What went viral this week: A father + son share a NICU nurse + a kind stranger helps a breastfeeding mama
During a week like this one where talk of the Weinstein trial and coronavirus have dominated the news cycle, many of us do need a break from all the bad news.
A recent study suggests that people pay more attention to negative news stories than to positive news, but the research proves that even though many people are drawn to negative storylines, "it's not the case that most people want mostly negative news all the time," according to the study's lead author, Stuart Soroka.
Soroka told the Los Angeles Times that there is a place for good news in modern media and since the news cycle has been quite negative this week so we are happily looking at the stories that shine a light on the good in this world.
So here are the good news headlines that made us smile this week:
Viral Facebook post shows stranger supporting breastfeeding mom in restaurant
This post is a few years old but went viral this week because stories this good never die on the Internet.
Back in 2016, Briar McQueen was a new mom who was nervous about her first solo trip to a restaurant with her baby. She expected some people might be judgemental about her breastfeeding, but instead, a stranger was incredibly supportive.
"Today was the first time I went out for breakfast alone with my 8 week old son, I had just received my breakfast and hot chocolate when Jaxon started crying wanting his booby so of course I fed him, after a few minutes this older lady walked up to me, I was scared, thinking she was gonna tell me to put my boob away, instead she starts cutting up my breakfast for me and said "what a good mama you are, we can't have your food getting cold can we." I honestly could have cried😍😢 loveliest lady EVER," McQueen wrote in her now-viral Facebook post.
We totally agree and can see why this story is still being shared four years later.
This teacher's mental health check-in chart is going viral
Teacher Erin Castillo probably never imagined she'd be sitting down talking with Kelly Clarkson, but that's what happened this month when she appeared on Clarkson's show to talk about her viral mental health check-in chart.
Castillo asks her students to write their names on the back of a Post-It note and put it in the row that best corresponds with how they are feeling so that she can check-in with ones in the bottom two sections.
If this chart looks familiar it's probably because Good Morning America profiled the teacher last spring. As Castillo told GMA, she never expected the chart she posted on her Instagram to keep going viral.
"To see this being used in multiple countries around the world, having [teachers] reach out from New Zealand and Africa...to hear actual stories of people helping their students, I'm really overwhelmed with joy," she said.
This is so cool, no wonder educators (and even parents) are making the same charts. This is one time when it's okay to copy someone's work in the classroom. 😉
Lena Waithe voices first gay character in a Disney/Pixar movie
Disney's new Pixar movie Onward features the first openly LGBTQ character in the company's history.
The character is Officer Specter, voiced by Master of None actress and screenwriter Lena Waithe, who identifies as gay herself.
According to Slate, Waithe's character's sexual identity is confirmed when the character (a cop) and her partner (voiced by Ali Wong), pull over a driver who blames his girlfriend's sons' behavior for his poor driving.
Waithe's character replies sympathetically, saying, "My girlfriend's daughter got me pulling my hair out."
Onward hits theaters March 6.
NICU nurse goes viral after caring for father + son three decades apart
As first reported by the Courier News and then the Washington Post, a nurse in New Brunswick, N.J. has gone viral for being a fixture of the NICU for so long she's caring for her babies' babies.
Nurse Lissa McGowan went viral after new mom Renata Freydin's noticed the nurse in her partner's baby book looked a lot like the one who cared for her son Zayne Caldwell, who was born 10 weeks early last month.
As Freydin explained in her Facebook post: "Last Sunday, he dug out his baby book to show me. As I was looking through, I came across a picture of him as a baby and a lady holding him. I knew that lady!! I immediately asked him who she was and he confirmed that she was the nurse who took care of him during his stay in the NICU and his mom loved her so much that she needed a photo of the two of them on the day he was discharged! Well, the reason I know her is because I swore she was the nurse that had been taking care of our baby boy for the past three days! David didn't believe me. We brought the picture to the hospital where 3 other nurses confirmed it was her! Yesterday (Valentine's Day) she was back at work and taking care of our little nugget again so we had to recreate the picture! The past 2 weeks have been filled with worries and uncertainty but we can breathe easy knowing my lil nuggets nurse is the same one that helped the man I love when he was in the same situation."
Newspapers picked up the story because it's incredible and it is so worthy of our attention. NICU nurses work day in and day out helping babies and families and it is so incredible to see a nurse like McGowan recognized for years of hard work.
Go, Nurse Lissa!
