Be sure to check the sky tonight because the Northern Lights may be on display. According to the NOAA, a geomagnetic storm is brewing on the sun, which means parts of the world might catch the aurora borealis late tonight (March 6) or early tomorrow morning. The vivid lights appear when the solar storms send charged particles into Earth’s atmosphere. Tonight’s storm could cause a high-speed solar wind to push the Northern lights over the Northern U.S. People living in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, and the northern areas of Washington may be lucky enough to watch the Northern Lights dance across the sky. If the storm is strong enough, auroras could also be visible in northern parts of Oregon, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. How to View the Northern Lights on March 6th If you try to catch the show, get as far away from city light pollution as possible. It will already be tougher to see the auroras, thanks to a bright gibbous moon that’s shining tonight. NOAA said you’ll have the best views if you drive to a north-facing, high vantage point between 10 pm and 2 am local time. If the lights are too dim for the naked eye, a smartphone may still be able to capture them. Apps like My Aurora Forecast & Alerts and Hello Aurora will give you up-to-date information on the Northern Lights in your area. You can find this story’s featured image here.

There are so many conflicting ideas about building self-confidence in children. Is there a right way? Could praise be harmful? Should everyone receive a gold star? As with many things in life, sometimes the best solution is the simplest one—hiding in plain sight, or just out of it. Namwila Mulwanda and her partner Zephi practice “gentle-parenting” with their daughter, Nhyara. Shared in a video on Instagram, one of their techniques is talking about Nhyara when she’s within earshot but out of sight. These aren’t your typical behind-closed-doors parent conversations—no venting about daily frustrations or sharing complaints they’d never say to her face. Instead, they create intentional moments of celebration, offering genuine praise and heartfelt affirmation. View this post on Instagram In a viral Instagram post that’s garnered over one million likes, Mulwanda writes, “POV: You talk behind your child’s back so they can hear you.” Self-described as a “passionate mother, content creator, and small business owner,” Mulwanda naturally overflows with ideas: she writes a Substack, She Who Blooms, which is about “blooming in our own time, in our own way.” She also runs Rooted, a shop where she “carefully curates products that embody the essence of growth, empowerment, and staying rooted in one’s true self.” In the video, Mulwanda and her partner sit in a quiet corner, chatting about their daughter Nhyara while occasionally peeking around to see if she’s listening—which she is. With her within earshot but not directly part of the conversation, they discuss their daughter: “I’m just so proud of her and the things she does,” her mom starts. “She works on her reading, like that difficult word that she took the time to really sound out,” adds her dad. They go on to applaud her independence (“She’s always telling me, ‘Daddy, I want to brush my teeth on my own,’” says Zephi), before concluding that she’s amazing. “She’s amazing,” says Mulwanda. “So, so, so amazing,” Zephi responds. View this post on Instagram People in the comments were obviously here for it. Parents shared their own versions of this technique, including one who wrote, “As a solo mom, I pretend to make phone calls to a family member and do this.” Another parent shared a powerful example: “My son used to be scared of climbing down the stairs. So, my husband said loudly, ‘He’s very brave! He has shown a lot of courage lately.’ The next day, when we tried carrying him down the stairs, he said, ‘Nope, I have a lot of courage in me.’” Others reflected on their own childhoods. One commenter wrote, “No exaggeration, I’d be an entirely different person had my parents been like this with me.” “Stop, I was just thinking last night, ‘When I have kids, I’m going to have loud conversations with my future husband about how much I love our children and how proud I am of them,’” another enthusiastically shared. Children believe that conversations between adults are more u201cauthenticu201d and honest. Photo credit: Canva Research indicates that indirect praise has a stronger psychological impact than direct praise, particularly in young children. “This is such a powerful way of reinforcing positive behavior,” explains parenting influencer Cara Nicole, who also went viral for her unique approach to parenting. “There’s something special about overhearing others talk about you—you know they’re being genuine because they’re not saying it directly to you.” This effectiveness stems from children’s innate understanding that conversations between adults tend to be more honest than parent-child interactions. From an early age, children recognize that direct conversations with parents often have an intentional, behavior-shaping purpose. In contrast, overheard praise feels authentic and spontaneous, rather than an attempt to influence the child’s self-image. These techniques work best when praise focuses on effort and process rather than innate qualities. Take Nhyara’s dad’s comment: “She works on her reading, like that difficult word that she took the time to really sound out.” via GIPHY Yet, it’s crucial to keep praise realistic and measured. Avoid overzealous claims about future achievements, like acing every spelling test for the rest of her life. Children have keen intuition; if they sense insincerity, the strategy can backfire, damaging their trust in parents. Similarly, over-inflated praise—like declaring “incredible” performance for average effort—can burden children with unrealistic expectations. Keep it simple. A casual remark like, “I noticed how carefully Maya put away her toys without being asked. That was so nice. It really helped keep the house clean.” https://youtube.com/watch?v=jI502h-1WkY%3Fsi%3DmQdZF4eD1wz9SYZX%26controls%3D0 The viral response to Mulwanda’s video demonstrates the power of gentle parenting combined with thoughtful, specific praise. It’s heartening to see modern parents sharing their diverse approaches to showing their children love. For many commenters who didn’t experience this kind of upbringing, these conversations offer a path to healing. As Mulwanda eloquently states in her pinned comment: “To those of you who only heard negative as a child, you were never the problem. You were a child, and you didn’t deserve the experience you had. Your presence on this earth is a blessing, and the fact that you show up every single day is proof of just how amazing you are. You are brave, you are beautiful (you too, boys), and you deserve the world and more.If any of you feel emotions rising up, close your eyes, hug your inner child, and remind them that you’re there.” – Namwila Mulwanda   This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.The post Parents go viral for ‘secret’ praise technique. Science confirm it’s certifiably genius. appeared first on Upworthy.

The Sound of Music has been beloved for generations, partially for the music (and Julie Andrews’ angelic voice), partially for the historical storyline, and partially for the love story between Maria and Georg Von Trapp. The idea of a nun-in-training softening the heart of a curmudgeonly widower, falling in love with him, and ultimately becoming a big, happy family is just an irresistible love story. But it turns out the real love story behind their union is even more fascinating. Maria Von Trapp (left) was played by Julie Andrews and her husband Georg was played by Christopher Plummer in Photo credit: Public domain The National Archives has collected information about what’s fact and what’s fiction in The Sound of Music, which is based on a real family in Austria named Von Trapp. The film was generally based on the first section of Maria Von Trapp’s 1949 autobiography, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, with some of the details being true and others fictionalized for a movie audience. For instance, Maria was actually hired on as a tutor for just one of Georg’s children, not as a governess for all of them. The children, whose names, ages and sexes were changed, were already musically inclined before Maria arrived. Georg was not the cold, grumpy dad he was portrayed as in the beginning of the film, but rather a warm and involved parent who enjoyed making music with his kids. Maria and Georg were married 11 years before leaving Austria, not right before the Nazi takeover. The Von Trapps left by train, not in a secret excursion over the mountains. But perhaps the most intriguing detail? Maria was not in love with Georg at all when they got married. Sound Of Music Flag GIF by The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization Giphy It doesn’t initially make for a great Hollywood romance, but the Von Trapp love story began with marriage for other reasons and evolved into a genuine love story. Maria wrote that she fell in love with Georg’s children at first sight, but she wasn’t sure about leaving her religious calling when Georg asked her to marry him. The nuns urged her to do God’s will and marry him, but for Maria it was all about the children, not him. When Georg proposed, he asked her to stay with him and become a second mother to his children. “God must have made him word it that way,” Maria wrote, “because if he had only asked me to marry him I might not have said yes.” “I really and truly was not in love,” she wrote. “I liked him but didn’t love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children.” However, she shared that her feelings for Georg changed over time. “…[B]y and by I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after.” The idea of marrying someone you don’t love is antithetical to every romantic notion our society celebrates, yet the evolution of Maria’s love for Georg has been a common occurrence across many cultures throughout history. Romantic love was not always the primary impetus for marriage. It was more often an economic proposition and communal arrangement that united families and peoples, formed the basis of alliances, and enabled individuals to rise through social ranks. Some cultures still practice arranged marriage, which limited research has found has outcomes identical to love-first marriage in reports of passionate love, companionate love, satisfaction, and commitment. The idea of marrying someone you don’t already love is anathema to modern Western sensibilities, but the reality is that people have married over the centuries for many reasons, only one of which is falling in love. Maria’s marriage to Georg actually was about falling in love, but not with him. She loved his children and wanted to be with them. It definitely helped that she liked the guy, but she wasn’t swept off her feet by him, there were no moonlit confessions of love a la “Something Good,” and their happily ever after love story didn’t come until much later. Ultimately, Maria and Georg’s love story was one for the ages, just not one that fits the Hollywood film trope. And it’s a compelling reminder that our unwritten rules and social norms determining what love and marriage should look like aren’t set in stone. Do marriages for reasons other than love always evolve into genuine love? No. Do marriages based on falling in love first always last? Also no. Should a marriage that starts with “like” and develops into to a genuine, deep love over years be considered “true love” in the way we usually think of it? Who can say? Lots to ponder over in this love story. But Maria’s description of learning “to love him more than I have ever loved before or after” is a pretty high bar, so clearly it worked for them. The Von Trapps were married for 20 years and had three more children together before Georg died of lung cancer in 1947. Maria would live another four decades and never remarried. She died in 1987 at age 82 and is buried next to Georg on the family’s property in Vermont.   This article originally appeared last year It has been updated.The post The real-life love story of Maria and Georg Von Trapp we didn’t see in ‘The Sound of Music’ appeared first on Upworthy.

Few people spend more time with kids than teachers. From the classroom to the playground, teachers have deep and intuitive insight into what their students’ relationships are like with their parents, and many teachers can tell when parents are invested and truly care about their kids. In a Reddit forum, member @allsfairinwar posed the question: “Teachers of Reddit: What are some small, subtle ways you can tell a child’s parent really cares about them?” Teachers from all education levels shared their insight. From elementary teachers to high school teachers, these educators offered their firsthand experience with students that informed them about their relationship with parents at home. These are their most powerful observations. Hit It Bang Bang GIF by Eddie & Laura Burton Realty Group Giphy “When the parent stops and actually looks at their kid’s art/work/listens about their day before heading home. I know everyone gets busy but damn don’t shove the art your kid is proud of right in their bag without first looking at it. We do the same piece of art for a week. They spent 2 hours on that, spare 2 minutes to show them their effort is worth something to you.” —@Worldly_Might_3183 “When the child speaks, the adult listens. When the adult speaks, the child listens.” —@homerbartbob “When the parents are familiar with the child’s friends and talk to their child’s friends, I know they’re listening to their child talk about their day at school. Or when parents let slip that they got a full recap of something I said or that happened at school. I know they are having conversations with their child at home, and paying attention.” —@Pinkrivrdolphn Games GIF Giphy “When the kid is happy/quick to tell their parents about things. Not just serious or important things, but just random bullsh*t. Do I care about Minecraft? Not really. Do I care that my kid cares about Minecraft? Very much. Lay it on me kid. Spare no detail.” —@IJourden “They let their kids fail and experience natural consequences. Good parents are preparing their children to be adults, and part of that is learning responsibility and accountability. Let your kids make mistakes and learn from them!” —@oboe_you_didnt “You can tell a lot about home life based on students behavior the week leading up to a break. If they are happy/excited/giddy/endearingly obnoxious I know they are going somewhere safe to someone who cares. The students who don’t have that are often increasingly anxious/angry/withdrawn/acting out.” —@pulchritudinousprout Monsters Inc Hug GIF Giphy “The moment that a parent greets the child at the end of the day is very telling. Some parents clearly want to know all about their child’s day and connect with them, some don’t.” —@Smug010 “When I make positive contact home and the parent speaks glowingly about their own kid. It’s great to hear.” —@outtodryclt “A few years back, I heard a parent ask their kid if they found someone to be kind to today. That made a real impact on me. Now I try to remind my own kids to ‘find someone to be kind to’ if I’m doing drop off and/or ask ‘Who were you kind to today?’ after school.” —@AspiringFicWriter “When a student asks for help, they actually need the help. They are not doing it just to get your attention.”—@Typical_Importance65 Dance Marathon Reaction GIF by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Giphy “It doesn’t always mean everything is perfect at home, but a child who is well-groomed is always a good sign. That doesn’t always mean the most fashionable clothes or perfect hair, just that the child is clean, their clothes are clean and appropriate for the weather. Also when a child knows how to celebrate their own wins and isn’t afraid of making a mistake or being wrong- that shows that their parents have modeled good emotional regulation.” —@itscornelectric “They get them services when they’re struggling. I work with kids with disabilities and the learning outcomes/experience of school (and by extension, the greater world) for kids who have their needs met is far different to those who don’t. The number of parents who respond to a teacher saying ‘I think it might be worth John seeing an OT/a speech therapist/ getting his eyes checked’ with something along the lines of ‘f*ck you, what would you know?’ Is astounding. The parents who make appointments, share information from specialists with the school, and are proactive about their children’s abilities or disabilities – their kids see such improvements.” —@prison_industrial_co “They ask thoughtful questions. Even something that seems routine to adults like, ‘How is/was your day?’ I’m in elementary, and it’s appropriate for kids to talk mostly about themselves. Kids who ask thoughtful questions are doing so because it’s consistently modeled. It’s also not very common (again, age appropriate egocentrism) so it stands out.” —@mundane-mondays Read Book Club GIF Giphy “When you know they’re being exposed to reading at home. Maybe they can read at a higher level or they’re mastering their sight words. For students with learning disabilities, the kids are trying their hardest to read, using context clues, using pictures and making up a story, or even making different voices for characters. When I was in a low functioning Autistic support room, this one little boy couldn’t form words, but he made noises is different voices and used dramatic face expressions on each page to represent characters talking.” —@Mediocre-Bee-9262 “Accountability. A good parent knows that their kids isn’t perfect and if the kid does something wrong (like hitting or bullying other kids) they don’t look for excuses, or for how the other kid provoked that behavior, but helps their kid understand why their behavior was hurtful.” —@SadlyNotDannyDeVito This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated. The post Teachers share the tell-tale signs they know a parent truly cares about their kid appeared first on Upworthy.

Logic puzzles and brain teasers have long been used to challenge our minds and encourage critical thinking. Sometimes the most intriguing puzzles are the ones that seem the simplest. For instance, a teacher in India, Raviraj Master, posted a seemingly simple yet seemingly impossible problem for his students: “Draw a square with three lines.” That’s it. Could they do it? Student after student came up to the board to make an attempt. One by one, they drew three lines, which of course did not add up to a square. One student cleverly drew three sides of a square with lines and the fourth side with a dotted line. That move demonstrated creative thinking, but it was not the solution. Finally, a student walked up to the board, drew a square with all four sides, and then drew three lines inside it. That was it. She had drawn a square with three lines. Problem solved. Thinking critically about wording The solution is so straightforward that most people miss it. It’s not that it’s hard; it’s that our brains interpret the prompt a certain way and go full speed ahead with that interpretation. It’s an excellent lesson in thinking critically about how something is worded and what is being asked. For instance, “Draw a square using three lines” would be a totally different ask than “Draw a square with three lines.” Just that one-word difference changes the possible meaning of the prompt. What if the teacher had asked, “Is there another way these words can be interpreted?” Proactively looking at each word to see if it could have a different meaning makes puzzles like this one a little easier. However, the lesson extends far beyond silly brain teasers. Advertisers, politicians, and others who exploit the power of persuasion sometimes use words in ways that confuse or mislead. The logical fallacy of equivocation or ambiguity For instance, let’s look at the logical fallacy of equivocation, also known as the fallacy of ambiguity. Using words that have more than one meaning makes it easy to be vague and leave statements open to interpretation. In our brain teaser, the word “with” could mean “using,” which is the way most students interpreted it. But “with” can also mean “accompanying,” which is how it’s used in the actual solution. Politicians use ambiguity a lot. Philosopher Justin D’Ambrosio called it “manipulative under-specification.” Using terms that are open to multiple interpretations gives politicians plausible deniability if you disagree with them. They can simply say they meant something different. Even important concepts like justice, fairness, and democracy are underspecified terms, making it easy for politicians to use them in slogans or soundbites without detailing what they mean. View this post on Instagram Ambiguity can be used to manipulate people via the media as well. Sharon Haigler and C. Anneke Snyder’s “Propaganda Techniques in Media” handout at Texas A&M University lists 12 media propaganda techniques. Check out number 10: “Obfuscation: Intentionally confusing the issue with vague, non-specific language. By avoiding clarity, propagandists create uncertainty and prevent critical analysis. Complex legal jargon or ambiguous statements serve this purpose.” Understanding ambiguity may help us understand each other It’s wise to think critically when it comes to wording, whether we’re trying to solve a silly logic puzzle or serious social and political problems. Pay attention to words that are vague. Ask what various definitions or interpretations there might be for ambiguous terms. On the positive side, staying aware of words with multiple meanings can sometimes help us see where others are coming from. Sometimes disagreements are due to defining a word differently, rather than an actual issue. So many words in our social and political discourse require definitions before we engage. Otherwise, we risk talking past one another rather than meaningfully discussing things with one another. Amazing what we can learn from a simple brain teaser, isn’t it? The post A teacher asked students to draw a square with 3 lines. How the kids approached it was fascinating. appeared first on Upworthy.