Heroic parents, cute kids and a feisty grandma: The 11 most inspiring parenting stories of 2022
From terrifying hurricanes to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, events from the past year packed plenty of emotion for parents.
But even during the year's darkest moments, inspiring stories kept on emerging. Here are some of our most moving real-life tales from the parenting trenches in 2022.
1. During Hurricane Ian, a mom swam out her front door with her baby in a plastic storage bin
When Hurricane Ian flooded Callie Brown and Chad Duckwall's Florida home in September, the married couple went into "survival mode."
As the water rose, Brown strapped their 3-month-old son Charlie into his car seat and dumped out plastic bins full of Halloween and Christmas decorations. She placed Charlie in one bin and her cat Tucker in the other.
The couple grabbed the bins and swam out their front door, careening into the street and hitting an RV parked at a two-level home, in which they maneuvered their way to safety.
After the hurricane subsided, they discovered that their home was "unlivable,” Brown told TODAY.com in October.
“Just muck and mud. Our couch was on our kitchen counter and our roof took extensive wind damage,” she said at the time.
In a follow-up interview, Brown tells TODAY.com that her family is still "taking it one day at a time" while renting a local condo.
"I have flashbacks of the water rising in our house and swimming down our road," she says. "I definitely struggle with some anxiety. ... The whole thing makes you appreciate life more. I’m so thankful we’re all alive and that we get to watch Charlie grow."
2. A breastfeeding mom fought off a bald eagle to protect her pet goose
In May, Canadian mom Cait Oakley was breastfeeding her daughter Willow when she heard her pet goose Frankie making noise. She looked out the window and saw a bald eagle flying around her beloved pet.
Oakley raced outside — wearing only a pair of underwear and with her 4-month-old baby still nursing — and chased the bird, which was dragging Frankie. The eagle finally dropped the goose and flew away.
The family's doorbell camera recorded the dramatic incident, which Oakley's husband shared on social media.
Oakley didn't mind the footage being shared.
"I could have been naked and I’m like, 'Whatever, I’m feeding my baby,'" the mom of three told TODAY.com in June. "That was a part of life."
In a follow-up interview, Oakley tells TODAY.com that the eagle has not returned since goose Frankie's brush with death. Frankie is doing "great" and "living her best life," she says.
3. A boy with autism found confidence in an unlikely phrase: ‘Let’s go, Brandon’
A boy with autism misinterpreted the anti-President Biden phrase “Let’s go, Brandon” in the most empowering way.
Brandon Brundidge, now 10, deals with challenges in his daily life, his mom, Sheletta Brundidge of Minnesota, told TODAY.com in June.
“He’s very fearful of a lot of things — you know, like being around and talking to people,” she said. “And he stutters, so he will talk with his hand over his mouth — he thinks that he can catch the stutters as they come out.”
During a family vacation to Houston in March, Brandon noticed signs that read “Let’s go, Brandon.” The phrase originated in October 2021 when NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast interviewed race car driver Brandon Brown at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The crowd was chanting, “F--- Joe Biden,” which she suggested was, “Let’s go, Brandon.”
“We were in an RV park, and my son kept saying, ‘Mom, these people here love me!’ And I was like, ‘Boy, what are you talking about?’” Brundidge told TODAY.com. “And he said, ‘They got my signs up everywhere! They were waiting for me to get here!’ I just saw this sudden confidence come over him.”
Brundidge didn’t have the heart to tell her son the phrase was “really a rallying cry to insult the president.”
When Brandon’s confidence grew by the day, Brundidge had inspiration for her next children’s book, which she titled, “Brandon Spots His Sign.”
The mom sent President Biden a copy of her new book, published in April — and he wrote back, commending Brandon for his courage.
In a follow-up interview, Brundidge tells TODAY.com that because Brandon is so confident, he lost his stutter and stopped speech therapy.
Brandon also has become friends with Brown, the race car driver. Brundidge says they speak often, and Brandon keeps a picture of Brown by his bedside.
“I never wanted Brandon to lack confidence or have trouble communicating,” Brundidge says. “His story offers hope that things can, and will, get better. “
4. A 13-year-old girl published a book about her mother's deportation
Estela Juarez, 13, was inspired to write a children's book when her mother, Alejandra Juarez, who was living in the U.S. as an undocumented citizen, was deported to Mexico.
“I wanted to get people to listen, especially legislators, and make changes in immigration laws,” Estela told TODAY.com in September on the day Macmillan published her picture book, “Until Someone Listens,” co-written with Lissette Norman.
Alejandra and her husband Temo raised their daughters, Estela and Pamela, 21, in Florida until Alejandra's secret came out during a traffic stop in 2013.
The mom was put under an order of supervision (a waiting period) but in 2018, she was deported. The family was separated for three years, excluding a period of time when Estela lived with her mom in Mexico.
In 2021, Alejandra was given a one-year humanitarian parole that expires in May 2023. Until then, the family is together.
Estela and her family participated in the 2019 Netflix series “Living Undocumented.” The teen also wrote about her mom to President Biden in a letter she read aloud during the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
"We are in the process for applying for the renewal of my Humanitarian Parole," Estela's mom tells TODAY.com. "If denied, I will have to return to Mexico on May 4, 2023. This time, Estela will be coming with me. Pamela and my husband will remain here and visit us as often as they can."
Estela is writing a chapter book for teens that describes her life in greater detail. "She is working on her seventh chapter," says Alejandra.
5. A grandma went viral for ranking her 10 grandchildren by their behavior
Don't get on the bad side of New Jersey firecracker Mary LaMorte — not even her grandchildren are spared her sarcasm.
In October, a comedian named Dan LaMorte made a TikTok video revealing his grandmother's "ranking" system, a wooden board to keep her 10 grandchildren in line.
The board hangs on the wall and holds magnets of their faces, which Mary re-arranges in accordance with their behavior.
“I’m number four, this is the highest I’ve ever been,” Dan said in the video. “I did just get two new tattoos though, so I’m a bit nervous about what that’s going to do for my ranking.”
In the footage, Mary gasps when Dan shows his ink.
"This is what I think of your new tattoos," she said, moving Dan's magnet to slot number 10.
The viral video, now with almost 4 million views, scored Dan points.
“I’m now at No. 3 because Nanny is excited about being an internet star. She’s giving me credit for that,” he told TODAY.com. “The day after the TikTok went viral, she went and got her hair and nails done.”
6. A father whose son was killed in the Uvalde shooting protested at Robb Elementary School for 10 days
Brett Cross lost his 10-year-old son Uziyah Garcia in the tragic Robb Elementary shooting in May.
In September, Cross camped outside the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District demanding (on behalf of himself and other victims' families) the suspension of district police officers until a third-party investigation was conducted.
In June, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw testified before a Senate committee that police response was an “abject failure and antithetical to everything we learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre.”
“I’m not backing down,” Cross told TODAY.com in an October phone interview from outside the district building on the 10th day of protest. “I’m a pissed-off dad who is going to do everything in his power to not let this happen to another child or another father or another mother.”
On Oct. 7, the school district suspended its entire police department, saying that “recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations.”
Following the news, Cross tweeted, “We did it! And we are going home!”
7. A single dad went viral for a video about needing a date to an amusement park
A single father who posted a TikTok video about his search for a date to an Ohio amusement park got sweet solicitations.
"Hello, I am currently looking for a plus-one to accompany my 15-year-old daughter, her friend and myself to Kings Island on Saturday, September 10,” Chris Cozad, 44, said in his August video.
Cozad had modest specifications: A non-smoking, single woman who was at least 34 years old and enjoyed roller coasters. "And someone who's as much fun as me," he joked.
"Don't let the gray hairs and the beard fool you," he added. “I do also have the 'Dad bod' to go with it. If that’s not enough incentive, this also comes with a Fast Lane Plus pass, so we can skip the roller coaster lines all day long."
The father of four received thousands of responses from TikTok and selected one bachelorette.
"She’s very private,” Cozad told TODAY.com in September. "But I will say, I liked the way she worded her response — her confidence came through."
In a video recorded at the theme park, Cozad introduced his date, Stephanie.
In a follow-up interview, Cozad tells TODAY.com that he and Stephanie had dinner before their date to Kings Island: "It was a pre-date, to make sure the other wasn't psycho."
They didn't fall in love, but Cozad made a new friend.
"I was looking to have fun with the video and while I needed a date, I wasn’t expecting anything," he says. "If it turned into a (relationship), that would have been all right."
Cozad is still single. With New Year's Eve approaching, would he look for love again? "Maybe," he says. "If my daughter helps me."
8. When no one RSVP'd to the birthday party of a little girl mourning her late mom, the internet stepped in
A few months after a young girl named Charlotte lost her mom Jennifer to brain cancer, her big sister Chloe Sexton planned a party for her eighth birthday. When only one child RSVP'd, Sexton went on TikTok.
"PSA .... if a kid in your child's class gives out birthday invitations, just come," Sexton said in the video. "It's like, an hour or two of your life. Please, just come."
After Sexton posted, the RSVPs came in.
"I had a family from Australia face-timing me asking what Charlotte liked and what they could send her," Sexton told TODAY.com in July.
“On the day of the party, kids just kind of showed up," she added. "Parents I had talked to just kept filing into my house and I was like, 'Welcome!' We had our garage and yard full of people. It was a packed house."
9. Many schools approved mental health days for students in 2022
With the pandemic throwing stress onto everyone's plate — children included — schools took action.
As reported by TODAY.com in July, 12 states began allowing excused absences for mental health days: Washington, Illinois, Colorado, California, Maine, Arizona, Nevada, Connecticut, Kentucky, Virginia, Oregon and Utah.
"When it comes to mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, those are also medical conditions that can interfere with anyone’s ability to function at work and at school,” Dr. Christine M. Crawford, the associate medical director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told TODAY.
Crawford encouraged parents to monitor their children's emotional state.
"It only takes two weeks of experiencing symptoms of low energy, poor sleep, poor concentration and having negative thoughts about yourself … to meet criteria for a depressive episode," she noted.
Mental health days don't all look the same, either.
"It could be baking a cake or watching Netflix — anything that allows your brain to get back to its baseline," she said.
10. A video of an adopted child spotting her mom at a school concert sparked joy
One toddler had a gleeful reaction when she noticed her adoptive mom in the audience of her school concert.
"Instead of singing, she kept pointing at me saying, ‘My mommy.’ So grateful I captured this beautiful moment," Genevieve Traversy of North Carolina captioned a TikTok video of her daughter, Amaris, originally posted in 2019 and again in 2022.
"I realized that if I shared the beauty in parenting, including foster care and adoption, I could help others," Traversy tells TODAY.com.
Amaris, who entered the foster system as a newborn, now has four siblings: Faith, 12, Isaiah, 14, Kahleb, 19 and JJ, 23.
In September, Traversy told TODAY.com that when Amaris came to live with her and her husband, she was shy.
"She’d never drank out of a cup before and she had a lot of fears — like she was terrified of taking baths and she didn’t like to be touched. She liked to bite," Traversy said. “We had to pour a lot, a lot, of love into her. There was quite a bit of crying — not just from her, but from all of us. It was hard.”
Traversy, who is a foster care recruiter, tells TODAY.com that Amaris has a "big personality."
"When you first meet her, she tends to be shy but when she gets to know you, she will talk your ear off," she says. "She enjoys dancing, singing, coloring, Barbies, baking and gymnastics. Her imagination often comes out when she colors or pretends to cook in her little kitchen."
People around the world have contacted Traversy to ask how they can adopt or become a foster parent.
"Helping children in foster care find a loving, forever home is my ultimate goal," she says.
11. A mother's musings on empty-nest syndrome touched hearts
As mother of six Karalynne Call helped her third son move out of the family home, she wrote down some last-minute reminders:
Eat fruits and vegetables daily, drink filtered water, make sure processed foods contain whole ingredients, keep your body moving, get eight hours of sleep, and remember that true health is mental, spiritual and emotional well-being.
The certified nutritionist shared the list on her Instagram page for her more than 800,000 followers. She captioned the post: "10 things I hope my kids know about health when they leave my home."
"As a newer parent, you’re figuring out how you want to raise your kids and what values you want to instill in them," Call tells TODAY.com. "As an empty nester, you’re reflecting back on the years you spent raising your kids to be the people they are today. In both instances, my post sparked emotions because at the core of it was something both types of parents are fiercely familiar with — what it means to love your kids."
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This article was originally published on TODAY.com
