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

To dads and coaches everywhere: This is how you tell your kid you love them.

The heartwarming interaction was caught on live TV.

Little League coach Joel Jensen set an example that players, parents, kids, and adults alike should be proud to follow during one of his son's baseball games.

On Aug. 22, 2016, Isaiah "Bugsy" Jensen took the mound for Bend North, a Little League World Series baseball team from Oregon, as they took on a team from Emilia, Italy.

Isaiah pitched four and one-third innings of near-perfect baseball in front of a crowd of 7,000 fans and a TV audience.

It was the game of Isaiah's life, and he was playing like it.

Photo by AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar.

In the fifth inning, Isaiah began to struggle.

His pitches began to miss the mark; his speed began to trail off. It looked like his day, as good as it had been, was coming to an end.

After walking a batter in the top of the fifth inning, it looked like coaches were ready to pull Isaiah. GIF from ABC News/YouTube.

His dad called for a timeout, emerged from the dugout, and made his way to the mound. It was there that he did something completely unexpected: He told his son that he loved him.

It's not your ordinary pep talk. It's much better. GIF from ABC News/YouTube.

"You're doing awesome out there," Joel told Isaiah. "One more hitter. ... Hey, cheer up, have some fun, and come right after him."

Fresh off the pep talk of a lifetime, Isaiah struck out the next batter before being replaced by one of his teammates.

He struck out his final batter. GIF from ABC News/YouTube.

Sports parents sometimes get a bad rap. The internet is filled with horror stories of dad-slash-coaches who haven't exactly lived up to the expectations of either title. With dads like that in the world of youth sports, being the coach's kid can be rough. After all, no one wants to let down their coach, let alone their dad.

It's heartwarming to see such a positive example of sportsmanship on such a large scale.

Growing up, my dad volunteered to coach my baseball and soccer teams. The love and support he showed me during those years helped shape me into the person I am today. Whether I won or lost, I knew he was always there for me. The interaction between Joel and Isaiah is something I — and lots of people — can relate to on such a personal level. This is what the world needs: love, encouragement, and support.

Parenting: You're doing it right.

Watch Joel's powerful pep talk in the video below.

Health

Relationship expert shares her advice on how to 'stop an argument in its tracks'

She has the perfect question to ask once your partner gets defensive.

via LaurenConsul/TikTok and Pexels

Therapist Lauren Consul has one trick to stop arguments before they begin.

Arguments start to take off when one partner begins to get defensive. So, therapist Lauren Consul shared her relationship-saving tip to "stop an argument in its tracks" when one partner goes into self-preservation mode.

Lauren Consul is a couples and sex therapist who’s developed a following of nearly 160,000 people on TikTok and has received over 5.4 million likes. She is an infidelity expert and hosts retreats to help people "survive and thrive" after one partner has strayed.

Keep ReadingShow less
relationships
Democracy

A police officer makes a profound statement after pulling over a Black teen

The teen’s emotional response hit him like a punch to the gut.


“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value."

In October 2016, that was a quote from Albert Einstein that sat atop the Facebook page of Tim McMillan, a police officer in Georgia.

McMillan become a sensation after a post he wrote on his Facebook wall went viral in 2016. In his post, he explains how he pulled over a Black teen for texting while driving:

Keep ReadingShow less
police reform
Joy

Owner of plus-size dress shop gifts $700 prom dress to 'shy' teen after watching her light up

Creating moments like these is why she opened her store in the first place.

@juicybodygoddess/TikTok

Elyse Monroe found the perfect dress, then found out it costs nothing.

Adolescence is a harrowing time for body image and self-esteem all around, but few milestones are as universally daunting as finding a prom dress. Whether it’s due to budget constraints, not being able to find a dress that fits, or both, what should be a fun event is often viscerally dreaded.

This was certainly the case for Summer Lucille. Lucille told Today.com that growing up, “if you weren’t skinny, there weren’t many options, and it was devastating for me because I’ve always loved fashion.”

She recalled, “I went to my prom looking like a church lady in a suit dress with a jacket because it was the only thing that fit. It was a very sad period in my life.”

Keep ReadingShow less
tiktok
Family

Childless people over 50 are honestly reflecting on whether they made the right decision

Spoiler alert: They’re totally fine with it.

via Pexels

Childless people over 50 discuss their decision.

People who decide not to have children are often unfairly judged by those who chose a different life path. People with children can be especially judgmental to women who’ve decided to opt out of motherhood.

“You will regret it!” is one of the most common phrases lobbed at those who choose to remain childless. Why do people think they’ll have such awful regrets? Because they often say they’ll wind up “lonely and sad” when they’re older.

They also say that life without children is without purpose and that when the childless get older they’ll have no one to take care of them. One of the most patronizing critiques thrown at childless women is that they will never “feel complete” unless they have a child.

However, a lot of these critiques say more about the person doling them out than the person who decides to remain childless. Maybe, just maybe, their life is fulfilling enough without having to reproduce. Maybe, just maybe, they can have a life full of purpose without caring for any offspring.

Maybe the question should be: What’s lacking in your life that you need a child to feel complete?

Keep ReadingShow less
parents
Family

Dad's video sharing 'hardest part of co-parenting' has other separated parents relating

"I wish for peace and quiet, as does every parent when they’re overwhelmed. But then I hate it when I have it.”

@ainjole/TikTok

“Now I cherish every scream, every dirty hand print, and every spill.”

Very often, the right choice isn’t easy. Co-parenting is a prime example of this—no matter how amicable a break-up is, single parents inevitably lose time with their children after a divorce and must deal with the resulting loneliness that happens once the child leaves to spend time with the other parent. Knowing that you’ve made the right decision doesn’t necessarily take away the pain.

That’s why one dad’s video sharing his own experience of his child’s empty room is resonating with other single parents over on TikTok.

The dad, whose name appears to be Angel but goes by @ainjole on the platform, confessed in his video’s caption, “I think the hardest part of coparenting (for me) is dropping my daughter off with her mom and coming home to silence.”
Keep ReadingShow less
kids
Science

Brazilian veterinarian gives parrot a second chance at life with a prosthetic beak

The parrot could not survive in the wild without its beak, which is used to build nests, fend off predators and eat.

Photo by Laurent Jollet on Unsplash

Brazilian veterinarian gives parrot a second chance at life.

A parrot in Brazil got a lucky break when it was rescued after someone found it with a severely damaged beak. In fact, most of its little beak was completely gone. Birds use their hard beaks to eat, fend off other animals and build nests, and their mouths are essentially their hands while their feet are busy walking, scratching or holding twigs.

Plus, I don't know if you've paid much close attention to birds, but they don't seem to have a lot of dexterity with their tiny little bird legs. They sort of walk around like peg-legged pirates even though I'm pretty sure birds have knees. (I'm not a bird scientist or a zoologist if that wasn't clear.)

Luckily for this parrot, Renascer ACN, an animal rescue and rehabilitation facility in Planura, Brazil, had a doctor on staff who not only knows if birds have knees but also knew how to make a prosthetic beak.

Keep ReadingShow less
beak reconstruction
Trending Stories