Three years ago, astrophysicist, author and science communicator Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson appeared on the Impact Theory podcast, hosted by Tom Bilyeu, where he shared some passionate advice about preserving children’s curiosity.
Dr. Tyson believes that for a child to truly make a difference and be a “mover and shaker” in this world, the most important thing is for them to remain as curious as possible. Maintaining childlike curiosity will inspire their ambitions far more than what they gain from the educational system.
The hard thing for parents and educators is maintaining that curiosity. For Dr. Tyson, it all starts at home and parents shouldn’t let preserving a clean home get in the way of letting their kids explore with abandon.
"Kids are sources of chaos and disorder. Get over that fact. Where does the disorder come from? It’s because they are experimenting with their environment. Everything is new to them, everything,” he said.
“Your job is less to instill curiosity than to make sure you don’t squash what is already there,” Dr. Tyson said.
However, this curiosity can be diminished by the educational system that teaches to tests instead of making children excited to learn.
"School should, as a minimum, preserve that curiosity for you," he continued. "They'll retain that curiosity through the turbulent middle school years into high school. And what is an adult scientist but a kid who never lost their curiosity?"
The human eye reveals so much about who we are. One look can convey love, annoyance, exhaustion, or wisdom.
Our eyes tell the world if we are getting enough sleep, if we’ve been crying, or whether we are truly happy (or just faking it). When looking at the face, the eyes dominate emotional communication—after all, they’ve long been known as the “window to the soul.”
While humans can look each other in the eye and learn quite a bit with just a glance, our eyes also let us know when they’re tired of scrolling through Instagram or texting GIFS to our best friend…even if our brains are not (because let’s be honest, a well-placed GIF never gets old).
When our eyes are strained from looking at a digital device, they usually begin feeling dry, tired, and/or irritated.1 This is known as “digital eye strain2,” something that can start to happen after only a few hours of looking at screens. Unfortunately, we can’t always stop what we’re doing—especially if we’re in the middle of teaching a class or giving a big presentation at work.
It’s a conundrum: our lives literally revolve around digital screens because we use technology for almost everything: work, school, play, communication, travel, banking, and news. But also, screens are taking a major toll on our eyes.
So what happens when our eyes have had enough, but there are still a lot of hours left in the day? There are several options recommended by eye care professionals, ranging from wearing blue light glasses to taking regular breaks and keeping your screen at the same level of brightness as your surroundings.
Another solution is Biofinity Energys® contact lenses. These contact lenses are designed for all-day wear, helping people's eyes better adapt so they can seamlessly and continuously shift focus between digital devices and offline activities. They are engineered with special Aquaform® Technology to lock in moisture, helping your eyes feel less dry. They’re also designed to help with eye tiredness (but you still need to take breaks!).
These monthly replacement contact lenses correct farsightedness or nearsightedness while simultaneously helping to reduce symptoms associated with digital eye strain, which is great for people like me who feel like they have to choose between blue light glasses or vision-correcting contacts just to get through a day at work!
Our eyes are obviously a very important part of our bodies, and we have to take care of them. If you’re interested in learning more about how these contact lenses can help your eyes feel less tired due to digital eye strain, head over to biofinityenergys.com to get your free trial certificate.
Esther Wojcicki has earned the right to tell people how to raise their kids. She’s an educator, journalist and bestselling author of "How to Raise Successful People" who has raised three daughters—two are CEOs and the other a doctor.
Susan Wojcicki is the CEO of YouTube, Anne Wojcicki is the co-founder and CEO of 23andMe and Dr. Janet Wojcicki is an anthropologist and epidemiologist who works on HIV progression and obesity risk in children.
In "How to Raise Successful People" Esther Wojcicki says the secret to success is the result of “TRICK”: trust, respect, independence, collaboration and kindness. In a new article she wrote for NBC Chicago, she boiled that down to one rule, “Don't do anything for your kids that they can do for themselves.”
\u201cSisters Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe, and Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, are ranked among America\u2019s top women entrepreneurs \nhttps://t.co/En8Vin9Zl7 #SelfMadeWomen\u201d
“Parents need to stop coddling their kids,” she continues. “The more you trust your children to do things on their own, the more empowered they'll be. The key is to begin with guided practice: It's the ‘I do, we do, you do’ method.”
The “I do, we do, you do” method is used by teachers to gradually give students new responsibilities. The teacher first demonstrates the task, then they do it with the student and finally, the student does it alone.
Wojcicki says that parents can start with their children by asking them to make their beds, pick their own outfits and to help with dishes and making dinner. It’s funny that every child is raised by a parent who cooks them meals, but an astonishing number of them grow up having no idea how to boil water. Why? Because nobody bothered to get them involved.
As the old saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he’ll eat forever.”
\u201cFor all you parents out there. \nYou may want to do something "unpopular" while raising your kids, "How to Raise Successful People" author Esther Wojcicki says. https://t.co/GEkHHnN5q5\u201d
— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBC10 Philadelphia)
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“The idea is to teach them how to cope with what life throws at them,” she writes. “One of the most important lessons I taught my daughters is that the only thing you can control is how you react to things.”
Wojcicki’s rules are a reaction to the modern trend of helicopter parenting, which is "overly focused on their children" where parents "take too much responsibility for their children's experiences and, specifically, their successes or failures." This can result in children who grow into adults with lower self-confidence and self-esteem, poor coping skills, increased anxiety and a sense of entitlement.
Simply put, when children are too dependent on their parents, they become ill-equipped to deal with real-world challenges. So when parents think they’re helping their children, they are actually setting them up for failure. Is it any wonder why we live in an age where more and more people suffer from crippling anxiety and depression? The world is a lot scarier when you’re not properly equipped to deal with everyday problems.
“When you trust kids to make their own decisions, they start to feel more engaged, confident and empowered,” Wojcicki writes. “And once that happens, there's no limit to what they can achieve.”
While, at first, this dramatic change in parenting may seem difficult for parents who have a hard time letting go, it’s an opportunity for them to grow. “What I realized, through a lot of conscious effort, is that parenting gives us perhaps the most profound opportunity to grow as human beings,” she writes in "How to Raise Successful People."
Every night, the van delivers nourishment in all kinds of ways to those who need it most
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Homelessness in New York City has reached its highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Over 50,000 people sleep each night in a shelter, while thousands of others rely on city streets, the subway system and other public locations as spaces to rest.
That’s why this meal (and sock) delivery van is an effective resource for providing aid to those experiencing homelessness in New York City.
Every night of the year, from 7pm to 9:30, the Coalition for the Homeless drives a small fleet of vans to over 25 stops throughout upper and lower Manhattan and in the Bronx. At each stop, adults and families in need can receive a warm meal, a welcoming smile from volunteers, and a fresh, comfy new pair of Bombas socks. Socks may be even more important than you think.
Bombas was founded in 2013 after the discovery that socks were the #1 most requested clothing item at homeless shelters.
Access to fresh, clean socks is often limited for individuals experiencing homelessness—whether someone is living on the street and walking for much of the day, or is unstably housed without reliable access to laundry or storage. And for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness —expenses might need to be prioritized for more critical needs like food, medication, school supplies, or gas. Used socks can’t be donated to shelters for hygienic reasons, making this important item even more difficult to supply to those who need it the most.
Bombas offers its consumers durable, long-lasting and comfortable socks, and for every pair of Bombas socks purchased, an additional pair of specially-designed socks is donated to organizations supporting those in need, like Coalition for the Homeless. What started out as a simple collaboration with a few organizations and nonprofits to help individuals without housing security has quickly become a bona fide giving movement. Bombas now has approximately 3,500 Giving Partners nationwide.
Though every individual’s experience is unique, there can frequently be an inherent lack of trust of institutions that want to help—making a solution even more challenging to achieve. “I’ve had people reach out when I’m handing them a pair of socks and their hands are shaking and they’re looking around, and they’re wondering ‘why is this person being nice to me?’” Robbi Montoya—director at Dorothy Day House, another Giving Partner—told Bombas.
Donations like socks are a small way to create connection. And they can quickly become something much bigger. Right now over 1,000 people receive clothing and warm food every night, rain or shine, from a Coalition for the Homeless van. That bit of consistent kindness during a time of struggle can help offer the feeling of true support. This type of encouragement is often crucial for organizations to help those take the next difficult steps towards stability.
This philosophy helped Bombas and its abundance of Giving Partners extend their reach beyond New York City. Over 75 million clothing items have been donated to those who need it the most across all 50 states. Over the years Bombas has accumulated all kinds of valuable statistics, information, and highlights from Giving Partners similar to the Coalition for the Homeless vans and Dorothy Day House, which can be found in the Bombas Impact Report.
In the Impact Report, you’ll also find out how to get involved—whether it’s purchasing a pair of Bombas socks to get another item donated, joining a volunteer group, or shifting the conversation around homelessness to prioritize compassion and humanity.
Watch Robin Williams hilariously take over interviews.
The comedic genius that was Robin Williams still never ceases to draw a hearty chuckle even years after his death. Someone is always digging up an old video of him doing what he did best, making people laugh. In a rediscovered video, someone put together an epic compilation of Williams essentially taking over interviews with his antics.
In the 10-minute video, he goes from talk show to talk show where he upstages the comedian charged with hosting the show. His hilarious full-body comedy tickles the crowd into a roaring thunder of laughter. In one of the clips he's talking about how easy it used to be to fly on an airplane compared to post 9/11. He jumps into different accents with ease as he jokes about not being able to have a fingernail clipper on a flight because someone might threaten to clip someone's hangnail.
In the clip with Jay Leno, Williams begins to explain why he wore tape over his mouth at an event, but instead of telling the story like a normal person, he starts speaking strangely and says he had to go into a witness protection program. The audience cannot get enough of his hilarious shenanigans while he talks to Leno. One thing about Williams' style of comedy is that it seemed to cross all social barriers and still does.
In the short snippet of him on "The Tonight Show Starting Johnny Carson," he dramatically gets up and pretends to be a drunken Shakespeare looking for an apartment, 2B … or not 2B. There's no way that the written word could do his comedic performance justice. Don't believe me, check it out for yourself in the video below.
George Yionoulis is pretty much your typical 9-year-old.
The fourth-grader from Raleigh, North Carolina, loves "Harry Potter," making art, and eating tacos.
Oh, and he loooooooves dancing. The kid has some serious moves.
While it's pretty easy to understand why George loves tacos (who doesn't?), there are some things George does that aren't quite as easy for people to understand. That's because when was 2 years old, his parents discovered has an autism spectrum disorder.
George's autism makes it harder for his classmates at Douglas Elementary School to relate to him. So he used a class project to help them understand him a little better.
George wrote, narrated, edited, and produced a video called "My Autism" and even created an original score to accompany the six-minute clip.
"Hi, everybody. My name is George," George begins his voiceover as text reading "GEORGE ... and AUTISM" flashes across the screen before cutting to footage of George dancing.
"Let me tell you a little about myself," he continues. "I have fun dancing, I have fun making music, I love to draw and make art, and ... wait for it ... I have this thing called autism."
In the video, George shares some of his unique quirks — things he knows his classmates have noticed about him but maybe haven't had the courage to ask about.
Like the fact that he has trouble making eye contact with people when they speak to him, though he says he's gotten better about it. "I might not have been looking, but that didn't mean I wasn't listening," he explains.
"Speaking of listening," he continues. "I can hear and see a lot of things and sounds all at the same time, which sometimes makes it hard to focus on any one sound or thought. That's why it might take a little more time to answer you when you ask a question."
He also has trouble with metaphors and figures of speech, which is common for kids with autism, and advises his classmates to be as literal and clear with him as possible.
"If you say 'take a seat,' you might find one less chair in your classroom," he jokes.
George also opens up about some of the challenges he faces and hopes the video will help his friends understand why he sometimes gets angry, cries, or yells."
I sometimes get frustrated when I get interrupted or when something doesn't go as planned," he admits. "Or when something unexpected happens. Or when I make a mistake."
In a courageous peek behind the curtain, George even includes video of himself — at a much younger age — throwing a tantrum at a book reading as well as audio of himself stumbling with his words while recording the narration for the video and becoming audibly frustrated. "But I messed up!" he cries.
"(Some of those) are just kid things to get frustrated about, and I'm a kid just like you," he says. "All us kids are different in our own ways, right?"
At the end, George asks his classmates to come talk to him, ask him questions, or invite him to play — even if it seems like he might not want to.
"I like having fun, just like you. So if you ever see me playing by myself, it doesn't necessarily mean I don't want to play with you, too," he tells them. "I always want to play with you."
His heartwarming honesty and larger-than-life on-screen personality are so compelling, it's no wonder the video has gone viral. Shortly after the video went up on YouTube and Facebook, it racked up tens of thousands of views and hundreds of comments.
Initially, it was only meant for George's 21 elementary school classmates.
"The feedback we're getting is, 'I showed this to my 6-year-old who has autism, I showed this to my 12-year-old who has autism,' and they're going, 'Me too, and we could be friends!'" his mother, Lisa Jolley told Raleigh-Durham's WTVD/ABC11.
In a world where people with autism aren't often given the chance to speak for themselves, it's both really cool and really significant that George has taken control of his own life story and experience and is sharing them in his own words. At only 9 years old, he's already making huge strides in helping the world better understand a condition that affects about 1 in 68 kids in the United States.
Watch the full video below, and you'll probably learn something new yourself.
At the very least, you're bound to fall in love with this charming and courageous kid.
My Autism - by George
George's journey with autism at 9 years old. This is the video he shared with his fourth grade class to help them understand why he behaves the way he does...
At the end, George asks his classmates to come talk to him, ask him questions, or invite him to play — even if it seems like he might not want to.