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 had no idea this would be a problem.
One of the many surprises that come with parenthood is how the world reacts to your child’s name. It’s less of a surprise if your child has a common name like John, Mohammed, or Lisa. But if you give your child a non-traditional name that’s gender-neutral, you’re going to throw a lot of folks off guard, and mispronunciations are going to be an issue.
This exact situation happened with TikTok user Justus Stroup, who went viral in 2024 after having her second child, but there’s a twist: she isn’t quite sure how to pronounce her child’s name either. “I may have named my daughter a name I can’t even pronounce,” Stroup opens the video. “Now, I think I can pronounce it, but I’ve told a couple of people her name, and there are two people who thought I said the same exact thing. So, I don’t know that I know how to [pronounce] her name correctly.”
Stroup’s daughter is named Sutton, and the big problem is how people around her pronounce the Ts. Stroup tends to gloss over the Ts, so it sounds like Suh-en. However, some people go hard on the Ts and call her “Sut-ton.”
“I’m not gonna enunciate the ‘Ts’ like that. It drives me absolutely nuts,” she noted in her TikTok video. “I told a friend her name one time, and she goes, ‘Oh, that’s cute.’ And then she repeated the name back to me and I was like, ‘No, that is not what I said.’”
Stroup also had a problem with her son Greyson’s speech therapist, who thought the baby’s name was Sun and that there weren’t any Ts in the name at all. “My speech therapist, when I corrected her and spelled it out, she goes, ‘You know, living out in California, I have friends who named their kids River and Ocean, so I didn’t think it was that far off.’”
Stroup told People that she got the name from a TV show called “The Lying Game,” which she used to watch in high school. “Truthfully, this was never a name on my list before finding out I was pregnant with a girl, but after finding out the gender, it was a name I mentioned and my husband fell in love with,” says Stroup. “I still love the name. I honestly thought I was picking a strong yet still unique name. I still find it to be a pretty name, and I love that it is gender neutral as those are the type of names I love for girls.”
The mother could choose the name because her husband named their son Greyson.
The commenters thought Stroup should tell people it’s Sutton, pronounced like a button. “I hear it correctly! Sutton like Button. I would pronounce it like you, too!” Amanda wrote.
“My daughter’s name is Sutton. I say it the same way as you. When people struggle with her name, I say it’s Button but with a S. That normally immediately gets them to pronounce it correctly,” Megan added.
After the video went viral, Stroup heard from people named Hunter and Peyton, who are dealing with a similar situation. “I’ve also noticed the two most common names who run into the same issue are Hunter (people pronouncing it as Hunner or HUNT-ER) and Payton (pronounced Pey-Ton or Pey-tin, most prefer it as Pey-tin),” she told Upworthy.
“Another person commented saying her name is Susan and people always think it is Season or Steven,” Stroup told Upworthy. After having her second child, she learned that people mix up even the simplest names. “No name is safe at this point,” she joked.
Three months later, Stroup posted a video asking her TikTok followers for help giving Sutton a nickname. She said it was easy with her son, Greyson, because they can just call him Grey. But Sutton is a little more difficult. Her father calls her “Tonton,” which drives Stroup up the wall. “You cannot be calling a girl Tonton,” she exclaimed. Stroup’s followers suggested they call her “Sutty,” but the name she really liked was “Sunny.”
The whole situation has Stroup rethinking how she pronounces her daughter’s name. Hopefully, she got some advice on how to tell people how to pronounce it, or else she’ll have years of correcting people in front of her. “Good lord, I did not think this was going to be my issue with this name,” she said.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
The judges didn’t see this coming
We’ve shared a lot of memorable “America’s Got Talent” auditions over the years here at Upworthy, from physics-defying dance performances to jaw-dropping magic acts to heart-wrenching singer-songwriter stories. And after watching Angelina Jordan’s “AGT: The Champions” audition, we’ve added it to the list because wow.
Jordan came to “AGT: The Champions” in 2020 as the winner of Norway’s Got Talent, which she won in 2014 at the mere age of 8 with her impressive ability to seemingly channel Billie Holiday. For the 2020 audition, she sang Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but a version that no one had ever heard before.
With just a guitar, a piano, and her Amy Winehouse-esque voice, Jordan brought the fan-favorite Queen anthem down to a smooth, melancholy ballad that’s simply riveting to listen to, especially considering that Jordan was only 13 years old when she did this.
What this video doesn’t show is Heidi Klum hitting the Golden Buzzer faster than you can sing, “Nothing really matters to meeee.” The judges were blown away by Jordan’s performance, as were the people in the comments.
“That’s a ONE in A BILLION voice right there. Just amazing,” wrote one commenter.
“I am typically not a fan of songs being redone particular to such a magnitude,” shared another. “They almost always fall short of the original. But to completely rearrange a song in the manner that she has, from a legend, and then make you forget about how the original even sounded because her rendition is so good is utterly amazing.”
“As Freddie once said, ‘Do whatever you want with my music as long as you don’t make it boring.’ I think he’d really like this,” shared another.
Though Queen’s beloved lead vocalist Freddie Mercury is no longer with us, the band did offer words of praise for Jordan’s performance, retweeting her audition video with the comment, “Wow! What a rendition of #BohemianRhapsody.”
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is such an iconic song, it’s hard for anyone to do a cover of it justice. But 13-year-old Angelina Jordan managed it masterfully. In bare feet, no less, which she explained in a thank you video to Heidi Klum for the Golden Buzzer honor.
“When I was around 6 years old, I see this little girl around my age,” Jordan shared. “I gave my shoes to her because she had scars on her feet and it was really cold. So whenever I’m on the stage, I was reminded about all the children that don’t have any parents, clothes, and shoes. She’s always in my heart.” Jordan has shared that she “made a promise many years ago to a beautiful soul” to not wear shoes on stage—a promise she has kept.
Jordan would move on to the Top 10 in “AGT: The Champions,” and though she didn’t take home the top prize, she did impress the audience with another classic rock tune, Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”
Since her time on AGT, Angelina has been building a full career as a singer-songwriter, releasing original singles throughout 2024 and two full albums in 2025. You can follow her on YouTube and TikTok and find her growing catelog of music (including “Bohemian Rhapsody”) on Spotify.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
Men almost never get questions like this.
Breaking news: There’s a big double standard in Hollywood. Childless women in the public eye are often plagued by the question: “So, why don’t you have any children?” It’s a deeply personal question that cuts right to the bone, and there can be many answers. But, if the woman doesn’t want children and says so publicly, she is bound to face some judgment.
“[I don’t] like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women, that you’ve failed yourself as a female because you haven’t procreated. I don’t think it’s fair,” Jennifer Anistontold Allure. “You may not have a child come out of your vagina, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t mothering—dogs, friends, friends’ children.”
On the Monday, March 6 episode of “The Diary Of A CEO.”podcast, host Steven Bartlett asked actor Seth Rogen why he’s childless, and it was a rare moment where a man in the public eye was challenged on the topic. Rogen gave a thoughtful explanation for his and Lauren Miller’s decision to be child-free.
“There’s a whole huge thing I’m not doing, which is raising children,” Rogen told Bartlett.The host attempted to play devil’s advocate and asked Rogen if he considered whether having children might have made him and his wife “happier.”
“I don’t think it would,” Rogen responded.
Then, as if anticipating the question, the “Pineapple Express” star upended one of the arguments that people who have children often make: that people who don’t have children have no idea what it’s like.
“I’ve been around obviously a lot of children; I’m not ignorant to what it’s like…Everyone I know has kids. I’m 40, you know? I know,” Rogen said at the time. “Some of my friends have had kids for decades. Some people want kids, some people don’t want kids.” He added that many people seem to have kids without considering the issue.
“I mean, a lot of people have kids before they even think about it, from what I’ve seen, honestly,” he said. “You just are told, you go through life, you get married, you have kids—it’s what happens.” Rogen and his wife have only grown stronger in their decision and they believe that it has helped their relationship.
“Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank God we don’t have children,’” he continued. “We get to do whatever we want. We are in the prime of our lives. We are smarter than we’ve ever been, we understand ourselves more than we ever have, we have the capacity to achieve a level of work and a level of communication and care for one another, and a lifestyle we can live with one another that we’ve never been able to live before. And we can just do that, and we don’t have to raise a child, which the world does not need right now,” Rogen concluded.
Rogen received a lot of pushback for his comments, and in a 2025 interview with Esquire, he addressed the criticism and doubled down on his decision. “People really had strong takes on it, being like, ‘F**k this f**king guy,’” he said. “Well, if you hate me that much, why do you want more of me?” He also addressed those who asked, “Who’s going to care for you when you get older?”
“Is that why you’re having kids? Because I have two things to say: One, that’s very selfish to create a human so someone can take care of you. And two, just because you have a kid, I hate to break it to you, that doesn’t mean they’re going to do that,” he said.
Everyone has the right to choose whether or not to have children, and no one has the right to judge them. Rogen and Miller have thought their decision through and should be applauded for living how they see fit. It’s cool to see Rogen with such a thoughtful opinion on the matter. It’d be even cooler if celebrities never had to discuss the topic in the first place.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
The tables have turned.
A husband filed for divorce from his wife and burned bridges in the process by making incredibly disrespectful remarks to her. This came 10 months after she had their second child (the couple has six, in total). After losing his high-paying job, he turned course and asked her to take him back again. Should she take him back, given his lot in life, or hold firm and say good riddance to bad rubbish?
The situation came to a head when the husband demanded that his wife, who had a 10-month-old baby, stay in the house, instead of taking her child to a dentist appointment. She went anyway, and then the man slept in his game room for two months. He told everyone that he was divorcing his wife and went so far as to contact an attorney.
“He told me I was not the prize. I’m almost 40 and have four kids, three of whom are minors. He said he’s the prize, he’s in his prime, and makes good money, and any woman would love to be in my shoes and take care of his kids. He even went as far as inviting his baby mother into the house to visit while I was out,” the woman wrote on Reddit.
“Fast forward, he loses his job and telling me to wait to move. He then starts talking nicer to me and acting differently than before,” she wrote. So what was the wife to do, take back the man who said that she was “not the prize” and that he was desirable because he had a high-paying job? Nope. She stood her ground and said he needed to leave. “I told him I was still moving out and going forward with separating because his actions did not align with someone who wanted to be with me,” she wrote.
The woman then asked the commenters if she was right to follow through with what her husband started. The commenters were overwhelmingly on her side. “He said he was done, so let’s be done, even if now it’s an inconvenience for him,” one of the top commenters wrote. “Sounds like YOU are the prize after all, because he’s an unemployed AH who’s soon to be unable to rent an apartment because he doesn’t have a job. Hope his parents live close by and can take him in.”
Upworthy spoke with Paige Harley, MA, a cPaige Harley, MA, a conflict expert and mediator specializing in high-conflict divorce and custody issues. She says the woman shouldn’t feel any guilt for her actions. “Absolutely never a reason to feel guilty about setting boundaries. However, make sure you are clear about what a boundary is and specifically what yours are,” Harley told Upworthy. “It’s hard and you will need to be the ‘bigger person’ but your future self will thank you—as you are setting the tone for what comes next.”
Dr. Nari Jeter, a licensed marriage and family therapist and associate teaching professor at Florida State University, and co-host of The Coupled Podcast, says there’s nothing wrong with separating, but that’s just the first step. “I would say that this woman is not in the wrong for sticking to the boundary of separation. It clearly reinforces to him that he cannot threaten the safety and stability of the relationship without a consequence,” Dr. Jeter told Upworthy. “The deeper issue is, can she separate herself from his view of reality and their marriage? Just because he says these things to her, it doesn’t make them true. She may need to accept that he says these things to himself and others about her, but they aren’t true–and that defending herself to him will likely get her nowhere.”
Unfortunately, the woman had to deal with a verbally abusive man who isn’t supportive of her or their combined six children. But what’s great to see is that after her husband tried to knock her down a peg and then leave her, she stood her ground and would not take him back. There’s no doubt that she also felt great support from the 1,300 people who commented on the page, with nearly all of them supporting her decision.
This article originally appeared one year ago. It has been updated.
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:
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