upworthy

middle school

@7thgradechronicles/TikTok
According to 7th graders, 30-year-olds want soup for Christmas.

As a kid it's impossible to imagine a day when you don't want toys for Christmas. But the day inevitably comes that your wish list changes. It might be video games, make up or skincare, clothes, or whatever water bottle all the kids are using (anything to fit in, right?) But even still it's almost impossible to wrap your head around the mindset of a true grown up. Sweaters? Gift cards to Home Goods? Candles? Boooooooring!

Seventh grade teacher Mr. Frakes routinely asks his students to give their observations on various aspects of adulthood to post on his TikTok —everything from “things parents love to say” to reactions to old school songs to guessing the “worst parts about adulting." The answers are always hilarious…if not a little brutal to us olds. His Christmas edition is no different.

Mr. Frakes asked his students “what do you buy someone in their 30s for the holidays?” And the adults who saw the video can’t help but commend the accuracy.


the office, creed, 30, turning 30, millennials, gen zHow can we be so young, yet feel so old? Or maybe we've got it backwards.Giphy

Frakes had the kids write their ideas on green sticky notes and edited together a TikTok video showing them all in succession. The list is as follows, verbatim.

“Measuring cups…bwahaha.”

"Signs that say ‘Bless The Home.’”

“A Dyson vacuum.”

“A bottle of wine and hip implants.”

“Panera bread gift card. People in their 30s love soup!”

“Bingo cards.”

“You give them Bath & Body Works stuff. That’s what my mom wants!”

“Expensive meats.”

“Hard Candies.”

“Candy Crush Premium.”

“You get them old people candles that smell like ‘home’ or ‘back then.’”

“T.J. Maxx gift card.”

“The wrinkle creams.”

“Heated blanket cause their muscles be hurtin.”

“A coffee mug that says ‘don’t talk to me til I’ve had my coffee’ because they’re all coffee obsessed millennials.”

“A lawyer for the divorce attorney. (fight for the kids).”

The entire video is a worth a watch:

@7thgradechronicles

Its me. I’m 30s. 😂🫣😬#teachersoftiktok #teacher #teacherlife #teachertok #middleschool #middleschoolteacher #middleschoolteacher #middleschoollife #dyson #panerabread #tjmaxx

Obviously, adults who saw this joked about feeling personally attacked. But also seen.

Case in point: one person wrote, “Okay the ‘they’re all coffee obsessed millennials’ was personal” as another admitted, “I watched this while drinking coffee out of my ‘don't talk to me til I’ve had my coffee’ mug.”

Hip implants? Hard candies? How old do these kids think 30 is?! Probably the most upsetting thing about the list, however, is how accurate most of it is.

Another user added, “But are they wrong? Because I honestly love soup and candles. I’m 36.”

Echoing that sentiment, someone commented, “not me thinking all those gifts sound amazing.”

Even Mr. Frakes himself responded saying, "I would be happy with most of these."

And of course, everyone was eyeing that Dyson vacuum. That is a legitimately good gift and the kids need to step off. They also have a lot of nerve teasing us for "the wrinkle creams" when every 10-year-old girl is obsessed with skincare and Ultra. But, hey, we're millennials — we can take a little good-natured ribbing.

30s, 30 year old, millennials, gen z, teacher, kids, funny, humorWe 30-somethings are still in our prime, even if we need a heated blanket for our aching muscles!Giphy

Growing older might mean muscles that “be hurtin’” and some judgement from the younger generation, but it clearly also comes with a deep felt appreciation for the simple, practical things in life, as indicated by this list. Nothing wrong with that.

(After all, the young ones might balk now, but it won’t be long til they become coffee obsessed as well.)

But maybe this can be a wake-up call, or just some gentle inspiration, for all us to find a little more fun in the holidays and in our wish lists. We might really want that heated blanket, but maybe we can also ask for our family or spouse to surprise us with a fun adventure, a new board or card game, or just something that'll make us laugh.

May we all get a bit of holiday joy this year, in whatever form we can.

This article originally appeared two years ago. It had been updated.

Representative Image from Canva

Every parent should know about this game. Many have experienced it as kids.

Nurse and mom Jinny Schmidt wants parents to be aware of a game that’s circulating amongst tweens right now, because it’s not a game at all.

In a PSA posted to her TikTok, Schmidt shared that her daughter informed her that boys in her class were beginning to play what she called “The Fire Truck Game.”

As Schmidt begins to describe what the “game” entails, it’s easy to see why she’s concerned. All parents should be.


Here’s how the game works: a boy puts his hand on a girl’s lower thigh. He tells her, “My hand is a fire truck” as he slowly moves it up her leg. When the girl gets uncomfortable, she is supposed to say, “Red light.” Except for when the girl says, “Red light,” the boy responds with, “Sorry, fire trucks don’t stop for red lights.” And so they run their hand all the way up the girl’s leg, Schmidt explains, and sometimes they “touch the girl’s crotch.” Yikes.

According to Parents, this game has been around for at least a decade. Many viewers noted growing up with the Fire Truck Game, or a version of it called “The Nervous Game,” or “Red Light Green Light.” Suddenly The “Squid Game” version of “Red Light Green Light” doesn’t seem so bad.

No matter what it’s called, though, it’s touching without consent and is inappropriate on so many levels, not least of which being that it’s an excuse for sexual assault. Hence Schmidt’s alarm.

“I know that kids will be kids and kids will do some stupid shit, But we’ve got to do better teaching our boys to keep their hands off of other people and teaching our girls that it’s okay to have boundaries,” she says, before asking parents to “be aware” if they hear their kids talking about it.
@the.funny.nurse Y’all gonna see me on the 6 O’clock news. #jrhigh #kids #tween #preteen #parents #moms #momsoftiktok #dads #dadsoftiktok #teacher #teachersoftiktok #publicschool #school #firetruck #firetruckgame #firetruckgameawareness #girls #boys #game ♬ original sound - Jin-Jin

And she is, of course, absolutely right. Folks who watched her video wholeheartedly agreed that the behavior should not be tolerated, and many shared some pretty intense, although warranted, reactions to it.

“We’d be playing a game called Ambulance next,” one person wrote.

“Press charges,” said another.

“We have a game also. It’s called ‘oops I broke your finger,’” a third added.

But many also chimed in to say that they would be talking to their kids immediately about it, which is probably the best route overall. That way kids can protect themselves, and others around them.

Middle school years in general are pretty rough. They can be just as difficult to navigate for parents as they can be for the kids going through them. It’s painful to watch your still baby-faced child go through many of the same awful pains you did—many unavoidable. But some things, like terrible and abusive games, can be avoided. Make sure to keep your tweens safe and aware by having those important conversations when you can.


This article originally appeared in April.

A group of students staring at their phones.

The Norwegian government is spearheading a significant initiative to prohibit students from having smartphones in schools. This move comes in the wake of compelling studies demonstrating the positive impact of removing these devices from students’ hands and allowing them to focus more on their learning.

The effects have been particularly beneficial for girls.

Over the past few years, smartphone bans have cropped up in several school districts throughout Norway, allowing researchers to study how the bans affected students. Sara Abrahamsson, a postdoctoral fellow at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, analyzed students at 400 middle schools and found that the bans had psychological and academic benefits.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health published the results.

1 Girls made fewer appointments for psychological help

The study found that there was a significant decrease in the number of visits that girls made to see a psychological specialist for mental health issues. “Relative to pretreatment this is a significant decline by almost 60% in the number of visits,” Abrahamsson wrote in the study.

2. Steep drop in bullying

The study shows that girls experienced a 46% reduction in bullying after smartphone bans were enacted and boys had a 43% reduction.

smartphone, smartphone ban, norway

Boys looking at memes on a smartphone.

via Max Fischer/Pexels

3. Improved grades for girls

The study revealed that introducing a smartphone ban at the beginning of middle school improved girls' GPAs and increased their chances of enrolling in an academic-oriented high school track versus a vocational study. On the other hand, the ban appeared to have no notable effect on boys’ GPA, teacher-assigned grades, or likelihood of pursuing an academic high school track.

4. The ban had a more significant effect on economically disadvantaged girls

The study found that the ban resulted in greater benefits for economically disadvantaged girls regarding academic performance, appointments for psychological symptoms and the probability of attending an academically focused high school.

The positive impact that the bans have on girls is significant, given the fact that studies show they’ve been the most deeply affected by the rise in mental health issues amongst young people that have coincided with smartphone adaptation.

One of the most disturbing trends is the dramatic rise in suicide rates among girls in developed nations.

smartphones in schools, norway, smartphone ban

Students taking a selfie in school.

via RDNE Stock Project

Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” and advocate for banning smartphones in schools, explained why smartphone use is more damaging for girls than boys.

“There is a special relationship between social media and girls,” Haidt told “The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie” podcast. “When boys get together … they're likely to organize themselves into groups to compete [on multiplayer video games].”

“Girls are much more interested in talking about relationships. Who is on the outs with whom? Who's dating who? They have a more developmental map of the social space,” Haidt continued.

When there is conflict within peer groups, social media poses a much greater threat to girls.

“Boys' aggression is ultimately backed up by the threat of physical domination and punching or pain, " Haidt continued. “Girls' aggression is equal in magnitude, but it's aimed at relationships and reputation. It's called relational aggression. Video games, if anything, prevent boys from getting in fights. … The platform settles everything. But girls' relational aggression is amplified. The worst year of bullying is seventh grade. I'm really focused on middle school.”


This article originally appeared on 4.25.24


A teacher reveals the funny things her students say.

Molly Dugan, 26, a teacher from the Kansas City area, has gone viral on TikTok with a video where she reveals the wilder things her 8th-grade students have said. They range from personal insults to strange observations that you’ll only get from kids stuck in the awkward phase between elementary and high school.

Since being posted on May 16, the video has been viewed over 15 million times.

What’s interesting about the video is that she delivers all of her students’ quotes in a stoic deadpan and they all come from memory. It’s a perfect performance for the teacher’s first-ever TikTok post. “Things that my 8th graders have said to me,” opens the video, looking straight into the camera.


Here are a few of the things her students said:

@miss.dugan1

“8th graders will make fun of you but in an accurate way.” - John Mulaney @John Mulaney official

“Are you in therapy? You seem like the type.”

“You look like my grandpa’s couch.”

“Your pants look like trash bags sewn together. Ha ha. Trash bag pants.”

“I don’t get why you write so much on my rough draft. I’m not reading all that, bruh. For real for real.”

“Fat a** alert.”

"Miss Dugan, the toilet paper in this school sucks. I just got dookie on my hand."

"How does it feel to be the only unmarried teacher in this school?"

“Yuh, I felt that one in my nuggets.”

The teacher captioned the post with a quote from comedian John Mulaney. “8th-graders will make fun of you but in an accurate way,” Mulaney said in his 2015 Netflix special, “The Comeback Kid.” The quote struck a chord with Dugan who teaches 7th and 8th-grade English-language arts and will begin working with high school students next year.

“I never related to something more,” she told The Kansas City Star. “Sometimes they say it and they don’t know that they’re insulting you, but they kinda do. That’s the beauty of middle school, they’re such a blend of elementary and high school. They know they’re saying something mean but they didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

“I fully believe that my students are really great at heart. The purpose was not to roast my students or put them on blast, rather than just to give people a little comedic relief,” she continued.

The video is a funny example of what life is like as a teacher, but it’s also proof that you need tough skin to step into the classroom. "I’m a pretty self-aware person, so some comments roll off my shoulders easily, and I can laugh off," she told Upworthy. "I like to try to show my students that others' comments don’t determine our self-worth or confidence in ourselves. Other days, I have to mentally remind myself that I don’t care about a 13-year-old's opinion of me."

The comments can also be a learning opportunity.

"On the really bad days, or with the most cutting remarks, a conversation is sometimes had about having respect for others. It depends on my relationship with the student and each situation," Dugan told Upworthy. For the teacher, the key is to stay balanced on the emotional middle school rollercoaster.

"Middle school is its own beast because truly, every single day, something is said to me that makes me want to cry and then 2 minutes later, something is said that makes me belly laugh. All. Day. Long," she said.

The video was a big hit on TikTok because it reminded millions of people what life in middle school is really like. "It takes us back to that age and how brutal we were," she told Upworthy. "Middle school was such a universally cruel and awkward experience. It’s like the great unifier of the human experience. I think it’s fun for people to go back and remember their awkward years."

Ultimately, Dugan’s honest rapport with her students is great for everyone involved. "When I'm the first to show my human side, my students start to feel more safe to be themselves, too," Dugan told Newsweek. "My kids might poke fun at me and have some brutal one-liners, but they are all incredible humans whom I am proud to have taught."