Foolish children think they can solve grown-up woes by launching pep talk hotline

One of the best things about kids is that they usually don’t have a large enough frame of reference to understand just how terrible the world can truly be. With only a bit of life experience behind them, their tiny, still-developing minds might think that dropping an ice cream cone is an apocalyptic event or that the internet going out during an episode of their favorite show is tantamount to their house burning down.

With this in mind, we present what could be either the best or worst form of self-help we’ve heard of to date: A pep talk hotline created by kindergartners.

NPR detailed the creation of Peptoc, which looks to help callers by providing them with sage advice from little people who only recently learned how to poop in a toilet instead of their pants. The hotline, we learn, was made by students at West Side Elementary in California with guidance from teachers Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss. The idea came from Weiss being “inspired by her students’ positive attitudes, despite all they’ve been through” across years filled with wildfires and a pandemic.