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Revealing the secrets behind "auramaxxing" the new Gen Z self-improvement TikTok obsession

Gen Z wellness gurus are mixing classic values with some very odd new twists.

Revealing the secrets behind "auramaxxing" the new Gen Z self-improvement TikTok obsession
Unsplash

When I first heard the term "auramaxxing," and that teenagers, mostly boys, were practicing it by getting into things like mindfulness, presence, and meditation, I thought — "Great!" Young men have a reputation for being angry and far more prone to violence than young girls, so this seemed like a positive development overall, even though the youths gave the trend an annoying name.

But as a father to two girls — and as an extremely uncool 37-year-old — I wanted to learn a little bit more about this surprising trend. So I fired up TikTok and got to searching.



What is "auramaxxing"?

If you're a Millennial or Gen-Xer, you can think of auramaxxing as trying to get as many "cool points" as possible.

It's doing things (and not doing other things) in order to cultivate a better aura.

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines aura as a "distinctive atmosphere surrounding a given source," or "an energy field that is held to emanate from a living being." So kids who auramax are trying to have a better energy about them. I can see the appeal.

Urban Dictionary calls auramaxxing "The process of maximizing your aura so your presence can be felt before being seen or so that your presence is stronger."

In that definition, you can start to see that auramaxxing isn't really about self-actualization or becoming a better person, it's about appearing more powerful and attractive to other people.

"Auramaxxing is a limb or offshoot on the same tree as rizz. Both rizz and auramaxxing began primarily within audiences of young men, before spreading to culture more broadly," Tom Miner, a social media and trends expert with Gold Miner Media said.

"As a sports fan, I started noticing the term 'good aura' popping up in the last couple years to describe an athlete's hot streak (often times an NBA player). Auramaxxing seems to be an adaption of this."

I asked my 9-year-old (who's not on TikTok) if she had heard the term aura, if anyone in her 5th grade class was saying it. She said Yes and gave an example.

A teammate on her soccer team had missed a shot in practice, she told me, and everyone said "You're losing so many aura points!"

So whether or not kids that young are intentionally "auramaxxing," it's clear that the idea has spread far and wide — and even 9-year-olds know and are quantifying the fact that doing something embarrassing makes you look bad.

Auramaxxing videos on TikTok don't start off so bad. They're more corny than toxic.

The first thing I saw after searching for auramaxxing on TikTok was the account of a young guy named Drew Ford. He's a 24-year-old unshaven, t-shirt wearing guy who inhales spirituality books and doles them out in bite-sized amounts to his followers — and runs a free course called the Subconscious Mastery Challenge.

Drew's advice to grow your aura is simple:

  • Be present in the moment
  • Stop comparing yourself to others
  • Read books
  • Be authentic
  • Be open minded
  • Learn from failure

(And sign up for his email list, of course)

@drewxford

Auramaxxing 101 #thinkbetter #aura

Is he actually qualified to speak on this subject? Probably not.

But as much as it makes me cringe as an adult, it's not the worst advice I've ever heard. It's not going to hurt anyone to practice being more aware in the present moment.

If this was what auramaxxing was really all about, maybe I could get onboard.

From there, you get into the world of jokes and trolling.

In the auramaxxing world, there's this idea of aura points that's really prevalent.

Doing things that are cool earns you points, doing things that are uncool loses points. Most articles I've read about auramaxxing seem to be really concerned about these points. And I can see why. It sounds like a Black Mirror episode, but when I really started watching videos about aura points, it seemed more like Whose Line Is It Anyway — no one is actually keeping track of their score, and it's mostly for laughs. In fact, there were some videos that seemed to be making fun of the whole trend and idea of aura points — they had me cracking up. Like this one:

@dejaunsenpai

slight #fypage

As I went deeper, auramaxxing started to become heavily gendered toward boys, and it developed a lot of crossover with the incel world.

Further into my search, I came across creators who seemed to take aura a lot more seriously. To them, having a strong masculine aura was essential to getting dates and having success in life. This is where you start to learn that to truly maximize your aura (as a man), you need to:

  • Lift weights and pack on muscle
  • Talk less
  • Be more mysterious
  • Get a better haircut and clothes
  • Learn the truth about "modern females"
Yikes. I miss when we were just reading Eckhart Tolle books with the boys!

It's not hard to see how this kind of content leads to extremely toxic ideas about masculinity, misogyny, and more. The whole concept that auramaxxing might actually help boys open up and be less angry was going out the window. Here, we're outright encouraging young men to clam up and suppress their vulnerability.

It's just Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson in a flashy TikTok package. Now I was started to get a little freaked out. But from there it only got worse.

To truly maximize your aura, I learned, you also had to optimize for the physical component of your presence. You had to looksmax, and heightmax, as well.

Yes, those are real terms.

Looksmaxing is exactly what it sounds like — looking your absolute best. But where I expected to see fashion advice, I saw videos about using supplements and doing eye-stretching exercises to "reduce upper eyelid exposure" and "achieve Hunter Eyes" — which is a narrow, intense eye shape you see in models and famous actors.

persons blue eyes in close up photography Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

In addition to diet and exercise, I learned you should also sculpt your jaw with mewing and using weird tools, and you should dunk your face in ice every morning to reduce puffiness.

And though it looks like TikTok has cracked down on it, I learned there was a whole genre of looksmaxxing related to "bone-smashing" — or intentionally hitting yourself in the face with heavy objects to reshape your bone structure.

There's even a popular app called Umax that scans your face and tells you how hot (or ugly) you are, along with how much potential you have to be hotter if you follow all the looksmaxxing tips.

For short guys, there's heightmaxxing content, too — wherein random unqualified teens and twenty-somethings recommend exercises, diets, and supplements to make you grow taller. I saw a lot of videos about "banded sleeping," which is binding yourself in a stretched position overnight.

(To be fair, young girls have been under intense pressure to "look their best" forever — but now the expectations have been cranked up to 11 for just about everyone.)

It really frightened me how quickly we got from just wanting other people to think we're cool — which every generation of teens that has ever existed has worried about — to "self-improvement" tips that are extremely dangerous.

The only thing that gives me solace as a parent is that I don't get the sense most people actually take this stuff seriously. Kids talk about aura with a sense of sarcasm and playfulness, for the most part, and a large majority won't follow the trend all the way to the extremes.

And though this all sounds absolutely terrible, it's still easy to find plenty of examples of young people not picking each other apart, but picking each other up.

"A few months back, we saw Gen Z women posting their embarrassing moments, asking how many aura points they lost with each story," says Sallie Stacker, an associate creative director and emerging trends expert at Edelman.

"But instead of being dragged, the community rallied behind them, gifting points for sharing their vulnerability. It seems like what really loses aura points is acting against the nature of who you are."

Let's hope that sticks, and the rest fades away quickly – as fads and trends usually do. But if you notice your teen meditating or suddenly getting really into skincare (or buying a jaw-sculpting tool), you might want to double check where they're getting their advice.

Joy

Pet behaviorist explains the viral phenomenon of people buying their cats concrete slabs

A pet behaviorist explains why this trend is actually purrfect enrichment.

@annieknowsanimals/TikTok

Cat owners everywhere are shocked to see how much their feline love a simple $2 concrete slab.

If you’ve traipsed through @CatTok over the past few days, you’ve undoubtedly come across various videos of cat parents bringing their feline friends a fairly unusual yet surprisingly effective enrichment tool. We are talking of course about a concrete slab. Yes, you read that right. Not a fancy new scratching post. Not some laser contraption. A cement square. That’s it.

Seriously, folks are going in droves to Home Depot to purchase these unassuming blocks. And every time they present their kitties this new treat, the reactions look something like this:

 
 @shecatcalls PART 2 | Cat enrichment ideas. The way she sits more on this $7 brick than any of the actual cat beds and huts I buy her 😂 Can anyone else relate? 🤦♀️ Video idea inspired by Kurt the Cat @Abram Engle @The Home Depot #creatorsearchinsights #cats #cattok #sillycat #funny #meow ♬ Cute - In Music 
 
 



The trend seems like it could have been ignited by this orange tabby (named Kurt) below, who loved rolling around on the sidewalk, thus inspiring his owner Abram Engle to see if he'd enjoy a concrete slab just as much. Spoiler alert: he did.

 
 @abrameng Kurt was conking the crete
 ♬ original sound - Abram Engle 
 
 

There have been as many theories as to why kitties go gaga for concrete as there are toy mice under the couch (meaning, a lot). But below, pet behaviorist Dr. Annie gives a few of her hunches as to what's driving this phenomeownon…though she adds the caveat that there haven’t yet been any official studies on it. So it's all based on her educated guesses.

 
 @annieknowsanimals why do cats like concrete? 🤔 here are my thoughts on the latest cat enrichment #trend! vc: @aero.mace #catbehavior #catsoftiktok #cat #cats ♬ original sound - Dr. Annie | pet behaviorist 
 
 

“First, I think cats are enjoying the concrete slab being brought into their homes because they are new and kind of out of place. There’s probably nothing quite like them already in the home environment,” Dr. Annie says.

This might initially sound counterintuitive, since it’s generally accepted that cats thrive on routine. While this may be true, as Dr. Annie has discussed in previous videos, their "predatory and territorial nature” makes them "sensitive to novelty.” When a toy seems static, it no longer mimics actual live prey, and therefore does not stimulate kitty as it would in nature. Same goes for cat beds and scratching posts, as they’re used to exploring and monitoring their environment. When something “new” appears in their territory, they are very motivated to interact with it.

 
 @annieknowsanimals Replying to @joshtmeadows let’s explain why cats are so sensitive to “new” stuff! @Abram Engle ♬ original sound - Dr. Annie | pet behaviorist 
 
 

Second, Dr. Annie surmises that the concrete’s porous surface makes it really great for holding onto the cat's scent, which is a key factor in marking a kitty's territory. Again, cat’s really like knowing (or in this case, smelling) what’s theirs. In many videos, you can see cat’s actively rubbing their cheek glands on the slab, Dr. Annie notes.

Also, and probably more of a no-brainer, the concrete surface is very, very fun for scratching! And while we all might know that cats enjoy the tactile pleasure of using their claws, having a part of their environment that they have control over is very fulfilling for their mental health.

Lastly, Dr. Annie confirms what many cat parents assumed, which is that temperature plays a huge role in making the concrete slab cat-friendly. Cats like warmth because they have a higher body temperature, and evolved from creatures that live in warmer climates (like topical jungles, African plains, etc.). If they are seeking a way to raise their temperature—especially in air conditioned homes—a concrete slab that’s been soaking up the sun is a great way to do so.

Thank you Dr. Annie for that fascinating deep dive. Those all seem like pretty solid theories. And while we might not ever get actual studies on this, there’s yet another fact that becomes abundantly clear: cat parents will go above and beyond to make their fur babies happy. Even if that means taking on a job in construction for free concrete.

For even more fantastic cat facts, give Dr. Annie a follow on TikTok.

America's Got Talent/YouTube

Roni Sagi and her dog, Rhythm, love to dance together.

What dog owner wouldn’t want to jam out to Queen with their pup while the world watches? Of course, our version probably wouldn’t be nearly as impressive as what Roni Sagi and her black and white border collie, aptly named Rhythm, did for America's Got Talent in August 2024.

First off, audiences knew they’d instantly be in for a treat when Sagi and Rhythm recreated the band’s famous pose for “Bohemian Rhapsody.” But it only got better from there in a routine that featured a mash-up of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

 queen bohemian rhapsody  Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" never disappoints.  Giphy  

The dance duo wowed judges and audiences alike with synchronized steps, turns, flips, and even a cool bridge pose trick (seriously, this was a dog owner’s dream come to life). Simon Cowell jokingly asked “How do we know that the dog is a real dog?” because Rhythm was just that good.

Sagi would later end up sharing that Rhythm earned his name from an early age, already tapping his little feet on her bed at only 6 weeks old. By that point, Sagi had already had experience training therapy dogs, which undoubtedly gave her a good foundation for working with her little “tornado storm.”

  - YouTube  youtu.be  

Perhaps it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise that Rhythm is so gifted. After all, border collies are notorious for being able to pick up skills quickly, and there have been several border collies that have broken world records—including records for intelligence, balance, and skateboarding (yes, really).

But Sagi seems to credit their chemistry less on Rhythm’s species traits, and more on his individual personality. “It’s so much fun to have a partner that wants [to perform] as much as you,” she said. “He wants to do it all, and he wants to do it now, and he wants to do it as good as he can.”

 border collie, dog, clapping dog Border collie clapping Giphy  

Down in the comments, online viewers shared their praises—and awe—for Rhythm’s performance.

“This was the most amazing dog act I've seen!” one person wrote.

“That precious dog Rhythm is SO talented and smart!!! I don’t understand how he knows what to do when his back is to her?!! This dog is truly dancing and just extremely talented!!!” added another.

Another said, “This dog is the most energetic and enthusiastic I've ever seen.”

Of course, Rhythm wasn't getting all the love. One person wrote, “I don't usually like dog acts, but this was impressive. Roni is very creative with what she does and obviously a great dancer herself and trainer.”

Another AGT performance by the duo also got rave reviews:

@agt

what can't @Ronisagi & Rhythm do!? watch #AGT on @NBC and streaming on @Peacock.

"Unbelievable…those steps omg."

"It's how the dog is ACTUALLY running around HAPPY!"

"That doggie deserves a million treats. Fantastic!"

"Yet I have to say to my dog sit 87 times before he actually sits, probably also from being tired of standing not because I said it."

Even when they're just rehearsing and dancing together at home, watching Rhythm and his human move together so harmoniously is truly incredible to watch:

Maybe we can’t get all dogs to perform quite on this level, but it does show us just how amazing man’s best friend really is.

You can follow Roni Sagi and Rhythm on Instagram.

Canva Photos & Konami

People have found a really great active listening technique in a super strange place.

There is an art to being a good listener. Physically using your ears to hear what someone is saying, and your brain to process it, is only part of the battle. You also have to show the person you're talking to that you're listening and that you care. Asking questions is a great way to keep the conversation flowing and let your talking partner know you're engaged. But what if you're socially anxious, shy, or just can't think of anything to say? It's harder than it seems, especially when meeting new people!

The solution is easy. Just take a page out of Solid Snake's book. Who's Solid Snake? Just a former Green Beret, special ops solider, spy, assassin, and the protagonist of the popular Metal Gear Solid video games. You might wonder what the heck Solid Snake, aka David, knows about active listening. It turns out, quite a lot.

The "Solid Snake conversation method" is taking the world by storm. It's part trend, part meme, and 100% effective.

 conversation tips, social anxiety, small talk, socializing, etiquette, politeness, introvert, video games Solid Snake is here to help your social anxiety!  Giphy  

You don't need to know anything about video games to understand where the method comes from. Suffice it to say, Metal Gear Solid is a plot-heavy game series, full of cut-scenes that feature lots of dialogue and exposition.

It's become a bit of a joke in the gaming world that Snake, a man of few words, tends to fall back on one particular conversational technique over and over: He repeats, or echoes, bits of what the other characters say. It adds emphasis to important points, creates good conversational pacing, and allows the plot and dialogue to continue on smoothly.

Here's a (made up) example:

"Snake, we've got to get the blueprints!"

"The blueprints?"

"Yes, the bad guys are constructing a devastating bomb!"

"A bomb?"

"Indeed! You'll find the prototype in that bunker over there."

"A bunker?"

You get the idea. You can watch it in action here.


  - YouTube  www.youtube.com  

Why does this random video game character speak in this strange cadence? And why are people stealing it to use in real life?

You might think this dialogue is just a clunky tool for exposition or the result of bad writing, but you'd be wrong!

The Metal Gear Solid games are written and developed in Japan by a team led by legendary developer Hideo Kojima. Though translated into English and created in part for an American audience, the games feature a lot of bits and pieces of Japanese culture.

Frequent repetition and conversational echoes are extremely commonplace in Japanese. It's part of a polite active listening technique called "Aizuchi," which refers to frequent interjections to show interest, engagement, reassurance, and politeness.

Aizuchi includes interjecting with words or phrases (or their equivalents) like "I get it," "Yeah," "Really?" or even repeating back parts of the original speaker's words, a la Solid Snake.

According to Niko Smith at FluentU, "Perhaps you already use some of these interjections in conversation. While your friend is [telling you a story]... you might nod a few times or throw in a surprised 'No way!' or 'What happened next?' [Aizuchi] works in a similar way, but it’s more relentless. As the listener in a conversation, you might find yourself doing just as much talking as the speaker."

Smith adds that in America, young people are often taught specifically not to interrupt or speak while someone else is talking. In Japan, doing so frequently—in the right way—is a sign of respect and interest.

Better yet, Aizuchi doesn't require the listener to be particularly brilliant in conversation, charismatic, or creative. Even socially awkward people, or anyone who clams up in social situations, can muster a few polite interjections!

This technique exists outside of Japanese culture, too. In fact, it's a well-known wat to keep conversations flowing effortlessly, give you time to think about what you're going to say, and make your conversation partner feel heard and appreciated.

It's no surprise that people familiar with the game have been trying the technique in real life for years. In 2023, a viral 4chan post helped popularize the idea, and more recently a (now deleted) post on X went super viral referencing how effective the "Solid Snake conversation method" is for meeting new people.

 

The technique is hitting home with young people, especially gamers and the chronically-online, which makes for a really productive and much-needed discussion.

Gen Z has grown up with social media taking the place of many in-person interactions, screens everywhere, and of course, the COVID years. All of these factors affect the way they communicate with each other, especially in real life:

Maddy Mussen writes for The Standard, "Gen Z slang is all about shutting people out. It’s an inside joke, the more unintelligible the better. It’s in keeping with its etymology. When your whole modus operandi is being exclusionary, it doesn’t make for a lot of meaningful conversation."

It would be an unfair blanket generalization to say young people only speak in brainrot and have no idea how to operate in the real world. But Gen Z is racked with social anxiety to a far greater degree than previous generations. They need all the tools and practice they can get when it comes to operating in the real world and speaking to people they don't know well.

If they, or anyone else, can take a useful tip from their favorite video game character, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

Canva

Some still ponder Duckie or Blane.

What about prom, Blane? That was a very serious question in 1986 and it still stands today. What…about…prom? Of course, this riveting line (beautifully delivered with pure teenage angst by Molly Ringwald's Andie to Andrew McCarthy's Blane) is from the 80s teen dramedy Pretty in Pink. Written by John Hughes, the king of Gen X cinema (even though he, himself, was a Boomer) and directed by Howard Deutch, this movie had everything: hats, Annie Potts and yes, Duckie.

As we get closer to the 40th anniversary of its release, some still argue about that ending. Spoilers ahead. To sum up the plot: Andie, a senior in an affluent Illinois high school, was best friends with a funny oddball called Duckie, played by Jon Cryer. They both lived on the proverbial "wrong side of the tracks," so when popular hottie Blane took an interest in her, she fell hard.

(Note: Blane's library computer trick before there were barely computers was the love bomb of all love bombs.)

  A scene from the film Pretty in Pink.  www.youtube.com, David Gibson, Paramount Pictures 

Against all odds, they fall in love and Duckie is super jealous. Blane asks Andie to prom but then succumbs to peer pressure (mainly from his friend Steff, played villainously by James Spader) and breaks it off. Andie won't be defeated so she sews together material her sweet dad (Harry Dean Stanton) finds for her and makes the ugliest prom dress of all time. She goes to the prom with Duckie, and when Blane sees the ugly prom dress, he changes his mind and professes his love. They kiss in the rain. (Note: The dress was so awful, Molly Ringwald herself has discussed it, openly.)

 James Spader, Pretty in Pink, 80s, movies James Spader in Pretty in Pink.  Giphy Paramount Pictures 

That's pretty much it. When I saw this as a tween, I cried and wondered where my Blane was. As Andie entered the dance hall with OMD's "If You Leave" underscoring her anxiety, I felt every centimeter of her heartbeat. And when Blane told her he loved her, none of my friends ever once questioned that THEY should be together.

It was the 80s, after all, and it was a true teen love story. But, as many now know, it wasn't supposed to end that way. Originally, Andie DID choose Duckie, but when they showed it to a test audience, they hated it so much that the whole cast had to come in for reshoots.

  - YouTube  www.youtube.com  

As years went on, some changed their minds and came to Duckie's defense. That's who she should have chosen, many said - the best friend with a heart of gold. But not so fast, says a somewhat recent Reddit post. In the subreddit r/80s, someone asked, "Should Andie have ended up with Duckie?"

The answers are thoughtful and somewhat surprising. Many on the thread think the reshoot got it right. The idea that she would be pestered into winding up with the guy she wasn't attracted to upset some commenters. "This is what it comes down to for me. You can’t force attraction, and she did not like him like that."

Another shares, "Duckie was weird, she was totally out of his league, and she had goals and aspirations in life. He didn't appear to have a job or any future prospects for goals in his life. Things still turned out great for him though. Duckie ended up with 'Duckette' Kristy Swanson."

 duckie, jon cryer, kristy swanson, pretty in pink movie Duckie gets chosen in Pretty in Pink.  Giphy  

One person notably points out that had Robert Downey Jr. taken the role of Duckie, there might have been more chemistry. "Nice to see that even a big actor like John Cryer can get friend-zoned. Also interesting to think that had RDJ been cast as planned as Ducky (sic) the original ending may have been left."

And this Redditor went all in: "I will defend her decision to go with Blane to the end. I don't know how anyone else's high school worked but in mine if one of the Chosen Ones/In Crowd picked someone like Andie to date, there's no way in hell that the Andie-like person would choose Duckie over the Chosen Ones/In Crowd person. It just wouldn't happen, not in that era anyway. Of course there could be & were exceptions, but if you were one of the Unwashed Masses & someone from the Cool Clique showed you interest you'd totally ditch the Unwashed Masses for the Cool Kids."

 Molly Ringwald, prom dress, Pretty in pink, movies, John Hughes Molly Ringwald in her Pretty in Pink prom dress.  Giphy Paramount Pictures 

Of course, there's the point of view that she should/could have chosen neither of those two. "Neither one. Duckie wasn’t her type and Blane was a sh---y person. He can say 'I always believed in you' but that is horse crap."

Regardless of who she should have chosen, perhaps we can all agree that Blane is not a name - it's an appliance.

@johnhughesmovies

BLANE? HIS NAME IS BLANE? That's a major appliance, that's not a name! 😭 #prettyinpink #duckie #prettyinpinkmovie #johnhughesmovie #johnhughes #mollyringwald

 

Filling out forms by yourself for the first time is an adulting milestone.

It's easy to poke fun of young people complaining about "adulting," but in truth, everyone runs the How To Do All The Grown-Up Things gauntlet at some point. Some adult things we pick up intuitively, some things we figure out through trial and error, and some things have to be explicitly taught. 

But there are some things that fall into the gap between what kids need to know and what parents think to teach them, and many of those things are found on forms at the doctor's office. A viral post from a mom sharing texts from her 17-year-old son on his first solo trip to the doctor provides a perfect illustration of that fact and it has people everywhere rolling.

@wisco_cheryl

#boymom #17 #adulting #doctor #text #funny #momsoftiktok #momlife #haha #humor #wisconsin #fyp #myson #funnymoments #momtok #momsover30 #momhumor #vibes #parentsoftiktok #dadsoftiktok

"My 17 year old went to the doctor alone for the first time," the post from @wisco_cheryl reads. "Here are the frantic texts I got…he barely survived."

With "I'm Just a Kid" by Simple Plan playing in the background, we see a series of texts from the son:

"What do I even say when I get there"

"What's my social security number"

"What's DOB"

"Nevermind I got it"

"They gave me so many papers to write on"

"They're gonna touch my nustack"

"Nvm fault alarm" (He meant "false alarm.")

And for her part, Mom responded with a half dozen laughing emojis followed up by a hand and peanut emojis.

 laugh emoji, cry laughing Joy Laughing GIF by Biteable  Giphy  

The son's texts are funny in part because they're totally to be expected. Seriously, at some point, you run across acronyms like DOB for the first time—how are you supposed to know what it means? Maybe you figure out by context, or maybe you have to ask, but it's not like that's something they teach you in school. And the social security number? At some point, every American has to commit their social security number to memory, but you just don't until you do.

And that's just the basic stuff. Forms can be legitimately confusing beyond that. Heck, I have my own adult children and I still find myself baffled by questions on forms at the doctor's office sometimes. What the heck does co-insurance even mean? Do I have it? No idea. I don't think I do, but maybe I'm wrong? Insurance details remain a mystery decades into adulthood.

So naturally, a teen who is just starting to walk the path of adulthood is going to have a million questions, and it's truly fortunate when young people have parents they're able to text and ask all their "silly questions" when needed.

 young adults, transitioning to adulthood, mentorship Young people need adults to help them figure things out without judgment.Photo credit: Canva

With compassionate hilarity, people in the comments shared their own examples of not-quite-adult mishaps from their lives and their kids. It did not disappoint:

"At 21 I said my occupation was white and it still keeps me up at night. I'm 32."

"My son text me 'what's my maiden name' for the application for a job."

"While at urgent care, my son wrote 'mom' on the line asking for his primary care provider."

"My brother asked my mom when his last menstrual cycle was when he went to the doctors by himself for the first time."

"One time kid i hired back in the day filled out 'Next of Kin: Mom' and then 'Relationship: Good' on a onboarding packet. lol."

"My son when asked if he had the chicken pox shot 'I don't think so I'm not around chickens' 😂😂😂😂"

 chickens, dancing chickens, chicken pox shot The chicken pox shot has nothing to do with actual chickens.  Giphy GIF by Black Women Love Dogs 

"I help my dad raise my siblings (5) . when my brother was 17 he went to see his primary. she told him that he had sinusitis. he came home crying thinking it was cancer 🤣🤣🤣🤣"

"When I was buying my first car, they asked for my insurance and I handed them my health insurance card💀still haunts me to this day. My dad was so embarrassed lol"

"When I applied for a job at 16 for the skills area I wrote 'I can do the splits' I was applying for a job at the mall"

"My teens act like they know everything, until it’s time to fill paperwork. 🤣🤣🤣"

 doctor's visit, doctor's office, going to the doctor Sometimes teens need a little help as they're transitioning into adulthood.Photo credit: Canva

But one doctor's office worker had the best response of all:

"As someone who works in a drs office I’m always so proud of the teens. You can tell they’re nervous but they do such a good job 😊."

That's what we love to see—an acknowledgment that these young folks are doing alright as they learn the million little things they need to learn to go out on their own in the world. Here's to the parents and other grown-ups who remember what it was like to not know things and help the kids out, even when their questions might seem silly to us.