“How most parents feel” parody song

The Texas State Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would crack down on mail-order abortion medications, allowing ordinary people to sue providers, distributors and manufacturers for damages.

This week, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) voted on a resolution that accused Israel of committing genocide in its war against Hamas. Like moths to a flame, the mainstream press ran wild with the story of the organization’s declaration.

A federal judge on Wednesday gave Harvard University a landmark victory in its fight against the Trump administration, siding with the Ivy League school in its effort to restore more than $2 billion in federal funding for research frozen by the White House.

A federal appeals court has blocked a judge’s order requiring Florida and the federal government to shut down and dismantle a controversial immigration detention facility built in the Everglades, widely referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Sometimes it's generational, and sometimes it's just a bit of good old-fashioned authority rebellion, but getting kids to really "listen" to their parents in a way that creates a positive long-term effect can be tricky.That's where child psychologist Reem Raouda’s hours of research come in handy. In an article for CNBC's Make It, Raouda, also a mother and therapist, reveals that after studying "over 200 parent-child relationships," a common theme for a good outcome is for the child to feel connected and safe. See on Instagram Raouda reveals six phrases she has personally seen make all the difference."I believe you."Validation is a huge factor in parental relationships. She writes, "Belief defuses shame and creates safety. When a child feels safe, they can actually hear you."She gives the example of spilling juice. If a child spills something, it's immediately reassuring for them to know their parent doesn't blame or shame them. And if the child says they didn't do it on purpose, saying "I believe you" helps establish respect.Another example could be, "I just forgot to do my homework." A potential answer? "I believe you! We all forget sometimes. Better late than never.""Let's figure this out together."When a child is merely following orders from a parent, they don't often feel a teamwork bond. Raouda refers to it as a "standoff" when a chore is barked at a child, rather than presenting it as a task for the greater good.If, for example, a kid is being asked to clean their room and seems oppositional to the idea, rather than punishing—come up with a fun plan to clean together."You can feel this. I'm right here."The idea here is to make sure the child knows their emotions are completely valid. If they have a reaction to something that upsets them, don't merely tell them to toughen up. Instead, let them know it's safe to feel it and that their parent will stay right by their side.Kristen Weir writes for the American Psychological Association that acknowledging feelings with your child early on can yield healthy benefits. "Caregivers can start talking about feelings when their children are still babies. Point out when book or movie characters feel sad, happy, angry, or worried.""I'm listening. What's going on?"For a kid to hear you, they need to feel heard. Raouda notes, "This simple shift of giving attention before demanding it dissolves resistance. When kids feel understood, they stop trying to push back."She adds that trying to get to the root of their emotion or action is key. "Now you're uncovering the deeper hurt behind the anger, and that's the part you can address to help repair both the relationship and the behavior.""I hear you. I'm on your side."These words build a bond, which ultimately (hopefully) connects a parent to their child. Knowing they can begin from a place where they're not alone is a great start to a healthy relationship.She gives the example of a child hating their homework. If the parent comes at this from a place of understanding and an "I've been there" tone, it really helps the child feel supported and understood."I've got you, no matter what."Again, this phrase builds teamwork. Raouda writes, "Mistakes can trigger shame. But when kids hear this phrase, they learn that love isn't conditional on performance or perfection."Weir also touched on the importance of connection, saying, "Studies show that children who have a secure, trusting relationship with their parents or caregivers have better emotion regulation as toddlers than those whose needs aren’t met by their caregivers. Being consistent and comforting will help you develop a secure attachment with your child." Jaime Amor gives tips on getting kids to pay attnention. www.youtube.com, CosmicKidsYoga There are other child experts with approaches to getting children to listen. On the Cosmic Kids Yoga YouTube page, children's yoga instructor and host Jaime Amor gives her own ideas, including some physical instructions."Get on eye level," she suggests when possible. She also stressed the importance of "active listening," in that you're giving them your whole attention. Not only does this help put them at ease, it demonstrates "what active listening looks like."Additionally, Amor recommends asking "how" and "what" questions rather than "why?" While "why" can sound accusatory, "how" and "what" help them tell their story. She astutely notes that when conversing with kids, "Speak in shorter sentences and use language they understand."Lastly, she notes to give the child choices. "Kids tend to listen and cooperate when they get a choice. It gives them a sense of control and autonomy so they feel respect. When kids feel respect, they'll work hard to reciprocate." Father and son sit on a the dock. Photo by Kelli McClintock on Unsplash On Reddit, an OP asks "How to effectively make my child listen to me." (For context, they share they have children who are two and seven.) One commenter writes, "I've found with my 5-year-old, if I do the activity with him that helps. If it's folding clothes, I fold mine, and he folds his. When it comes to him doing things on his own, I define success and help him visualize it. 'I need your help. Can you please help me by putting the dishes away?'"Another gives this practical advice: " From an early age when they start to be able to understand words, state the reason why you need them to do something. For example, don't just tell them to tidy up the Legos, tell them to tidy up so their blocks don't get vacuumed. 'You wouldn't want your Legos to go missing, would you?'"And this commenter echoes what Raouda said in her piece: "Try giving them options instead of demands. 'Would you rather do this now or in 5 minutes. Would you rather put your pants on first or your shirt on first.' Kids are more likely to be cooperative if they feel like they have some control. Try phrasing things differently. Turn demands into questions like "can/will you do this please?" instead of just "do this."" A child feels sad. commons.wikimedia.org The thread weaving through all these suggestions is making sure the child feels heard, safe, respected, and supported. It's not you against them; you're a team and in you're in it together.

We've all been there: it's 90 degrees outside, absolutely sweltering, and you're walking home from a new smoothie shop less than a mile away from your apartment, and everything is melting. The smoothie in your right hand. The açaí bowl in your left. Your old, broken headphones slowly slip off your head as a song you've never heard before blares through the speakers. Your willpower is diminishing by the second, and no one is around to help you.Okay, that might be a bit specific (and precisely what happened to me about an hour ago). Still, you've likely had a similar experience: an encounter that left you annoyed, frustrated, or feeling hopeless.But what if I told you that, according to Mo Gawat—a former Google executive who has spent the last 20 years researching the mechanics of happiness—you only need to endure that emotional roller coaster for precisely 90 seconds? - YouTube www.youtube.com It's time to meet the man who is revolutionizing our understanding of our emotions—and giving us all a science-backed way to hit the reset button on our worst days.The unlikely happiness guru who changed everythingMo Gawat isn't your typical wellness guru peddling crystals and manifestation journals. This is a guy who spent decades crunching numbers at Google X, the company's "Moonshot Factory," where he pursued ambitious, high-risk but potentially world-changing projects that tackled large-scale global problems like climate change, healthcare, and communications. But his most profound discovery about human happiness stemmed from his darkest hour.When Gawdat's 21-year-old son Ali died from preventable medical negligence during what should have been a routine surgery in 2014, he faced a darkness that would define the rest of his career. A clear choice emerged: he could either let this grief consume him, or honor his son by dedicating his analytical mind to a path Ali had always encouraged him to pursue—spreading happiness to as many people as possible. Solve for Happy by Mo GawdatCredit: Amazon Seventeen days after losing his son, Gawdat sat down and began writing Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy. Through this book, he uncovered a revolutionary truth: our emotions aren't permanent. They have expiration dates.The fascinating brain science behind your emotional meltdownsHere's where things get fascinating. When developing what would later be known as the "90-second rule," Gawdat stumbled upon the findings of Harvard-trained neuroscientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Similarly, her research was also formed in the pressure cooker of an unexpected, dramatic life experience: the moment when she underwent a massive stroke.As Dr. Taylor's left brain hemisphere shut down, she gained unprecedented real-time insight into how emotions function in the body. What she discovered is that when something triggers you—be it a spilled smoothie or a coworker's passive-aggressive "per my last email" message—your amygdala (think of it as your brain's overly cautious security guard) floods your system with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Your heart starts to race as if you've just spotted a bear and begun to run, your muscles tense up, and that instinctual fight-or-flight response surges through your body. The brain's amydala. Photo credit: CanvaHowever, this chemical cascade has a built-in timer. As Dr. Taylor discovered, it takes approximately 90 seconds for these stress hormones to be flushed from your bloodstream. Meaning that, after that initial surge, the physical component of your emotional reaction is over.But why doesn't it feel like that? Why do we marinate in our emotions—anger, sadness, confusion, delusion—for hours, days, or more? That's because, after those 90 seconds, we make a choice, usually without realizing it, to keep those emotions going by mentally rewinding and replaying the triggering event.Why do we keep choosing emotional suffering (without knowing it)?"What happens is, you run the thought in your head again, and you renew your 90 seconds," Gawdat explains. It's like poking a bruise that's formed on your knee, or hitting refresh on your personal stress response button. Every time you mentally revisit a stressful event—analyzing what you should have said, reimagining confrontations, and crafting the perfect comeback—you're essentially retriggering that same potent chemical reaction that occurred in the first place. Woman feeling hopeless. Photo credit: Canva So, while that 90-second episode of emotions ends quickly, we end up ruminating about what happened: over and over and over and over again.This is more than a mere annoyance—it's rewiring our brains in a bad way. Research shows that rumination doesn't just prolong our bad moods, it intensifies them and can lead to anxiety and depression. We're thinking ourselves into extended mental states simply by focusing too much on the past.The three-question framework that can change everythingWhat happens when you've successfully coasted through those initial 90 seconds but still feel like the world is out to get you? Gawdat developed a handy three-question reality check that serves as an emotional fact-checker for your brain:Question 1: Is it true?Gawdat claims that "90% of the things that make us unhappy are not even true." Think about it: your partner seems distracted during dinner, and suddenly your brain spins an entire narrative about how they've fallen out of love with you. But how much of that is real? And what percentage of your little daydream can be chalked up to your brain being its usual dramatic self?via GIPHYAt best, our brains are excellent storytellers. The problem is that they're prone to writing fiction and presenting it as truth.So, the next time you find yourself spinning up a stressful "what if?" situation in your head, take a beat, and ask yourself a different question: "Is it true?"Question 2: Can I take action?If the answer to question one is "Yes, it is true," then move on to Gawdat's second question. Are there steps you can take?If you have a real problem on your hands, then perfect! Channel that energy into solving it rather than drowning in it.Question 3: Can I accept it and still create a better life despite it?Here's where things get tricky. If you can't do anything about the situation, the final question before you becomes about "committed acceptance." No, not passive resignation, but actively choosing to move forward and build something better despite the circumstances.This can be difficult—remember, this process began with Gawdat searching for a way to make sense of his son's death—but these questions aren't about forcing toxic positivity or pretending like problems don't exist. They help your brain make sense of what's happened, distinguishing between productive and unproductive emotional energy.Your brain: the overprotective parentTo understand how this works, it helps to think of your brain as an overprotective, hovering parent who sees danger everywhere. "Your brain isn't your source of truth," Gawdat explains. "It's just a survival machine. A search party. It throws thoughts at you, hoping something will protect you. But that doesn't mean any of them are true". - YouTube www.youtube.com Your mammalian brain evolved to keep you alive, not happy. When modern life presents you with stressful situations—traffic jams, work pressures, particularly hot and evil temperatures—your ancient survival systems register these "threats" with the same emotional urgency as a saber-toothed tiger attack.Putting the 90-second rule into practiceSo, what does this really look like in real life knowing the science is only half the battle?Step 1: Notice the surge. When you feel that familiar rush of anger, frustration, or anxiety, create a mental note. "Okay, this is a chemically induced wave of emotion," you might say to yourself without judgment.Step 2: Set a timer, literally. For the first 90 seconds, your job is to observe. Feel every emotion to its fullest: your heart racing, your muscles tensing, your breath shortening. Acknowledge these physical sensations without trying to fix or stop them.via GIPHYStep 3: Breathe and wait. Deep breathing can help calm your nervous system after an onslaught of chemical reactions and prevent your brain from fueling the emotional fire mentally.Step 4: Choose your response. When those 90 seconds pass, you have what Gawdat calls a "buffer," a moment of clarity when you can decide what to do next.Step 5: Apply the three questions. If you're still upset after the initial wave, run through Gawdat's reality-check framework.The 90-second rule offers a unique perspective on relating to your vitally essential emotions. Emotions provide information about the environment and motivate us to take action. The 90-second rule helps us experience our emotions fully without letting them hijack our entire day—or life.The happiness equation connectionThis framework connects to Gawdat's broader "happiness equation," which posits that happiness equals life events minus expectations. Much of our suffering comes not from what happens to us, but from the gap between the triggering event and what we think should happen.As Gawdat puts it, "Life doesn't give a damn about you. It's your choice how you react to every one of [life's challenges]". Which may sound harsh, but when put into practice, can prove quite liberating.The next time you feel yourself crashing out, remember: you have 90 seconds to feel as irrational as humanly possible. After that? You get to decide how to spend the rest of your day.

"Your driver is arriving in 2 minutes. Look for Armand in a Kia Sorento." This message popped up on my iPhone as I was furiously looking for my keys to go enjoy a night of tacos and margaritas. Frazzled, I got into my Lyft, and the weird sense of dread I'd had all day immediately dissipated.We said our hellos as I glanced down to see a yellow spiral notebook and pen in the back seat. On the front, someone had written, "Lyfting Advice." I asked what it was and for the next ten minutes, en route to my destination, I was reminded that even in these challenging (for some, even harrowing) times, the goodness of humanity has the ability to prevail.Armand explained that he has been asking passengers to write down any words of wisdom (or frankly whatever is on their minds) in the notebook. (He named it "Lyfting Advice," because the idea is, quite perfectly, that people give "uplifting advice in a Lyft.") At the end of every day, he reads these passages/quotes/snippets as he reflects on his life and his place in this world. "Go ahead, take a look," he encouraged. I flipped to the first page and was instantly moved by what I saw. Different handwriting across different days—people in the back of this rideshare had beautiful messages to share. Lyft passengers share words if wisdom in a journal.Photo Credit: Cecily KnoblerThe first to catch my eye was this seemingly familiar idea: "Never regret a day in your life. Good days give happiness. Bad days give experiences. Worst days give lessons and best days give memories." One simply writes, "You are enough. You are loved." And this passenger quoted UCLA basketball coach John Wooden: "You haven't had a perfect day until you do something for someone who will never be able to repay you." Another shares, "The best things in life are simple." Wisdom from Lyft passengers in a journal.Photo Credit: Cecily KnoblerI read the latter out loud and we began discussing the little special moments in life that make it easier. Friendships, sunshine, and yes—tacos.Some people talked about the importance of listening to health cues, both physical and mental. "Do not put your job over your health." Another writes, "Be strong enough to hold yourself accountable. Own up to mistakes, challenges, anything that makes life seem tough. It'll help you grow." And another, "Take care of yourself in health. Otherwise, you'll need to take care of yourself in sickness."Many focused on overcoming the not-so-good days. "One day at a time. This too shall pass. Time heals all." "Stop worrying about what other people think about you and then you'll experience true freedom and happiness." "No one will save you but yourself. Life passes away quickly, don't wait to live your best life!" Words of wisdom in a journal in a LyftPhoto Credit: Cecily KnoblerArmand shared his personal favorite: "Be led by your dreams versus being pushed by your problems." When he asked me to share mine, I gave him some verbal encouragement and wrote, "Check the Upworthy website in about a week."

Have you ever seen those videos of the world's craziest intersections? If you've never driven abroad before, it can be hard to imagine driving in them. It's even harder to imagine yourself as a pedestrian trying to cross the road.In 1984, legendary German TV reporter Ulrich Wickert performed a heart-stopping demonstration of exactly how to do it: His challenge? Crossing Place de la Concorde.For the uninitiated, Place de la Concorde is one of the busiest squares in Paris. It was completed in 1772, making it nearly 300 years old. In the 1980s, vehicle traffic around the Place was extremely thick and not friendly at all to pedestrians looking to cross the road. Place de la Concorde seen at night.Esteban Chiner/FlickrWickert calmly explains that to successfully cross the busy road without stop lights or crosswalks, the trick was to just...walk directly into traffic. Narrating as he does so, Wickert advises visitors to walk at a steady pace and not look at the drivers. Any pause, hesitation, or eye contact could put you at risk for being run over.The resulting video is harrowing, to say the least. At one point, he looks like he'll certainly be clobbered by an oncoming van. But Wickert lived to tell the tale and his report grew his already large profile around the globe as amazed viewers couldn't believe their eyes.People can't get enough of the demonstration. Ever since the advent of social media, Wickert's video has gone viral every couple of years like clockwork. from interestingasfuck Luckily for residents and tourists in Paris, Place de la Concorde gave over traffic lanes to pedestrians in 1994. which made the square far safer and more friendly—if a little less thrilling.The traffic seen in Wickert's report pales in comparison to road conditions in many parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam and Thailand, as well as India. Pedestrians in these countries have to be extremely bold when dealing with traffic.In these congested roadways cars (and scooters and other motorbikes) simply do not yield to pedestrians. The only way to cross the street is to simply go and allow drivers to adjust to your presence by driving around you. The trick is to not ever stop, hesitate, or look at the drivers.The videos of locals and tourists alike pulling this off are absolutely stunning. - YouTube www.youtube.com In some countries, it's common for pedestrians to stick a hand out to signal their intent. In other places, the traffic is so unimaginably thick that pedestrians just have to bob and weave and hope for the best. @shev_n_dev Road crossing in Delhi, India ?? #indiatiktok #tiktokindia #tiktokindia?? #india #indiantiktok #indiantiktok???? Crossing the street in Southeast Asian looks like the adrenaline rush of a lifetime, but it's clearly not the safest activity in the world. Neither is being a pedestrian in America.You probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that pedestrians are struck by cars quite a bit in countries where there are no crosswalks and few traffic lights.What might surprise you is that America, for all of its infrastructure and intentional city design, is also pretty bad in this area. And it's getting worse. Roads in the USA usually have stoplights, speed limits, and crosswalks, but vehicles are getting so outrageously big that pedestrian fatalities are getting frighteningly common. That's a uniquely American problem that most other developed countries don't have, and, even in America, the problem of safe walkability is worse in low-income areas.We can all agree that whether you're running for your life to cross a busy street in Dehli, or playing Frogger with a 6,000 pound pickup truck in the USA, pedestrian safety is something that matters. We should all be able to walk places in our communities without getting run down.Luckily, there are global initiatives underway to try to make the world safer and more friendly to pedestrians, like Vision Zero. It's a system that's been used to great effect to reduce pedestrian deaths across Europe and is making headway in some US cities. Vision Zero involves interventions like lowering speed limits, making crosswalks bigger and more visible, creating connected sidewalks, and enlarging bike lanes.The world should be designed for people first, not vehicles. Making roads safer all over the globe might cost us these fascinating videos, but the benefits for pedestrians will be well worth it.

A legendary release. The post “Brand new thing”: The funk album that inspired Miles Davis’ classic ‘On the Corner’ first appeared on Far Out Magazine.