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Parenting

Mom shares lifesaving advice after  her son got the car seatbelt locked around his neck

"You panic."

motherhood; seatbelt cutter; saving child's life; mom saves child; mom advice
Photo credit: Canva

Mom shares advice after son locks seatbelt around neck

Kids get into some pretty scary situations. They oftentimes let curiosity take over thanks to their limited impulse control but this can lead to dangerous scenarios that require intervention. Whether it's a banister on a staircase, a fork in the toaster or trying to stick a bead up their nose, kids find a way to get into some interesting situations often leaving the parents confused and panicked.

Recently a mom shared that her son was playing with the seatbelt when he got it tangled around his neck. The thing about seatbelts is, they're designed to lock to protect you in an accident. So when the little boy pulled all the slack out of the seatbelt while playing and then let go, the seatbelt locked around his neck.

This caused the seatbelt to tighten every time the boy moved no matter what he tried to do. Once the mom realized what was happening behind her, she attempted to free her child which proved to be difficult. Thankfully, eventually the child was freed but not before causing a panic for everyone involved. The story prompted another mom to share her own harrowing tale and how she is now always prepared in the event that it happens again.

Raising Cultures is a social media account that shares about their blended family through adoption. The mom, who is also a licensed therapist, shares about when her oldest son found himself tangled in the seatbelt as well. She explains that her son was about six at the time when he wrapped the seatbelt around his neck out of boredom while she was driving down the road.

"By the time we pulled into the parking lot and I'm like, 'okay everybody get out the car,' honey Aiden was wrapped up, tied up, tangled up, swallowed up by the [expletive] seatbelt. Baby the way I jumped out of that [expletive] mom van...honey I start slinging doors open and they automatic," she says in part as she physically animates the story.


@raisingcultures Kids be scaring the hell out of us man! @Bree glad your son is okay 🫶🏾❤️ #raisingcultures #momsoftiktok #awareness #boymomlife #minivlog #therapytiktok #familyvlogger ♬ original sound - Raising Cultures|Blended Fam


At the time she couldn't get the seatbelt off of her child's neck. It took her husband to essentially rip through the seatbelt to free the little boy. Due to her experience and the recent video shared by the other frieghtened mom, she decided to share with others a PSA about how dangerous it can be for seatbelts to get tangled around children's necks. The mom also took the time to show off her seatbelt cutter that she now keeps in her car.

In fact, she says she keeps a seatbelt cutter in her car, her husband's car and in the cars of her two older daughters just to avoid this same situation happening again. Seatbelt cutters are handy when you live near water and cross bridges on a daily basis. It allows you to be prepared for an emergency that might result in your car being submerged in water, but as these two scary instances prove, these may be things the average parent wants to keep on hand.

There doesn't seem to be a way to release the seatbelt once it's tangled so tightly around a child without cutting it and since these things seem to occur when children are bored, keeping a seatbelt cutter in the car may be the best solution.

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Modern Families

Mom calls out unfair 'double standard' of boomer grandparents who don't help with childcare

"I love my mom dearly, but I'm surprised at how little effort she puts in."

via Canva/Photos

A stressed mom and her happy, busy parents.

As far as generational stereotypes go, baby boomers (1946 to 1964) have often been accused of being a self-absorbed generation that has had no problem hoarding wealth, disregarding the environment, and prioritizing their own interests over their families. After all, they’re the generation that predominantly raised Gen X (1965 to 1980) and older millennials ('80s babies), also known as Gen Goonie, who were the least parented group of people in decades.

It’s unfair to paint an entire generation with the same brush. Still, the people who were once called the “Me Generation” are developing a reputation for being less involved in their grandchildren’s lives than their parents. The different grandparenting styles have been attributed to the fact that boomers worked longer and therefore want to enjoy their retirement. They also have more money than their parents to enjoy traveling and pursuing their hobbies. Those looking to take shots at boomers claim that they didn’t put a lot of effort into raising their kids, so why would they be any different with their grandkids?

boomers, grandparents, absentee grandparents, milennials, grandpa, grandmaBaby boomer grandparents.via Canva/Photos

A mother of one, who goes by TheCalmQuail on Mumsnet (a UK-based mothers' forum), made a controversial post, calling out a significant double standard when it comes to boomers. They had no problem having their parents help raise their kids, but they don’t want to extend the same courtesy to their children.

“It's come up in a few conversations with other parents recently about how little time their parents spend with their children, especially in comparison to when they were younger and at their grandparents' daily,” CalmQuail wrote. “Myself included, I avoided nursery completely when my mother went back to work because free daily childcare from a relative, and some of my happiest regular memories are spending regular one-on-one time with my Nana.”

“I realise grandparents are entitled to their own lives, but the lack of help does seem like double standards, when a large majority have seemingly had so much help themselves,” she continued.

stressed mom, young mom, stressed millennial, woman hands on her head, woman on couchA stressed mom with her head in her hands.via Canva/Photos

CalmQuail added that her mother lives up the road from her but still finds excuses not to help our child or even spend time with her kid. “It often feels like she's an extra toddler, as I have to suggest stuff to tempt her to do anything together; I manage the logistics, drive her there, etc. She will be there for emergency childcare requests when possible,” she continued. At the end of her post, she asked whether she was being unreasonable for thinking that her parents should put as much effort into raising their grandchildren as they had put into raising their parents.

The verdict: 68% thought she was NOT being unreasonable, and 32% felt that she was being unreasonable. Therefore, a majority of parents on the forum believe that Baby Boomers have the same responsibility to their grandchildren as the Silent Generation (1928 to 1945) did to theirs.

Many parents on the forum have experienced similar situations with their boomer parents and have given them a little grace by acknowledging that their grandparents didn’t have many resources or retirement expectations, so they dedicated their energy to their families.

stressed woman, tired mom, woman doing laundry, woman needs help, crying woman, folding laundryA stressed mom doing laundry.via Canva/Photos

“I know this will turn into a boomer bashing thread but my experience is my parents and their friends are early retirees with a fair bit of cash and feel they’ve earnt a nice easy long comfortable retirement (they have worked hard but only the same as us except we can’t afford a nanny, cleaner etc like they did…).so they’re busy on holidays, golfing, socialising,” a commenter wrote. “My grandparents were typical of their generation—very hard working, modest life, and incredibly family orientated, they had us every holiday.”

“I don’t think my grandparents had much in the way of expectations of retirement,” another commenter added. “They retired relatively early by today’s standards, and lived far longer than they expected. There wasn’t much of a sense of ‘enjoying your retirement’ by jetting off around the world or pursuing personal hobbies - they were always there and available.”

Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with baby boomers enjoying their retirement, but their children have a right to feel a bit miffed by the shift in grandparenting priorities. As times change, so do expectations, but why does it feel like younger people are always getting the short end of the stick when it comes to life's necessities, such as childcare and the cost of living? Unfortunately, so many younger people feel like they have to go it alone. However, kudos to the boomer grandparents who do help out with childcare, just as their parents did. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child, and these days, our villages need to be growing instead of shrinking.

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Health

Family had a funeral for young mother, 7 months later, she was alive in Detroit

What a strange turn of events.

via Canva/Photos

A woman holding a rose at a funeral.

A family in Rochester, New York, is seething after going on an intense, four-year emotional rollercoaster, much of which could have been prevented. In July 2021, the family of Shanice Crews reported her missing after she abruptly disappeared, leaving two children behind. In April of 2024, police informed the family that she had passed away and her body was found in a Rochester lot.

To add further grief to their incredible loss, the family was told that she died from acute cocaine intoxication, even though they believed that Crews was never involved with the drug. “Reading the autopsy was traumatic. That was, it's one thing to hear it, you know what I’m saying, but then it’s another thing to actually read it, and then her name is attached to it,” Crews’ sister, Shanita Hopkins, told Rochester First. “So we thinking, this is how she died. And then we’re trying to think, did somebody like lace her, or is she doing this on her? It’s so much that goes into it. Your mind just goes crazy.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Because the body was in a state of advanced decomposition, authorities didn’t allow the family to see it. Still, they insisted that the dental records on the corpse matched. The family quickly had the body cremated and then, last summer, held a memorial service for Crews.

Then, last November, Hopkins received a shocking text from a person she did not know in Detroit. The text was accompanied by a photo of Crews looking happy and healthy. “Her first message is ‘Ma’am’ — with the picture of my sister – ‘Ma’am, I’m concerned, your sister is not dead. She just volunteered at my event today. This is just a random message,” Hopkins added.


The Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office, which swore that the dental records were a match, conducted a DNA test on the unknown woman’s ashes. “We went the next day. They wanted my youngest sister because she and Shanice have the same mom and dad, and then they wanted her son. So both of them went and they did a DNA test, and when the results came back, they said it wasn’t it wasn’t a match,” Shanita says. “We dealt with the ashes and stuff–we put them in necklaces and we mixed my mom with this stranger…yes,” Shanita says.

The medical examiner’s office has offered to pay the family back for the cremation and funeral expenses, but the family wants more than that. They’ve recently hired a lawyer to examine the family’s options.

death certificate, pronounced death, certificates, legal documents, death, united statesA death certificate.via Canva/Photos

It will be interesting to see what difficulties Crews may experience after she has been declared deceased. In 2023, Phil Anderson was declared dead by the IRS and didn’t realize it until he tried to file his taxes, and his account was locked. His social security number was mixed up with his daughter’s, who had passed away from cystic fibrosis. Anderson had to reach out to his Congresswoman, Brittany Peterson, who represents Colorado’s 7th district, to have his IRS account unlocked. "Last time I checked, and in the immortal words of Monty Python, 'I'm not dead yet,'" he said, according to USA Today. Although it’s relatively rare for the US government to declare someone deceased incorrectly, it does happen. According to USA Today, 3.1 million deaths are reported to the Social Security Administration every year, and less than one-third of one percent ever need to be corrected.

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Fatherhood

Dad and daughter relationships perfectly  explained in 10 paintings

The bond between dads and daughters is amazing.

All illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

It's hard to truly describe the amazing bond between dads and their daughters.

Being a dad is an amazing job no matter the gender of the tiny humans we're raising. But there's something unique about the bond between fathers and daughters. Most dads know what it's like to struggle with braiding hair, but we also know that bonding time provides immense value to our daughters. In fact, studies have shown that women with actively involved fathers are more confident and more successful in school and business.

You know how a picture is worth a thousand words? I'll just let these images sum up the daddy-daughter bond.

A 37-year-old Ukrainian artist affectionately known as Soosh, recently created some ridiculously heartwarming illustrations of the bond between a dad and his daughter, and put them on her Instagram feed. Sadly, her father wasn't involved in her life when she was a kid. But she wants to be sure her 9-year-old son doesn't follow in those footsteps.

"Part of the education for my kiddo who I want to grow up to be a good man is to understand what it's like to be one," Soosh told Upworthy.

There are so many different ways that fathers demonstrate their love for their little girls, and Soosh pretty much nails all of them.

Get ready to run the full gamut of the feels.

1. Dads can do it all. Including hair.

parenting, dads, daughters, fathers, art, artworkA father does his daughter's hairAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

2. They also make pretty great game opponents.



parenting, dads, daughters, fathers, art, artwork, chessA father plays chess with his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

3. And the Hula-Hoop skills? Legendary.



parenting, dads, daughters, fathers, art, artwork, hula hoopA dad hula hoops with his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

4. Dads know there's always time for a tea party regardless of the mountain of work in front of them.



A dad talks to his daughter while working at his deskAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


5. And their puppeteer skills totally belong on Broadway.



A dad performs a puppet show for his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


6. Dads help us see the world from different views.



A dad walks with his daughter on his backAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


7. So much so that we never want them to leave.



a dad carries a suitcase that his daughter holds ontoAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


8. They can make us feel protected, valued, and loved.



A dad holds his sleeping daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


9. Especially when there are monsters hiding in places they shouldn't.



A superhero dad looks over his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


10. Seeing the daddy-daughter bond as art perfectly shows how beautiful fatherhood can be.



A dad takes the small corner of the bed with his dauthterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


This article originally appeared nine years ago.

fathers
Parenting

Dad discovers his son has pinworms and pediatrician hits him with even worse news

Pinworms are super common and absolutely disgusting.

Justin and Dr. Key|TikTok
Dad discovers child has pinworms and it's freaking people out

If you're a parent you're likely in one of two categories: parents who have never heard of pinworms or parents who shuddered at the headline. Parents are not really given any sort of warning for all of the eyebrow raising situations that occur in childhood and one dad has found out that there was a lot left out of that non-existent parenting handbook. If you thought lice was bad, well, frankly, you have no idea.

Justin, a dad that runs the TikTok page parentingcheerleader took to social media to tell the world of the current nightmare fuel parenting situation he was experiencing. He's also doing parents on social media a solid by giving them a heads up on the disturbing secret plaguing the parenting world–pinworms.

The viral video starts out with no trigger warning before he says though clenched teeth, "my son has worms in his anus." Yeah, you read that right. It's a thing. A slightly terrifying but totally normal thing.


These don't look so bad until you realize where they live.By DPDx, PHIL - Public Domain

About 20% of kids will get pinworms at some point. They can affect anyone, but adults rarely get them because they generally have better hygiene habits and awareness about putting their hands in their mouth after touching surfaces. (You usually get a pinworm infection by accidentally swallowing the eggs. Yeah... sorry for that) The first signs will be an itchy butthole, trouble sleeping, and irritability or loss of appetite.

If you're a glutton for punishment, read on! Pinworms are hard to diagnose, for obvious reasons. They're very small and hard to see, plus they like to live in a very sensitive, hard to reach area. But they are visible to the naked eye, so diagnosis sometimes involves quite literally looking at a child's butt with a flashlight. Sometimes doctors will use tape to see if they can collect eggs from the area, which can be seen under a microscope.

No word from Justin on how he figured out that his kid had pinworms, but that's probably for the best.

"No one tells you about this stuff when you're thinking about being a parent but apparently it's like super normal for a child to just have worms in his booty hole," a flustered, baffled Justin says. In the video, he's on his way to pick up medicine for his kid while trying to somehow wrap his head around the reality of the situation.

@parentingcheerleader

Parenting truly is just one surprise after another. But the biggest surprise to me every time something crazy happens is that it is usually super common, just no one talks about it. So I’m warning you. Your child might get worms in their anus. #justinkellough #dadsoftiktok #parentsoftiktok #momsoftiktok #parentingadvice #parenting @Justin


Dr. Cerissa Key, a pediatrician, chimed in on Justin's disturbing revelation and assured him and every parent watching that pinworms are a common thing that happens in young children.

But she also dropped some info that other's including Justin may not have been ready to hear.

"Justin, sir. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But if your son has worms in his booty hole, sir, politely and respectfully, you also have worms in your booty hole," Key reveals.

Key goes on to explain that kids are "disgusting" and don't wash their hands well so pinworms spread easily if a child at school or daycare has them. She advises that parents stock up on the chalky banana flavored medication that clears them up and to wash everything on hot while being sure to vacuum your floors well. Luckily, there are good over-the-counter options for suffering families, as well as stronger prescription methods available. Typically, medication can get rid of the pinworm infection pretty quickly.

People in the comment section of both videos were horrified that this was an actual thing while others commiserated with the stressed dad.

"I have no kids and now I'm paranoid I have pinworms with no symptoms," one person writes.

"I've raised 4 kids and never had this happen. Tomorrow this will be my entry on my gratitude journal," a mom confesses.

"Do I have kids? No...Do I even work around kids? Also no...do I still have the urge to take this medicine just in case anyways? 100000%," someone says.

Several people were forced to question if they even wanted kids anymore knowing there's a 20% chance they may have to deal with this at some point in the future.

@therealdrkey

#stitch with @Justin Allllll about pinworms! It your kid has them, YOU have them. 😩 #pinworms #pinworm #pediatrician #momlife #itchybottom #itchyvulva #pinwormssuck #parenting

Not everyone was stressed, some were thankful for the information. "Thank you! We haven't experienced pinworms yet, but super informative and helps to make parenting normalized," another commenter writes.

Key suggests that if your child has pinworms that the entire family should take a dose of the medication two weeks apart to make sure any left over newly hatched eggs are also killed. Why so thorough? Well, it's estimated that one pinworm (or threadworm) can lay up to 16,000 eggs.

And on that note...

spongebob, kids, parenting, pinworms, medical, health, medicine, pediatricianMeme Spongebob GIF by MOODMANGiphy

While you may not have been warned about pinworms, no one ever said parenting would be glamorous. It just seems people weren't prepared for how unglamorous it could get.

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Education

This surprising map reveals the real value of $100 in each state

Your purchasing power can swing by nearly 25 percent from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise due to inflation, tariffs and other economic factors, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

Each year, the Tax Foundation addresses many of these shortcomings using the most recent Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. In recent years, they've further updated their data so that you can break down the value of your money across every single metro area in the United States. It's an incredibly valuable tool with so many people considering, or having already migrated from states like California to Florida, Texas and other states with friendly state taxes rates and more affordable housing options.

The map quanttifies and presents the cost of living by geography in a brilliantly simple way. For instance, if you're looking for a beach lifestyle but don't want to pay California prices, try Florida, which is about as close to "average" — in terms of purchasing power, anyway — as any state in the Union. If you happen to earn, or luck, your way into Silicon Valley tax brackets, head to Hawaii, D.C., or New York. You'll burn through your money in no time. And in some of those places like Hawaii, there are quality of life measurements that often exceed raw purchasing power.


So, where does your dollar go the furthest in 2025? The financial planning site GoBanking.com compiled its own list of cash purchasing power across each state and found that in California, you get the least bang for your buck, only $87.42 in real purchasing power for every $100 of cash. The average person in California makes $96,344, one of the higher income levels in the country. However, just living in California on average costs residents a staggering $86,408, leaving the average person with little flexibility for long-term financial planning projects like retirement, saving for a new home or even buying a new car.

At the other end of the spectrum is Arkansas, the state where your dollar goes the furthest. In fact, that $100 bill burning a hole in your proverbial wallet is in fact worth more than its technical value, with a real value of $113.49. On top of that, the cost of living is only $37,067, less than half of that in California. Further, the average cost of a new home in Arkansas is $208,743, less than one-third of a new home in California. Not coincidentally, in 2023, Arkansas was the top destination for people moving to another state within the United States, followed by Texas.

value of $100 in each state, money, economy, inflation, tariffs, Arkansas, California, Florida, TexasA woman holds six $100 billsImage via Canva

How about Florida, which has received outsized attention in recent years for its overt efforts to draw residents from California and other states with higher costs of living? According to the most recent data, Florida is in fact much closer to California than Arkansas, coming in only in 40th place on the GoBanking rankings, with $100 in cash only being worth $96.55. However, the annual cost of living is still only slightly more than half of that in California, $53,505. And if you're looking to buy some real estate, the average home is valued at $404,924. That's still well outside the purchasing power of many Americans but with built-in advantages such as warm weather and the top-ranked state education system in America, it's obvious why so many people, especially those with families, are choosing Florida over California in recent years.

According to U.S. News and World Report's data analysis, California only has the nation's 23rd best education system and is ranked a paltry 37th overall in their state rankings. It's quite a contrast for a state that bills itself on the promise on opportunity, natural wonder and positive lifestyle options. And with 2024's wildfires, the constant threat of earthquakes and other factors, California clearly has challenges beyond economics if it wants to remain one of the more attractive states in the nation.

Of course, those numbers are always in flux. And political leaders in California have promised concrete reforms in order to address the state's high cost of living compared with the value of the its social and emergency services. If you want proof of how quickly things can change, look at a similar analysis of the value of $100 in each state from 2015:


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

However, those negative statistical trends aside, California continues to have an incredible pull on our collective imagination. 423,194 Americans left their state for California according to the most recent data in 2023, placing it in third behind our previously mentioned top two states, Arkansas and Texas.

So, it's clear there are a number of factors that determine the best place of live in America. When it comes to raw purchasing power, you cannot beat Arkansas. But there's so much else to consider: public resources like education and healthcare, job opportunities (you probably won't make nearly as much in Arkansas as you might in California) and other factors such as proximity to family, friends and personal interests.

There's no doubt America is rapidly changing and that includes what people value the most when they decide where to live. In uncertain economic times, the face of America will likely change radically in the coming years, with the political, economic and social landscape shifting in meaningful ways.


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