Parenting Contents Archive

advice wanted: toddler meltdowns at dinner

Advice wanted. I have a wonderful 3 year old that simply turns into a monster every day at dinner time and wails, screams, and refuses to eat anything. This is incredibly stressful and especially disappointing when I make the family a nice dinner after working all day. Even going out to eat is met with screaming all through the car ride. We are patient with our child and try to talk out why we are upset. That fails, spectacularly, every night. We never yell or put our toddler in a time out. How did/do you handle meal tantrums? I'm losing patience with this behavior and need to try something else. The behavior is driving me nuts and turning an otherwise relaxing evening into a loud, miserable hour. Help me save dinner.

It’s just been one of those days….

Ive got 3 kids 3 and under and can I just say….it’s been a DAY… That’s all, no long post, no rant (I don’t have the energy), just about to demolish this with a spoon.

I’m really proud of the decision to try something different than what I expected (and what I was expected) to do. I’m so happy here, and I’ve had so many great experiences specific to this university. #FridayThoughts https://t.co/b3EWPIOPQW

Baby woke up with little bites on his leg? Any ideas?

A purple monkey in a bubblegum tree?

Am I over reacting?

My son is 12. He is a great kid. He really is. He has this tendency to be sneaky and I’m not sure how to deal with this and if I’m over reacting. He says I’m stricter than his other parents and I legit don’t know if I suck as a parent or I am on point. Here is an example. He had his electronics taken away but asked if he could text his friend from school about a project they were working on. I said yes. Then I looked at his phone a bit later and saw he had also texted another friend. I got upset and took away electronics for the week. Am I in the wrong here? I feel like I may have over reacted but I need to be able to trust him, especially as he is getting older and going to be in tough situations. What do you guys think?

Am I responsible for reaching out to grandparents for them to come to visit their grandkid

My husband's dad and stepmom always complain to everyone in the family that they never see our kids. Yet, they have only asked ONCE in the past three years of our two girls' lives to have us 'drop them off' to play. We couldn't as we were on our way to Breakfast with Santa. Am I responsible for reaching out to grandparents for them to come to visit their grandkids? Side: We only see them for birthdays and certain holidays (as we are still flipping every other year between the divorced set of parents) they never reach out between those. When we had our firstborn they stopped inviting us to birthdays/holidays and started celebrating separately with us instead... ex: Easter they came and dropped off goodies but when I asked what they were doing the rest of the day they said they were having the rest of their kids and spouses over for a lunch. This has changed as my baby grew into a toddler for some reason.

Evidence of Belly Oil/Stretch Mark Cream?

24 weeks pregnant and I have a bunch of friends telling me to start the belly oil. Everything that I have read has made it seem like it’s genetic and there’s no real evidence that oils can help defend against them. I tried searching here, but didn’t see any previous discussion on it. Any input from you all, my science based friends?

My Awesome 14 Year Old

I need to brag about my daughter for a minute because I'm so proud of her. She's been In ballet since she was 4, she's actively preparing to test into her first professional level. She dances 4.5 hours every week. She works part time (for fun money, Saturdays only with my moms dental office, filing etc.). Last night, she told my husband and I she wants to help her dance teacher on Tuesday as a TA to help her with the Littles. On top of that, she's really funny, quirky, and loves to bake. She knows the importance of savings and is working to have her Emergency fund of $500 completed BUT she's very generous, a generous tipper (when she buys boba) and generous to her friends (gifting them random things). I'm just so proud of her! (Don't me wrong, we do have attitude, eye rolls, sass and sibling issues, but she's an awesome kid)

It's starting...

My 9 year old son is emotionally young for his age, the youngest kid in his class, and generally a lovable cuddly goofball. So color me surprised when I went to check on him after bed time last night and he hastily hid his ipad under the covers. Since he is not smooth -at all- my spidey senses were immediately tingling. I grab the ipad and he bursts into tears. I'm looking at it and the little goober has figured out how to evade the parental protections by downloading "samples" of books from the bookstore. Apparently there are "art" books that are basically racy lingerie. I am both embarrassed for him and trying to hold back laughter and also furiously googling better parental protections. I know this is just the start of the awkward I am going to experience for him but damn, I wasn't ready.

Define Masculinity with Love, Wisdom, Not Violence https://t.co/gi6WEhb8gb #CityDads #dadlife #parenting

Do you have rules on what kind of movies/shows your children watch?

My daughter is 1 so I won’t have to worry about it for a little but im curious to other parents rules on tv. I want to have rules on what my daughter can watch but I don’t want to be too strict and be one of those parents that don’t allow her to watch anything her peers are watching 😭 but I feel like now so many kids watch mature content and barely watch age appropriate stuff. My two nieces (they’re 9 & 10) watch Ginny and Georgia, Shameless, You, pretty much all of the popular Netflix shows and they were caught watching euphoria with their friends before and they say everyone in their class watches it and idk I feel like those shows are so inappropriate for their age and they shouldn’t even know what it is. Do you let your kids watch whatever they want? Or do you have rules? If you do what is a reasonable age do you think to watch those things? I know I can’t keep it from her forever but I just want her to have a good childhood and not be exposed to that so young

Naked around kids

When did you stop showering with/changing clothes around your kids? My 2.5 yr old is very conscious of nipples, his and everyone else's. His penis etc. We are slowly ramping up to potty training and he comes in with us when we use the bathroom. Today he points at my crotch while peeing and says that's like dadda's hair. I don't know if this is already the end for us.

Dying pet, very sick child, single mom. Wwyd?

I have an elementary schooler with a fever of 103, and our elderly family pet is looking extremely grim. The kid’s dad is unavailable to help. I can take the pet tomorrow morning, but I worry he won’t last the night. Do I drag my sick child over tonight to help get the pet out of pain asap? Or wait until tomorrow when the kid might be a little better, leaving the pet in pain? The pet is more than twice the life expectancy for his breed so there’s a good chance he won’t come home. I’m not ready to let him go but it’s probably his time. I’m waiting to hear back from the vet if we can give otc pain meds for now.

This is a really morbid question, but... If a baby asphyxiates, can you tell that they are in trouble?

I'm watching my newborn happily sleeping in a rocker. If there's a problem with airflow do they struggle, does their face go red? Does their head flop noticibly down? Or do they just look normal with nothing to hint there is a problem? I know this is a morbid question, I'm afraid to google it though. Thanks for reading