Children can be very sensitive, and they don't always understand the dynamics of the adults around them. It's the parents' responsibility to help them understand how social rules work. 

There's a young man in a friend group of people who don't have any children. The only ones who do are his sister, who has a boy and a girl, and a friend of theirs named Ashley, who only has a girl. All children are of similar age and call all of their mum's friends "uncle" and "aunt". This guy, Mike, is known by the kids as the 'fun uncle,' since he took his niece and nephew to Disneyland and Universal Parks for their birthdays. Ashley's daughter, Madison, asked him if she could go to Disneykand for her birthday, and since he was a little confused about the question, he answered that she should ask her mom. A few days later, he received texts from Ashley asking him about the trip and the organization, which confused him, since he had not offered to pay for any trip. Then he had an argument with Ashley. She claimed that he was always playing favourites with his niece and nephew and leaving Madison out of everything, and that he got her hopes up about a trip that was no longer going to happen. He answered that he never made such a promise; if anything, the one who had done it was her, and that the other two children are his real niece and nephew, but not her daughter. 

Here we have a simple case of miscommunication. The child was asking Uncle Mike to take her to Disneyland, but he didn't pick up on that. The mom assumed that he had offered after her daughter talked to her, but they never actually talked to each other to clear the air. It's not that children are liars, it's just that they are not skilled in picking up social clues and living amongst society, so what they interpret may not be accurate. An easier solution would have been for the mom to ask her to tell her exactly what Uncle Mike had said, or to go straight to Uncle Mike and ask him what he meant. Then, the girl wouldn't have been disappointed. Other than that, even though she thinks of him as an uncle, he is not, and he is not obligated to give out expensive gifts for children who are not really part of his family. The child doesn't understand that yet, but the mom should explain it to her and make clear what kind of relationship they have with Uncle Mike, instead of just complaining and demanding things from him. 

A pet is a responsibility, but it doesn't turn you into a slave.

Sometimes we compare the responsibility that a pet involves to that of babies. But it is not really the same. Babies need constant support from their mother. They are fed and cherished by them. They almost can't breathe if it weren't for their mothers. With pets is not exactly the same. After 45 days of life, most animals are able to get away from their mother, as they don't need anything directly from them. So, luckily, their care will fall to a human being. But that doesn't mean that the human now has the role of the pet mother. Sentimentally, they do, but not according to nature, as they do not have the same responsibilities over them.

As a cat and dog owner, I can say that taking care of them is a time-consuming activity. You have to keep them fed and clean, with all their vaccines up to date, and their spaces also need to be clean (their bed and the place where they do their necessities). This takes time, and even I had to once ask for a day off work to take them to the vet. But it's not comparable to the time and energy that taking care of a baby consumes. That is far more intense.

Where I'm going with all this is that, even though it is not that hard to take care of a pet, it doesn't mean it is not time-consuming. So if you had any kind of machine that helped you out with the task so you could spend less time cleaning and more time with them, why wouldn't you use it? There is no need to suffer when you already have a machine that helps you out. With all these you may realize that I'm in fact in favor of u/Sherry_Cheng in this story. She's right about using what she has to spend less time doing chores. That man had no business giving his unsolicited opinion about the matter. 

Going to the playground and coming home with a kitten sounds like a pretty successful day to us.

Two girls were playing at a playground when they came across Mochi, a 4-month-old tabby wandering around without a collar. She was incredibly friendly right from the start and had no problem being picked up and carried around. In fact, she didn't seem particularly interested in leaving her new friends at all.

Of course, they couldn't just leave her there.

The family brought Mochi to the vet to get her checked out and see if she belonged to anyone. She didn't have a microchip and hadn't been spayed yet, although she's still pretty young. Thankfully, she was also in surprisingly good health. The only issue was an ear infection that needed treatment.

Mochi came home with the family while they searched for a possible owner, and she settled in almost immediately. She's already climbing onto shoulders and making herself comfortable around the house. For a kitten who was living outside earlier that same day, she seems pretty happy with the change of scenery.

Her first night was also much calmer than anyone expected. No wild kitten zoomies or middle-of-the-night chaos. Mochi prefers batting around little toys like paper balls and soft toys, with one very important favorite: the daughter's plush French fry. Out of everything available, she chose the French fry. Fair enough.

The family has put up posters and posted online to make sure nobody is looking for her. If they don't find an owner after a week, they're planning to officially adopt Mochi.

Judging by how quickly she's made herself at home, we don't think Mochi would object to that plan.

A homeowner removed his own garden wall to create more space for private parking on his property, but his neighbor insists he can't do that since he is losing an "unofficial" space in front of the wall that his girlfriend was using.

The situation at hand is essentially this: 

This homeowner lives on a narrow street where on-street parking is hard to come by. Presumably, this area is adjacent to or part of a major city where it's not uncommon for people not to learn to drive or own a car due to a lack of necessity to use or own a vehicle. In these types of densely populated living environments, owning a car can present more of a nuisance than a convenience. 

The homeowner's neighbor used to use the space in front of his home as a parking space. Specifically, as a place for his girlfriend to park her car. Most of the space was taken up by a high garden wall that could easily be parked in front of. Or at least it was, until the homeowner decided to do some landscaping to free up private parking space on his own property.

The homeowner is learning to drive and is looking at getting a car of his own, so he decided to take down the garden wall to allow for more private parking space. 

This change, of course, made his neighbor upset, who felt disadvantaged by the situation. He was losing what he viewed more or less as "his" parking space.

Moving home is no easy feat at the best of times. But to do it with your cat child in tow is a feat of bravery, courage and strength unlike any other. However, if your purrecious fur baby happens to go missing during that move, do you think you would be able to keep your cool and keep moving like this story's pawrent?

Now, we will say, there was no kitty to be found. Serious search efforts to reunite the cat and her pawrent was made but to no avail. All the usual means of social media and friend groups were employed but all came up empty handed. For weeks this poor pawrent had to live with the thought that their house move had caused their cat child to leave them. A horrible feeling that you would not wish upon your worst enemy. And one that this pawrent lived with for weeks, three long weeks. That is, until one fateful day, the phone rang.

On the other end of the line was someone who had found their cat. It turns out that through all the clutter and chaos of packing up and moving their home the scared feline had tucked herself into a crevise so small and so concealed that it took actually kitchen renovations to uncover her hiding spot. For all these many weeks this poor cat child had hidden from the noises and strange people, thinking that her world has been torn down around her. Wondering what fate might await her.
 

Some startups treat LinkedIn the way a teenager treats a Pinterest board: anything visible online is available for immediate use, provided nobody asks enough questions. Any questions?

A professional headshot becomes company décor, an old résumé becomes an advisory biography, and a person who attended a few interviews gets promoted into a "Senior Advisor" before anyone has bothered to offer them a job or pay. Why waste time building an actual team when the internet is full of people with faces and career histories just sitting there?

This is startup confidence at its purest. A founder meets someone three times, cannot agree to pay them, and then quietly adds them to the sales deck anyway, because compensation is merely a technical detail and consent is one of those outdated concepts that slows innovation. The next logical move is putting Beyoncé on the investor slide and describing her as "informally aligned with the brand."

Boiling peanuts never looked so risky. 

A house fire could start so easily. It really just takes something so simple and suddenly everything you know and love is burnt to the ground. A house fire is something that really just happens by chance, but it's always important to try and prevent it. In the story below, a house fire would have happened and burnt everything to the ground if it hadn't been for one smart kitty. While the husband was at work, his wife was mindlessly boiling peanuts. She fell asleep while the stove was on, which is obvious in hindsight not to do, but we all have these things happens to us once in a while. Her cat wakes her up and she realizes the smell of smoke permeating the air. The peanuts have all burnt down, there's no water left in the pot, and the stove was minutes away from combustion. The cat woke her up just in time before the flames started. There wasn't any real damage, just no peanuts. They love this cat endlessly, and now they can love her ever more. She saved the woman's life, and she saved their home. Cats are extraordinary creatures, and their wisdom is something we have a lot to learn from. 

No more slumping with heartwarming cat memes. 

There's nothing quite like that first cup of coffee in the morning. Whether you make it at home, your office espresso machine, or on the go at your favorite local cafe, that first cup of joe really hits the spot, and makes the whole day beguiled with something comforting. The steam rising, the aroma wrapping around you like a warm hug. It's important to start the day fresh, not only with coffee, but with crazy cat memes. Good Morning Memes of Caffeinated Cats are here to start your day both jittery and jovial. These delightful kitties look as if they've stolen a sip of espresso themselves: wide-eyed, tails puffed, and paws mid-pounce as if the universe itself just dropped a laser pointer on the floor.

Practicing alertness isn't only about caffeine. When I start the day, I take the first hour phoneless, and instead I people watch, I mentally wake up, or I read. I find that this prepares me for the day in alertness and focus, but when I start the day with reels, I feel like I constantly crave that distraction the rest of the day. But don't do what I do, wake up to these delightful and adorable cats that are hyped up on life. 

An approved vacation turned into a firing, but the real battle began when earned money suddenly became discretionary.

I can point out so many things that are wrong here. And most of them come from a lack of work ethic and some morality. Firstly, this boss had approved the employee's vacation, and as a consequence, she booked everything and was ready to go. A couple of days before she left, this manager changed his mind and told her that the vacation was denied and that if she left, he was firing her. Can you guess what happened? Of course, she left for her trip, and the rest was history… or that's what she thought.

Turns out that she had to be paid a huge amount of money, not only for the remaining part of her salary, but a lot was coming from bonuses and commission she had earned based on her great performance. After her trip, she went to the office to pick up the money, and that extra sum was not there… she was told that she would receive it next month… weird, but okay.

A month went by, and when she went back to collect it, she found out that her boss was not paying her since that money was "discretionary", so it's not like he owed her anything. This was not part of the initial agreement, and of course, it's an illegal thing to do. Now, she's not sure what to do, since all of this extra money was based entirely on her performance, and some metrics and numbers can back up and prove her work.

That's why she reached out, and many people showed up to help her. Since she was based in California, the law says that the money earned from bonuses and commissions has to be paid if the employee was fired. And if this man was not cooperating, then she could even sue him in the California Labor Board and claim what belongs to her. Do you want to find out what happened? Scroll down and don't forget to leave a comment with your thoughts!

We underestimate the impact a few simple words can have on our lives

In life, sometimes we have moments in which we realize we can do literally whatever we want. That doesn't mean doing it won't have consequences; it just means we're not chained to that job, for example, or obligated to go to the gym (I'm telling this to myself because I skipped my workout today, of course).

So when that moment comes, our boss will be speaking to us and telling us something nasty, and we will quit on the spot, simply because we can.

Maybe it will be easier to find a new job if we don't have our current one. We will be motivated. We will wake up without alarms. We won't hear the voice of that person we don't get along with anymore, and we, most importantly, won't have to put up with it anymore.

Of course, I'm not advising anyone to do this; I understand there are situations where we simply can't afford it. I just wanted to shed light on those situations where we believe that we're trapped, but we're truly not, and we're actually one step away from freedom.

An office is not everybody's place, and we should stop acting like it is. We carry other people's expectations and wishes on our shoulders. You have to be very brave to realize that it is not the life you want, and no amount of money or success can make up for that.

Who told us happiness could only be found through that path?

The good news is that once you are away from all that buzz and opinions, all that's left is your inner knowing that you did the right thing and that you're enjoying your life. And that's priceless!

A kitten can stand in the middle of a mess it just made and still be the cutest thing in the room. That's what this Wednesday post is all about. However messy your week has been, these felines are the one thing that can make you forget about that and lift your mood. 

Being small makes every questionable decision more questionable and funny at the same time. A tiny kitten occupying your office chair looks like it has been promoted to a position it is unqualified to hold. Its feet don't reach the edge. It has no relevant experience either, but you would still trust it to run the meeting. You want to know what they are thinking when they feel daring enough to steal your chair while being so small. They surely have a lot of confidence despite using your stuff that is ten times their size. Whatever it is that makes them feel that way, it is undeniable that they deserve your chair. You could offer them the world if they asked for it, too. 

By Wednesday, a little of that ridiculous confidence is welcome. While you are overthinking that message you sent this morning, a kitten is attempting to drag away a slipper bigger than its body with zero second thoughts. The slipper isn't even moving, yet the kitten is really committed. You almost want to help them, despite the fact that it is your slipper that they stole, and you would like to, maybe, use it? Kittens are so cute you just let them do whatever they want. You love them, and they love you back in their ridiculous ways. That is all that matters at the end of the day.  

A little of that ridiculous kitten affection is welcome too. Who wouldn't feel better after seeing a kitten meme? This week's delivery brings 22 opportunities to share silly kitten love. Send them to that cat lover whose phone is already full of cats. They always need one more. 

Raising a kitten turns the smallest achievements into important news. If a meal goes well, you want to tell somebody. If a little paw reaches toward you, you leave whatever you are doing for later. Your baby cat needs you, and there's nothing more important than that.

Cat parents who have cared for a young kitten understand why an ordinary moment of play deserves its place in the camera roll. Soon, your baby will grow, and you'll have only the pictures to remember how small it once was. The orange kitten in this story had a difficult beginning. The rescuer explains that his cat mother gave birth on the street and then didn't accept him. For some reason, the mom rejected the poor kitty, and he needed attention. We don't need to turn the mother into a villain. This is pretty common when a cat mom gives birth, but luckily, someone stepped in. 

Feeling sorry for a kitten takes a second. It is very different to take responsibility for him and continue to care for him after the first rush of emotion. Well, the rescuer becomes pretty much involved in the life of this orange buddy. And how could he not? He was compelled by this cute kitten. The kitty would have earned any cat lover's love by the look of those sweet eyes. 

When you adopt a baby cat, you're accepting that your clothes, hands, and lap are now available for daily entertainment. Your hoodie strings are meant for playtime, and your lap has nap potential at all times. You start making small accommodations without noticing. You leave a blanket on your couch because your kitten likes it better that way. You wake up and walk carefully because tiny paws can be following you. And the first time your kitten comes over to sit beside you feels so exciting that you have to take a picture of it.  

Buying a new farm comes with enough challenges. Over 60 cats are over 60 challenges that the new owners did not sign up for. 

Buying a new property is hard enough. Even if the place looks perfect, you know that there will be issues. Because there always are. A leaky faucet, perhaps. Bedbugs if you're extra unlucky. All kinds of things can go wrong. And when you do it, when you make the plunge, the investment, you kind of have to be prepared for everything. Except that we don't think that any new farm owner could have prepared themselves for finding so many stray cats on their property. 

Finding one abandoned cat on your property is already a big deal. You have to decide whether to adopt, rehome or ignore. Every cat comes with its own story, its own habits, and its own difficulties with finding a home. Finding homes for 60 barn cats… sounds kind of like a cosmic joke. But for 40AcresOfFreedom on Reddit, it was reality. But instead of giving up, these owners did something ameowzing. They took on the mission of capturing each and every one of these stray cats and finding them all homes. And even though it took over two years, they have finally done it. These are the kind of people that we need more of in this world. 

No matter how scared of humans it might be, a cat in need will sometimes risk it and ask for help. It's up to us not to disappoint them. 

If you own a cat, then you will learn this at some point or another: cats do not show us when they need our help. A sick cat - even your house cat - will hide their pain from you. That is simply part of how they are. It's instinctive for them not to show weakness, even to us. Part of what being a good cat owner means is paying attention to your cat all the time, noticing any little change that might indicate they are not feeling well. If your cat is suddenly not eating the same way as before, or drinking less water, or is less cuddly. Any change in behavior is an indicator that something might be wrong. This is about house cats. Stray cats are an entirely different beast to deal with. 

Most stray cats inherently don't trust humans. If you've ever tried gaining the trust of a stray cat, then you know just how hard it actually is, how much work and time it takes. For a stray cat to ask for help from a human, it needs to overcome not one but two obstacles: its fear of humans and its instinct to not appear weak. A lot of stray cats simply never do it. And we think this is part of why stray cats live shorter lives than house cats. If they knew they had someone trustworthy to turn to for help, maybe they would do it more often. But some cats… take the risk. Some cats, at their worst moment, when they can tell that they will not survive much longer on their own, turn to humans. After that, there is only one shot. One chance. Break their trust now, and they will never come back. It is up to us to give them the help that they ask for, to show them that some humans are good and trustworthy and deserving of their fluffy love and affection. 

Is there anything better than the smell of pumpkin spice wafting through the air to pair with some hissterical, brainless orange cats? We think not.

Everybody loves summer. Sure, summer is great, I guess - if you like being constantly sweaty and enjoy walking in a swimming pool of humidity every day. Me, purrsonally, I love fall. Fall is so much more comforting than summer. Comfy sweaters, pumpkin spice everything, and the leaves changing just makes me feel at home. So, now that it's officially September, it's time for us to move on from summer and welcome in autumn with open paws.

Fall is a multi-colored season. It can be bright, blue, and sunny one day, and dark and stormy the next. So, in honor of this cozy season that contains oranges, browns, and everything in between, we curated a heartwarming (mostly) orange cat collection. Why mostly orange cats? Because orange is one of the colors that represents fall the most - think pumpkin spice lattes, jack-o'-lanterns, and the colors of the leaves changing. 

That's why this article is mostly orange. It has all the sweetness of orange cats, with some other kitties thrown in there to round out the full feeling that is fall feline cuteness. Kittens, bonded pairs taking naps together, and sugary kitty cuties are meant to give you the feeling of snuggling up with your cats as the weather changes without actually having to be there. That means that, no matter where you're reading this, you'll have that feeling of home to carry with you throughout your day. Because we all know that home is where your heart is, and our hearts belong to our cats.

Time to put your swimsuits away and take out your sweaters - PSL season is upon us!

The kitten was found alone on the street, following people around, but no one decided to take him. Until one person saw him and took him home. Sometimes the update you want to know is that simple. A stray kitten found his forever home.

By the end of his journey, he is a happy, healthy cat with a place of his own. That ending is a relief to know before watching because you can follow his story knowing that someone helps him and that the care continues beyond the rescue. Most of the time, we don't know what happens to an animal after the rescue. This time, the little cat gets a chance to grow up, and we get to see what becomes of him. 

It is easy to become invested in a kitten within seconds. Suddenly, you want to know if he found a home, if he is doing well, and whether the next chapter of his life is kinder than the first. Here, the video leaves no questions unanswered. We see the animal in trouble, wonder what happened afterward, and we get the complete story. This heartwarming story is not a trailer for the movie; this is the full movie. 

As time passes, the kitten becomes an adult cat. You know that nostalgia you feel when you see old photos of your pets. Your cat changes little by little every day, and you don't even notice how quickly they grow up until you see an old photo and wonder how the cat beside you was ever that small. With a rescued animal, those early pictures also hold the circumstances of your first meeting. It's part of a family history you couldn't have predicted. Documenting how you changed a kitten's life must feel really heartwarming.   

Talk about yikes!

In some industries, you know that you'll have to stop eventually because it's too hard on your body. You can't be a construction worker until you're 80 because your body literally cannot handle it, even if you want to work for that long. The same goes for professional dancers. Some people can dance into their 70s and 80s, but that doesn't mean they can maintain the schedule and routine that Broadway dancers in their 20s and 30s do. It's just not possible. 

Changing careers in your 40s because you can no longer do back-breaking work is totally different than getting hurt on the job in a way that nobody could've predicted. If you're a professional basketball player, you know that there's a possibility that you could tear your ACL during a game. If you work in an office, you do not expect that the light fixture in your office is going to fall on your head and break your neck. Both injuries can be life-ruining and devastating, but the latter isn't typical in a sedentary profession. 

It's so scary to think that one injury can change the trajectory of your life. An AC unit could fall on your head while you're walking down the street, and you may never be able to work again. You could become dependent on the care of another in the blink of an eye, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it! The woman in this story might never be the same again after her accident, and it seems like her coworkers only care that she's a less productive employee. At least one coworker is empathetic toward her. 

If you find a lonely kitten in the middle of a country road, are you obligated to adopt it? 

Once you see a kitten, tiny and alone where no tiny thing should ever be, the decision has basically already been made for you. You can tell yourself you are "just checking" or "just making sure she is safe," but we all know how this story ends. The kitten knows it too. She has known since the meowment you made eye contact with her.

There is something about finding a baby animal in need that activates every protective instinct in the hooman body. Suddenly, your crucial errands aren't so important anymore.The quiet routine you had for the rest of the day gets completely rewritten by a creature small enough to fit in your hands, yet somehow loud enough to rearrange your whole life.

Originally posted on @jennifercarlton72's Instagram page, this wholesome kitten rescue is more than just a rescue. It was the beginning of a new chapter in Jennifer's life. She and her husband had their routine, and their life was more or less predictable… until Junie showed up. This smol kitten she rescued breathed new life into their days. Their meowrnings became filled with cuddles and tiny claws underneath bedsheets. Their evenings became impromptu playtimes and attempting to handle Junie's meowtrageously cute zoomies. 

Sometimes, life gets quiet without us even noticing. Routine becomes predictable. Then one tiny kitten arrives on a country road and reminds everyone that love can still show up unexpectedly, meowing loudly for dinner. It doesn't get more purrfect than that.

A self-appointed neighborhood code enforcer attempted to "fine" a non-member for having front door painted what they considering to be an affronting color. This perceived affront had already led to a confrontation between the two, but the neighbor refused to let the matter go.

Don't get me wrong, I love following a good rule. For example, if I go to a community pool and there are a bunch of rules listed in the entry way, you bet I'm going to follow each and every one to the letter. I might even feel a mild air of superiority for doing so and turn my nose up at those who aren't doing the same.

If it wasn't this toxic, it would be almost touching about a company that treats a Glassdoor review as its greatest legal emergency, like a former employee describing screaming managers and high turnover is not a warning sign but an act of treason. 

Instead of asking why someone left after a month and felt compelled to tell future applicants what the place was like, the business chose a classic management solution: send a threatening email, demand silence within 24 hours, and hope fear performs the work. Instead of, say, decent leadership.

Companies like this one seem to believe they have discovered a brilliant loophole in reality. The review did not name names, except the company's of course, but it turns out it was detailed enough that the people could recognize themselves, which is awkward because that is generally how criticism works. If a person reads a description of their own workplace culture and immediately thinks, "This is definitely us," the issue is most likely NOT that an anonymous former employee wrote it.