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Mom sends teen son to his first solo doctor's visit. His 'frantic' texts to her are so real.

Hilariously relatable for all of us who were once not-yet-adults.

Photo credit: Canva

Filling out forms by yourself for the first time is an adulting milestone.

It's easy to poke fun of young people complaining about "adulting," but in truth, everyone runs the How To Do All The Grown-Up Things gauntlet at some point. Some adult things we pick up intuitively, some things we figure out through trial and error, and some things have to be explicitly taught.

But there are some things that fall into the gap between what kids need to know and what parents think to teach them, and many of those things are found on forms at the doctor's office. A viral post from a mom sharing texts from her 17-year-old son on his first solo trip to the doctor provides a perfect illustration of that fact and it has people everywhere rolling.

@wisco_cheryl

#boymom #17 #adulting #doctor #text #funny #momsoftiktok #momlife #haha #humor #wisconsin #fyp #myson #funnymoments #momtok #momsover30 #momhumor #vibes #parentsoftiktok #dadsoftiktok

"My 17 year old went to the doctor alone for the first time," the post from @wisco_cheryl reads. "Here are the frantic texts I got…he barely survived."

With "I'm Just a Kid" by Simple Plan playing in the background, we see a series of texts from the son:

"What do I even say when I get there"

"What's my social security number"

"What's DOB"

"Nevermind I got it"

"They gave me so many papers to write on"

"They're gonna touch my nustack"

"Nvm fault alarm" (He meant "false alarm.")

And for her part, Mom responded with a half dozen laughing emojis followed up by a hand and peanut emojis.

laugh emoji, cry laughing Joy Laughing GIF by Biteable Giphy

The son's texts are funny in part because they're totally to be expected. Seriously, at some point, you run across acronyms like DOB for the first time—how are you supposed to know what it means? Maybe you figure out by context, or maybe you have to ask, but it's not like that's something they teach you in school. And the social security number? At some point, every American has to commit their social security number to memory, but you just don't until you do.

And that's just the basic stuff. Forms can be legitimately confusing beyond that. Heck, I have my own adult children and I still find myself baffled by questions on forms at the doctor's office sometimes. What the heck does co-insurance even mean? Do I have it? No idea. I don't think I do, but maybe I'm wrong? Insurance details remain a mystery decades into adulthood.

So naturally, a teen who is just starting to walk the path of adulthood is going to have a million questions, and it's truly fortunate when young people have parents they're able to text and ask all their "silly questions" when needed.

young adults, transitioning to adulthood, mentorship Young people need adults to help them figure things out without judgment.Photo credit: Canva

With compassionate hilarity, people in the comments shared their own examples of not-quite-adult mishaps from their lives and their kids. It did not disappoint:

"At 21 I said my occupation was white and it still keeps me up at night. I'm 32."

"My son text me 'what's my maiden name' for the application for a job."

"While at urgent care, my son wrote 'mom' on the line asking for his primary care provider."

"My brother asked my mom when his last menstrual cycle was when he went to the doctors by himself for the first time."

"One time kid i hired back in the day filled out 'Next of Kin: Mom' and then 'Relationship: Good' on a onboarding packet. lol."

"My son when asked if he had the chicken pox shot 'I don't think so I'm not around chickens' 😂😂😂😂"

chickens, dancing chickens, chicken pox shot The chicken pox shot has nothing to do with actual chickens. Giphy GIF by Black Women Love Dogs

"I help my dad raise my siblings (5) . when my brother was 17 he went to see his primary. she told him that he had sinusitis. he came home crying thinking it was cancer 🤣🤣🤣🤣"

"When I was buying my first car, they asked for my insurance and I handed them my health insurance card💀still haunts me to this day. My dad was so embarrassed lol"

"When I applied for a job at 16 for the skills area I wrote 'I can do the splits' I was applying for a job at the mall"

"My teens act like they know everything, until it’s time to fill paperwork. 🤣🤣🤣"

doctor's visit, doctor's office, going to the doctor Sometimes teens need a little help as they're transitioning into adulthood.Photo credit: Canva

But one doctor's office worker had the best response of all:

"As someone who works in a drs office I’m always so proud of the teens. You can tell they’re nervous but they do such a good job 😊."

That's what we love to see—an acknowledgment that these young folks are doing alright as they learn the million little things they need to learn to go out on their own in the world. Here's to the parents and other grown-ups who remember what it was like to not know things and help the kids out, even when their questions might seem silly to us.

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Man whose dad walked out when he was 12 shares his own fatherly wisdom  'Dad, How Do I?' channel

Dad, How Do I?/YouTube

Rob Kenney's dad left his family when he was 12. One of eight kids, Kenney went to live with his older brother when he was 14, spending his teenage and young adult years without a father to guide him.

Now a father of two grown children himself, Kenney is offering others the fatherly wisdom and skills he had to gain on his own. His YouTube channel "Dad, How Do I?" shares videos on everyday practical things most people might ask their dad like the proper way to tie a tie, how to unclog a sink and how to check the car oil. Since it was launched April 1, the channel has exploded in popularity.

In fact, a Facebook post shared by Chris Hart from this morning describing Kenney's "Practical 'Dadvice'" channel has gone incredibly viral, pushing Kenney even further into Internet Fame territory. Eight hours ago, when the post was shared, Kenney's YouTube channel had 41,700 subscribers. That number has currently grown to 324,000.

Clearly, Kenney has tapped into a real need. In an interview with WICU on May 13, Kenney explained what prompted him to start "Dad, How Do I?"

"I come from a fractured home, and so my goal in life was to raise good adults and so then when I got to, you know, early 50s, I'd felt like I'd already done that. Now what? I still got a lot of life to live. So if I could pass some of what I have learned, to help people…and it's it's definitely resonating. I'm getting such amazing comments from people. I'm humbled by it."

Kenney runs the channel with his daughter who calls him with questions on "adulting" all the time.

"Obviously there's a lot more to being a dad than being able to screw in a light bulb or whatever," he explained. "We talk about all kinds of things—finances, and what do you do with this, and what do you do with that." He said he's trying to figure out how to cover some of those subjects, and may branch out into doing a podcast.

Kenney has been blown away by the responses to his channel and how it's touched people. "I was just thinking I was going to be showing people how to do stuff. But it's resonated on such a different level," he told WICU.

"Some of the emotional responses I've gotten from people who don't have fathers, or didn't have a relationship with their father, or have lost their father, you know, and they've said they watched my videos in tears, just being reminded of missing their dad. It's amazing."

What a beautiful way to turn something you didn't have into a gift for so many. Well done, Dad.

At this point, Kenney releases a video a week. Here's his first video:

How to tie a tie.www.youtube.com

You can also check out his most recent video "How to fix most running toilets:"

How to fix most running toilets.www.youtube.com

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5 invaluable tips on how to resist from a first-time activist.

Lisa Raymond-Tolan spent much of Election Night, and the week that followed, frozen.

Still reeling from her election-induced catatonia, Raymond-Tolan, an occupational therapist from Brooklyn, began noticing posts from friends on Facebook urging people to call their local elected officials. There were Trump's proposed appointments to oppose, the Electoral College to lobby, investigations into Russian election interference to demand. It was overwhelming at first, and scary, but she willed herself to pick up the phone.

"I was so nervous. My heart was pounding. I have real phone anxiety. But I had to call them and complain about X, Y, and Z. And so I started doing it," Raymond-Tolan says.

Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn — where Raymond-Tolan attended her first community meeting. Photo by David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons.

The next step was a meeting at a local synagogue, where she joined a working group. That working group eventually became Indivisible Brooklyn, a committee of about a dozen local activists, which Raymond-Tolan helps coordinate and whose Twitter feed she runs.

Like many Americans, Raymond-Tolan had engaged in precisely zero kinds of activism before Nov. 8, 2016.

Since then, she's been placing calls to elected officials around the clock, juggling a now-busy phone and organizing schedule with a full-time job and her role as a parent of two boys. As a first-time activist, she understands the fear — and inertia — of getting started.

Photo by Lisa Raymond-Tolan.

"I was deeply apathetic. I’m only one person, and all these other people are doing these things, so I don’t need to. I was that person just a few months ago, so I definitely understand it," she says.

For the many Americans wondering what to do next, Raymond-Tolan's advice — from a fellow novice who's taken the leap — is an invaluable guide.

Here's what she suggests for anyone looking to make their voice heard, but who isn't quite sure where to start.

1. Remember: You're not responsible for changing everything overnight immediately on your own, so just focus on what you can do.

Raymond-Tolan (L) at a tabling event in Brooklyn. Photo by Lisa Raymond-Tolan.

The key to surmounting the notion that there's just too much to do and overcome? She suggests picking one activity, even if it's small, and adding it to your daily routine.

"I want people to make a phone call every day," she says. "And I think that’s doable. Take one thing and just make that phone call. It’s your daily practice. If you meditate, you do yoga, you exercise, you make a phone call."

2. Start with the thing you care most about.

"Do you care about education? There’s plenty of phone calls to make about Betsy DeVos. Do you care about the Affordable Care Act?"

Photo by Lisa Raymond-Tolan.

Raymond-Tolan's group bases much of its strategy on the Indivisible Guide, a document on how to apply Tea Party tactics to anti-Trump resistance, compiled by four former congressional staffers. Among it's main conclusions? Resistance begins at home.

"You want to be focusing on your local representatives," she says. Out-of-state elected officials don't care much about people who won't affect their re-election.

3. When you get your elected representatives on the phone, remember that you are the one holding the cards.

"These people work for us, so if you think of yourself as the boss, you can call them up and tell them what you think and what you expect from them," she says.

For those who are still intimidated to dial a U.S. government office, realizing that you'll likely be speaking to a 22-year-old intern certainly doesn't hurt either.

4. Don't underestimate the stress-relieving power of bothering congressmen.

"You can call Paul Ryan! You can do that and tell him what you think. Does it matter because you’re not his constituent? Probably not. Does it feel good? Absolutely."

Photo by Lisa Raymond-Tolan.

Early on, Raymond-Tolan called the office of outgoing Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis — a Republican former member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform — to demand investigation into then-President-elect Trump's conflicts of interest. She expected to reach an intern, only to wind up on the phone with the congresswoman's chief of staff. They wound up speaking for 45 minutes — debating their political philosophies and getting to know one another personally.

"I still email with him from time to time," she says.

5. But, seriously, do the work — because it's not that hard.

"My grandfather, he was always really big on voting," Raymond-Tolan recalls. "He always said, 'If you don’t vote, you can’t bitch.' So if you want to complain about something, but you didn’t make any phone calls, you really shouldn’t complain."

Photo by Lisa Raymond-Tolan.

For three months now, she's been heeding his advice. With a little nudge, she thinks many more — including you — can too.

"If I can inspire one person to do one thing, that feels like a win to me," she says. "So let’s make some phone calls."

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No, everyone isn't 'a little bisexual.' Here's why we need to stop saying that.

Simply put, sexuality is complicated.

In 1948, famed American sexologist Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues published "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male." The book included the Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale, more commonly known as the "Kinsey Scale." Based on their subjects' sexual histories, Kinsey's team made a scale from 0 to 6, with 0 being exclusively heterosexual, 6 exclusively homosexual, and 3 being equal parts of the two.

Demonstrators march for marriage equality in Mexico City. Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images.

People have learned a lot about sexuality since then, and we've had a sexual revolution for good measure. There are plenty of identities, orientations, and lived experiences other than homosexuality and heterosexuality. All are unique and valid. But the Kinsey reports forever changed the way we look at sexuality, so the idea that it's is a straight line or continuum persists. This explains why it's relatively common to hear people, on the topic of sexuality, say, "Everyone is a little bisexual."  

Usually, the speaker's intentions aren't malicious, but that doesn't mean their words are harmless.

Perpetuating this myth erases the countless people who identify as bisexual or pansexual, orientations in their own right. Bisexuality is not simply the midway point between homosexual and heterosexual. Bisexual people have unique experiences, concerns, and issues that deserve to be talked about, addressed, and researched. If "everyone is a little bisexual," those issues are easy to overlook and erase, and that's not the only reason it's problematic.

A scene from the Mexico City Pride Parade. The signs read "Mom, I'm pansexual" and "Mom, I'm bisexual." Photo by Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images.

The M. Slade comic below was originally published on Everyday Feminism. It perfectly explains why, "Everyone is a little bit bisexual," often does more harm than good.  

Comic by M. Slade originally published on "Everyday Feminism."

This doesn't mean you can't be supportive. Here's what you can do instead.

Listen.

Like Slade said in the comic, "It's not your place to find a label for your friend." If your friend, colleague, or family member comes to you with complicated feelings, your first responsibility is to be a compassionate listener. Just be a good friend. Close your mouth and open your heart. If you insist on speaking, "I'm here for you, whatever you need," is a good place to start.

Do your homework.

Seek out LGBTQ writers, authors, and podcasters for first person essays, novels, articles, and interviews. These are simple but effective ways to learn more about someone else's lived experience and provide some insight into communities that aren't always represented on TV, in film, or even on the news.

Be an active ally.

Being an ally is good, but being an active one is better. It's not enough to fave a tweet or change your profile picture on Facebook. Do your part to signal boost voices that often get ignored, like trans women of color and LGBT people with disabilities. March, write your legislators, and volunteer or support organizations already doing the work. Don't just tell your friends and family how much you care, show them.

Demonstrators pushed for President Obama to stand up for LGBT rights at a 2009 protest. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images.

Yes, sexuality is complicated. Being a decent person is easy.

Keep listening, keep learning, and never stop doing your part to encourage inclusivity.

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