Category: Motherhood

Ever wonder what’s going on in the mind of that cute and cuddly baby of yours? Well it’s a lot more that you might think! Researchers have found that babies don’t sit idly in buzzing confusion, but instead observe, explore, imagine, deduce, judge, and learn way more than we ever thought possible. As these studies have demonstrated, in some ways babies are actually smarter than adults!

Unfortunately, most programs that are developed to help foster and develop more intelligence in babies are modeled the wrong way; they mimic programs for older kids by centering their curricula on focus, planning, and specific instruction. Unfortunately, babies don’t learn this way.

Research has shown that babies’ intelligence differs from adults in that they are terrible at planning and learning in order to reach certain goals. Babies are much more scattered than that. They often have trouble focusing on one event and shutting out the rest, which in the past has led many to believe that they are less intelligent than they actually are.

Until recently, babies’ abilities have been underestimated, but new research has shown that babies can be intelligent without being goal oriented.

As Alison Gopnik, University of California, Berkeley, professor of psychology notes:

“The learning that babies and young children do on their own, when they carefully watch an unexpected outcome and draw new conclusions from it, ceaselessly manipulate a new toy or imagine different ways that the world might be, is very different from schoolwork. 

“Babies and young children can learn about the world around them through all sorts of real-world objects and safe replicas. Babies can learn a great deal just by exploring the ways bowls fit together or by imitating a parent talking on the phone.”

Think you may be underestimating how intelligent your baby is? Here are eight ways that your baby is smarter than you think.

Babies understand how others are feeling.

According to a study published in Developmental Psychology, even infants who’ve never interacted with pets could match the different sounds that a dog makes to the corresponding facial expression and behavior.

For example, they could match angry growls to dogs displaying threatening behavior and friendly play sounds to licking and happy body language. A study at Brigham Young University found that infants could also detect mood swings in Beethoven’s music.

Young babies know what words mean.

It was always believed that babies couldn’t pair images with their corresponding names (for example pairing a picture of a dog with the word “dog”) until 1 year of age. But a recent study from the University of Pennsylvania found that babies as young as 6 months old can successfully do this—even before they can speak!

The researchers studied 6- to 9-month-old babies and had them look at pictures of foods and body parts while their parents gave them simple prompts such as “where are the eyes?” Surprisingly, the babies looked more at the item that was named than any of the other images, suggesting that they knew what the word meant.

Think that your baby isn’t understanding what you’re saying? Think again—and keep talking to her!

Babies know when proper punishment is necessary.

This revelation was quite surprising! A study at the University of British Columbia found that babies as young as 8 months old know when someone is doing something wrong, and they like when they are punished for their wrongdoing.

In the study, researchers used puppets to present different situations in which the puppets acted negatively or positively toward the other puppets. In response to their good or bad behavior, the puppets were either rewarded or punished by being given toys or having toys taken away from them.

The babies liked the puppets that punished the bad puppets for being naughty and disliked those that were nice to the bad puppets.

The researchers think that this may be the building block of the social behaviors that kids express later on in life, such as frowning and tattling on kids who aren’t nice or do bad things. Interestingly, these findings would indicate that this trait is related to nature and not nurture.

Babies value altruism.

Babies always seem to want or need things, and they often scream or wail until they get them. But a new study found that toddlers are actually happier giving things away than getting them.

In the study, researchers gave a group of toddlers goldfish crackers and instructed them to give them to a puppet. Then the toddlers were given an extra treat to give to the puppet (they could keep one and give one away).

The researchers found that the kids were happier when they gave away their own treat as opposed to the extra one originally designated for the puppet. This behavior exhibited one of the most innate, loving traits of human nature: the desire and joy derived from giving to and helping others.

Toddlers are affected by peer pressure.

Remember what you used to exclaim to your parents as they yelled at you for doing something wrong? “But Mom…Dave and Mike were doing it too!” Apparently there’s a reason why kids do things in groups—they’re affected by peer pressure!

A 2012 study published in the Journal of Cell Biology found that 2-year-olds copied the behavior (good or bad) of their friends, especially if three or more of them were doing it.

Young toddlers can gauge fairness.

Think you can pull the wool over your baby’s eyes and get away with it? Nope! You can’t. According to research done at the University of Washington, babies as young as 15 months know what’s equal and when something is not fair. In one study, scientists had babies watch videos in which milk or crackers were distributed equally or unequally between two people.

When the distribution was unequal (not fair), the babies paid more attention, indicating that they could tell that it was so. Even more interesting was the behavior of the babies who were the most sensitive to the unequal distribution.

After the study and in a subsequent one, these children were most likely to show signs of altruism and share their own toy—possibly trying to correct a wrong with a right?

Babies know when you’re speaking another language.

Scientists have known for a long time that infants and babies learn languages more easily than older kids and adults, but they never really knew why.

A study at the University of British Columbia shed some light on this in their findings that babies as young as 4 months can tell from visual cues (e.g., the shape and rhythm of the speaker’s mouth and facial movements) when a new language is being spoken.

According to the university, babies growing up in bilingual and multilingual environments have an advantage over children who only speak one language: They learn and maintain throughout their lives the discrimination abilities needed for separating languages and learning multiple ones.

Babies’ brains thrive when they play music.

You’ve probably heard for years about the positive link between music and IQ, but further research shows that even young babies benefit from the exposure to playing musical instruments and actually making music.

A Canadian study found that 1-year-old babies who took interactive music classes (in which they learned hand motions, “played” instruments, and sang songs) had better communication skills than babies who took a less active, less involved class.

The kids in the interactive class were more interactive themselves and showed this by waving goodbye, pointing to objects that they found interesting or wanted, and exhibited less distress in unfamiliar surroundings.

Make-up artist Joey Killmeyer wasn’t scheduled to work the first Sunday of 2016, but he was filling in for a colleague when a unique client walked into his Tampa-area studio.

Eight-year-old Ethan really wanted to learn how to apply his own makeup. The young boy had been watching videos tutorials for men interested in applying their own glam, drag-style makeup and wanted a chance to learn for himself.

While Killmeyer has been working with cosmetics for years, he had only recently been certified by MAC to teach others how to apply makeup. Ethan was his first official makeup tutorial client.

Ethan’s mother was totally behind her son’s dreams.

“His mom is so supportive of him and is letting him discover who he is,” Killmeyer wrote in a Facebook post featuring a picture of the teacher and the student.

“He is a very artistic child and loves to express himself creatively, whether through drawing, gymnastics, or performing arts,” the boy’s mother, Season Wilwert, told BuzzFeed after Killmeyer’s photo went viral. Learning how to apply makeup, she said, “is just another form of that expression.”

“Me and his mom agreed that if that’s what he wanted, to go for it,” Killmeyer told BuzzFeed. “I treated him like I would any client. He just happened to be 8.”

Killmeyer said he taught Ethan by applying the makeup to one side of the youngster’s face and letting the boy match the technique on the other side.

“He did soooo great,” the makeup instructor wrote on his Facebook post. “He is a very talented guy. And I expect he will be a great artist in life.”

“I don’t remember the last time I saw Ethan so happy or so confident in himself,” Wilwert told BuzzFeed.

“I really respect the mom who is letting him be himself and discover who he is and what he wants to do in life,” the professional makeup artist wrote.

“Ethan is young and who knows what he will do in his life,” Killmeyer told BuzzFeed. “I posted the story because I was so touched that his mom was supporting him in what he wanted to do. As an artist, I love bringing joy to my clients and Ethan was so happy and confident when we were finished with the lesson. There are too many kids whose parents ignore or deter these things.”

“Our children should be encouraged to freely explore and discover their identities, not just be handed them,” Wilwert told her interviewer.

“This is a pivotal moment in my son’s development, and I know that by letting him just be Ethan, regardless of what others may think, that I am doing something right as his mom.”

Killmeyer felt that it “was meant to be” that he was unexpectedly scheduled to work that day and ended up meeting Ethan.

“It shows me the world is changing from when I was his age and that there is hope for kids who are different. And whether he is gay or not who knows.” And who even cares? The kid has talent.

Hopefully, these fabulous photos of Ethan help spread a message of acceptance.

If you think those Kool-Aid packets are only good for making a delicious drink for your children, you’re mistaken. There’s actually quite a few uses for these packets that you may not have realized. The following uses for Kool-Aid that have absolutely nothing to do with drinking. Considering how inexpensive those packets are, these tricks can potentially save you some serious money!

1. Cleaning The Washing Machine

To ensure that your washing machine is getting your clothes as clean as possible, you should make sure that the washing machine itself is spotless. Kool-Aid can do just that.

To clean your washing machine, take a quarter cup of lemonade Kool-Aid and sprinkle it in your washing machine (where you would normally put your liquid detergent or pod). Then, run the machine on the normal wash cycle. This will prevent unwanted deposits that can give your clothes a funky smell.

2. Cleaning The Dishwasher

Like the washing machine, the dishwasher needs to be regularly cleaned in order to keep your dishes spotless. Kool-Aid is perfect for just such a task.

In order to clean out your dishwasher, just sprinkle a packet of lemonade Kool-Aid into your dishwasher’s detergent tray. The lemon will break down deposits in the dishwasher that may be leaving spots on your dishes.

3. Dying Eggs

When Easter comes, many of us buy expensive egg dyes in order to dye Easter eggs with our children. It turns out, you can make much cheaper dye with items you probably already have in your kitchen.

Simply mix one packet of Kool-Aid into two-thirds of a cup of water. Stir the mixture together until the Kool-Aid is dissolved. Then, place the egg in the colored water and keep the egg submerged until the desired color is achieved.

4. Make Lip Gloss

Many of us rely on lip gloss, especially during the colder winter months when our lips become dry and cracked. Fortunately, you can actually make your own lip gloss using Kool-Aid and non-petroleum jelly.

To make this, all you’ll need to do is add a tiny amount of your favorite color of Kool-Aid to the non-petroleum jelly. The more Kool-Aid you add, the deeper the color will be, and the more it will taste like the Kool-Aid. If you’re addicted to expensive lip gloss, this use can really help your pocket book.

5. Cleaning Concrete

Stains on concrete can be almost impossible to remove. Amazingly, Kool-Aid actually works pretty well in getting stubborn stains off of your concrete surfaces.

Just mix some lemonade Kool-Aid with a couple drops of water in order to form a paste. Next, apply that paste to the stain and use a stiff brush to scrape it up. With this method, you should be able clean your concrete.

6. Create Colored Glue

If your child loves arts and crafts, they’ll love colored glue. To make this fun project, you’ll just need a bottle of Elmer’s school glue and some Kool-Aid packets.

To dye your glue, simply pour a packet of Kool-Aid mix directly into a bottle of glue. Next, you’ll want to shake the bottle for a few minutes until the powder has dissolved and the color is evenly distributed. Just like that, your child can have glue in whatever color they desire!

All parents of small children get frustrated every now and then.

While you may feel regret later on for getting angry with your little ones, remember that it’s totally normal, and it doesn’t make you a “bad parent”. At a certain point, though, many parents realize they speak to their kids harshly more often than they do with warmth. That can set up a contentious relationship, spurring your child on to disobedience and creating a downward spiral of parent-child antagonism. That’s no good.

So how do you stop these feelings of frustration even when your kid is being a little monster?

A self-proclaimed “angry mom” named Kelly Holmes, who blogs about parenting at The (Reformed) Idealist Mom, cracked the code. Her secret? Hair ties.

Holmes recommends wearing five elastic hair ties around one of your wrists. These will become your reminders—visual and tactile cues that can make it easier to break bad habits. Here’s how it works:

Put your five hair ties (or rubber bands, or bracelets—anything that will sit comfortably on your wrist will work) on your wrist before your child wakes up for the day. Every time you find yourself snapping at your kid, move a single hair tie from one wrist to the other.

Don’t panic if your “off” wrist starts to fill up.

There is a way to earn those hair ties back. You can return a hair tie to the original wrist simply by having five warm moments with the child you snapped at. Any positive interaction counts; a hug, a simple “I love you,” or a board game just for two.

The number five isn’t arbitrary. Holmes describes a parenting rule that she calls the “magic 5:1 ratio.” “Research shows that to have a healthy relationship, for every one negative interaction you need five positive interactions to balance that out,” she writes.

So even if you do lose your temper with a little one, five happy moments together will repair the damage, Holmes says.

But won’t you eventually get used to having those five hair ties around your wrist? Won’t this trick stop working, like so many other techniques that we use to change bad habits? Not necessarily.

Holmes tells us that we should only wear the magic hair ties when we’re actually with our children. When you go to work, or the kids are at school, or nap time finally arrives, take off the hair ties. This will build the association between the ties and your children, which will prevent them from becoming just another background element in your life.

The blogger insists that this trick has changed her parenting fundamentally. “Months later, the hair tie hack is still working wonders,” she writes. “I talk to my preschooler with love and kindness in my voice instead of annoyance and frustration.”

That sounds like a worthwhile goal. If you sometimes lose your patience with your kid (and who doesn’t?) try this parenting hack. You might be surprised how much more calm and collected you’ll be when your kid does what toddlers do, which is to destroy.

Fidget spinners have become one of the most popular toys available. Men, women, and children everywhere love having something to do with their nervous energy. Unfortunately, this enchanting item brings some hazards that people should be aware of before letting their children play with it unsupervised.

Because this item is a hit with young mothers (both for themselves and for keeping children occupied), many young children are being put at risk. There are currently no consumer warnings associated with fidget spinners, but some mothers are currently trying to change that.

The most common hazard of fidget spinners that has been reported is a choking hazard. Several children around the country have been hospitalized because they’ve choked on a loose part from the fidget spinner. A girl in Texas, for instance, was hospitalized when a part came loose and was lodged in her throat.

Just a few weeks later, a 5-year-old was hospitalized when a part came loose and was swallowed. The metal disc had to be surgically removed from the boy’s stomach, a traumatic event both for the mother and the child. We know what you’re thinking, but this terrifying incident happened despite the mother warning her son not to put the toy in his mouth. Thankfully, both of these children survived their fidget spinner encounters.

It’s not just choking that has caused injuries to children. One child in Missouri was hospitalized after he got his finger stuck in a loose part on the toy. The child eventually had to be taken to the Emergency Room, where doctors used two different tools to cut the piece off of his finger.

These injuries have caused the Consumer Product Safety Commission to take a closer look at fidget spinners. Until their investigation is complete, they urge parents to keep fidget spinners away from young children and be sure older children know not to put these toys in their mouths.

If you have a fidget spinner, there are steps you can take to ensure that your child is protected from any hazards. First, check for any small parts on the toy. If it can fit through a toilet paper roll, it can be swallowed by your child. If any small parts seem loose or broken, throw the toy away.

Next, always supervise your child while they’re using the fidget spinner. Even a child who has been instructed not to put the toy in his or her mouth might still do so. By closely supervising your child, you can stop them if they are misusing this toy.

If your child does happen to suffer an injury from a fidget spinner, the first thing to do is make sure they’re alright. Once they are out of immediate danger, register your complaint with the CPSC. This information can help them keep other children safe by warning others.

While fidget spinners have been singled out, it’s important to note that any small toy could represent a choking hazard for children. Make sure your children are only playing with age-appropriate toys, are properly supervised, and know not to put their toys in their mouths. By doing so, you may prevent a serious injury to your child.

“Measles,” according to the CDC, “is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person… If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch [an] infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses, or mouths, they can become infected.”

“Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected.

This terrifying transmission rate has snowballed into a dire situation that has caused Germany to consider fining families who refuse to vaccinate their children.

“Measles typically begins with high fever, cough, runny nose (coryza), and red, watery eyes,” writes the CDC.

After a couple of days, “Tiny white spots (Koplik spots) may appear inside the mouth,” followed by the breakout of a rash, which travels from the infected individual’s head all the way down to their feet — often accompanied by a high fever.

“After a few days, the fever subsides and the rash fades.”

Hasn’t the measles vaccine been around for more than 50 years?

The first measles vaccine was released in 1963 and this life-changing tonic is still commonly administered in the form of an MMR — measles, mumps, and rubella — vaccine.

“In the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available,” the CDC shares, “nearly all [American] children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age.”

Millions of Americans were infected each year and hundreds died from the disease. Tens of thousands required hospital care and some suffered painful side effects, like encephalitis (swelling of the brain) as a result of their measles infection.

After decades of hard work and near universal immunization, scientists in the US declared victory over measles in the year 2000.

While doctors were winning the battle with measles in the United States in the late twentieth century, European physicians were following along at a respectable rate.

An ally to measles has been gaining power recently, though: Ignorance.

Measles has returned to the United States and was never completely eliminated from Europe because some individuals began to believe rumors that immunizations were potentially harming the development of their children. There was no reputable science behind these beliefs, but many people began choosing to raise their children without vaccinations.

As a result of these misleading rumors, in the US, there were 667 reported cases of measles in 2014, which remains the highest number of cases since declaring victory in the year 2000.

In Germany, they experience their own massive outbreak in 2015 when there were 2,466 cases of measles in the country, a 700% increase from the previous year’s total (443). Sadly, the 2015 breakout also included the death of an 18-month-old child.

Time for action.

German health minister, Hermann Gröhe was very upset with the death of the child: “The irrational fearmongering of some vaccination opponents is irresponsible,” he told The Guardian. “Anyone who refuses their child protection endangers not only their own child but others as well.”

Leaders in Germany’s parliament began calling for the mandatory vaccination of infants. Finally, this year, a bill calling for action on measles was introduced in Germany’s lower house of parliament.

Part of the bill calls for fining parents up to €2,500 ($2,800) if they “fail to seek medical advice on vaccinating their children.”

“Under the plan,’ according to the BBC, “the children of parents who fail to seek vaccination advice could be expelled from their daycare centre” as well.

There are some lingering questions about enforcing this law, but the bill is headed to the upper chamber of Germany’s parliament. “The law,” writes the BBC, “is expected to be adopted next month.”

In 2016, Germany returned to a somewhat more reasonable 326 cases of measles, but in just the first three months of 2017, they saw 411 cases, stirring the government to action.

Is it ethical for a government to force its citizens to seek medical care? Is it ethical to deny children proven medical care, exposing others to risks? These are tough questions that Germany is hoping to address with this forthcoming law.

When we were kids, we maybe had a pager. Then a cell phone in high school. The most advanced social media we had access to was texting, and it usually cost a quarter a text.

Those days are long gone, and today’s young people are growing up in the hashtag generation, with these “challenges” that promote self harm in ways we never thought of (fortunately).

The Eraser Challenge

Some people do things that are silly, yet for a good cause–like the ice bucket challenge that helped raise awareness for ALS. But there are other people who come up with dangerous ideas for no real reason at all.

Thus, we give you “the eraser challenge,” in which kids rub an eraser vigorously on their arms while reciting something like the alphabet.

The result? A nasty burn on their skin and an Instagram post that all their friends will like and comment on. No charity. No good cause.
It’s painful and can become pretty dangerous if you erase enough skin to break through and bleed. “Anytime the skin barrier is broken down, there is an increased risk of skin infections,” Dr. Angela Mattke, a pediatric and adolescent specialist at the Mayo Clinic, told USA Today.

“Burns, whether from heat or chemicals, result in a break of the natural skin barrier. The skin barrier’s job is to keep bad things out like potential infection causing bacteria (that live normally on the skin).”

The activity might seem dumb—and it is. But it can be much worse if you get an infection, especially if you’re sharing erasers with other kids who have done the same thing. Purell won’t stop this one, but it will surely make it sting.

Salt and Ice

For us to fully understand the danger of this challenge we have to remember a little science.

Thanks to the internet’s wealth of informative resources (and because high school was unfortunately a long time ago), we can tell you this about salt and ice:
“When salt is added to ice it lowers the melting point. In other words the ice begins melting at a temperature lower than 0° C. This is why salt is added to ice on the roads in the winter. It causes ice that would have otherwise remained as a solid in sub-zero temperatures to turn to water. Note that the temperature of the water has not changed. It’s still at a sub-zero temperature but, as mentioned above, the salt allows it to remain as a liquid at the lower temperature. Don’t think that just because the salted-ice has become water the temperature has risen.” – Stuff Explained

Now back to the challenge. Kids are taking an ice cube, putting salt on their arm, and then letting the ice cube melt on it. As we just learned, the salt will lower the melting point so the ice will melt more quickly, but the temperature is still the same as the water.
Therefore these kids are getting frostbite, which is effectively the same as burning themselves. The kicker is that the ice is numbing them while it’s happening, so they don’t realize how bad the burns are at first.

This trend was so bad that the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the United Kingdom issued a warning to parents about the craze. At least we can keep an eye on these kids to a certain extent, because they feel like they have to upload the challenge to social media or it never happened.
Doesn’t this make you happy we grew up without it?

The Pass Out Challenge

You don’t need to know a lot of science to understand that this one is potentially deadly.

This ridiculous trend involves kids filming themselves choking or restricting their breathing ability to the point that they pass out.

This is such a disturbing fad. And with today’s added pressure of social media, some young people are trying this alone and then recording the whole thing. So we are seeing too many heartbreaking cases in which kids are literally filming their own death.

This is what happened with 11-year-old Davorius Gray, whose mom, Latrice Hurst, found his dead body in his bedroom.
“If I could rewind time, I would go back and heavily monitor his use of social media, YouTube and the Internet,” she said. “I don’t believe young people should be on social media and it should be limited to adults, or at the very least, with extreme adult supervision—where the parents can see everything that takes place on the sites—should be a requirement.”

It’s crucial that people who have kids heed this warning that these challenges are not just harmless pranks—and that kids’ internet and social media activity should be closely monitored.

The Duct Tape Challenge

This is another challenge that doesn’t require any knowledge of science, but you do need a little “help” from your friends. The problem is that if your friends are dumb enough to wrap you up in duct tape like a broken leg of a chair at a frat house, then they’re probably not going to be much help if something bad happens.

Just ask the family of Skylar Fish, who did the duct tape challenge and wound up in the hospital. His friends had done this challenge before. Usually they tape the person to a pole, but this time they taped Skylar standing up.
The problem is that if you fall, like Skylar did, then your hands are still taped to your sides. So the only thing to break your fall is your head. Skylar fell into the corner of a window ledge and then hit the concrete.

The result: “It crushed his whole eye socket and pinched off nerves in his eye. It’s unknown whether Skylar will regain vision in that eye. He now not only has a brain aneurysm from his head slamming into the concrete, but he also had to get 48 staples,” according to his mom, Sarah Fish.
Skylar at least has found some purpose after the tragic events, saying he wants to “teach other kids not to do it. When I think about it, I become sad and then really happy, because I’m happy, because I survived it. I almost died.”

Fire Spray Challenge

The name alone makes you question just what goes through the mind of a teenager. We are sure that at some point everyone has taken a can of hairspray and a lighter and made a fireball. But this challenge has taken that one step further.

The hairspray + fire + indoors combination is dumb enough, but in some instances kids are covering themselves with the hairspray then lighting themselves on fire and jumping into a pool.
As one worried father told the Daily Mail after he discovered his sons had been doing this: “I felt sick and worried when I heard what they’d done. It could easily have been a phone call saying my sons are in hospital or they’ve died. They have been punished more than I have ever punished them before. It’s shocking that kids are able to watch videos like that.”

We think the word shocking is a perfect description of these dangerous fads. We hope to see more schools start educating students on the harm these “challenges” can cause.

Chace Selby was born with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). Related to this condition, the adorable youngster needs help getting enough nutrients to help him grow. The three-year-old doesn’t need any help with being adorable, though.

A G-Tube helps Chace grow.

“Some kids have medical problems that prevent them from being able to take adequate nutrition by mouth,” explains Kids Health.” A gastrostomy tube (also called a G-tube) is a tube inserted through the abdomen that delivers nutrition directly to the stomach. It’s one of the ways doctors can make sure kids with trouble eating get the fluid and calories they need to grow.”

“Fortunately,” the children’s medical welfare site continues, “a gastrostomy is a common procedure that takes only about 30 to 45 minutes. After spending 1 or 2 days in the hospital, kids who have had a gastrostomy can get back to their normal activities fairly quickly after the incision has healed.”

A natural star.

Chace’s father, Robert — sometimes Rosco — Selby, wants to make sure that his little boy doesn’t feel like he’s missing out on anything.

Robert and Chace document their adventures together on their own YouTube channel and Instagram account. The candid videos and thoughtful vlogs are intended to “Help Fight and Bring Awareness to CHD.” The charismatic Chace spreads that awareness wherever he goes.
“He goes into environments and he is always the center of attention because he’s so well-mannered,” Robert Selby told Today. “People gravitate toward him, and that’s just because he’s being him.”
Robert isn’t trying to slow the younger down anytime soon.

“[Chace] doesn’t know about his condition because I don’t treat him like he has a condition,” his father said. “I tell him he can do anything anybody else can do. Sports, gymnastics, anything. I tell him to never say you can’t.”

The picture seen ’round the world.

Chace “is sucking in his stomach, trying to show off his abs like his daddy but all you see are his little ribs,” wrote Robert Selby in a May 22, 2017, Instagram post. “I just cut and glued one of his G-tube on me to show support for him and bring awareness. My son was born with a Congenital Heart Defect (#chd) called Tetralogy of Fallot (#tof) and he uses a Feeding-Tube (#gtube) to help with him being underweight due to him not eating orally as much since he was a baby. But as long as I’m breathing, I’ll always support my son and he’ll never be in a fight alone. ”

Like father, like son.

“This was actually a picture from a year ago,” Robert would clarify in an interview with Today two days after posting the photo. “I did this same photo every year from when he was 6 months old, way back. Last year, he asked me, ‘Why do I have a G-tube?’ and I told him it’s because he’s so strong, because he’s Superman. He’s Super Chace. I told him he’s stronger than Daddy, and he said, ‘But you’re Super Dad,’ so I said OK, and I put a G-tube on me, too.”
The combination of Robert’s washboard abs, the adorableness of Chace, and the complete cuteness of the father’s act of solidarity has sent this image around the world through social media and news outlets.

“I’m excited and I’m happy,” Robert Selby said of the success. “I want to give people hope and be uplifting. When everything was going on with Chace, I went online and it helped to see other parents who had gone through similar situations and were doing OK, to see their sons and daughters who grew up to be married at 21, 22. So if I can help even just one person a day, I’m doing my job.”
Chance and Robert, you’ve brought a lot of attention to Congenital Heart Defects and you’ve delivered a boatload of smiles while you were at it. Keep up the great work!

It’s 2017 and let’s face it: We don’t have much control anymore over the media our children are exposed to when we’re not watching over them. There are many Internet fads that we overhear our kids talking about with their friends, but the names of these fads sometimes don’t make sense and they blow right over our heads. There are “challenges” floating around online and while some of it is harmless fun, such as the bottle flipping challenge, others are more dangerous and pose a threat to our children’s safety. Read on and be aware of what your kids might be trying with their friends.

Backpack Challenge

Two rows of people line up and everyone holds a heavy backpack.
One person tries to run through the rows without getting knocked down, but inevitably he or she is knocked down and can get hurt.

Kylie Lip Challenge

This one has been around for a little while, so you’ve probably heard of it.
To look like Kylie Jenner, kids put shot glasses over their mouths and suck in so that their lips swell up.
This represents the many pressures that girls feel to look like certain women in the media. It might be important to have a talk with your daughter about societal pressures on appearance. And on top of that, the challenge is dangerous. Shot glasses are not made of flexible glass. The glass can break from the pressure and cause dangerous cuts.

Choking/Pass-Out Challenge

The truth is that this game has been around for decades and continues to stay popular with each generation.
If you don’t already know it, the choking game is when children choke each other or press on each other’s chest or hyperventilate until the person feels high or passes out. Children have died while playing this game.

Salt and Ice Challenge

This is a very dangerous challenge. When you put salt and ice together, the temperature of the ice can drop to lower than 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
Kids put the ice and salt on their skin, and the challenge is to see who can withstand the pain of the frostbite for a longer period of time. Doctors say this can cause permanent damage to bone and muscle.

Blue Whale Challenge

This is perhaps the creepiest challenge of them all for the sake of its anonymity and what it asks of your kids.
The blue whale challenge involves an anonymous “administrator” who gives the participant a different challenge every day for 50 days. The challenges typically involve self-harm, such as cutting.
On the 50th day, the participant is supposed to commit suicide. Some people claim there have been suicides linked to this game, but that’s most likely not true. Still, this could be dangerous for at-risk kids who are thinking of harming themselves. Apparently, there have been blue whale challenge apps that appeared but then ultimately were removed. Be on the lookout that your child doesn’t have an app like this on his or her phone.