Parenting Contents Archive

Just wondering why we teach or emphasize animal sounds

Just randomly curious why we teach or emphasize teaching animal sounds instead of focusing on the word. Is there any beneficial making the sound vs teaching the word?

Would you consider this abusive?

A family member gifted my 3.5 year old about 1000 dum dum lollipops. We have been using them as treats for good behavior as we have had some problems with her behavior. The problem comes when she really really wants one right now. She will ask repeatedly over and over. So I had the brilliant idea to throw one away every time she repeats her question. We haven’t gone past 2 thrown out before she gets the message. For the sake of my sanity, I needed this. However, I told the family member who gifted the lollipops, and she says that this is emotional abuse. I had no idea until it was brought up. I can see both sides of this argument. I’m just hoping other parents can weigh in with their opinions.

It’s an amazing thing

Finding somebody who treats your child as their own without any prompting or discussion. I’m currently a year and a half into a relationship with an amazing woman who loves my daughter as if she were her own. And my daughter also loves her, which is a big deal.

Pro tip: zip tie the bubble wand somewhere that the kid can't dump it out but can still dip it. You're welcome. Learned this after they dumped the third one out in the living room carpet

Charging rent questions.

My 19F daughter and her boyfriend 18M live with us. We are by no means rich. The boyfriends parents are wacka do and not involved. He pays for his own car insurance and gas but we pay for his food, let him use our laundry soap etc. He is starting work on Tuesday but has accumulated some debt from not working so I figure giving him until September to get that sorted is fair. My daughter will be finishing school in June and starting full time work in September. I would like to start charging them $200 each for rent (utilities split 4 ways equals $100 each) then $100 each for groceries. Does that sound fair? We have gone into some debt because of C19 and this will help get it paid off sooner. I'd love to be a parent that could put that money aside for them but we just can't 😔 not right now anyway. Any advice is appreciated.

Breast milk woes

So I just wanted to get this off my chest (heh), still unsure what I want to do. I just gave birth to my little girl on April 15; she was induced, so it took a minute to get my milk to come in. But now, only a week later, and I’m already drying up. I’m more upset than I care to admit about it. I can’t decide if I want to let my supply completely dry up, or if I want to keep fighting to breastfeed while I’m too large for my baby to latch proper. I hope this is the right sub, figured it be more appropriate than r/babybump. Sorry if it’s not, I just wanted to shout it out to the ether to see if anyone else is having this problem, or if I’m overreacting to natural fluctuation in my supply while LO is solely bottle-fed.

I'm loving all the vaccine stories. Tell me everything-- How was the line? Walk up or drive-thru? Did you cry with joy or hope or even fear? Say ouch? Did you think of your loved ones? How did you feel the next day? We are all witnessing history and it's a big effing deal.

Being "touched out" is something moms know intimately, especially now. Swipe through to find out what it means, and how to cope when you just really need a break from physical contact. 👉 To read more about feeling "touched out," tap the #linkinbio. 🎨: yedthzee

Nighttime is a disaster! Nothing we try works

I'm sitting here in the dark again holding my 10 month old, my wife has done it the last two times, this is our routine now, every night, goes asleep after been held for half hour sleeps for hour wakes up, roars, has to be held for half hour rinse repeat with mammy taking turns until 10 then I talk mammy into going to bed, maybe we get until 1 r 2 on a good night then mammy has to go into her and sleep beside her on the pull-out bed, she won't even entertain me. I feel like a single man at night my wife is never in bed with me, what are we doing wrong I don't feel like I can do much more of this, sometimes I just want to put baby in crib and walk out and let her cry it out, wife can't do that though. I feel like we are two ships passing each other, when we do get to sit down for while in evening we are both too tired and cranky, it's like jekyll and Hyde with the baby she's great during day, me and my wife both get a sense of dread once bed time approaches

Our 7 year old stabbed his brother today.

We have 2 boys, ages 9 and 7. Our 7 year old is constantly getting in trouble at school for talking, getting up, etc. Likely he's bored, he's very smart and is enrolled in GT to help engage him. My big issue is his inability to regulate his behavior, mostly at home. Today he and his brother were fighting over a damn pencil and his brother pulled at his shirt and hair. He responded by stabbing his brother in the head with the pencil. This is a new level of violence for him. The wound was pretty bad and bled a lot. For corrective actions we take away his beyblades and tablet when he acts up at home. He doesn't care. We tried rewarding him for good behavior at school but that didn't motivate him either. Is this behavior something that speaking with a counselor would help? Is this just because of his age and he'll mature and grow out of it? I'm scared he's going to do something violent at school or if he's on a play date. Thanks to those who have read this. Parenting is hard!

Unwanted Hugging: 3 year old perpetrator

My 3.5 year old daughter is a hugger. We aren't overly affectionate at home, but certainly not lacking hugs and snuggles. Recently her preschool teacher tells me she has been "hugging and hanging onto" friends too much. Example: during story circle time, she will saddle up next to a friend, lean over, and hold them around their waist during the story. Or put her head on their shoulder. The idea of it gives me a split reaction: "aww" and "yikes- that's weird". I've tried to tell her to high-five friends at school and just hug her family, but it doesn't seem to be working. She learns well from books. Any book recommendations on physical/social boundaries? Seems a little early to have to be dealing with this topic, but here we are.

Do your kids like Disney movies?

Maybe my priorities a little out of whack, and maybe I’ve thinking too much about this. My wife and I have been going back and forth about saving for future vacations and where we want to go. One of those places is Disney World. Neither of us have ever been, so I only really know as much about Disney World as my research and testimonies from my cousins have told me. The thing is, if I make a bunch of big plans and spend that much money for a Disney Vacation, I want it to be a treasured experience for my daughter and and future kids my wife and I have.(this vacation would still be years off, by the way). I feel like the best way for that to happen is if the kids are big fans of Disney. So my question is, are your kids into Disney movies? If so, what age did they become interested. Right now my daughter really only likes Baby Shark vids and (apparently) Jack Hartman. She doesn’t really respond to Disney movies.

Today's reminder! 💛 #momsandproud⁣⁠ ⁣⁠ ✨Join our community momsandproud for more humor and empowerment! 💛

Toddler wakes up 30 min into his naps, what can we do?

Like clockwork, our 15-month-old will wake up 30 min into his nap and scream for 10-30 minutes before putting himself back to sleep. Luckily, he still sleeps through the night beautifully. His crib has been converted into a toddler bed and when he's done napping after about 2 hrs he'll get up and knock on the door to let us know he's ready to come out. However, during these episodes he'll just roll around in bed, crying and screaming. I read that he could be overtired and needs an earlier nap. Or it could be night terrors, but he seems to be fully awake when we hit our 30 min threshold and go to check on him. My SIL says that her daughter went through a similar phase for a few months and it just stopped one day. So far it's been about 6 weeks of this for us. I'm just at such a loss at what to do, it's so heartbreaking to listen to.

Seeing Red

My toddler boy LOVES the color red. 🙄 He only wants to wear “bright” red shirts, preferably long sleeved, no logos or adornments. I’ve amassed an assortment but of course they’re all different shades so I get a lot of NOT THAT ONE sadness (and only one of them sort of matches his fav red hat, which drives me MAD). Also haven’t found a single pair of pajamas that are red with no stuff on them, so putting on pjs is not fun (which it used to be, I swear). I know, he’s a toddler and we’re gonna have meltdowns but if I can do something simple to reduce stress I’m all for it. So, I’d love to find a uniform for him, something soft and lightweight I can buy in multiples to replace our jumble and get us through the summer. Help! I checked Primary but they’ve nothing long sleeved at the moment, and I’m in Canada if that makes a difference. TIA!