Parenting Contents Archive

Neighbor confronted me when I was outside with my toddler, without the baby. Thoughts?

My toddler and I spend the baby’s nap times outside playing in the yard. Baby is checked on every 5 minutes through the monitor. We don’t leave the yard unless we are playing in the road right in front of the house. We live on a quiet street in a large, safe neighborhood on the outskirts of a small town. I have no issue allowing my baby to nap inside while we play outside. My neighbor made a big deal out of this yesterday when he asked where the baby was while we were out. Said I was lucky he didn’t call the police on me for endangering my child. I was honestly shocked. Am I crazy for doing this? I feel like it’s a totally acceptable thing to do, but maybe I’m wrong. What’s your thoughts?

Moms, what’s a way your body permanently changed after pregnancy that you didn’t expect?

I can’t regulate my body temperature for shit anymore, personally. I’m always either blazing hot(mostly hot) or freezing cold. I am NEVER just okay anymore. I had my child over a year ago, it took forever to get past the miserable hot flashes(which no one tells you about) but even though I don’t get them anymore. I still can’t ever feel comfortable temperature wise. I’m SO HOT ALL THE TIME and the very few times I’m not I’m absolutely freezing. It sucks.

"We need a system where we can treat teachers and other school staff like adult professionals who can manage their own lives and time," @simonrodberg argues in this @EdSurge piece. https://t.co/qB0hzyP5dg

January can feel like a long, dark, and boring month. The best way to beat those blahs? Get outside and play! Seriously. It has a huge benefit in so many ways - including your outlook! Here are 10 ways to beat the January blahs through outdoor play: https://t.co/lgmBQQ0Onj https://t.co/wTpxbrBvBz

Continually amazed at how well reverse psychology works on my 4 year old

Actual conversations that we have almost every day: Child: \*Does potty dance for 5 minutes or so\* Me: "Hey \[name\], looks like you might need to go potty!" Child: "No, I don't." Me: "Well, I need to go potty REALLY badly and I hope no one beats me there because I want to go first." Child: \*races to the potty to beat me and then uses the potty\* ​ Child: "I don't like pineapple." Me: "Okay, can I eat yours?" Child: "No." \*eats all his pineapple\* We use the potty trick in particular 3-4 times and day, and it works every.single.time. I'm honestly a little amazed it hasn't lost its effectiveness for months. How else do you employ reverse psychology on your kids?

Sounds about right 🤦 #parenting https://t.co/ivljsvNcfh

Kids school decides to put all my kids in the same class.

I requested to have my quadruplets split up in a way where there is two of them in each class, no matter how it is done. My reasoning is I need them to be functional when apart as they spend so much time together. And today when it's my kids first day at school for there parent teacher meeting, I find that three of my kids are in one class, and one is in another, now I fear he will be left out, so when I reasonably explained my fears and asked where the best place to talk to someone to see if we can fix, and my kids (3 kids) teacher tells me its not possible and I will just have to deal with it? She even said it passive aggressively. Great now I have to talk to the principal about it

How Finland keeps kids focused through free play! https://t.co/S1vx0KOBSQ #education #playmatters

Is non-toxic kids makeup really non-toxic?

My son is four years old and really likes to wear my makeup and it has to have colors because he wants to look “pretty”. I don’t have a problem at all with him wearing makeup and I’m totally supportive of breaking gender norms. My concern is that I recently saw a study about the chemicals in makeup being absorbed through the skin. For what it’s worth, he mainly just wants to wear eyeshadow and blush, but I’m guessing these still have those chemicals, but I can’t really find out. Anyway, I see that there are advertised non-toxic makeup for kids, but are these really non-toxic? Has anyone had to look into this with their own kids? I’m open to any opinions/facts about the toxicity of makeup. I am not open to opinions about whether my son should be allowed to wear makeup due to his gender. Thanks!

Footies with regular zippers need to be cancelled.

First off just need to preface this post with a note that this is obviously sarcasm. But the source of my mom pain!! Inverted zippers and snaps are the way - the ONLY way. Why are regular zippers even still a thing? No baby wants to get completely naked for a diaper change. Give me the ability to access just the booty! I’m shocked at how difficult it is to find inverted zippers. Cloud island from target are my favorite with inverted zippers, and KicKee Pants are my favorite with snaps. If you have any other brands or suggestions to check out, drop them below and help a fellow mama out!

Having a difficult time with my house being a mess.

Just hoping to find some solidarity and maybe reassurance that it's not as bad as it seems to have a messy house sometimes. It's so difficult to keep up on it with a baby. Don't get me wrong, I adore my son and love him more than anything else in this world. I just don't know how to accept that I may not have the house as clean as I'd like for a while. I've been diagnosed with OCD due to a very neglectful and dirty childhood, so mess hits me different at times. So, care to share your messy house story with me?

Becoming Dad is a Transformation of Life, Self-Knowledge https://t.co/OLylS4JyMG by @Dadcation of @ATLDadsGroup #CityDads #DadLife #Parenting

“When you ask young children to take a deep breath, many don’t really know how to slowly pace their inhale and exhale, if they haven’t had any training." @GreaterGoodSC @seespect https://t.co/FUr4he9vSX

Fed is best, but my baby just got his first bottle of formula today and I feel unexpectedly devastated.

Breastfeeding is the one thing only I can do for him and no one else. I love looking down and making eye contact with him while he suckles. But apparently he's allergic to cow's milk and soy so he needs formula until all the dairy and soy are out of my system. I cried giving him his first bottle of formula today, possibly because I know being vegetarian, dairy, and soy-free isn't going to be sustainable for me and that even if formula is temporary this time, I'm probably not going to make it a whole year of breastfeeding on such a restricted diet once I go back to it. (Just to be clear I don't care what other people feed their babies. These are just my personal feelings right now on my situation)

What pleasantly surprised you about parenthood?

What were the best and most unexpected things about parenthood? In what ways did you prepare for the worst, and then were disproven? Obviously these won't be true of every parent, but share your favourite things! Everyone warned me that having a baby would put a strain on my relationship, but my partner and I are actually closer and happier than before we had a baby. I was also prepared for sleep deprivation, and then my baby ended up being an amazing sleeper.