It's not a secret that nearly all golden retrievers are identical. Honestly, magic has to be involved for owners to know which one belongs to them when more than one golden retriever is around. Seriously, how do they all seem have the same face? It's like someone fell asleep on the copy machine when they were being created.Outside of collars, harnesses and bandanas, immediately identifying the dog that belongs to you has to be a secret skill because at first glance, their personalities are also super similar. That's why it's not surprising when one family dropped off their sweet golden pooch at daycare and to be groomed, they didn't notice the daycare sent out the wrong dog.See, not even their human parents can tell them apart because when the swapped dog got home, nothing seemed odd to the owners at first. She was freshly groomed so any small differences were quickly brushed off. But this accidental doppelgänger wasn't fooling her feline siblings. Once the dog was in their house, they noticed that their cats started behaving strangely towards their canine sibling. The cats started attacking the dog, likely trying to get it to tell them what they did with their real dog sister. Cat slaps and a house full of strange people didn't dampen the imposter's spirit though, in fact, that's what helped reveal the switcharoo. This dog kept handing out face kisses and had no interest in seeing her favorite neighbor. After putting all of those things together, the owners decided to hightail it to the vet's office to scan the dog's microchip. Alas, they indeed had the wrong dog. "We just never even thought that that would happen, and of course we thought we would know right? Like we're her parents, we would know something was wrong, we would know right off the bat that it wasn't Emmy," Kebby Kelley told Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul. Seems both golden retrievers got to go on a really strange adventure that deserves a lifetime of delicious dog treats for the confusion. See both sweet pups below:This article originally appeared on 9.21.23

Americans collectively gasp reading that swaddling is frowned upon in Sweden. In the United States one of the first things the hospital does after a baby is born is to swaddle the newborn nice and snug in a receiving blanket, completing the look with a tiny hat. New moms practice swaddling on unsuspecting cats or teddy bears in preparation for the baby's arrival.Imagine the surprise of an American mom that gave birth in Sweden being told to never swaddle her baby again. Surely the midwife must've been mistaken, assuming something else was going on. Miranda Hudgens recently posted a reenactment of her experience giving birth at a Swedish hospital to social media where it went viral.In the video, Hudgens is holding her swaddled baby when the midwife comes in and asks what she's doing, while looking disgusted. The mom explains she's swaddling the baby. Shortly after the midwife leaves, Hudgens' husband tells her that the midwife said "not to do that to the baby anymore."When the new mom inquires why she isn't allowed to swaddle the baby, her husband responds, "she said it could kill the baby. Yeah, she said we don't do that to babies in this country."This is the complete opposite of what Americans are taught. Swaddling is seen as a means to help the baby feel secure and calm but in Sweden it's viewed as a dangerous practice. In the comments one mom gave insight into the reason swaddling is discouraged in the nordic country."I was reprimanded for it here in Sweden. She said that swaddling = too deep sleep = increased risk for SIDS," the commenter reveals.Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is an area that is continually being researched and while there are factors that increase the chances of SIDS, there is currently no definitive cause. When it comes to swaddling, the increase of SIDS and suffocation increase if the swaddled baby is placed on its stomach to sleep according to Children's Hospital Los Angeles|The Saban Research Institute. In another study published by the National Library of Medicine, points out that the previous study that stated swaddling increases the risk of SIDS was not peer reviewed and did not provide information on if the swaddled babies were placed on their stomachs or backs for sleep. @mirandapandz And this is how I found out the Swaddling is super frowned up in Sweden #swedenvsusa #americanlivinginsweden #newmom #deliveryroomstories #swaddlingbaby #swaddling #firsttimemom In the end Hudgens decided not to swaddle, "for those wondering I decided not to swaddle after leaving the hospital and doing more research. The midwife could of been nicer though."Every parent has to do what they think is best with the information they have. Child birthing and child rearing practices can vary widely from country to country. While in Sweden they frown upon swaddling, co-sleeping with babies until they're school age is commonly practiced. But in America co-sleeping is strongly discouraged while swaddling is commonly practiced. It's also normal for people in Scandinavian countries to leave their babies outside in freezing temperatures, whereas in America that would be considered neglect. So while it can be shocking to find out what people do in other countries and cultures, it's important to remember not to compare. Everybody's just doing the best that they can with children that are all going to grow into toddlers that eat lint covered snacks they found under the couch. This article originally appeared on 12.12.23

As a Gen X parent, it's weird to try to describe my childhood to my kids. We're the generation that didn't grow up with the internet or cell phones, yet are raising kids who have never known a world without them. That difference alone is enough to make our 1980s childhoods feel like a completely different planet, but there are other differences too that often get overlooked.How do you explain the transition from the brown and orange aesthetic of the '70s to the dusty rose and forest green carpeting of the '80s if you didn't experience it? When I tell my kids there were smoking sections in restaurants and airplanes and ashtrays everywhere, they look horrified (and rightfully so—what were we thinking?!). The fact that we went places with our friends with no quick way to get ahold of our parents? Unbelievable. One day I described the process of listening to the radio, waiting for my favorite song to come on so I could record it on my tape recorder, and how mad I would get when the deejay talked through the intro of the song until the lyrics started. My Spotify-spoiled kids didn't even understand half of the words I said.And '80s hair? With the feathered bangs and the terrible perms and the crunchy hair spray? What, why and how?In some ways, that era was simpler. We weren't bombarded with information and opinions about every issue in the world 24/7 and had the freedom to just be kids. At the same time, I personally have no desire to go back. (My straight, fine hair was not made for the '80s.)However, one dad is bringing full-on nostalgia to millions of Gen Xers with a viral TikTok he made about sharing his '80s childhood with his 8-year-old son. Justin H (who goes by @shadyraro on TikTok) included photos and descriptions of things all '80s kids will recognize and it's like hopping into a time machine. Like, the unwound cassette tape struggle was genuinely real. Grab a pencil, start winding and pray. "The A-Team"? Totally. Streetlight curfew? Yep. @shadyraro The 80’s was the best decade #80s #80skid #oldschool #genx #parents #funny #family #foryou #fyp The video has been viewed more than 10 million times this week, with commenters neck-deep in their feelings about their childhood flashbacks. "I miss them days, technology has taken away so much," wrote one commenter."Miss the 80s era but unfortunately us kids were the remote control," wrote another. (So true. Changing the channel was exercise.)"The 80's cannot be explained...it was an experience...a complete vibe all its own...and if you missed it I'm so sorry for you!" wrote another.And if you feel like there were some things missing, no worries. There's a Part Two: @shadyraro The 80’s was the best decade Part 2 #80s #80skid #oldschool #genx #parents #funny #family #foryou #fyp The ashtray in the back of the car seat! The phone booth! The Walkman! The overhead projector. So my childhood. I can practically taste the Tang and Twinkies. Kids today will never know the ugly beauty of growing up in the '80s, but someday they'll have their own tales to tell their kids that they'll look on with fondness and nostalgia. "We used to spend hours building things with little digital blocks in Minecraft…" There's never been anything like the '80s and there never will be again. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Justin H. This article originally appeared on 05.21.22

When Lily Evans set out to walk her dog, she had no idea the story of that walk would later go viral on the internet. When she took to Twitter to recount her experience, she opened with a simple question, one that many men have probably wondered for a long time — though women already know the answer. (Before you click through to the thread itself, note that Lily's Twitter account is expressly for adults and may be NSFW.)The walk started off normal enough. Until she ran into a seemingly friendly stranger.A man eating on a nearby bench offered her dog, Echo, a treat.He eventually asked her if she lived in the area — which could be considered slightly intrusive — but all in all, it was just small talk.But then she ran into him again shortly after.Evans says his friendly banter — maybe innocent, but more likely not — was making her incredibly uncomfortable.And yet he continued to linger.Then he invaded her physical space with an out-of-nowhere hug."I was terrified," she wrote.Evans hurried home, petrified the man would follow her.He didn't. But the experience left her shaken and upset. Worst of all, she says, she has been through this many, many times before.Her story went viral in a hurry, with over 44,000 retweets, 68,000 likes, and thousands of comments."The response from other women has been pretty heartbreaking," Evans writes in a Twitter exchange with Upworthy. "Many, many women have used this as an opportunity to share their stories of harassment, assault, or even just being very frightened."The replies to Evans' tweet thread is littered with similar stories — seemingly "nice" guys on the street or public transportation who push small talk far past its acceptable boundaries.Though she's glad her story made other women feel more comfortable coming forward with their own experiences, Evans hopes it also leaves an impression on men who read it."I had several guys ask me how they can be more non-threatening, and that's exactly what I was aiming for.""I got a lot of replies from men saying, 'Oh, I'm so sorry that happened, but we aren't all like that! Some of us are nice guys,'" she says. "And while that's true, my point was that strangers cannot know what your intentions are until it's too late.She hits on an important point: It's not inherently wrong or creepy to strike up a conversation with a stranger, but women truly never know when a simple "hi" is going to turn into them being followed and harassed."I had several guys ask me how they can be more non-threatening, and that's exactly what I was aiming for," she says. "I just want men to be more self-aware and understand that when a woman they don't know is skittish, it's nothing personal. We're just trying to be safe."This article originally appeared on 07.18.19

"So just recently I went out on a Match.com date, and it was fantastic," begins Dr. Danielle Sheypuk in her TEDx Talk. If you've ever been on a bunch of Match.com dates, that opening line might make you do a double take. How does one get so lucky?!But don't get too jealous. Things quickly went downhill two dates later, as most Match.com dates ultimately do. This time, however, the reason may not be something that you've ever experienced.Intrigued? I was too. So here's the story.She's a licensed clinical psychologist, an advocate, and a model — among other things. She's also been confined to a wheelchair since childhood. And that last fact is what did her recent date in.On their third date over a romantic Italian dinner, Sheypuk noticed that he was sitting farther away from her than usual. And then, out of nowhere, he began to ask the following questions:"I've been thinking, how are you gonna be a mother? How are you gonna do the duties that's gonna be required of you? And even as wife — how ... I'm not sure how this is gonna work."Used to this line of inquiry, she had the perfect quippy reply: "Well that's simple: I'm just gonna hire someone like every other New Yorker."But despite her witty answer, he'd already made up his mind. She never heard from him again."I tried to convince myself that this was like any other relationship, but deep down I knew the reality. Who wants to date someone in a wheelchair?"Dr. Sheypuk knows that that single question is evidence of a really serious problem —not just on the dating scene, but in society in general.Society has factored out an entire group of potential romantic partners: people with disabilities.In her words:"We are completely left out of the dating picture. Society, media included, seems to ignore the fact that we have the same emotional needs and desires as everyone else. Is this injustice born out of the concept of the poster child and his or her duty to induce pity to raise money?Or maybe it's a conclusion drawn form mainstream porn where we have actors performing, like, gymnastic stunts with the stamina that none of us have of bucking broncos and jackrabbits.”Um, yes. So much yes. She continues:"The silent message: The more in shape your body, the better the sex. The unspoken conclusion: If you have a disability, you are too sick to have sex.The silent message: The more in shape your body, the better the sex. The unspoken conclusion: If you have a disability, you are too sick to have sex."Now let's look at the continuum in our society where sexual is measured. On the one hand, we have humans that are the ultimate sex appeal object. So on that end, we have Victoria Secret models, Playboy centerfolds, people like that.On the complete opposite end, we have people with physical disabilities. And it seems like the more we deviate from this ultimate sex icon, the more desexualized we become, the more taboo the topic, and the more damaging the consequences.Now, for most people there are quick fixes, right? We have Hair Club for Men, Botox, Spanx, butt implants. But for people with disabilities, there are no quick fixes. There is no magic pill.""And we are hit hard.”Watch the rest of Dr. Sheypuk's talk to hear her important insights about what dating and relationships are like when a person has a disability — and how much of society is limiting itself.This article originally appeared on 07.22.15

When San Francisco photographer Lisa Robinson was about to have her second child, she was both excited and nervous.Sure, those are the feelings most moms-to-be experience before giving birth, but Lisa's nerves were tied to something different.She and her husband already had a 9-year-old son but desperately wanted another baby. They spent years trying to get pregnant again, but after countless failed attempts and two miscarriages, they decided to stop trying.Of course, that's when Lisa ended up becoming pregnant with her daughter, Anora. Since it was such a miraculous pregnancy, Lisa wanted to do something special to commemorate her daughter's birth.So she turned to her craft — photography — as a way to both commemorate the special day, and keep herself calm and focused throughout the birthing process.Normally, Lisa takes portraits and does wedding photography, so she knew the logistics of being her own birth photographer would be a somewhat precarious new adventure — to say the least."After some thought," she says, "I figured I would try it out and that it could capture some amazing memories for us and our daughter."In the end, she says, Alec was supportive and thought it would be great if she could pull it off. Her doctors and nurses were all for Lisa taking pictures, too, especially because it really seemed to help her manage the pain and stress.In the hospital, she realized it was a lot harder to hold her camera steady than she initially thought it would be."Eventually when it was time to push and I was able to take the photos as I was pushing, I focused on my daughter and my husband and not so much the camera," she says."I didn't know if I was in focus or capturing everything but it was amazing to do.”The shots she ended up getting speak for themselves:"Everybody was supportive and kind of surprised that I was able to capture things throughout. I even remember laughing along with them at one point as I was pushing," Lisa recalled.In the end, Lisa was so glad she went through with her experiment. She got incredible pictures — and it actually did make her labor easier.Would she recommend every mom-to-be document their birth in this way? Absolutely not. What works for one person may not work at all for another.However, if you do have a hobby that relaxes you, figuring out how to incorporate it into one of the most stressful moments in your life is a pretty good way to keep yourself calm and focused.Expecting and love the idea of documenting your own birthing process?Take some advice from Lisa: "Don't put pressure on yourself to get 'the shot'" she says, "and enjoy the moment as much as you can.”Lisa's mom took this last one.This article originally appeared on 06.30.16

The human body is an amazing organism, to say the least.To watch an athlete dunk a basketball or a ballerina turn a pirouette is to witness an extraordinary machine at work. But the human body is also a biological junkyard of useless ideas it has yet to ditch as we evolve.If humans have a creator, it has a sense of humor, because why else would it clutter the human body with organs that have no use? Why is the occasional baby born with a tail? These useless body parts are known as vestigial organs.The video below goes over just a few of the vestigial organs we can locate on our bodies if we know where to look.Ten to 15 percent of people can see a tendon in their wrists that connects to the palmaris longus muscle. Although it serves no purpose for humans, it's essential for primates that live in the treetops and swing from limb to limb.Humans also have three muscles around their ears that allow some people to make them wiggle. When fully formed in other mammals, the muscles work to rotate the ears in order to pinpoint the source of sounds.Although these body parts are worthless in a practical sense, they serve as a reminder of our vast evolutionary history and reveal our deep connections to other beings on the planet. That knowledge is far from useless.This article originally appeared on 10.27.17

Debates about homework are nothing new, but the ability to parents to find support for homework woes from thousands of other parents is a fairly recent phenomenon.A mom named Cassi Nelson shared a post about her first grader's homework and it quickly went viral. Nelson shared that her son had come home from his second day of school with four pages of homework, which she showed him tearfully working on at their kitchen counter. "He already doesn’t get home from school until 4pm," she wrote. "Then he had to sit still for another hour plus to complete more work. I had to clear out the kitchen so he could focus. His little legs kept bouncing up and down, he was bursting with so much energy just wanting to go play. Then he broke my heart when he looked up at me with his big teary doe eyes and asked…. 'Mommy when you were little did you get distracted a lot too?!' Yes sweet baby, mommy sure did too! I don’t know how ppl expect little children to sit at school all day long and then ALSO come home to sit and do MORE work too…." Nelson tells Upworthy that she was "shocked" that kindergarteners and first graders have homework, much less the amount they were expected to do. "We didn't have homework like this when we were in these younger grades."Expert opinion and research is somewhat mixed on the homework front, but there isn't any conclusive evidence that homework is universally beneficial for students and too much homework can actually be harmful. As a standard, the National Education Association (NEA) and the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) support a limit on homework of “10 minutes of homework per grade level." With that as a guide, a first grader shouldn't have more than 10 minutes of homework on any given school day, but it's not unusual for young kids to have two or three times the recommended limit of homework. That can be stressful for both kids and parents, cutting into valuable family time and limiting kids' time to decompress, play and freely engage in imaginative activity. As Nelson concluded, "It’s breaking their spirit and it robs them of what little fun and family time they have when they come home after a long day of school."Most parents and even most teachers in the comments agreed with her that four pages of homework is too much for a first grader, especially on only the second day of school:"Poor little man. Children below a certain grade should not be given homework! Small children have a hard time sitting still for a long period of time yet alone expected to sit and do hours of homework, for what??? They are SMALL CHILDREN! Let them snack, play, laugh and all the other fun things when they get home. You are only a child once, they don't need that taken away from them. Let them embrace their inner creativity, imagination, recipes, etc.""This breaks my spirit. Our schools are huge scams. You're exactly right Cassi. Homework is ridiculous. Kids til the age of 10 primarily learn through real life situations and play scenarios.""I hate that for him! My little one has ADHD and doing homework after sitting in class all day is very stressful to him and makes him hate school. They are in school for 7 hours they shouldn’t have homework. That definitely takes away any kind of family time and that’s why kids never spend time with parents anymore because they have all this homework to do after being gone all day.I feel that if it can’t be done in the 7 hours they have the kids then it should wait until the next school day.""I don’t make them do homework at home when they are that little. It’s not fair!They are at school allllll day! And it’s already sooooo much for their little bodies and brains! I’ve never had a teacher upset about it either.. and even if I did oh well!""That breaks my heart. 4 pages is absolutely ridiculous for young kids. My daughter is going into 2nd grade next month, the 2 years in school it was always 1 page of homework sometimes back and front if it was math. And to read.""I was in this boat with my son…conversation with the principal and teachers helped dramatically!! It’s too much and we have to advocate for them."Nelson was blown away by the response to her post, which has been shared on Facebook over 89,000 times. "I NEVER thought me sharing my thoughts openly about how my heart hurt watching my little guy struggle would connect to so many others worldwide going through the same thing," she says.Many parents shared that excessive homework is one of the reasons they decided to homeschool their children, which Nelson took to heart. The week after sharing her viral homework post, she shared that they had had their first day of homeschooling. It was "A HUGE SUCCESS!!!!" she wrote, with her son doing double the amount of classwork needed for the day while sitting for classes for just 1 hour and 45 minutes total. Nelson tells Upworthy she was totally intimidated to try homeschooling. "I seriously thought there was no way," she says. "But I knew I had to set my fear aside and just take the leap for my kids. I told myself I'd figure it out one way or another. And here we are three days in and it's been the easiest and best choice I've ever made."Homeschooling is not going to the right solution for every family, however, so the question of homework remains an important issue for kids, parents, teachers and schools to work out.

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