A dad-and-daughter duo from Surrey, B.C., are giving Justin Bieber a run for his money with their cover of his hit, "Love Yourself."
Rob Acs and his six-year-old daughter, Averianna, make an awesome team. Because she is a huge Belieber, they decided to record their version of her Canadian Idol's song on Valentine’s Day.
A week later, and the duet has captured as many hearts around the world as the Bieb man himself.
Mom Ashleigh said the reaction has "totally exceeded our expectations,” and claims that music has long formed a bond between father and daughter.
“Rob has always been a singer and he used to sing to Averianna even when I was pregnant,” said Ashleigh, “then also as a baby to calm her or put her to sleep or just to make her happy. Then as soon as she could talk they started to sing together and have been singing together ever since.”
To be sure, Dad has an incredible voice, but it's Averianna who steals the show as she syncs over her dad's verse.
Now I can finally say I've heard a Justin Bieber song - sung by someone else. And I think this duo just may have outbiebed the Bieb himself.
For years the go-to treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were drugs like Adderall and Ritalin. Such drugs have come under scrutiny lately, since the long-term effects on children are unknown.
New research from the Florida International University suggests that treating ADHD through behaviour modification first may be more efficient than simply having children pop a pill.
In the U.S., more than four million kids have a diagnosis of ADHD. Figures are similarly high here in Canada. Drugs have always been the first port of call for pediatricans treating children affected by the disorder. But that may be about to change.
New research, published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, found that medication was most effective if used after behavioural treatment - not before.
“We showed that the sequence in which you give treatments makes a big difference in outcomes,” said lead researcher, William E. Pelham. “The children who started with behavioural modification were doing significantly better than those who began with medication by the end, no matter what treatment combination they ended up with.”
The ramifications of the study, which tracked 146 children between five and 12, could be huge. Many parents are reluctant to medicate their children, especially when they are diagnosed at a very young age. By using this approach, children may still need drugs, but require lower dosages.
Parents were taught a behaviour program, which consists of a simple reward and consequence system in which children can earn – or have revoked - privileges such as screen time according to their behaviour.
The study group that received behavioural therapy first significantly outperformed those who began solely on medication. They showed fewer defiant behaviours and a marked improvement their ability to focus.
Obviously implementing a behavioural plan will cost parents in terms of time and effort, but no doubt that investment is worth it if children make greater gains without relying solely on meds.
As far as birth announcements and Valentine's Day go, Alanis Morissette has killed two birds with one stone, so to speak.
The 41-year-old Canadian singer enlisted some help to produce an animated love story "on the sly" for her husband, rapper Mario Treadway.
"The story of my nuclear family in moving pictures, brings us up to this sweet moment," wrote Morissette on YouTube of the video entitled "Souleye + Ever + me + love = sweetness." She went on to share still on her Facebook and Instagram.
The video, accompanied by a song penned by Alanis over the course of just six hours, tells the tale of how she and Treadway got together back in 2010 - when their eyes reportedly locked across a crowded yoga studio.
The cartoon charts the early days of their relationship, to their wedding, through to the birth of their son Ever, now five. There are precious touches all over the place, like a group hand painting session, that will make us all gush with nostalgia over our own families.
But there was a little surprise up Alanis's creative sleeve, with the final reveal being the singer in a hospital bed looking up at an ultrasound of baby number two.
Like all good love stories, this one is super sweet and corny and magical, and makes me want to rush out and hire some artsy guru who can turn me and my family into cartoons stat.
In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to settle for a pretty song and a fuzzy heart.
RELATED: Dax Sheppard and Kristen Bell Ham it Up in Africa 
Printer-friendly version