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Mom shares 'secret' note she slipped to the pediatrician about daughter's weight

"Trying something new at the pediatrician will report back how it goes."

caroline hardin, body positivity, body neutrality
via General.Caronobi/TikTok

Mother shares note she gave to her daughter's pediatrician.

There is a growing trend online and in therapists' offices that is a backlash against the toxic positivity of the body positivity movement: body neutrality. This new perspective takes a neutral view of our bodies and encourages people to stop saying they are "good" or "bad," "ugly," or "gorgeous," but that they just are.

"Body neutrality means taking a neutral perspective towards your body, meaning that you do not have to cultivate a love for your body or feel that you have to love your body every day. You may not always love your body, but you may still live happily and appreciate everything your body can do,” Very Well Mind writes.

Mother Caroline Hardin shared a great example of body neutrality on TikTok recently. In a post that received over 100,000 views, She shared a note she secretly handed to her daughter’s pediatrician at a recent appointment.

"Trying something new at the pediatrician will report back how it goes," Caroline began in her video before revealing a handwritten note she gave to the doctor.

Don’t judge my handwriting i was writing in the car on top of a captain underpants book lol #bodyneutrality #bodypositiveparenting

@general.caronobi

Don’t judge my handwriting i was writing in the car on top of a captain underpants book lol #bodyneutrality #bodypositiveparenting

The note reads:

"Doctor. When discussing my child's weight and/or BMI, please refrain from using qualitative words like 'good' or 'bad.' We have managed so far to keep a body-neutral and body-positive environment for her childhood, and I appreciate your cooperation in preserving that for as long as we can."

The unfortunate underlying message to the note is that Caroline’s daughter will one day have to exist in a world where her body is scrutinized. Every opportunity the mom has to delay that eventuality is a positive step for her development.

In a subsequent video, Caroline noted that the visit to the doctor went off perfectly.

Replying to @Caroline we will continue to take it one year at a time but we made it through this year’s checkup unscathed! #bodyneutrality #bodypositiveparenting

@general.caronobi

Replying to @Caroline we will continue to take it one year at a time but we made it through this year’s checkup unscathed! #bodyneutrality #bodypositiveparenting

"We made it back home, and I'm happy to report that it went really well. The nurse made no comment when she was weighing my kid," Caroline recalled. When the pediatrician popped in, she had a growth curve without any numbers that she was able to show to Caroline and her daughter. The doctor even used an age-appropriate way of describing the daughter’s health. “Your body is growing exactly how it wants to grow. Hooray!" she said.

"There were no discussions about restricting sugar or restrictions at all,” Caroline added. “So, my kids' takeaway was that the doctor noticed her nail polish and that she got to tell her she has 8 friends."

The video received much praise from women who wished they could have enjoyed a body-neutral childhood. "You legit just healed some of my soul. Thank you for this!!!" katmc52384 wrote in the comments. “Looovvveee this. Couldn’t figure out how to head it off without embarrassing my kid. Thank you!!” Carter added.

Caroline is happy that she found a way to take her daughter to the doctor without introducing her to the pain of body stigmatization. She also shared a way for parents everywhere to address a tricky situation without their children being alerted to our culture’s toxic perceptions of bodies and beauty.

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Facebook group brings people together IRL to make meaningful friendships

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Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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One man turned nursing home design on its head when he created this stunning facility

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?



92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

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Grandma got a secret DNA test after noticing her granddaughter didn't look like her siblings

People think she was right to do it, too.

via Christian Buehner/Unsplash and Warren Umoh/Unsplash

The grandmother was suspicious.

A grandmother always felt her middle granddaughter Lindsay, 15, looked slightly different from the rest of the family because she had blonde, curly hair, while the rest of her siblings’ hair was dark “I thought genetics was being weird and I love her,” she wrote on Reddit’s AITA forum.

But things became serious after Linday’s parents “banned” her from taking things a step further and getting a DNA test. If the family was sure their daughter was theirs, why would they forbid her from seeking clarity in the situation? After the parents laid down the law, the situation started to seem a little suspicious.

“I told my son and [daughter-in-law] that there was something fishy around her birth she needed to know. They denied it and told me to leave it alone,” the grandma wrote.

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7 things Black people want their well-meaning white friends to know

"You, white friend, need to speak up and say something when I can't."

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I grew up black in a very white neighborhood in a very white city in a very white state.

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Warren Buffet's partner, Charlie Munger shared his most valuable advice on becoming a success

The billionaire passed away on November 28 at the age of 99.

via Nick / Wikimedia Commons

Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway.

Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet’s closest business partner, passed away on Tuesday, November 28, at 99. Buffett and Munger's partnership lasted over 50 years, producing Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest and most successful conglomerates in history.

When Munger passed, his estimated worth was $2.6 billion. Buffet, 93, is believed to be worth $119 billion.

But Munger was far more than just a wealthy man. Apple CEO Tim Cook called Munger a “keen observer of the world around him,” and he was known for his pithy bits of common-sense wisdom known as “Mungerisms.”

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If you're grieving a loved one this holiday season, here's a gift you can give yourself

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

Images courtesy of Kelly Cervantes

Kelly Cervantes wrote her way through grieving the loss of her daughter, Adelaide.

Kelly Cervantes begins the Introduction to her book with five words: "Grief sucks. It's also weird." It's a concise truth that anyone who has lost a loved one knows all too well.

Grief is a universal experience—none of us get through life without loss—but it's also unique to each person. Most of us are familiar with the popular "stages of grief" theory, but denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (along with guilt and a host of things) are less like sequential rungs on a ladder and more like pools you fall into at various times as you stumble your way through the grief process. Grief is not linear and it's not neat and tidy and it's not predictable.

Take it from someone who's been there. Kelly Cervantes lost her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Using writing as a therapeutic tool to help her process Adelaide's medically complex life, death and everything that came after, Kelly created the book she wished she'd had as she was trying to navigate her own grieving process.

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