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Why These Teens Are Crashing Toddler Playtime — And What Tiny Humans Are Teaching Them About Adulting (Spoiler: It’s Hilarious)

Added on September 5, 2025 inASTROLOGY CARDS

Ever wonder what toddlers and teens have in common these days—besides an occasional sugar rush and a knack for throwing tantrums? With Mercury doing its little dance through Gemini, communication hiccups seem to be the cosmic norm, and boy, are teens feeling the squeeze. Their social skills are getting as rusty as an old gate, and school attendance? Let’s just say it’s taking a nosedive. Enter a charming UK program where frazzled teens get a social-life reboot by hanging out with toddlers—those tiny, unfiltered maestros of human interaction. It sounds hilariously upside-down, but these mini-mentors might just be the social gurus teens need to find their footing again. Who knew that the key to growing up could be hiding in a sandbox? Dive into this heartwarming story and see how laughter, learning, and a little bit of unexpected guidance are changing lives. LEARN MORE

Many people would agree that teens are struggling these days. After having their worlds turned upside down by the COVID pandemic and growing up in a society that is obsessed with instant gratification, many are struggling with basic social skills. Their school attendance rates are also dropping.

Of course, things like social skills and school attendance are necessary for any teen who wants to become a successful adult. Because of that, some charities are stepping in and creating programs that create interventional strategies for teens to get the help they need to develop these skills.

In one program in the UK, teens are visiting a nursery school once a week to learn from the toddlers there.

BBC News reporter Yasmin Rufo wrote about the sweet relationships developing between these teens and their toddler counterparts as they learn social skills from them and attend school more regularly because of their time together. The program was devised by Power2, a charity that stated their vision is “to see a world where all children and young people — no matter their background and challenges — can thrive and reach their full potential.”

PixelsMD Production | Shutterstock

The program is based in London and Manchester and has the goal of increasing school attendance for teens. Rufo said, “This particular project works across a 16-week period where teenagers visit a local nursery once a week and mentor a child.” Although, from what students have said, it sounds like the toddlers might be doing more of the mentoring.

Teens reported that the program has been helpful for them.

Rufo shared the story of Siena, a 13-year-old who struggled with attending school because of anxiety. She was dubious as to whether the program would actually be helpful for her, but her attendance rate has more than doubled since she started spending time with her toddler each week.

“Coming here has taught me more about how to communicate and be more confident, and it’s funny a toddler is teaching us things,” she noted. “It’s really helped me. The toddler I’m paired with has grown so much, and it makes me so happy to see.”

12-year-old Miller is another (almost) teen who has benefited from the program. He has a difficult time in school because of an excess of energy, but he said he is now able to concentrate more fully after spending time with the toddler he was paired with, 3-year-old Andrew.

Miller said that he was reluctant to agree to the program, but he’s glad he did. “I was a bit nervous and it took me two weeks to say yes to the project as I was really shy,” he said. But now, his relationship with Andrew has become quite special. He added, “When he sees me, he runs up to me and gives me a hug.”

School avoidance has become a real problem for teens.

HealthyChildren.org, a website published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, defined school avoidance, also known as school refusal or school phobia, as “when a child regularly resists going to school. Kids may outright refuse to attend or create reasons why they should not go.”

Monstera Production | Pexels

Rufo reported that school avoidance has become a much bigger problem since the pandemic. In the U.K., 17.79% of students missed 10% or more school days in the most recent school year. As for the U.S., Yale Medicine estimated that 10 to 15% of students meet this threshold of “chronic absenteeism.”

More for You:

Kids just don’t want to go to school, so they’re not doing so. But programs like this one from Power2 are helping. Seventy-eight percent of the students involved reported having better attitudes about learning afterward. Expanding programs like this and making them international would probably be very helpful for teens. Sometimes, you just need to connect with someone a little different from you to put everything in perspective.

Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.