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Some Kids Don’t Have Enough Food. Some Don’t Have The Right Kind. Here's An Idea That Might Help Both.

Not everyone has the time, resources, and access to buy and cook healthy food for their family. And even if they do, there's still the problem of getting kids to eat it. Programs like this that involve kids in planting gardens, tending them, harvesting, and then cooking and eating the fruits (or veggies) of their labor are a step toward solving both the interest and access problems.

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Education

Teacher reveals the 'really obvious' reason teens no longer read. It's not just the phones.

"Kids who read are just built different."

via Canva/Photos

A teenage boy stars at his smartphone.

Studies show that kids are spending a lot less time reading these days. In 2020, 42% of 9-year-old students said they read for fun almost daily, down from 52% in 2012. Seventeen percent of 13-year-olds read for fun daily, down from 27% in 2012. Among 17-year-olds, 19% say they read for fun, down from 31% in 1984.

It’s safe to say that modern technology is a big reason why kids aren’t reading as much. A recent report found that teenagers spend an average of 8 hours 39 minutes per day on screens, compared to 5-and-a-half hours for pre-teen children. So, it’s no wonder they don’t have any time left to crack open a book. A high school teacher on TikTok who goes by the name StillATeacher recently brought the topic up with her class, and they stopped reading for fun at the end of middle school.

“So even those who are like avid readers of the Percy Jackson series in fourth and fifth grade fall off,” the teacher says. “Honestly, there are many reasons to stop reading recreationally, like increased pressure inside and outside of school, a desire to spend more time socializing, and, of course, the phones.”

But the teacher says there’s an obvious reason “right in front of our faces”: the adults. “Adults have lowered the bar for how much you should read as a teenager so far that the bar cannot be found,” she continued. “There are many educators who have the mindset that you shouldn't teach whole books because kids just won't read them.”

@stillateacher

the literacy crisis is upon us #teachertok #teacher #highschoolteacher #englishteacher #education #literacy #booktok #creatorsearchinsights

“I've taught at schools where teaching novels is actually discouraged,” she continued. “And I have conversations with teachers in other content areas who say that they themselves never read books, that they don't think it's important for students' long-term success. All this said, it is not entirely surprising that high schoolers don't wanna read.”

How does reading benefit kids?

The significant decrease in the number of children who read for fun means that many will miss out on the incredible benefits of regularly curling up for a good book. Studies show that children who read for pleasure enjoy improved cognitive performance, language development, and academic achievement. Reading is also linked to fewer mental health problems, less screen time, and more sleep. Findings suggest that kids get the optimal benefits of reading when they do it for around 12 hours a week.



“You forgot empathy,” one commenter added. “People who read are better at empathizing because they have been able to put themselves in the shoes of others and learn about different perspectives, people, cultures, experiences.”

StillATeacher has seen these incredible benefits first-hand.

“But I'm telling you, the handful of kids I teach who do read are built different. Kids who read have stronger critical thinking skills, more success across all academic areas, and, honestly, just a stronger sense of self. Because reading helps you figure out who you are as a person,” the teacher said.

The decline in young people's reading is a serious problem that must be addressed. So, it’s terrific that the teacher used her platform on TikTok to bring it to the public’s attention. Interestingly enough, she says that TikTok is one of the few platforms encouraging kids to read.

“And honestly, thank goodness for BookTok because I think it is one of the only drivers of adolescent reading that still exists,” she concluded her post. “Isn't that sad? Like, the schools aren't doing it, TikTok's doing it. We gotta start a movement here.”

This story originally appeared last year.

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Wellness

Millennials nearing 40 are sharing their 21 biggest mistakes so everyone can learn from them

Great ideas for people of any age.

via Pexels

Millennials are now old enough to seriously reflect on life.

It seems like only yesterday a millennial was a college kid that baby boomers chided for being entitled and Gen Xers thought were way too sincere and needed to learn how to take a joke. Today, the oldest millennials, those born around 1980, have hit their 40s and have lived long enough to have some serious regrets.

They also have enough experience to take some pride in decisions that, in hindsight, were the right moves. The good news is that at 40 there is still plenty of time to learn from our successes and failures to set ourselves up for a great second half of life. These lessons are also valuable to the Gen Zers coming up who can avoid the pitfalls of the older generation.

A Reddit user who has since deleted their profile asked millennials nearing 40 “what were your biggest mistakes at this point in life?” and they received more than 2,200 responses. The biggest regrets these millennials have are being flippant about their health and not saving enough money when they were younger.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com



They also realized that the carefree days of youth are fleeting and impossible to get back. So they should have spent less time working and more time enjoying themselves. Many also lamented that they should have taken their education more seriously in their 20s so they have more opportunities now.

The responses to this thread are bittersweet. It's tough hearing people come to grips with their regrets but the realizations are also opportunities to grow. Hopefully, some younger people will read this thread and take the advice to heart.

Here are 21 of the most powerful responses to the question: “Millennials of Reddit now nearing your 40s, what were your biggest mistakes at this point in life?”

hearing, millennials, regrets, millennial lessons, millennial regrets, loud music, headphonesA big millennial regret is not taking care of their hearingImage via Canva

1. "Not taking care of my hearing, not even 35 and going deaf." — Kusanagi8811

2. "Not getting healthy earlier." — zombiearchivist

millennial advice, work life balance, regrets, millennial regrets, workMillennials wish they had learned about work/life balance soonerImage via Canva

3. "Staying too long at a job in my 20s, just because it was safe and easy. When I finally got the motivation to leave, ended up with an almost 50% pay boost." — Hrekires

4. "Thinking that I could and should put myself on the back burner for anything and anyone else." — lenalilly227

millennials, smoking, cigarettes, quitting smoking, millennial regrets, millennial adviceMillennials smoke less than previous generations but it's still a big regret for manyImage via Canva

5. "Smoking and not dealing with my shit the right way." — Allenrw3

6. "Pining after the wrong person." — runikepisteme

7. "I turned 40 this year and just started liking who I am. Why the fuck did it take 40 years for self acceptance?" — guscallee

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

8. "Take care of your fucking back. Lift with your knees. Sure it's rad when you grab a fridge by yourself and lift it in the back of a moving truck unaided, but one day that shit is going to have consequences that won't just magically go away by resting and "taking it easy" for a week." — GuyTallman

9. "I wish I spent more time with my dad while I had the chance." — CharlieChooper

10. "I'm 37. I absolutely could have taken better care of my body, but I'm in relatively good health. I'm starting to realize how important it is to maintain my health. I do also think I drank far too much in my 20 and early 30's. I'm trying to rectify that now, but it's hard. So that I guess." — dartastic

millennials, millennial regrets, millennial advice, indecision, life choices Indecision can be a bigger regret than making the wrong decisionImage via Canva

11. "I'm not sure if people have experienced the same but when I entered my 30s I became convinced I was rapidly running out of time. Rather than using that as motivation I let it paralyze me with indecision because I "couldn't afford to make the wrong choice." Consequently, I'm now 39 and, though I've had great things happen in my 30s, I regret spending so much time worrying and so little time committing to a course of action." — tomwaste

12. "Work to live, don’t live to work. You have half your working life after you turn 40 but only 20-25 years to really live it up before the responsibilities become heavy and your joints start to ache. Live life. Really LIVE it. Experience as much you can. Every sensation, sight, sound, touch. Be open. Be brave. Live your first few decades in the fast lane. You have the rest of your life to take it easy, when you have no choice." — MrDundee666

How To Save $10,000 FASTwww.youtube.com

13. "I should have paid more attention to my parents telling me to save money and less attention when they were teaching me about purity culture." — Arkie_MTB

14. "If I could tell my 18 year old self one thing, it would be to save 10% of every paycheck I ever got." — PutAForkInHim

15. "Thinking that I have time to do everything I want only to find myself loosing time, and the endless energy I used to have in order to purse them." — ezZiioFTW

sunscreen, skin cancer, millennials, millennial regrets, millennial adviceMillennials were the first generation to really adopt wearing sunscreenImage via Canva

16. "Not wearing sunscreen." — blueboxreddress

17. "Not recognizing the importance of work/life balance earlier in life. My late teens, all 20's, and early 30's were spent pulling 60-100+hr weeks because I thought it was what was required to succeed. How wrong I was. Others stabbed me in the back and reaped the reward.1.) Putting work first for too long. Work is my #1 priority during work hours now. After quitting time, I don't think about it (much) anymore. I don't vent to my wife or friends about it anymore either.2.) Investing more into fast cars than solid long-term investments. Sure, it was fun, but I could have made bookoos more had I put that towards less-fun investments.3.) Not using PTO and just waiting for the payout. All those years, missed. I'm in my mid 30's and I didn't actually have a real vacation until 3 years ago.4.) Not realizing that "the good guy" often loses. Just because you're morally justified doesn't mean you're going to win. Just because there's a number to call doesn't mean anyone will actually help you. Just because "law" exists, doesn't mean people follow it, enforce it, or create justice. The world is dog eat dog and cynicism can be healthy in moderate doses."

18. "When you get out of college, keep your friends. No matter how hard it is. Hold on to them." — mpssss22

19. "I imagine these are kinda universal: Not getting fit and healthyAssuming I'd be offered proper guidance on how to achieve my goalsAssuming higher education would help me achieve my goalsSpending far too long caring what people thinkNot taking risks that might better my life when I was younger and had nothing to loseStaying in relationships too long after they were clearly done." — katapultperson

millennials, finance, fair pay, salary, millennial advice, financial advice, millennial regretsLearning to ask for fair pay was a big challenge for most Millennials Image via Canva

20. "Always ask for more pay. Starting, yearly, before leaving, whatever. Get that money." — SensibleReply


21. "Spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough enjoying life." — BellaPadella


This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Joy

A pianist on stage realized she'd prepared the wrong piece. Then she pulled off a miracle.

The encouraging conductor helped turn her "worst nightmare" scenario into a viral, magnificent feat.

Photo credit: Canva

Imagine showing up on stage to play a piano concerto and finding out you have to play a different one in two minutes.

You know that nightmare where you show up to the final day of class and there's a huge test and you panic as you realize you've missed the whole semester and haven't studied at all? Or how about the one where you have to give a big presentation at work and you show up totally unprepared—no notes, no visuals, no speech—and you have to wing it?

For musicians, the equivalent is showing up on stage to perform without preparation or rehearsal, which is exactly what happened to Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires when she was on stage in front of an audience of 2,000 people in Amsterdam in 1999. As the orchestra started to play, she quickly realized she was in trouble—she had prepared the wrong concerto. As the musicians played the two-and-a-half-minute intro to Mozart's Piano Concerto No.20, Pires sat at the piano in terror. She had not practiced that piece and she didn't even have the sheet music for it.

She had, however, played that concerto before, and in an inspiring feat of musicality, muscle memory, and sheer human will—along with some encouraging words from conductor Riccardo Chailly—Pires got herself centered and locked in, playing the correct concerto in its entirety, miraculously without missing a note.

The full story actually feels even more daunting for those of us who can't sit down and pound out a piano concerto at will. It turned out that Pires wasn't even the original pianist who was slated to play at this concert. She was asked the day before to be a replacement for the pianist who couldn't perform, so she didn't have a lot of time to prepare anyway. However, she'd misheard the number of the Mozart piece over the phone and thought it was a piece she had played only a couple of weeks before. If that had been the case, she would have been fine, even with the short notice. But having the wrong concerto in mind and then not even having the sheet music for the correct one was an extra pile-on from an already high-pressure situation.

The fact that it was a general rehearsal and not the official performance wasn't much consolation, since it was an open rehearsal with a full audience. A rehearsal audience is likely more forgiving than an audience that paid top dollar for a concert, but it's still mortifying to have thousands of people expecting you to perform something you have not prepared for.

Thankfully, Pires had performed the concerto multiple times, most recently about 10 or 11 months prior, so she wasn't clueless. But perfectly recalling something you did nearly a year ago at that level and under that amount of pressure is absolutely incredible.

The conductor who encouraged her later talked about how impressive it was. "The miracle is that she has such a memory that she could, within a minute, switch to a new concerto without making one mistake," said Chailly. However, Pires insists that her memory is not exceptional at all and that she is "very, very average" among musicians.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

But it wasn't the only time this happened to Pires. "I must say, this happened to me another two times in my life. In total, three times," she told ClassicFM's Joanna Gosling. "I hope it never happens again."

Pires already gets nervous about performing, despite being a world famous concert pianist.

"I normally feel very stressed on stage," Pires said. "It's not the stage, it's not the public, it's the responsibility. I feel insecure. And that's why I'm not a stage person somehow. There is one side of me that feels okay—I feel okay with the people. But being on stage and being responsible for something can give me some panic."

As Gosling points out, if you were just listening to the performance, you'd never know there'd been an issue. But the camera on her face tells an entire story during the orchestral opening as we see her grappling with the crisis she'd found herself in. Watching the moment she decided she had no choice but to just go for it, whatever happened, is remarkable. A true testament to the power of repetition and the resilience of the human spirit, and a reminder that musicians truly are magicians in so many ways.

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Humor

They kept their late mom's Coke bottle in the fridge for years. Then a friend drank it.

This turned into the most wholesome story.

Mike Mozart/Wikipedia, Photo credit: Canva

Remember "Share a Coke?"

You might remember around a decade ago when Coca-Cola launched its “Share a Coke” campaign, and everybody was jazzed about procuring a coke bottle with their very own name printed on it.

This buzzy marketing scheme took on more personal meaning for a Redditor who shared that their mother, who had passed away around that time, had her uncommon name show up on one of these bottles. Thinking it was “one of those 'she'll always be with you' kind of moments,” this person decided to purchase the bottle and keep it in the fridge (because “that's where you put Coke?”) as a memento.

The bottle managed to survive a decade, including 2 moves and 3 refrigerators, with zero issues. After all, this person didn’t even really drink soda, so they didn’t have temptation to worry about.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

And then, a college friend showed up.

Explaining the situation on Reddit's "Today I F----- Up" (TIFU) forum, the OP wrote "Since his flight got delayed, I ran to the store to pick up some stuff for him. He likes Coke, so one of the things I grab is a six pack of Coke which I stick in the fridge.”

"Since I'm not consciously thinking about my Mom's weird memorial death Coke on a daily basis, I don't mention it to him when I tell him 'there's Coke in the fridge,' " the Redditor quipped.

open fridge filled with beer, soda, and juiceOf all the drinks in the fridge...Photo credit: Canva

Cut to 10 minutes later, and the OP can’t help but gasp and “laughing hysterically” out of shock when they see their friend drinking out of, you guessed it, their “Mom’s death Coke.”

“It takes me a solid five minutes to explain to him what happened through my laughter. My friend comes to the slow realization of why his Coke tasted so flat and is understandably horrified,” they wrote.

Thankfully, we end this story on a happy, wholesome note. They ultimately decided to pour out the remaining soda, and the OP would still keep the special bottle. Both were able to laugh about it, and no friendship was ruined, though “ he'll probably get a hotel if he's in town again.”

Down in the comments, a few viewers suggested filling the bottle with sand, beads, marbles, or something else with meaning, and putting the bottle on display.

Others were just relieved that the whole debacle was a lighthearted one.

"I'm so glad this wasn't a 'my heart is crushed and the friendship is definitely over' story," one commenter wrote, while another joked, "You poured one out for the homies… your mom being the homie in this case."

gif of a man pouring out a drinkPoured one out for the (mom) homie. media2.giphy.com

Still another said, "This is a really wholesome story. I'm glad you got a laugh. Probably your Mom was telling you it was time to clean out your fridge."

Lastly, one viewer teased that the OP should, “Keep an eye on your friend, your mom might be haunting him now.”

Not only does this person still get to hold onto their sweet keepsake, it's made all the more special with this fun memory attached to it.

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Joy

Death doula reveals the big lesson working with the dying has taught her about happiness

She has a very unique window into life.

via TED and Canva/Photos

Alua Arthur and a man in hospice care.

Death is a highly complicated and mysterious subject that rightfully makes a lot of us uncomfortable. But, according to Alua Arthur, a death doula who is an expert on the topic and works closely with the dying and their families, by embracing this uncomfortable fact of life, we can all find more joy in the time that we have left.

Arthur, a former lawyer, experienced a life-changing moment in Cuba when he met a traveler battling uterine cancer. Their time together changed her perspective on life. “We spent the 14-hour bus ride talking about her life and also her death,” she recounted in a 2023 TED Talk. “And it was a highly illuminating conversation. I heard firsthand how hard it was for her even to be able to talk about her fears around mortality and her disease because people censored their own discomfort with mortality rather than make space for her.”

Arthur says the woman helped her “see that I did not like the life that I was living.” After that interaction and the death of her brother from cancer, she left her law career and decided to work with those who are dying and their families. Arthur’s experiences with the dying led her to an important life lesson: "I took that invitation to start living like I was dying,” she told Simon Sinek on his “A Bit of Optimism” podcast.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

As a death doula, Arthur provides non-medical support for people at the end of their lives, as well as their friends and family. This support can include anything from legal advice to counseling. She says she’s like a birth doula, but “for the other side” of life.

Ten years of working with those transitioning out of life have profoundly changed how Arthur sees the world. "I think I speak a little bit more clearly about how I feel. I brush up against my vulnerability a lot more often. The idea of individualism seems to be fading in me. I'm more comfortable being needed and needing people in my life because I see how communal our lives are and can be, and I want that for myself,” she told Sinek.

Arthur also embraces a lot more pleasures in life. “I eat more delicious foods, I'm not as concerned about my weight, if we're going to be silly about it. Like, I eat whatever I want because this life is short, and I want to use my taste buds as long as I got them. I love French fries and cake, so I'm trying to get 'em while I can,” she admits.

The death doula is skeptical of those with rigid habits who want to increase their longevity. "I think it's death denial at its core. I think we live in a highly death-avoidant culture, and that tells you if you pop enough supplements and if you drink enough baby's blood, you'll live to 177,” she told Sinek. “But why do you want to live to 117 anyway? What is it that we're trying to avoid by wanting to live forever, and what are you doing with that extra time that you wouldn't do now with the finite time that you have?"

As a death doula, Arthur often counsels people in their final days to help them understand their lives, and in doing so, she found meaning in her own. "Tomorrow could be it, and if that's the case, why not live my life right now with the fullness that I can while I'm still here?" she told Sinek.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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