to help others and create space for understanding, empathy, and compassion," she wrote in the comments.

Williams posted a follow-up video to double down on her change in parenting style.


In the comments, Williams noted that many gentle parents who achieved similar outcomes reached out to her. "Here's what I want you to know: You didn't mess it up," Williams wrote. "High warmth is beautiful. But without structure? It creates anxiety. And nobody told you that."

From Your Site Articles
gentle parenting
FamilyParenting
Science

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why time accelerates as we get older and how to slow it down

Can we trick our minds into slowing down time?

time, neil degrasse tyson, time flies, perception of time. clock, science,
via Karl Withakay/Wikimedia Commons and Canva/Photos

A clock and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

When you’re a kid, time passes a lot more slowly than when you’re an adult. At the age of seven, summer seems to go on forever, and the wait from New Year’s Day to Christmas feels like a decade. As an adult, time seems to go faster and faster until one weekend you’re putting up your Christmas lights though you swear you just took ‘em down a month ago.

Why does time seem to speed up as we get older? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson recently explained the phenomenon in a video posted to Instagram. He also offered tips on how to slow the passage of time as you age. DeGrasse Tyson is one of the most popular science communicators in the world and the host of 2014's Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey and 2020’s Cosmos: Possible Worlds.

Why does time appear to speed up as we get older?


“When you're young, everything is new. Your brain is constantly recording fresh memories, and the more memory your brain stores, the longer the experience feels. But then something changes. As you get older, routines take over. Your brain stops saving so much detail. It switches to autopilot because everything feels familiar and predictable,” deGrasse Tyson explains. “And when your brain stores fewer new memories, your perception of time compresses. That's why childhood feels long, and adulthood feels like a blur.”


Steve Taylor, PhD, author of many best-selling books including Time Expansion Experience, The Leap, and Spiritual ScienceThe Leap, and Spiritual Science, agrees with deGrasse Tyson.

“This is mainly because, as children, we have so many new experiences, and so process a massive amount of perceptual information,” Taylor writes at Psychology Today. “Children also have an unfiltered and intense perception of the world, which makes their surroundings appear more vivid. However, as we get older, we have progressively fewer new experiences. Equally importantly, our perception of the world becomes more automatic. We grow progressively desensitized to our surroundings. As a result, we gradually absorb less information, which means time passes more quickly. Time is less stretched with information.”

How do we make time slow down?

There’s something a little depressing about the idea that time speeds up as we age because we have fallen into predictable routines. The good news is that we can break this cycle by changing our habits and having new experiences. The more novel information we can process and the less routine our lives become, the slower time will move.

DeGrasse Tyson believes that with some change in our behaviors, we can get back to longer summers and Christmases that aren’t perpetually around the corner.

“You can actually slow time down again. Do something unfamiliar,” deGrasse Tysons says. "Travel somewhere new. Break a routine you've repeated for years. Learn a skill your brain hasn't mapped yet. Because the more new memories your brain forms, the slower time feels as it passes. So if life feels like it's accelerating, it's not your age. It's your brain, and you can reboot it.”

From Your Site Articles
science
ScienceInnovation
Family

After 10 years of 'gentle' parenting, mother of two admits why she got it all wrong

"High warmth is beautiful. But without structure? It creates anxiety."

frustrated mom, homework, upset mom, gentle parenting, homework, child homework
via Canva/Photos

A frustrated mom helps her daughter with homework.

Over the past 15 years or so, a trend known as gentle parenting has gained popularity among mostly millennial parents. The parenting style emphasizes emotional validation, empathy, respect, and understanding over punishment. Proponents of gentle parenting say it promotes healthy bonds between parent and child as well as emotional intelligence and confidence.

However, critics of gentle parenting say that it can easily slip into becoming permissive parenting, where boundaries erode. It can also lead to children growing up with difficulty following orders or anyone telling them "no."

Jaclyn Williams, a graduate student in clinical mental health counseling who specializes in child and adolescent therapy, recently kicked the parenting hornet’s nest with a viral Instagram reel in which she laments raising her two children with gentle parenting over the past 10 years.

What's wrong with gentle parenting?

In the comments, Williams recounts her journey, admitting she backslid from gentle to permissive parenting. This led to a lack of boundaries and had profound impacts on her children. One child became a people-pleaser who suppressed their real feelings, absorbed everyone’s emotions, and became withdrawn. The other became anxious, insecure, neglected, and emotionally dysregulated.

The changes became profound after Williams moved her family across the country and began easing up on the rules. "I felt like I was protecting them or really just letting them feel all their feelings, but what ended up happening was they were looking at me to help them regulate and for safety and security, not join them in their feels," Williams told Newsweek. "My kids were longing for the safety, security, and structure—a leader, so to say."

frustrated mom, child behavior, problem child, mom and phone, pulling hair A mom has her hair pulled by her child.via Canva/Photos

Seeing the results of her parenting style, Williams shifted to an authoritative style, emphasizing high warmth (connection, validation, empathy) and high structure (clear boundaries, consistent limits, natural consequences). Soon she saw her kids become less anxious, more confident, less entitled, and better at regulating their emotions.

Williams' post received significant criticism from parents who practice gentle parenting, many of whom argued that her issues stemmed from being too permissive. "Thank you for acknowledging the fact that what you did was permissive parenting, not gentle parenting. Gentle parents still hold hard boundaries," BareFootNTP wrote. But Williams stuck by her post, adding that it’s very easy for gentle parents to backslide.

Gentle parenting can become permissive parenting

"The point is to show how easily it is to slip into permissive parenting, especially when life happens. Everyone is so quick to defend gentle parenting; nobody is seeing the human side. A first-time mom trying her best, dealing with their own childhood issues, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, and trying to raise those sweet babies better.... the point is to help others and create space for understanding, empathy, and compassion," she wrote in the comments.

Williams posted a follow-up video to double down on her change in parenting style.


In the comments, Williams noted that many gentle parents who achieved similar outcomes reached out to her. "Here's what I want you to know: You didn't mess it up," Williams wrote. "High warmth is beautiful. But without structure? It creates anxiety. And nobody told you that."

From Your Site Articles
gentle parenting
FamilyParenting
Mental Health

10 things people tend to romanticize but absolutely shouldn't

“Living in any time that didn’t have running water or toilet paper.”

romanticization, grass is greener, gratitude, history, life lesson
Photo credit: Canva/Roberto Latxaga via Wikipedia Commons

You might want to reconsider opening up your own bakery.

At one point or another, most of us fantasize about having a different life. This could range from trying out that dream career to living in an entirely different time period. Whether it’s through our social media feeds, movies, television shows, or books we read, there are certain things that have become romanticized tropes that frankly aren’t as great as one imagines.

There are folks out there who have experienced the things you have fantasized about and brought up concerns you may have overlooked while wearing the rose-tinted glasses. Upon hearing their experiences, you might reconsider what you perceive as a better life for yourself and find you're better off where you currently are.

@healwithbritt

Stop romanticizing their life, and start living yours!! #romanticizeyourlife #encouragement #fulfillment #comparison

Here are eleven situations that people and the media tend to romanticize, but shouldn’t:

1. “Being a farmer”

“Farming is difficult. It's back braking. It's risky. These are the reasons my boomer parents, who were raised on farms, did not stay on them. I believe small and independent farms and local food production is extraordinarily important. We do need to help sustain the back-to-farm movement. But we shouldn't romanticize it.”

2. “Freelancing”

“1. Instead of working for a boss, you work for several bosses.

2. Doing taxes is a mess (if you’re an U.S. citizen)

3. Fluctuating income.”

3. “Owning and operating a bed and breakfast”

“I worked in one for a few years. It’s like being a prisoner in your own home. Guest requests early breakfast, cool. Other guest had a flight delayed, ok. Left me with a sweet four hours to sleep. That’s before cooking and cleaning. Unbelievable amount of work.”


@innkeepercaroline

It’s rare that all the units on property have to be cleaned in just a few hours but when it happens…it’s a bit overwhelming. #bedandbreakfast #foryoupage #dayinthelife #minivlog #vlog #dreamjob

4. “Wedding debt”

“I know a couple who almost got divorced because of this. Two years after the wedding they were still paying for it.”

5. “A majority of history”

“Being Black and hearing people talk about how it may have been like living in an era before the 90s always makes me have a headache. I like having the rights my grandparents fought for.”

6. “Working in healthcare”

“Not even considering the grossness that is just part of your job, being in any role that truly is about ‘saving lives’ also means you will inevitably have to face the experience of being there when someone loses their life.”

7. “Overworking/hustle culture”

“I know someone who puts ‘no days off’ in their social media bio and it's so annoying because I know it’s a lie. It’s always well-off people who romanticize overworking.”


@nessnitty

Find out how you can achieve success on your own terms. We have Nicole Walters giving us the real on entrepreneurship. Do you really want to get up at 4am everyday? I know @officialkaepernick7 does, but I couldn't do it!!! Lol, hence he is the over achiever between us. I think I'm ok though right? Nicole is a New York Times Best Selling Author, NAACP Image Award Nominee and amazing business expert!! You can get her, best selling memoir, "Nothing Is Missing" out now! Full convo #NessaOFFair #podcast link in bio❤️ PS: should I be drinking wheatgrass? #SuccessTips #EntrepreneurLife #ProductivityHacks #HustleHard #WorkLifeBalance #isthatreal #Podcast

8. “Being married to a celebrity”

“Could you imagine being in that much of the limelight all the time, how horrible and criticized over everything in the media?”

9. “Living any time in the past that didn't have running water or toilet paper”

“People imagine, if there was a time travel option, they'd be able to take modern knowledge with them. Guess what, no internet, no international trade, tell your blacksmith how to build a generator and he wouldn't have much clue, or the resources if he did. Modern society is us standing on the shoulders of giants.”

10. “Also, war”

“Nobody who's been on a bloody front line will ever tell you it was great.”

Why do we romanticize?

So, why do we tend to fall into romanticizing traps or think that the grass is always greener on the other side? Well, it’s multifaceted. In terms of changing a career or a lifestyle, many of us only see the positives that are shown on social media. It’s the same with the entertainment we consume in film and television, too. Because we only see the “thriving” parts, we’re not privy to the struggles or consequences of those life choices—many of which are similar to or worse than what you’re currently experiencing.

@empoweredachievers

I know “romanticizing your life” is all the rage right now… but here’s how romanticizing your career is a big mistake. #escapism #startafarm #corporateburnout #highachiever #overachiever #careerfulfillment #careerempowermentcoach #careerdoubts #careerempowerment #lostmyspark #existentialcrisis

This also goes for reminiscing or wishing you lived in a different time period. Through nostalgia, selective memory, or seeing a well-edited documentary about a time period, one can easily think that life then would be better. Many, including Bill Gates, thinks this is untrue. There is data that shows that, even though the world is still a mess, experts say the present day is the best time to be alive in terms of mortality, economics, human rights, and general comfort compared to the past.

Romanticizing certain situations and time periods in life tend to rob you of what’s good in your present. If a person takes a moment to enjoy the good things in their current life alongside the challenges, they may have better satisfaction with where they are and what currently “is.” If you try this and notice that there still needs to be change, you may want to seek professional advice from either a vetted licensed therapist, career counselor, or life coach to see what is keeping you from enjoying the good in the now.

With time and effort, it’s possible to find the balance of progressing towards change without discarding the good, the stable, and the known of "now."

From Your Site Articles
romanticizing
Mental HealthHealth
Trending Stories