Who doesn't love stories about toddlers and four-legged furry friends? This one ticks all the warm fuzzy boxes.
When she was just 10 months old, Scarlette Tipton lost her left arm to an aggressive cancer. Her life may have been saved, yet her parents worried about how the amputation would affect her.
Like all parents, they want her to be happy. To have friends - even the feline kind - to whom she can relate. Enter a grey-and-white kitty named Doc.
“We really wanted to get her an animal that she could kind of relate to, something that she can grow-up with and feel like she has a special bond with,” says mom Simone.
As fate would have it, the Tiptons got wind of a kitten that had lost its front leg in an accident. Hearing its story on the local news, they knew that was their cat.
On Christmas Eve they arranged to visit the kitty - then named Holly - at a shelter in a neighbouring city.
3-legged kitten adopted by Orange County family with young amp...Two-year-old Scarlette was born with a rare form of cancer that ultimately led to her left arm being amputated when she was just 10 months old. She now has a friend with a similar “owie” to help on her journey to recovery. abc7.la/22zEWR3
Posted by ABC7 on Wednesday, December 30, 2015
It was love at furst sight for Scarlette, who noticed the cat had “owies” like her.
It was a match made in heaven. Holly was promptly renamed Doc after Scarlette's favourite TV character, Doc McStuffins.
The story reminds me of the bumper stickers: Who rescued who?
A cat that may have been overlooked for adoption found the purrfect (sorry) home, and a girl found a new family member to love.
Never underestimate the healing powers of a pet.
Michigan mom and former 16 and Pregnant star Nikkole Paulun has a controversial ritual with her six year-old son so he'll learn how to treat women right.
Every month she lets him save up his allowance then pick up the tab for their dinner out together, as explained in her viral Facebook post.
Once a month my 6 year old son takes me out on a dinner date. He opens doors for me, pulls out my chair, talks about his...
Posted by Nikkole Paulun on Friday, January 1, 2016
During their "date" Paulun teaches her son to pull out chairs and open doors for the lady of his life (currently mom) in the hopes that he will one day treat other women with the same chivalry.
So many of her lessons - turning off tech and chatting about each other's days - are basic family manners. However, the rest is informed by old-fashioned notions of how a man should behave and how a woman should behave.
It's 2016, and boys should not be expected to foot the bill when they take a woman out. So while many praised Paulun for instilling manners in her son, others called her out for also instilling in him chauvinistic values.
"Chauvinistic" may be a stretch, yet the expectation that a man pays is certainly outdated, especially when the majority of woman have their own careers and their own money. Not least of which because it doesn't exactly create a level playing field between the sexes.
To be fair, Paulun is only 22 and has suffered abusive relationships in the past so it's easy to see why she's determined to groom her son's behaviour toward the opposite sex.
Instead of teaching him to respect her, wouldn't we be better off teaching our kids that respect is a two-way street that has nothing to do with gender?
Canada takes its national security seriously, which is why its no-fly list includes potentially dangerous passengers, like Sebastian David Khan.
Sebastian - wait for it - is 21 months old.
Apparently all eight times that he's boarded a domestic flight within the country, he has been pulled aside and flagged by security staff.
And each time, the London, Ont., boy's family endures a delay while it is subjected to this ridiculous charade - all because Khan's name happens to match that of an adult on the government watchlist.
“I know it seems like a minor inconvenience, but travelling with an infant is a minor feat in itself,” said Sebastian's mom, Heather Harder.
And Sebastian is not the only child up against an absurdist bit of red tape.
Six year-old Syed Adam Ahmed from Markham, Ont., is also consistently screened.
Fortunately, embarrassing media attention has a habit of getting a red-faced government to act.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has contacted Sebastian's family directly and vowed to look into the matter. Let's hope he sticks to his word, after the limelight inevitably shifts.
In the meantime, frustrated parents in this situation contemplate changing their child's name.
“We agreed when the kids were born they would have my last name, but if that’s going to be the difference between them getting harassed on their travels, and not …” said Khan.
The point is, parents shouldn't have to change their child's name just to get around a policy that itself is broken. After all, many people share the same name, but few share the same birth year.
“We enter his birth date when we buy his ticket,” said Khan. “My question is, why can’t they automate this?”
Come on, Canada, it's 2016. You can do so much better.
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