What are Alison and Tod Taking about this week? A new Nike innovation, things teens aren’t ready to hear and people who have everything and still aren’t happy.
What are Alison and Tod Taking about this week? A fussy kindergartener has a real problem with his mom’s cooking. People are sharing the things teens aren’t ready to hear and a discussion about people who have everything and still aren’t happy.
Plus, a representative from Nike shares its latest innovation that significantly reduces its carbon footprint.
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Better health, better jobs, and a brighter future all start with access to a safe, affordable home.
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.
Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.
A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.
Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.
Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.
Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.
Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.
Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today.
She described the “kind can” as “a way to keep our hearts open even when they want to close.”
At some point, most parents have to field questions, concerns, worries, anxieties, and, sometimes, outright despair from their kids about their relationships with other kids. Friendships can be messy. Bullying is a thing. When you pool together a couple of dozen kids who are growing, changing, and figuring out their emotions for most of the day, all manner of relational dynamics can emerge.
Navigating the social landscape with our kids isn’t easy. Each child is unique, some are more sensitive or aware of what’s happening than others, and some need assistance with figuring out how to handle tough social situations. As parents, we don’t want to swoop in and solve their problems, but we also don’t want to leave them rudderless in a storm. We want to provide them with the tools and help them build the skills they’ll need to steer their own ship.
One tool that can help a kid who is struggling to connect with their peers is intentional kindness. However, a blanket admonition to “be kind” is often too vague to help a kid in the midst of a social crisis. That’s why one parent’s “kind can” idea has gone viral. It offers a specific way to practice kindness in a way that’s not overwhelming.
In a 2022 post on LinkedIn, mom Sasja Nieukerk-Chomos shared the idea, writing:
“‘Mom, I hate them.’
‘Them’ being her friends at school.
This is what my 7-year-old confided to me as I was putting her to bed the other night.
I could have made light of her hatred, like I’ve done when she tells me she hates broccoli.
I could have gotten caught up in her anger: ‘Who are these kids upsetting my daughter!?’
Instead, I asked her what was going on that her heart hurt so much.
Because under anger is usually hurt.”
“Sure enough, the tears came pouring out as she told me about how her best friend only wanted to play with another girl, and how when she went to find others to play with they told her to go away.
This had been happening all week.
‘Why doesn’t anybody like me?’
I didn’t have an answer for that, but I did have a thought: It’s time for the Kind Can.
Suddenly I was 8 years old again, a grade 3 student who was having a rough start to the school year.
I had a teacher I didn’t like, friendships had shifted, and I couldn’t seem to get along with anyone. I hated going to school.
My mom created a Kind Can.
She used a big Nescafe tin can (remember those?)
In the can went the names of every single one of my classmates. Each morning before school I
would pull a name out of the can. That day I had to go out of my way to do something kind for them.
Not to have them do something in return.
For no other reason than to do something kind.
It wasn’t easy at first, but my mom encouraged me to keep trying, and helped me think of all the different ways I could show kindness to others.
It started to get really fun!
And then things shifted.
No longer caught up in my own mind about what others were ‘doing to me’, I was now focused on what I was doing for others.
Though there were no expectations of kindness in return, more and more kindness is what I got. I loved going to school!
I told my daughter about the Kind Can and her eyes got that little spark — the one that tells me she’s about to get creative.
So yes, she has big plans for just how fancy this can will be– much better than an old tin can she proclaimed! That’s our project.
A Kind Can.
A way to create more kindness.
A way to keep our hearts open even when they want to close.”
People loved the “kind can” idea, with the post being shared more than 3,000 times. Some people pointed out the beauty of the wisdom in it being passed down through generations. Several parents wished that they had seen the idea when their own kids were going through some social struggles. Many commenters said that a lot of adults could use a kind can as well.
With bullying becoming more widespread thanks to the Internet and social media, many parents are aware of the importance of instilling kindness in their children. On social media, parents are making a point to highlight moments of kindness from their own kids or from another kid to theirs, and the videos are warming hearts and reminding viewers that the kids really are all right, and will continue to be so long as we continue to model kindness like Nieukerk-Chomos.
A “kind can” won’t solve every friendship woe a child has, but goodness knows the world could use more kindness. Helping kids practice that virtue with a tool that makes it specific and fun is definitely a win-win.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
The science behind what she spotted in her client’s hair is genuinely fascinating.
Beth Lunn was doing what hairstylists do: examining a client’s hair, moving pieces up and checking the texture and color. Then she stopped. She picked up another section. Looked closer. And then, without any prior conversation about it, asked her client, “Are you pregnant?”
The video she’d been recording for her Instagram page, @honeylunnhair, cut off there. The client, later identified as Chanelle Adams, laughed nervously and kept asking, “What? Why?” Lunn asked again. Adams repeated, “Why?” A few rounds of that, and then Adams looked straight at the camera and said, “Not in the video,” before Lunn ended the recording.
Within three days, the clip had reached 126 million views and 5 million likes, with one question dominating every comment section: how on earth did she know?
The answer, it turns out, is rooted in real biology. Lunn followed up with a second video after being flooded with questions, sharing photos of a client who was five months postpartum and walking through the science. As she explained it, “hormonal change causes an increase in estrogen and progesterone, which can alter the hair’s pigment (melanin).” She was careful to note that results vary from person to person, and that there is no “scientific evidence” that coloring one’s hair while pregnant causes harm to the baby, though she leaves that decision to her clients.
The hormonal explanation holds up. According to experts at BehindTheChair.com, elevated estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy can prolong hair growth cycles, change density, and shift the way hair looks and feels entirely. Texture, color, and even how it takes dye can all change.
On the question of coloring specifically, the NHS notes that most research shows it’s safe to dye or color your hair while pregnant. The chemicals in permanent and semi-permanent dyes could cause harm, but only in very high doses, and the amount absorbed through the scalp during a normal appointment is very low. Still, many people choose to wait until after the first 12 weeks, when the risk is lower. Worth knowing: if you’re in your second or third trimester, your hair may react differently to color than it normally would.
Commenters who watched the original video had their own theories about exactly what Lunn saw. @nicole.marie44 wrote, “Your hair tells you so much about your health! She probably saw banding in her hair, and that is common with pregnancy.” @asmaiel_soulvane put it simply: “If she could tell someone is pregnant from their hair. She’s worth the money hands down.”
Lunn hasn’t revealed exactly what visual cue tipped her off, which probably explains why people keep watching.
You can follow Beth Lunn (@honeylunnhair) on Instagram for more entertaining and hair-related content.
“Take your shirt off. I need you to go skin to skin.” The Rock’s advice for new dads is simple, a little unexpected, and completely backed by science.
When Canadian TV host Chris Van Vliet (@CVVClips) told Dwayne Johnson he was about to become a father for the first time and asked for advice, Johnson didn’t hesitate. He gave him a hug, told him his instincts were right, and then got specific.
“Take your shirt off,” Johnson said. “I need you to go skin to skin.”
Johnson explained that holding a newborn skin-to-skin right out of the womb builds what he described as an energetic and emotional anchor between parent and child. He’s not just talking theoretically. When his daughter Tiana was born in April 2018, he posted a photo to Instagram of himself cradling her against his bare chest, shirtless in the hospital, with a caption about how being her dad was the role he was most proud of. Days later, her mother Lauren Hashian shared her own photo doing the same.
The practice Johnson is describing has a clinical name: kangaroo care. According to the Cleveland Clinic, skin-to-skin contact involves holding a newborn against a bare chest and has well-documented benefits for both the baby and the parent. For the baby, it helps regulate body temperature, stabilizes heart rate and breathing, supports early breastfeeding, and reduces stress. For the parent, it triggers hormonal responses that promote bonding and can reduce postpartum anxiety. The research backing it is extensive and the recommendation applies to both mothers and fathers.
What Johnson is doing is essentially making the case for something pediatricians have been saying for years but that new dads don’t always hear directed specifically at them. Most kangaroo care conversations are aimed at mothers. Johnson’s version of the advice is pointed squarely at fathers, delivered by someone whose public identity is built on being the biggest, toughest person in the room — which probably makes it land differently.
Van Vliet, for his part, went on to have a daughter. He hasn’t said whether he followed the advice. But the comment section on the video is full of fathers who either did and are glad they did, or didn’t and wish they had.
“I got a bit teary-eyed during that,” one wrote. “I regret not doing the skin-to-skin with my son.”
He’s been doing this quietly every time he fills up. One night in Perth, someone caught it on camera.
It was 10:30 at night at a BP station in Currambine, a suburb north of Perth, Australia. Monty Van Der Berg, 34, was waiting in line to fill up his tank when he noticed something about the car ahead of him. The driver had put in $7 worth of fuel and pulled away.
That small detail stuck with him. He knew what $7 of gas means.
When the next car pulled up beside him, he leaned over. “I hope you’re filling up,” he said, “because I’m going to pay for it.” Then he walked to the kiosk and kept going, paying for car after car until he’d spent around $340, as People reported on April 9.
One woman pumping gas broke down crying. She’d just finished a brutal shift at work and was running on empty in every sense. The gesture hit her somewhere she wasn’t expecting. Another woman named Gerville gave an interview to 7NEWS afterward, still visibly moved. She works three jobs as a single mother. Someone quietly paying for her fuel at 10:30 on a Monday night was not something she had any framework for. “It was so nice to see other people light up,” Van Der Berg said afterward. “It was such a nice moment.”
Van Der Berg owns a construction business now, but it wasn’t always that way. He said there were years when he was living paycheck to paycheck and a full tank wasn’t always possible. He knows what it feels like to pull up to a pump and do the math in your head. So now that he’s doing well, he has a rule: every time he fills up, he pays for at least one other person.
He was clear that the $340 night wasn’t about the money or the attention. “That’s my one thing every time I fill up,” he said simply. He didn’t want praise for it. He just remembered what it was like, and he’s in a position to help, so he does.
Gerville said she hopes to run into him again someday. She wants to pay him back.
This random act of kindness at the pump reminds us of this viral classic from almost a decade ago:
“I wholeheartedly believe I was in the right spot at the right time.”
Football is a dangerous sport. From ACL tears to concussions, athletes risk it all from the moment they step foot on the field. An NFL career without at least one catastrophic injury is a rare exception.
Watching it at home, however, is supposed to be relatively safe. One man’s story proves that isn’t always the case, especially when fans get a little over excited by a generational folly.
Mark Toothaker of Kentucky was watching a game from the comfort of his home last season. The New York Giants were taking on the New England Patriots, and Giants’ kicker Younghoe Koo was lining up for a routine field goal.
In inexplicable fashion, Koo missed. He didn’t just miss the field goal uprights, he missed the ball entirely, with the toes of his right foot slamming into the ground several inches away from the ball’s laces.
Koo has been a good kicker throughout his career, but this was one of the worst misses of all time. Few analysts had seen anything like it before. The broadcasters were besides themselves. Unfortunately for Koo, the slow-motion, close-up videos of his blunder quickly became viral meme fodder.
Toothaker was right there watching along with everyone else, but he didn’t get to enjoy the moment for long. He was laughing so hard after watching and rewatching the replay that he suddenly collapsed.
“I’ve never felt anything like this in my life,” Toothaker told the AP. “I felt like I got electrocuted.”
Toothaker’s wife, Malory, called paramedics and an ambulance quickly got him to the hospital. Doctors determined he had had a seizure—his first—but that’s not all.
CT imaging revealed a large tumor on Toothaker’s brain: the source of the seizure. He’d suffered no symptoms at all until his intense laughter preceded the intense seizure.
Seizures can have all kinds of fascinating triggers, including music, being startled, or even laughter. Some specific forms of epilepsy have precise triggers like a certain body part being touched or having your natural stride broken by someone stepping in front of you.
It’s impossible to say if the laughter from Koo’s viral miss caused the seizure, but don’t tell that to Toothaker:
“I wholeheartedly believe I was in the right spot at the right time, and he was the trigger for that happening. It was a miracle.”
He says he thinks about what might have happened if the seizure had hit him while driving or out in public; how he could have died or accidentally hurt someone else.
Instead, the tumor was identified and removed quickly. Doctors say it was benign, and Toothaker has no lasting damage from the seizure or the surgery to remove the mass.
Stanford Medicine writes about how many crucial medical discoveries were happy accidents, and how good fortune always plays a big role in whether people ultimately live or die:
“We’d be fooling ourselves if we thought that we actually had that much control over the direction of medicine. Medicine is intractable and unpredictable, and luck plays a larger role than we’d like.”
Some people might call Toothaker’s story a miracle. Others might just call it a case of fantastic luck that he happened to be watching and just so happened to find the NFL moment so dang funny.
Whatever it is, Toothaker says he’s grateful to Koo: “I know it wasn’t his best moment…For [Malory] and I to be belly-laughing at his expense, which I feel terrible about now, but it all worked out in the end, that for me it couldn’t have been a better moment.”
“It was the best thing we’ve ever done.”
A good restaurant owner knows that it takes the entire team to ensure success. From the head chef creating the menu to the front of the house that cleans the floors, everyone plays an important part. With that in mind, The Standard Restaurant in Toledo, Ohio decided to treat the entire staff of over 60 people to a Caribbean cruise.
During the first week of January 2026, The Standard closed its doors so its workers could get on a flight and enjoy a three-day Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas. The whole staff from cooks to servers enjoyed karaoke, basketball, the beach, scavenger hunts, and delicious group dinners.
Chef Jeff Dinnebeil and manager Megan Lingsweiler, the husband and wife owners of the restaurant, also provided holiday bonuses and ensured no lost wages so the employees could relax while they were away.
For many employees of The Standard, this was the first time they’d ever had such a vacation.
“At first, I was nervous because I’ve never been on a cruise. I’ve never been in a plane. I’ve never been anywhere, so it took me a minute,” cook Andrew “Duke” Jackson told The Toledo Blade. “I had never been in the ocean before, so that was the first for me. Chef kind of made me get in there. But once I got in there, it was everything.”
“It was just such a unique experience getting to see 60 of your co-workers around the boat,” said server Allison Latta. “And some of these people, it was their first time flying, and it was their first time seeing the ocean.”
The Standard touts itself as an American bistro that serves meals during dinner hours. The food and service contribute to the dozens of positive Yelp reviews from Toledo residents. The owners are happy that the customers are happy, but wondered what they could do to make their employees happy, too.
Grateful for their work, Dinnebeil and Lingsweiler wondered how to best thank their staff. When their family went on a cruise themselves, inspiration struck.
“We made that decision on January first of 2025, on a boat that we were on with our kids. We followed through with it, and it was the best thing we’ve ever done,” said Dinnebeil. “Our staff is everything—they’re the blood, life, and the heart of that restaurant.”
“This is what we live for,” said Lingsweiler. “We live to experience and to enjoy, and there’s no greater people than the ones that are working for us.”
The staff was excited for the trip, but ultimately appreciative for the camaraderie and support that their employers gave them. Treating them as valued members of a team and as cared-for individuals motivated them to continue working at their best for The Standard.
“Everybody went on there as employees, and, when we left and went back home, everybody was like family,” concluded Jackson.
There are other employers like Dinnebeil and Lingsweiler who acknowledge their employees with generosity. The owner of a Chik-Fil-A restaurant in Pittsburgh gave employees expensive Christmas gifts ranging from a week’s worth of salary to a Toyota RAV4 car. The owner of a Baltimore commercial real estate company gave out $10 million in bonuses to his 198 employees. After his family-owned business in Louisiana was sold for $1.7 billion, the owner gave all 540 full-time employees an average of $443,000 per worker.
It goes to show good bosses knows that success and cooperation are at their best when each employee is shown gratitude and shares in the rewards.
Einstein shared his wisdom with his youngest son, Eduard.
Kids today are struggling with resilience. A study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that only 40% of school-age children in the United States were “flourishing.”
Study leader Christina D. Bethell explained more about how researchers defined “flourishing.” She noted, “Family resilience and connection were important for flourishing in all children, regardless of their level of adversity. Parent-child connection had a particularly strong association with child flourishing.”
And it’s that lack of resilience that highlights the struggle many kids face today, as well as the challenge for parents trying to instill it in them. It’s something Albert Einstein was aware of in the early 1900s and worked to cultivate in his three children.
Einstein was the father of three children with his first wife, Mileva Marić: a daughter named Lieserl, and two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard. Eduard was the youngest and had great intellectual potential, and he was studying for a career in medicine.
However, Eduard was afflicted by schizophrenia, which derailed his professional life. He was in and out of a psychiatric sanatorium in Zurich, Switzerland, throughout his life. Einstein described Eduard as having a “delicate nervous system.”
But the relationship between father and son produced a famous quote from Einstein on raising resilient children, drawn from a 1930 letter to his son Eduard:
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
Einstein encouraged his son to keep moving forward despite his challenges, comparing life’s difficulties to riding a bike and the skills needed to do so, such as balance and momentum.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), resilience is the “process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.”
Many parents want to raise resilient children. The APA has shared several helpful ways parents can strengthen their children’s resilience:
Be a healthy parent
A child’s resilience begins with having a healthy caregiver. “If you want a child to be functioning well, tend to the person who’s tending the child,” Suniya Luthar, PhD, a professor of psychology at Arizona State University, explained.
Parents who sought extra support from resources like community support groups and mental health services showed more positive parenting outcomes.
Stick with a daily routine
Structure is key to raising resilient kids. Keeping things consistent with schedules, such as setting times for schoolwork and play, creates an environment of comfort and can better help them develop emotional regulation.
Establish time to check in
Having regular talks with kids can help them feel safe, express themselves, and receive support. The APA recommends that parents “listen to their concerns and fears when they address them with you and let them know you are there for them.”
Build them up by reflecting
Focusing on past “wins” and moments of strength during difficult times is another important way to continue building resilience. Discuss times of accomplishment, such as when kids trusted themselves or made “appropriate decisions.”
American breakfast is essentially dessert. Why not switch to something actually nourishing?
The traditional American breakfast of cereal, pancakes, and waffles is basically dessert in disguise. It’s extremely high in sugar and carbohydrates, low in fiber and protein, and designed to give you a momentary boost of energy that can lead to a big-time crash by the time you get to work.
To get your day off to the right start, your body really needs protein, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. That’s why a new breakfast trend is taking hold in America: soup. It’s an easy way to get the nutrients you need, it’s easy to digest, and it’s great for people in a hurry or on a budget.
Popular food influencer Suzy Karadsheh, creator of The Mediterranean Dish, shared the benefits of soup for breakfast and a recipe for chicken and vegetable soup in a TikTok video earlier this year.
“It’s a soup for breakfast kind of morning, guys. And if it sounds weird to you, let me tell you, soup for breakfast is an ancient remedy. It’s been around for centuries,” Karadsheh said. “First of all, it’s a great way to fight inflammation, especially that morning inflammation right away. And it hydrates way better than water. And it’s also a great way to kick start my digestive system without that sugar crash.”
Soup is great for staying hydrated because, in addition to being a good source of water, it can be rich in salt and electrolytes that help you retain water. That’s a major reason we eat chicken soup when we’re sick and why it can make us feel better.
Nutritionist Kat Chan, author of Full Serving, is a big believer in soup for breakfast.
“I love that it breaks the breakfast rules,” she wrote. “It’s cross-cultural, and there are no specific guidelines other than including protein, fat, and fiber. A warm, protein-rich, hydrating bowl – with a broth base – stabilizes blood sugar, supports digestion, and helps people feel more settled going into the day.”
She says that a bowl of soup in the morning is a great way to get your digestive system up and running.
“From a nutritional therapy standpoint, warm meals are often easier to digest than cold ones, especially if you’re already feeling the chill,” Chan continued. “Eating something warm first thing gives your body a solid hit of protein, fat, and fiber—the kind that keeps blood sugar steady and energy smooth.”
Soup is also a great way for people on a budget to have a nutritious breakfast. A healthy can of soup can cost as little as $2 for a bowl, and if you make it at home, a big batch with fresh vegetables, broth, and a bit of protein shouldn’t set you back more than a few bucks.
At first, switching from cereal to soup may make a lot of folks do a double-take, but once you get past the fact that it’s a major break from the American cultural norm, it makes a lot of sense. Maybe the weird part isn’t eating soup in the morning, but the fact that we ever thought Frosted Flakes was a great way to start the day in the first place.
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