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Taco Bell manager called a 'guardian angel' after saving a choking baby

The heroic deed was caught on video.

via Mike Mozart/Flickr

A Taco Bell drive-thru.

Natasha Long, a mother in Pennsylvania, is calling Taco Bell Manager Becky Arbaugh her “guardian angel” after she saved her 11-month-old son who stopped breathing. Long was out running some errands with her son when she pulled into a Taco Bell drive-thru in Richboro when she realized that something was wrong.

"I ran out of the car and ran around and opened the car door," Long told ABC affiliate WPVI. "I pulled him out and he turned completely blue and was lifeless. At that point, I just completely blacked out. I didn't know what to do."

Arbaugh, who was busy working the lunch rush, heard Long call out for help. "I heard a scream, and then someone yelled out, 'Call 911, the baby isn’t breathing!'" she told Good Morning America. Arbuagh wasted no time running to Long’s aid while one of her employees dialed 911.

"I threw my headset and ran outside to the baby. The mom was panicked. I told her to give him to me and I performed CPR," Arbaugh recalled. "I was trying to calm her down and comfort her and reassure her that he will be fine."

"The baby finally started to breathe. The ambulance came pretty quickly and then they took over," Arbaugh said. "The EMT said I saved his life."

Pennsylvania Taco Bell manager helps save baby who couldn't breathe

Arbaugh, a mother of 2 boys and 2 girls, was well-versed in how to perform infant CPR and understood the importance of staying calm. "When my kids were little, my daughter had a similar incident, so I knew what she was feeling," she told WPVI. "I knew if I kept her calm and I stayed calm, there was no thought in my mind that the baby wasn't going to breathe again."

Taco Bell’s employees are proud of Arbaugh’s heroic deed. "We are incredibly proud of Becky from the Taco Bell brand’s Richboro, PA, location for her heroic act earlier this week. We are getting in touch to express appreciation for her quick actions and kindness,” the company said in a statement to People.

Since the incident, the women have been in contact with each other and are friends on Facebook. Long has been sharing pictures and videos of her son with Arbaugh to remind her of the precious life she saved. Even though Arbaugh performed the ultimate good deed, saving a baby’s life, she doesn’t consider herself a hero—just another mom looking out for her own.

"I’m just a mom helping a mom. I didn’t do anything different from what anyone else should be doing," Arbaugh told NBC. "I knew how that was, and I heard it, and I felt it instantly and I had to go and help her cause I knew it’s painful. You’re just so helpless as a mom when that happens."

This incredible story out of Pennsylvania is a reminder for every one of the importance of learning CPR. You never know when—just like Arbaugh—you may find yourself in the position to save a life.

To sign up for a class and learn how to perform CPR, visit RedCross.com.




"The baby finally started to breathe. The ambulance came pretty quickly and then they took over," Arbaugh said. "The EMT said I saved his life."

[Video]

Arbaugh, a mother of 2 boys and 2 girls, was well-versed in how to perform infant CPR and understood the importance of staying calm. "When my kids were little, my daughter had a similar incident, so I knew what she was feeling," she told WPVI. "I knew if I kept her calm and I stayed calm, there was no thought in my mind that the baby wasn't going to breathe again."

Taco Bell’s employees are proud of Arbaugh’s heroic deed. "We are incredibly proud of Becky from the Taco Bell brand’s Richboro, PA, location for her heroic act earlier this week. We are getting in touch to express appreciation for her quick actions and kindness,” the company said in a statement to People.

Since the incident, the women have been in contact with each other, becoming friends on Facebook. Long has been sharing pictures and videos of her son with Arbaugh to reminder of the precious life she saved. Even though Arbaugh performed the ultimate good deed, saving a baby’s life, she doesn’t consider herself a hero—just another mom looking out for her own.

"I’m just a mom helping a mom. I didn’t do anything different from what anyone else should be doing," Arbaugh told NBC. "I knew how that was, and I heard it, and I felt it instantly and I had to go and help her cause I knew it’s painful. You’re just so helpless as a mom when that happens."

This incredible story out of Pennsylvania is a reminder for every one of the importance of learning CPR. You never know when—just like Arbaugh—you may find yourself in the position to save a life.

To sign up for a class and learn how to perform CPR, visit RedCross.com.



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Education

Money blogger shares how she paid off $34,000 in debt by embracing 'no spend' months

She paid it off now to enjoy herself later.

via Pixabay/Pexels and TheSavvySagittarius/TikTok

The No Spend Month calendar

Elyse Lyons, a 28-year-old from Nebraska, is a money blogger and budgeting whiz who conquered a whopping $34,000 in debt over two years by having “no-spend months.” During no-spend months, the goal is to spend as little money as possible each day.

“When I was 22, I was in $34,000 worth of debt because I had student loans, car payments, and some credit cards,” she told Good Morning America. “And I knew that if I wanted to enjoy my life a little bit more, I had to pay it off.”

That’s when she devised her no-spend month strategy.

If you’re looking to save money like Lyons, she recommends buying a calendar and jotting down the few days you might need to part with some cash, such as buying gas for your car or going food shopping. The calendar is also a way to track and celebrate your money-saving wins. It's a fun, visual reminder of your journey to financial freedom.

She also recommends making a list of things you didn’t buy, and if you keep returning to that item, find a way to put it in the next month’s budget. The entire process is all about being intentional and conscious about your spending habits.

“The goal is not to create shame around spending. It's to see who you are at your core and what your actual spending habits are about,” Lyons said. She also said the goal shouldn’t be to restrict yourself to spending $0 daily.

“Extreme deprivation is not going to work for your budget for long,” she added.

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Identity

Everyone loves this dad's genuine, heartfelt response to learning his daughter has a girlfriend

If only every dad could be this open.

via ilovemygf1ffffffffffff/TikTok

Connie Kingston come out to her father, Michael, over the phone.

A video posted to TikTok by Connie Kingston has received over 8.8 million views in just four days for the wholesome way that her father responds to her coming out of the closet. The big moment seems to come out of nowhere, and her father doesn’t even miss a beat.

In the video, Connie is lying down and talking to her father, Michael Kingston, about dinner plans when she coyly slips in some information about her “friend,” Daya.

Daya and Connie live in North Carolina and have been dating since November 2022.

Here’s how the conversation went:

Connie: Oh yeah, Daya's not my friend.

Dad: Why do you say that?

Connie: She's my girlfriend.

Dad: Oh, that's cool. I really like Daya.

Connie: Really?

Dad: Yeah, of course.

Connie: I like her too.

Dad: She's wonderful. Yeah. So are you.

The father then explains why he is accepting of her lifestyle and supportive of her relationship.

“Connie, I love you so much,” her dad says over the phone. “There's nothing you can do that would make me not love you. And there's nothing wrong with that lifestyle. I perfectly agree with that lifestyle. So some of my good friends in college had different lifestyles than me. I love you.”

Michael doesn’t just tell her he supports her but shares why he feels that way, so she’s even more confident about coming out to him.

@ilovemygf1ffffffffffff

Crying watching this . I lobe you dad My cry was so ugly lol #fyp #foryoupage #lgbt #lesbians #comingout

The video attracted countless comments from people touched by the genuine, heartfelt interaction between father and daughter.

"Does your dad need extra children? Cuz we allll need a dad like that!" Tristann Whittaker wrote.

"When his voice shakes when asking if you were worried about that tore me up, he loves and cares about you so much you are lucky girl," Deactive added.

The father and daughter appeared on Good Morning America to discuss their relationship.

Unfortunately, Daya's family wasn't as supportive of her relationship as Connie's father. "They weren't exactly as accepting as I wish that they would have been. And it was kind of a letdown for me," she told Good Morning America. Daya's parents’ reaction inspired Connie to tell her parents about their relationship because Daya needed the support.

Michael was concerned that Connie didn’t think he’d be as supportive as he was. "Did she think that I was going to react in a negative way?" he wondered.

"I’m surprised and a little sad because I hope that would be everybody's responsibility,” Michael told Good Morning America. “You know, when someone you love finds someone they really care about in this world and that person cares about them, then why wouldn't that bring everybody joy?"

It’s 2023, and just as Michael says, everyone should be accepting of their LGBTQ child. But his reaction is remarkable because of the tender way that he shows his total support for Connie and Daya’s relationship. His response is an excellent lesson to parents everywhere on how to give full support to an LGBTQ child.

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Family

This is the parenting style that's best for your child's mental health according to new study

Consistency counts.

via August de Richelieu/Pexels

A father sternly talking to his son

There’s a long-running debate among parents over the proper way to discipline a child. Some favor the “spare the rod, spoil the child” philosophy. In contrast, others believe being warm and empathetic is the best approach to discipline. So who's right?

A new study from Cambridge University conducted on 7,507 children in Ireland from 9 months to 9 years old looked at which style is better for a child’s mental health.

For the study, researchers compared three parenting styles: “hostile,” in which parents are overbearing, protective, and use physical discipline; “consistent” parenting, where expectations, rules, and discipline are predictable; and “warm” parenting, which emphasizes affection and being empathetic to a child’s needs.

The researchers also looked at two mental health symptom classifications, high-risk and low-risk.

The researchers found that children whose parents used hostile parenting techniques when the child was 3 years old were 1.5 times more likely to have high-risk mental health symptoms and 1.6 times more likely to display low-risk mental health symptoms by the age of 9.

"Our findings suggest that hostile parenting should be avoided as much as possible in early childhood if we want to prevent children from developing increased mental health symptoms," said lead author Dr. Ioannis Katsantonis, a doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, said according to Good Morning America. "We found that children in the high-risk class had parents with greater stress and greater likelihood of ongoing physical and mental health problems. These parents might need additional support and resources to address their own needs and enhance their parenting skills."

On the other hand, the study found that consistent parenting could help protect children from developing low-risk mental health symptoms by the age of 9.

"Consistent parenting may help because it provides children with a sense of predictability and security, which can act as a buffer against worsening mental health," said Katsantonis.

The study also found that children raised with warm parenting techniques were neither more nor less likely to develop mental health symptoms by age 9. It appears parental empathy was basically a non-factor in predicting whether a child would have mental health struggles. These findings somewhat contradict previous studies that found empathetic parenting styles may protect children from developing certain emotional and mental health symptoms.

The researchers also stress that parenting isn’t the sole contributing factor to a child’s mental health. Children in low-income households or those who are raised by single parents are more likely to have mental health issues. Female children are also more likely than males to develop mental health symptoms by the age of 9. Genetics also plays a big role in whether a child will develop mental health symptoms.

The big takeaway from the study is the importance of consistency when raising children. It appears that when children can predict an adult’s behavior and understand what is expected of them, it is better for their mental health.

Sanford Health offers some helpful tips for parents who want to practice more consistency in their expectations, responses and routines so their children can benefit from that parenting style.

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