Brandie, a young mom of twin boys named Blaine and Rylie, decided to do an experiment in order to see what happens when she decides to spend time on her phone instead of watching her kids play and how that affects her relationship with them. What she discovered was the sad truth about the role of technology and the internet within the family dynamic.
This California mom shared the results on Facebook with her friends not assuming that her post would spread on the social media like a wildfire.
“Today I did an experiment, I watched my boys play,” she wrote. “As I sat quietly in the corner of the room I tallied how many times they looked at me for various reasons: to see if I saw their cool tricks, to seek approval or disapproval for what they were doing, and to watch my reactions.”
“I couldn’t help but wonder if I was on some sort of technology what message would I have been sending?”
Facebook / Brandie Wood
“28 times my angels would have wondered if the World Wide Web was more important than them. 28 times my boys would have not received the attention most adults are searching for.
“28 times my loves would have questioned if they were alone emotionally. 28 times my kids would have been reassured that who you are online is what really matters.”
Facebook / Brandie Wood
“In a world where we are accepted as who people perceive us to be and not who we really are, in a world where validation comes from how many followers or likes we have, in a world where quality time with loved ones is being replaced by isolation and text messages from the other room, I beg you to be different.”
Facebook / Brandie Wood
“Please put down your technology and spend some time with your family & loved ones. The next generation of children is counting on us to teach them how to be adults, don’t be too busy on social media, you never know who is watching and what message you are sending.”
Brandie’s message serves as a powerful reminder to put down your phone and spend more fact time with the ones you love. Please SHARE this with your friends on Facebook!
Peace and Love
Bored Daddy
Kelly Clarkson rose to fame thanks to one of the most prominent talent shows there are, American Idol. The moment she first took the stage, she became America’s sweetheart. And why wouldn’t she? Besides her impeccable singing talent, Kelly is also a very grounded person who has worked hard for everything she has.
When she started dating her now ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, everyone agreed that she met just the right person for her. Brandon has always appeared as loving and invested in the marriage.
Source: Instagram/ Kelly Clarkson
Speaking of how their fairytale started, Kelly once told presenter Ryan Seacrest, “[Brandon and I] met years ago when I was working with Rascal Flatts, and he used to tour manage with him. I didn’t really know he was [my manager’s] son, and it was kind of weird. I was like, ‘Dude, I gotta know that guy.’”
This happened back in 2006, some 6 years before they became a thing.
“We were just in a room together, and then he came up and said he was from the same hometown as me. And I was like, ‘Oh, we’re so getting married,’ I was so that girl. When he became single, I was on the prowl,” Kelly added.
Source: Steve Granitz/WireImage
Shortly after tying the knot, the couple welcomed their first child, daughter River Rose. In 2016, they welcomed son Remington. Together with Brandon’s two children from a previous relationship, they made a cute blended family.
“Brandon is not my other half. He’s a whole, and I’m a whole. I’ve never believed in someone taking care of me, and that’s probably because I grew up poor and without a lot of family stability,” Kelly said of Brandon back in the day.
Everything seemed perfect and Kelly and Brandon were considered one of the best celeb couples, but that all changed in 2020 when Kelly filled for divorce. The news came as huge shock to many, especially her fans. Nothing spoke trouble, so it didn’t come as a surprise that people started wondering what was going on behind closed door throughout the years.
Source: Instagram/ Kelly Clarkson
Days before she filed the papers, Kelly shared in an interview with Glamour Magazine that since the pandemic struck, things haven’t been easy for her. “Honestly, I have been on an emotional roller coaster. This has been really hard as a working parent, because I’m still doing all the same jobs. It’s been exhausting, honestly, cooking every meal and cleaning nonstop after toddlers and teenagers! Everybody’s learning from home now, and the teaching! So, everything has been crazy,” she said.
She also shared how she felt when she got abandoned by her father at the age of 6.
“I don’t think you get rid of that. I have people in my life that suffer from addiction to certain things, and that doesn’t go away. It’s always there. It’s just navigating your life around that existence in your life,” she said.
“You don’t ever one day wake up and are like, ‘Okay, I’m totally cool with the fact that I have major abandonment issues,’ because horrible things happened.”
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During an occasion, Kelly told Entertainment Tonight that she and Brandon forgot two out of four of their anniversaries. ”But the great thing about us is we collectively do it. It’s not like one of us forgets and one of us remembers. We both epically fail. We’re always very busy. The only times we’ve remembered our anniversary is when we had [it] off. If we’re working, we forget what day it is,” she added.
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While Kelly cited “irreconcilable differences” as the legal grounds for divorce, people close to her and Brandon believe the reasons were many. Apparently, one of them was the hearing problem their son faced when he was still very young. The stress did its part in moving them apart. Their careers were also a big thing that kept them from spending enough time together.
“Things had changed in their marriage and the split was a while coming,” source told People. “They both work so hard. It’s nearly impossible to enjoy each other, especially with the children needing constant attention.”
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The couple signed prenup before the wedding, but they still ended up suing each other. Namely, Starstruck Management Group, where Brandon works as a talent agent, sued Kelly. In December 2020, she counter-sued.
The prenup gives Kelly proprietary rights to the Montana ranch where Brandon is currently living. He tried to challenge the prenup and claimed that he worked full-time on the ranch and had huge business plans for the establishment.
Kelly got primary custody of the children and is obliged to pay Brandon $195,601 per month in spousal and child support.
Source: Instagram/ Kelly Clarkson
During a conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow on the Kelly Clarkson Show, the singer/ songwriter said she’s not planning on marrying ever again.
“Coming from someone who’s literally amidst a divorce, I can’t even imagine doing it again,” she said.
“I’m actually in that place where I think a lot of people, I’ve heard, that go through divorce, it’s almost like you start dating yourself again, like you actually make time for you again, and I love dating me.”
Every parent out there is doing their best to raise their kids right and help them become independent individuals who will eventually leave the “nest” in order to live their lives the best they know and even start a family on their own. However, seeing them grow and eventually leave the home is both beautiful and heartbreaking.
Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have gone through that stage of life, and although they somehow knew their son Jaden, who is independent and very mature, would want to live on his own when he reaches 16 or 17, they still found it hard when he asked them to let him “go” as a present for his 15th birthday.
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The thing is that Jaden has been under the spotlight from the moment he was born. Both him and his sister Willow are now celebrities on their own, but having parents as famous as Jada and Will “robbed” them of having a normal childhood.
In an interview with Dazed Magazine in 2018, Jaden said: ”People treat me like I’m not a normal human so much, that you start to believe it, like, ‘Am I not a normal human?’”
The good thing is that he met some skater friends living nearby and started feeling normal around them. ”If I wasn’t famous and didn’t have all this sh** going on, and I didn’t have to fly to all these different places all the time, I would just be here with these guys, every day just skating. That would be my vibe,” he explained.
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His father, Will, told BBC Radio 1Xtra: “Jaden is 100 percent fearless. “He will do anything. As a parent, it’s scary; it’s really terrifying. But he is completely willing to live and die by his artistic decisions, and he doesn’t concern himself with what people think.”
It was probably that attitude that made Jaden ask his mom to let him move from the family house and live on his own. In an episode of Red Table Talk, Jada opened up about the traumatic experience. “At 15 years old, Jaden, and I remember this day specifically, it’s probably one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life,” Jada began and continued: “You got to a point where you told me straight up, you were like, ‘Mom, I have to leave here to live my life.”
Facebook/Red Table Talk
Being just 15, he had to be legally emancipated, with the consent of his parents. Jada said she knew that day would come and confessed she believed it would be for the best. Her mother, Jaden’s grandmother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, who is the co-host of Red Table Talk, said she would never allow him that if she was in Jada’s position. In fact, it’s not just Adrienne, but a lot of other people believe that the Smiths’ parenting is somewhat “crazy,” and judge them about how they raise their kids.
But Jada knows what’s best for her children. “I knew. I told Will – when Jaden was smaller – I said, ‘We’ll be lucky to keep him in the house until he’s 16.’ Because he was so mature. He was making films… he could really manage his own life,” she said.
“Every child needs something different. Being in this lifestyle, in this world is a bubble and he wanted out. I understood that because I didn’t have the bubble. I knew what having my freedom outside the bubble, what I gained from that. I knew the sooner I let him go, the faster he was going to come back.”
Facebook/Red Table Talk
The good thing is that Jaden, who is now 23, changed his mind and decided to continue living with his mom and dad until 2017. Today, he owns a $4 million home which is just 5 minutes away from his parents’ place.
“See, here’s the thing. I’m not going anywhere. The thing that people don’t get is everything at this house is free,” Jaden told Ellen DeGeneres in 2013. “I can get anything and everything at his house, so I’m going to be there for 20, 30 years,” he joked. “[Will] says as soon as I have a movie that’s bigger than one of his movies, I can get my own house.”
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As far as we are concerned, Jada and Will are incredible parents and they all make a beautiful family.
We can all agree that the educational systems of many countries have to undergo reforms, but as long as the parents blame the teachers for every failure of their children and don’t question their parenting, nothing really could be changed.
One retired teacher had it enough of listening everyone criticizing the system and the educators so she decided to tell parents to think again before pointing their fingers towards the educational system.
In order for more people to read her words, she published them in a newspaper. Needless to say, what she had to say has gone viral and turned into an Internet hit.
Read her post here:
“As a retired teacher, I am sick of people who know nothing about public schools or have not been in a classroom recently deciding how to fix our education system.
The teachers are not the problem! Parents are the problem! They are not teaching their children manners, respect or even general knowledge of how to get along with others. The children come to school in shoes that cost more than the teacher’s entire outfit, but have no pencil or paper. Who provides them? The teachers often provide them out of their own pockets.
When you look at schools that are “failing,” look at the parents and students. Do parents come to parent nights? Do they talk with teachers regularly? Do they make sure their children are prepared by having the necessary supplies? Do they make sure their children do their homework?
Do they have working telephone numbers? Do the students take notes in class? Do they do their homework? Do the students listen in class, or are they the sources of class disruptions?
When you look at these factors, you will see that it is not schools that are failing but the parents. Teachers cannot do their jobs and the parents’ job. Until parent step up and do their job, nothing is going to get better!”
If you agree with this former teacher, share this article with your family and friends.
We are perfectly aware that most seniors are witty and will always show you how you shouldn’t mess with them. They have way more experience than we do and we can learn a lot from them. Take this couple for example. This is gold!
A couple, both age 78, went to a therapist’s office. The doctor asked, “What can I help you with?”
The man said, “Will you watch us have s*x?”
The doctor looked puzzled, but agreed. When the couple finished, the doctor said, “There’s nothing wrong with the way you have s*x,” and charged them $50.
This happened several weeks in a row. The couple would make an appointment, have s*x with no problems, pay the doctor, then leave.
Finally, the doctor asked, “Just exactly what are you trying to find out?”
“We’re not trying to find out anything,” the husband replied. ”She’s married and we can’t go to her house. I’m married and we can’t go to my house. The Holiday Inn charges $90. The Hilton charges $108. We do it here for $50… and I get $43 back from Medicare.
Individuals who do so much for the wildlife and our planet always have our deepest respect. These people teach us that if we really care, we can do a lot for the creatures we share this Earth with.
Damian Aspinall is one of them. He is a well-known wildlife conservationist who has raised and released a number of zoo-bred lowland gorillas in Gabon. Now, it was time for him to meet two of them and see how they are doing in their natural habitat. But he didn’t go alone. His wife Victoria accompanied him and she was equally eager to get to know them.
Both Djalta and Ima were released into the wild back in 2003 after Damian raised them as small babies at the Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent.
The encounter with his old pals that was about to take place that day surprised everyone.
Namely, Western Lowland gorillas are known as territorial animals who don’t get affectionate with humans easily. That meant there was a possibility for them not to welcome Damian into their home.
People even warned them to be extra cautious, because Victoria had never met the pair of apes before, but how the animals reacted when they saw their caretaker left everyone in awe.
They were extremely welcoming and affectionate both with Damian and his wife. The bond was instant.
The photo of Victoria in Ima’s lap stole the hearts of everyone who got to see it. It really showed how gentle and playful these animals can be.
The two played together and exchanged lots of hugs and kisses. The best part of it all was when the gorilla stole Victoria’s hat and put it on.
Both Damian and Victoria are extremely lucky to be able to spend time with such gracious and huge creatures.
The video of the encounter is so sweet, it will definitely make you go aww!
Elvis Presley, “The King of Rock&Roll,” is still considered an icon and a legend. His music has continued to live long after his passing as he gave the world some of the best songs ever written and performed.
Well, what Presley was to America, another legend of his own, Tommy Steele, was to England. The two musicians were very close friends who learned from one another and appreciated each other’s talent and passion for rock&roll.
Today, Tommy Steele isn’t part of the showbiz as much as he was before because he turned to other things that fulfill him, such as acting in musicals, but he remains one of the best English musicians there are.
Source: Youtube/Elvis Presley
Born in 1936, in Bermondsey, London, England, Steele was forced to spend a lot of time at a hospital as a young child.
“The war had been over three or four years, and I was trapped in a hospital bed,” he told Herald Scotland. “It was only when these red spots exploded on my ankles the docs realized I had the King’s Disease.
“When I learned of the madness I panicked – and so did my mum.”
At the time he joined the Merchant Navy at 16, someone taught Steele three chords and he was able to play pretty much every country song.
Source: Youtube/Bonneville66
On a trip to the U.S., Steele saw Buddy Holly perform and he just knew that music was his thing. “When we got New York I bought the sheet music to a load of rock ’n’ roll songs and by the time I got back to London I could play them all.”
Although rock&roll wasn’t a huge thing in England back then, Steele promoted it, and soon, his first solo, the single Rock With theCaveman, reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart.
“All of a sudden, I’m the first rock ‘n’ roll singer because no one my age played guitar or could sing country in England,” Steele told the Daily Record in 2008.
Source: Youtube/Kevin Allen
Being icons, Presley and Steele crossed paths eventually and became very good friends. Up util recently, everyone believed that Presley only visited Great Britain once, when he was getting from military service in Germany to the U.S. In fact, there is a sign at Prestwick Airport in Scotland proudly proclaiming that it is the only place in the UK ever visited by The King. Well, it turns out Presley was in England back in 1958, according to Steele’s long-time friend, theatre producer Bill Kenwright.
Speaking on BBC’s Radio2, Kenwright said, “I remember [Tommy] telling me about when Elvis came to England very quietly,” as quoted by The Guardian.
“Evidently Tommy got home one night and the phone rings. A voice says, ‘They tell me you’re good.’ Tommy says, ‘Who’s this?’ Kenwright continued. “‘Elvis’ says the voice. ‘Get outta here,’ says Tommy. ‘Are you as good as me?’ says Elvis … and they started this mock rivalry.”
“It all came from that. It’s quite something isn’t it – the thought of them wandering around London together? But the impression I got was that they never got out of the car… It was more like, ‘There’s Buckingham Palace… there’s the Houses of Parliament.’
“Tommy is a very private person who doesn’t go into the past. It’s only me who makes him talk about it.”
Source: Youtube/Kevin Allen
Steele, on the other hand, is pretty discrete about meeting Presley privately.
“What actually happened many years ago is something secret and memorable,” he told Reuters. “It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable.
“I swore never to divulge publicly what took place and I regret that it has found some way of ‘getting into the light’
“I can only hope he (Presley) can forgive me.”
Source: Youtube/Elvis Presley
There is also this fun story involving the two. Apparently, Steele was a huge name in Sweden, and a Swedish magazine once organized voting asking people to decided who the real rock&roll star was, Steele or Presley. Steele ended up winning “the match.”
“[Elvis] called me and asked if I’d heard that you could vote on who was the best one of us in Sweden,” Steele recalled. “Even though he is, and forever will be, “The King”, I bloody won.”
Speaking of his friendship with Presley, Steele said,
“It was all about me and Elvis, we were the guys that gave 1950 its rock ‘n’ roll face, and we succeeded.
“Elvis was my friend, and there was never a rivalry between us. We did our thing, and there was plenty of room for both of us. But Elvis is the greatest, he is and will forever be “The King”. He already knew it back then.”
At the age of 48, Victoria’s Secret angel Heidi Klum, is still considered one of the most famous and most beautiful women on the planet.
The German-born beauty, who worked in her home country for a couple of years, moved to the States to expand her career and ended up on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998. From that moment on, she received many offers from many fashion brands and placed herself on the very top in the fashion industry.
People Magazine named her one of the world’s most beautiful women in 2011. However, Heidi hasn’t limited her career to modeling only. She has also appeared in several TV series, and tried herself as a designer, businesswoman and an artist. She and Tim Gunn were hosting the reality television series Project Runway for 16 seasons before they moved on to the project Making the Cut which premiered in March 2020.
When she was 23, Heidi married New York hair stylist Ric Pipino who proposed to her atop the Empire State Building.
Pipino spoke of his love for the model openly and their wedding was in the spirit of the German culture with the two even sawing a log in half using a two-handled blade, which is part of Heidi’s home country’s tradition. But their marriage ended in 2002 after the two grew apart.
Heidi Klum / Facebook – Ric Pipino / Instagram
Soon after, Heidi got involved with the Italian businessman and a huge name in Formula 1, Flavio Briatore. In May 2004, Heidi gave birth to her daughter Helene, but father Briatore wasn’t present as the couple broke up shortly after Heidi announced her pregnancy in December 2003. At the time she brought her girl into the world, the famous model was dating musician Seal.
Heidi Klum and daughter Leni
In 2005, Heidi and Seal tied the knot in Mexico.
“Seal and I feel very lucky that we found each other. He’s my best friend. He would never go in through a door first. He always opens the door for me and steps back so I walk through,” she said. The couple had three biological children together, Henry, Johan and Lou, and Seal officially adopted Helene ‘Leni’ in 2009.
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What Heidi and Seal had was described as special and unique by many. They were very much in love and were considered one of the best and cutest celebrity couples. “I’m sure people say things or write things about us. But we don’t look at that, and it’s better that way,” Heidi, who sometimes referred to her and her husband as the “colorful” couple once said.
Sadly, after seven years of marriage, the model filed for divorce in 2012.
“While we enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul-searching, we have decided to separate,” the couple said in a statement.
“We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart.”
However, despite the love and respect they had for one another, they apparently didn’t have a prenup, so everyone expected for things to heat up when the time came for their assets to be divided. Magazines were writing at the time that Heidi was worth between $50 and $70 million, while Seal’s net worth was around $15 million.
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Both Heidi and Seal showed the world that no money would ever stand on their way of remaining on good terms for the sake of their kids. Just after the divorce, which took three years to be finalized, they signed a postnup. They also showed they were mature when it came to the custody of their children which is still “a confidential information.” What is known, however, is that neither of them have requested spousal support, according to the American blogger Perez Hilton. He labeled Heidi and Seal’s divorce “the easiest breakup.”
The only thing Heidi asked for was to get her name back. When she got married, she took her husband’s surname, Samuel, and once she untied the knot, she became Klum again.
From what has been known, the kids are spending most of their time with Heidi, although their parents share the custody. However, just recently, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Heidi filed an emergency motion after Seal wouldn’t let her take them to Germany where she has been currently working. Eventually, they came to an agreement and Heidi was allowed to go to Germany together with her kids and Seal was given the right to see them before and after their trip. He was also entitled to visit his kids in Germany and Heidi “shall cooperate and work together to make arrangements for.”
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In 2019, Heidi married guitarist Tom Kaulitz from the German rock band Tokio Hotel. She said she feels very happy and as though she has a partner for the first time in her life. Interestingly enough, Seal said something very similar about the new person in his life.
“I couldn’t help but wonder if I was on some sort of technology what message would I have been sending?”
