Parenting Contents Archive

Having my own family is making me reevaluate my birth family

I really didn't see this coming, but now that we're out of the newborn stage (LO is 6 months) and settling into parenthood I've been thinking a lot about the family I grew up in. I never realized how dysfunctional my family was and it makes me kind of sad thinking about it now. My relationship with my mum has improved since I had my daughter and she loves her grandbaby. But my dad and my sister don't really seem that interested in her so I'm thinking maybe it's just time to move on from them. My daughter's father is such a great partner. I'm so thankful for him and I just really hope we can keep our own little family healthy and happy. Has having a baby brought these feelings up for anyone else?

My 6 month old only naps for 30 minutes

I’m talking 30 minutes at most. Lately we’ve been hitting 20ish minutes way more. She sleeps great at night (11-12 hours) and has been sleep trained in her crib. But how do I help her get the daytime sleep she desperately needs? When she wakes up I feed her, change her, play with her, change her again before putting her down. We’re really conscious of her wake windows and getting her lots of activity. But I think it’s slowly driving her, me and my husband absolutely nuts.

Studies find that we fixate far more on kids’ deficits instead of their assets. In fact,77% of us think that child's lowest grade always deserves the most time & attention.Yet strengths are areas where kids have most potential for greatness! Don't stress weakness.

We cannot ask students to solve the issues of climate change, systemic racism, and economic inequality on their own. What we can do is localize the implications of these issues and foster stronger connections to our communities. @edutopia https://t.co/VezppCZfoR

While you're writing out all your to-dos! Or your affirmations :). Let's teach our children to do the same. https://t.co/qILYH3cLFO

Late afternoon lull

Advice/semi-rant🤪 I’m not a SAHM but I my career does offer a lot of time off with my children. I love the mornings off with them and the evenings are fun too! Am I alone in the thinking that the 2-4 pm time is brutal? 😂 By that time, my creativity tank is low, my kids have already had enough screen time so the mom guilt sinks in, it’s too early to start cooking, my kids are bored and looking for things to do? They don’t nap anymore but I feel like I need a nap during this time😂. It doesn’t matter which season it is either. What do you guys do during this time? How do you get through the long afternoons? Send HELP, lol!

Daycare Parents - are you worried about speech?

Are any daycare parents out there worried about speech given the teachers wear masks? I feel like such a big part of learning to talk is seeing their mouth move… is anyone else worried or not worried about it? I’m not a doctor or anything but I am curious if it should concern me.

Do the rose colored glasses ever come off?

My ex is a pretty textbook mostly-absent Disneyland Dad, and naturally the kids see him as the favorite parent because he doesn't have rules, takes them places, and spoils them when he does occasionally see them once a year (or less). I never speak ill of my ex and my kids have no idea how badly he ever treated me, or even how his actions have impacted them because I've been there to clean up the mess and carry the weight. I've always heard that "the kids will understand when they're older" but does anyone have any actual examples or experience of this happening? Any stories to give me some light at the end of the tunnel when the kids talk about how much they love Dad and want to see him while I have to secretly know that he's a deadbeat who won't take that responsibility?

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At what point (if ever) should we be considered about excessive working out in a teenager?

My 14 year old plays football in the fall, wrestles in the winter, and plays lacrosse in the spring and summer. For Christmas he asked for some workout equipment. Our garage is slowly becoming a home gym. He has weights, boxing gloves and a punching bag, kettlebells, resistance bands, jump ropes, a bench press, and a pull up bar so far. He spends a lot of time in their working out. I come and check on him throughout the day and he's always doing fine. When he isn't in the "gym" he's either playing sports with friends or biking, skateboarding, running. He used to go to the gym but doesn't right now because of Covid. I am not upset by this and am glad he's healthy but is this normal? I know that body image issues can present differently in boys. Is constantly working out a sign of something more or is this a normal teen boy thing? Thanks guys.

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I love my son so much it hurts 😭

Basically the title. I had a traumatic hard pregnancy and birth to be honest, I did not think I could feel like this… probably because I’ve never felt like this. But I literally love my son so much I literally sit and cry about it because I’m overwhelmed. When I can’t soothe him I cry, not out of frustration but because my baby is unhappy. I don’t want to share him because I love him so much I don’t want to lose any seconds with him. This is all literally 3 days postpartum. Am I normal?!🥺

Golden Age of Babyhood

I think we've found it for us. How about you? 5 months. This is our second time around, I think might be even better than the first ❤ She's sleep trained so naps and overnight are completely manageable. She's nurses well and eats from a bottle well too. We combo feed, breastfeed without stress. With her eating and sleeping well she is a total delight during the day. Smiles all the time especially at me (mom). Even big sis has gotten into making baby laugh and playing with her. She's not mobile yet so I don't have to worry about her getting into things. She'll even tolerate wearing a cute headband with a bow on it without ripping it off, ha! It seems that the newborn struggles have melted away and now it's just all good.

Can baby give themselves baby shaking syndrome?

Normally baby goes to sleep pretty easily, but last night we quit the magic sleep suit cold turkey. So we are experiencing something new- a bit of fighting sleep (we won’t let him fight longer than 10 minutes and so far the longest he has attempted to fight is 6 minutes). He shakes his head side to side, lifts his legs and slams them down (which moves his head). Anyone else experience this? I worry he will hurt himself.

Is this normal?

I absolutely love my baby, but when she starts to wake up from a nap, I get annoyed, even if it was a decent length. Is this a normal feeling? Then i start to feel guilty that I don’t get excited to spend time with her. I’m 6 wpp and on high alert about PPD.