Some parts of motherhood are truly universal—even from species to species. Like teaching your offspring how to properly use playground equipment, for example. Who says slides are just for human children?

In a viral video recorded by a teacher in Asheville, North Carolina, a mama bear and her cub can be seen casually strolling around the playground as onlookers watch (safely from inside a school, of course).

Warning: it’s probably the cutest thing you’ll see today!


In a move straight out of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, mama bear tests out the bigger slide by zooming on down solo. Baby bear isn’t having any of that—the big slide is too scary! So mama makes her way over to the smaller slide and very clearly encourages her baby to have some fun.

According to TODAY, Betsie Stockslager Emry is the teacher who captured the now-viral moment from a classroom at Isaac Dickson Elementary School. You can hear her adorably narrating parts of the video as fellow school staff “ooh” and “ahh” over the amazing cuteness. Unfortunately, school was already dismissed for the day so students didn’t get to see the bears in action.

She tells HuffPost she has a 4-year-old son who has “grown up on that playground,” and that watching the bears’ behavior “straight up reminded me of being out there with my own kid.”

If you’re a parent, it’s impossible not to see yourself reflected in the actions of the mama bear here. It’s basically a rite of passage of parenthood and childhood: gaining the courage to go down the slide on the playground.

This video is truly an unBEARably sweet way to end the week!