+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
More

Pink's beautiful, unexpected response when her daughter was feeling 'ugly.'

If you follow Pink at all, you know she's a pretty awesome mom.

Her Instagram account is filled with adorable pics of her with her two young kids. In these posts, Pink is down to earth, honest, and best of all, has a great sense of humor about the whole parenting journey:

But even Pink has challenging moments as a parent.

In her speech at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, Pink shared an amazing and powerful story about — and for — her daughter.

After winning the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, Pink took the stage and stepped to the mic. It was clear she had something important on her mind.

"Recently I was driving my daughter to school and she said to me, out of the blue, 'Momma ... I'm the ugliest girl I know,'" Pink recalled. "'I look like a boy with long hair.'"

Hearing your child being hard on themselves is a heartbreaking moment for any parent. But if you think Pink just blurted out, "OMG, what? Baby, you are so pretty!" well... you don't know Pink.

"I went home and I made a PowerPoint presentation for her," Pink said.

"And in that presentation were androgynous rockstars and artists that lived their truth," she added. "[People] who are probably made fun of every day of their life and carry on and wave their flag and inspire the rest of us."

She listed a handful of world-changing talents, like Michael Jackson and Elton John, like Pink herself, who never let anyone's expectations or opinions hold them back. Proving her point even further, Pink, her daughter, and her husband Carey Hart all showed up at the VMAs last night wearing matching suits.

Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images.

On stage, Pink shared this monumental moment of parenting clarity: Yes, most kids will battle with self-image and self-esteem at some point, and no, of course, they should never be made to feel like they are ugly or that their bodies are wrong in any way.

BUT — in our rush to reassure our kids that they are beautiful or handsome or pretty or cute, we should never forget that these are moments when we can teach them that there are greater things to aspire to than traditional standards of beauty ... because beauty is subjective.

"Baby girl, we don't change," Pink said to thundering applause. "We help other people to change so they can see more kinds of beauty."

Damn straight, Pink. Damn straight.

You can watch the full speech in the video below:

From Your Site Articles
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."

Keep ReadingShow less
parenting
Family

Help is on the way for a desperate mom who couldn't find size 23 shoes for her teenage son

Her son Eric Kilburn Jr. is a 6'10" freshman in high school.

via GoFundMe

A size 21 Nike shoe made for Tacko Fall.

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It's a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

Keep ReadingShow less
parents
Family

Dad gives his young daughter a 'spa day' while mom and sister are out and people are gushing

"This healed a part of me. Thank you for doing this with your daughter."

Mason Smith/Instagram

Mason Smith pampered his baby girl during her "spa day."

Raising kids is no small feat. Just the basic logistics of caring for a human being from their helpless newborn stage to the full-fledged adult stage is a lot, much less doing the countless other things that will actually help that human thrive.

Parents who go above and beyond to create a nurturing environment and build strong core memories with their kids are inspiring examples for us all, and one dad's spa day with his daughter has people positively gushing.

Mason Smith (@thedadsocial) shared a video of a special spa day he gave his young daughter when her mom and older sister were having their own pampered outing. "Mom and sister went to the salon so I couldn't have her feeling left out," he wrote.

Keep ReadingShow less
dads and daughters
Education

Former teacher shares the funny 'secret code' she used when talking to parents

“Your son is going to make a great lawyer" is code for: "Your kid won’t stop arguing with me."

via Bored Teachers/TikTok

Miss Smith shares the "secret code" teachers use in emails to parents.

There are many things that teachers think but cannot say aloud. Teachers have to have a certain sense of decorum and often have strict rules about the things they can or can’t say about children, especially to their parents.

Plus, it’s a teacher’s job to educate, not judge. So, they find ways to kindly say what’s on their minds without having to resort to name-calling or talking disparagingly of a student.

Keep ReadingShow less
teachers
Joy

Teen with a fishing magnet found a safe full of cash. And then he returned it all to its owner.

The safe was stolen 22 years ago.

via Wikimedia Commons

It's incredible what a double-sided magnet can do.


A new trend in treasure hunting called magnet fishing has blown up over the past two years, evidenced by an explosion of YouTube channels covering the hobby. Magnet fishing is a pretty simple activity. Hobbyists attach high-powered magnets to strong ropes, drop them into waterways and see what they attract.

The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.


Keep ReadingShow less
good samaritan
Family

Ring doorbell video captures the phenomenon of what it's like to be the default parent

Millions of us know what it's like to be the "default parent."

Toniann Marchese/TikTok

Ring doorbell video captures what it's like to be the default parent.

Kids, man. I'm not sure of the scientific way audacity is distributed, but kids have a lot of it and somehow make it cute. That audacity overload is especially interesting when you're the default parent—you know, the parent kids go to for literally everything as if there's not another fully capable adult in the house. Chances are if your children haven't sought you out while you were taking a shower so you could open up a pack of fruit snacks, then you're not the default parental unit.

One parent captured exactly what it's like to be the default parent and shared it to TikTok, where the video has over 4 million views. Toniann Marchese went on a quick grocery run and *gasp* did not inform her children. Don't you fret, they're modern kids who know how to use modern means to get much-needed answers when mom is nowhere to be found. They went outside and rang the doorbell.

Back when we were children, this would've done nothing but make the dogs bark, but for Marchese's kids, who are 3 and 6 years old, it's as good as a phone call.

Keep ReadingShow less
parenting
Trending Stories