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Swim coach's reaction when toddler tries to kiss him is a masterclass in teaching boundaries

People are impressed with how expertly and professionally he handled it.

Representative photo credit: Canva

It takes a village, as they say.

People who work with children—teachers, coaches, mentors—are often beloved by the kids they serve, especially if they're good at what they do. Those caring adult relationships are important in a child's life, but they can also lead to some awkward situations as kids learn appropriate ways to show affection to different people. A baby might cover their mother's face with slobbery kisses, but other adults may not appreciate that very much. As kids grow, they learn what's okay and not okay, not just from their parents but from the village of adults in their lives as well.

A perfect example of what that looks like was shared in a video showing a swim instructor at the end of a swim lesson with a toddler who hugged him and then went in for a kiss. The hug was expected and welcome—"Thank you, Mila. I love Mila hugs!" the swim coach said. But when she started to go in for a kiss, he immediately pulled back, gently saying, "No, no kissy. No kissy 'cause I'm coach. You only kiss Mommy and Daddy, okay?"

The little girl looked a bit dejected and started to cry, and he quickly gave her an acceptable alternative. "Okay, hey! High five!" he said, while holding up his hand. "High five 'cause we're all done!" She calmed right down, gave him a high five, and then he moved on to clean-up time.

Watch:

His expression at the end of the video says it all—he knew that was a teachable moment that could have gone very wrong, but he handled it with clear professionalism and toddler-friendly expertise. People loved seeing such a great example:

"So sweet... I sometimes have young clients who want to give kisses and it's so cute but you do have to tell them "no" because it's an important boundary to learn. Not everyone wants kisses!"

"On top of knowing not to do it to other people, it also teaches them for themselves that other people shouldn’t be just giving them kisses."

"The kid is absolutely adorable but that coach is on another level. Creating the boundaries while keeping it cool and recording the whole thing so the parents are extremely comfortable. Dude is setting a hell of example."

"It sounds like he's got a good balance between encouraging her growth and setting appropriate boundaries. Kids can be incredibly affectionate, and it's important to gently guide them in understanding what's suitable."

boundaries, gif, new girl, setting boundaries, kids, adultsJake Johnson Fox GIF by New GirlGiphy

"I also think it’s important for the parents’ comfort that a grown man swimming with their young girl isn’t overstepping boundaries/being predatory. From the outside looking in, it’s hard to know for sure when something is innocent or not. It’s better to just stay away from those situations as a whole."

"The little girls I used to babysit always tried to give me kisses (they were between 2-5) and I had to tell them that I’m not related to you, so you can’t kiss me. You can hi-five or hug me, but no kisses! They still give me running tackle hugs when they see me!"

A few commenters pointed out that some cultures see kissing as totally acceptable, as it's frequently used as a friendly greeting for people of all ages and genders. But even in those cultures, boundaries based on relationships and contexts are important to learn, and it's helpful when adults help teach those lessons so it doesn't all fall on the parents.

In an article titled "Teaching Kids About Boundaries: Why empathy and self awareness play a major role," Child Mind Institute includes a helpful video about teaching boundaries to children, and it confirms that the coach handled things in exactly the right way. In a section entitled "Rules work both ways," the institute notes that when people model their boundaries, it's important for children to empathetically listen. "People are in charge of their own bodies," writes Rae Jacobson, author of the article and senior editor at the Child Mind Institute, "and it's not okay to touch them if they don't want you to, just like it's not okay for someone to touch [you] in a way you don't like." By calmly modeling his boundaries, the swim coach gave his young swimmer a gentle but clear message about what was and was not okay and embodied both empathy and autonomy for her in a way she can understand and mirror when she's older.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

Well done, Coach. Thanks for giving us all such a fabulous example to follow.

This article originally appeared in January. It has been updated.

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German toddler schools his dad on driving—and the rest of us on the origins of English

A hilarious viral video demonstrates why English is considered a Germanic language.

Photo by Helena Jankovičová Kováčová/Pexels

Out of the mouths of babes…

Tiny humans talking is cute in any language, but sometimes a video comes along that take adorable to a whole new level. Remember the little girl who was passionate about pencil justice? Or the Italian preschooler who did a full Italian rant about a miniskirt? Kids say the darnedest things, and when the darned things they say are caught on video, virality almost inevitable.

Now there's the German toddler who sternly gives his father a road rules lesson, literally side-seat driving and chastising him for accelerating too fast. His "Oh, mein Gott!" has people rolling, as does his ingrained respect for the rules of proper driving.

Watch:

Not only is the video a hilarious viral moment on its own merit, but it's also a pretty solid demonstration of how the English language originated.

English is considered a Germanic language, which is sometimes confusing because most of the words we use don't actually come from German. Some people mistakenly think English is a romance language like Spanish or French, but it's not. More than half of our vocabulary comes from French and Latin, though, hence a lot of the confusion.

Around a quarter of our vocabulary comes from German, but where our Germanic roots really come through is in our grammar and syntax. The order in which we say words is the same, such as putting adjectives in front of nouns (which is the opposite of romance languages). And our grammatical structure is very similar, with only a handful of somewhat minor differences.

As we see in the video, the German sentences are almost understandable without even having the translations on the screen. In the beginning, it almost sounds exactly like he's saying "Wait! Stop! Halt!" just with a German accent, even though he's actually speaking German. "Papa, da ist rot!" is so close to "Papa, that is red!" And "Oh, mein Gott!" is very clearly, "Oh, my God!" which is part of why English-speakers are finding the video so entertaining and also educational.

Check out these comments:

"We need an entire channel with this kid teaching us to speak German."

"Need my GPS to go 'aaaah! Mein gott, das ist zu viel' when I go over the speed limit."

"I just learned so much German.. this baby is more effective than Duolingo lol."

"MY German instructor. I'd so learn how to speak German from this baby 😭💕 I just learned like 5 words already!"

"How is it I can't understand toddlers that speak English but I can understand a German toddler without even knowing the language 😂"

"Americans are so much more used to hearing Spanish and French that we forget that our own language has nothing to do with them, and is actually much more closely related to what this little boy is saying. That's why it sounds so familiar to American ear ! :-)"

People also joked about his adult-like adherence to rules and regulations, as the German culture is known for such things.

"He's between 3 and 75 years old."

"This ain't kids first life on earth."

"Did he learn that somewhere or is that factory settings?"

"Lil bro has a decent credit score already and he isn't even fully out of the diaper stage of his life😂"

"That’s not a kid, that’s a full grown driving instructor 🤣🤣"

Thanks to the wee German lad for the fabulous driving and language lesson.

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Toddler directs his mom's maternity photoshoot like an absolute pro

“Pls pls pls get him a camera. Encourage him. He has actual talent!!”

Photo credit: Canva

This guy has a natural talent for sure.

Every child’s journey to discovering their talents is as unique as the talent itself. But when parents can really notice and support the things that their little ones are naturally gravitating towards, magic tends to happen.

Case and point: an impeccably adorable maternity shoot…directed by a toddler who’s clearly a photographer in the making.

In August of 2023, Skye Hitchcock posted a little behind-the scenes video showing how her young son Bridger offered his keen eye.

In the clip, Hitchcock wears a lovely white mini dress and stands in front of colorful flowers as Bridger directs her to do things like ““Rub the baby, and cheese” and look up into the sun (a bit of a tough ask, but Hitchcock found a way).

What’s hilarious about this is how very serious and in the zone Bridger seems to be. At one point he asks mom to sit down for a shot. When she says “what?” he replies, much more firmly “SIT DOWN.” Respect his process, please!

But then, the real cherry on top is all the sweet compliments he gives his subject.

“You look so beautiful…you look so good…you look really pretty…” he says. GAH.

Watch all this cuteness below:


@skyehitchcock how much should I pay him? #photographer #momsoftiktok #toddlermom #momandson ♬ Cena Engraçada e Inusitada - HarmonicoHCO


Understandably, people were wowed not only by Bridger’s god given talent, but his personality.

“Pls pls pls get him a camera. Encourage him. He has actual talent!!” one person wrote.

“OH MY GOD 😭 sit down?! smell the flowers?! look at the baby?! you’re so beautiful?! I LOVE HIM!!!!” added another.

After getting such an overwhelming positive response to her clip, Hitchcock shared in a follow-up video that her son’s love for photography has seemed to always be there.

“He has been this way for as long as I can remember,” she said.

And she has been supporting that passion as well, getting him a polaroid camera for his previous birthday, and a digital camera for his following birthday. Plus, of course, he uses her phone for snapping pics too.

The support has certainly done its job. Recently, Hitchcock posted yet another video, this time a photoshoot of her and her new baby girl named Valley…directed by Bridger, of course. And it’s every bit as wonderful as the last one.


@skyehitchcock How much should I pay him? hes getting better and better! #wholesome #family #toddlermom #momsoftiktok ♬ Aesthetic - Tollan Kim


The kid has clearly honed in on what works—sitting in front of flowers, looking up in joy, and telling mom and sis they are beautiful. As one person put it, “he’s a professional already!”

Maybe not all kids pick up a talent quite so quickly or easily as Bridger, but any kid that has an attentive, supportive parent in their corner can make sussing out what does actually light them up inside a bit easier. That’s why paying attention to the hints, whether subtle or overt, is so important. Kudos to Hitchock for being that kind of parent.

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Toddler offers up bedtime prayer that shows exactly what's most important in her life: pizza

Pizza is life!

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Toddler's bedtime prayer includes adorable demands for pizza

Toddlers can be hilarious. They're learning the world around them while simultaneously acting as if they've got it all figured out. There's nothing like arguing with a tiny version of yourself whose pants are on backwards and inside out. But even with all their sass, they're mostly filled with adorable moments.

Caroline Victoria uploaded a video to her social media page of her toddler daughter saying her bedtime prayers. The little girl is wearing a pink satin bonnet laying on the bed with a sweet grin on her face as her mom starts prayer. Since the girl is just a toddler she is only contributing one word responses for the things she's thankful for.

That tiny toddler voice only makes the answers even cuter. Caroline starts off by saying, "dear Lord, thank you for," then she pauses waiting for the little girl's response. She's off to a pretty solid start by being thankful for her brother, Brandon and her mommy but things quickly take an interesting turn.

Caroline starts her off again, "thank you for?" The response was no longer a person in the house. This baby was thankful for pizza and she didn't think her mom was taking her gratitude for the cheesy delicious meal seriously. You hear her mom laughing behind the camera before asking her again what she was thankful for.

If you thought the answer was going to change, you don't know how much she appreciates pizza. The little girl rattled off pizza at least five more times in a row to make sure her point was taken proving to be a bit too much for Caroline who can be heard squeaking with laugher in the background.

Watch her request below:

Commenters can't seem to get over how adorably hilarious the little girl is.

"She is a little comedian and a beauty," one person writes.

"Too precious!! She grateful for her Pizza.. Amen," another says.

"She didn't add you in the prayer ma'am.She said her brother, me , and pizza.She didn't say "mummy." Go get your prayers somewhere else," someone jokes.

"I'm with her Pizza is definitely something to be thankful for all the time," another person declares.

Let's all hope mom answers this little girl's prayers and order some pizza. It's clear that pizza is a top priority for her and until she has it her little brain will not be able to move on to pray for other things.

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