Parenting Contents Archive

Hot day outside with a 6 month old

Spending a day outside with a 6 month old in the summer, is it safer/better for them to be in their (all black) stroller with a fan pointed at them or in a carrier with a sun hat? Combo of both? Other considerations for the given scenario to prevent babe getting too hot?

My husband might have Parkinson’s.

He’s 44, very active and healthy. We thought his shaking leg was from anxiety after being a frontline worker in the medical field all through the pandemic, but no, it’s either early onset Parkinson’s, or something similar. I’m a SAHM. We have a five year old and a baby who will be one next month. He supports us, and I love him. Fuck.

What is with this weird Stanley cup trend?

Why are they so popular right now? It's just a cup. With a straw and a handle? I mean don't get me wrong I'm addicted to travel cups just as much as the next ADHD\Anxiety millennial mom but seriously? What's with the hype?

"You really should potty train him."

And you really should mind your fuckin buisness, but hey ho! I have many, many fights with my toddler. Where he shits is not one of them. (But, seriously, he's autistic & nonverbal... how the hell do you even potty train??)

When sports aren’t fair

Preface by saying this isn’t about winning or losing, or about participation trophies or anything like that. We don’t think our kid is headed to the Majors and we’re not pushing anything ultra competitive etc etc. What do you do when your kid genuinely loves a sport, is good at it, and just doesn’t get a fair shake at playing? He’s getting increasingly discouraged and frustrated because the coaches kids get all kinds of preferences and priorities, in positions and playing time, etc etc (even though on paper it’s not that way). He’s played on different age teams in the same league, and it’s been the same at every level. The only alternative in our area is a travel league, which is a much more significant commitment - both time and financial - and also isn’t a guaranteed improvement.

They put a bandaid in my coffee...

Typical morning. Make coffee, put it down to deal with small children fighting. Finally sit down to drink it. Enjoy 80% of it. Go to chug the last 20%... Cue bandaid in my mouth. I know it was the 2 year old cause it was an elsa bandaid I put on her foot days ago.

Things actually do get easier?

So I read a lot of posts on here (and on Facebook) about how hard life with a baby and toddler are and they really are so trying, but I’m sitting in a restaurant waiting for a friend because the kids are at a sleepover and the tomorrow there’s another activity so my husband and I are going on a date. You just have to get through those early years and then you get some of your life back. Every stage is harder in certain ways than the previous one, but there are things that are better. Just sending up a beacon of hope that life comes back if your stuck in the trenches. Happy Mother’s Day weekend to all that term applies to. :)

What do you want for Mothers Day?

Every single year since I became a mother (oldest is now 9), I get asked this. Every single time, I say all I want is the house clean. I was supposed to go out for a mini vaca to our lake place early this morning and come back to a clean house on Sunday afternoon. Well, guess what? My house is now partially cleaned! Guess why? Because I just detailed the kitchen and bathrooms. Why did I spend the day doing this? Because I was rage cleaning. The AH decided to go out after I went to bed last night. He got arrested for a DUI. So, I have been up since 145 AM, had to pick him up from jail (jail had no space, I tried everything to get the officer to keep him), have my out of town plans ruined, but at least I will have a clean house!

I'm taking bets...

An outlet in our kitchen stopped working a few weeks ago. We tried the normal things (breaker isn't tripped) but beyond that we just worked around it. It's one of those switch/plug outlets and the switch still works, but not the plug. "Should we call an electrician?" "No, I think we can look at it." ....3 weeks later.... "So I called an electrician and he can come this weekend" "No, let me look at it first" BroMos, lets take some bets on if/when we think H will actually "look at it" this weekend without me saying anything.

Aldi’s Stage 4 Diaper Exlpoded

Need advice/ suggestions on how to go around this conversation with my 5yr old.

Hi there I truly appreciate for those that comment with suggestions. I’m a single mom of a 5yr old boy (father not in the picture), I just got a call from his Prek teacher informing me that he bit another child during outdoor playtime. Luckily the bite didn’t break skin and he was asked what had happen and according to the teacher my son said nothing that everything was fine. I’m trying to gather my thoughts on how to give him the talk about not biting and how it’s not okay to put hands on others as well as to find out what exactly happen that lead to this. I feel like maybe I’m not explaining it well. Context info: The last time and only time he bit anyone was me during a trip to DC two years ago . He was very upset that I wouldn’t let him chase the birds in the big lawn. He has ADHD (added it but not sure if it’s important to add)

Help!

URGENT! Please help 🙏🙏 My 21 month old doesn’t talk OR seemingly understand anything I say (this is being looked into by doc but being bilingual is part the reason). We had JUST got in to a routine with sleep where baby was sleeping through the night, was very happy 90% of the time, etc. however, the last couple weeks have been a nightmare. I am seriously struggling to cope. Baby has started screaming fits during the day and night - can’t do anything with them and nothing helps. Just have to keep trying and going in circles til they calm themselves down or something finally works. Won’t have calpol unless forced to - and then chokes on it so I only give it if absolutely necessary. I’m booked in to docs about this all but nothing in routine has changed, I can’t figure any reason at all and I don’t know what to do or why it’s happening now. I can’t cope. Any advice please

Early puberty?

Looking for advice and anecdotes. My daughter is 8 and recently revealed that she has pubic hair. It’s not just a couple either. The internet says that usually indicates that periods are 1-2 years off but also says breast buds come first . I haven’t noticed this in her but she’s also a very slim, athletic build. She’s also a very headstrong and emotional kid and has been since the day she was born. I worry about this worsening with hormones and undoing a lot of the progress we’ve made. For those who have daughters that started young, does that timeline sound about right? How do you deal with the emotional and social aspects? I started at 11 and felt like an outsider. I can’t imagine being any younger. We’ve had “the talk” a few times - she’s great at asking questions and I’m always open to answering them.

What do I do about an 8 year old having huge meltdowns over the tiniest things?

8 year old has these insane emotional meltdowns over basically nothing. He just turned 8 and my whole family is at the end of their rope with him. Today he was showing us how well he could ride his ripstik and i showed him that its supposed to twist in the middle(thats how its designed) and he had a 3 HOUR screaming meltdown completely melting into the floor and screaming at the top of his lungs, kicking furniture and basically destroying everything within reach. He does the exact same thing over all sorts of things just like this. What on gods green earth can we do about this?? It is becoming truly intolerable. TL;DR: 8 year old has gigantic tantrums over nothing what do we do?

Baby waking up after 10-15 minutes.

1 month old is refusing to nap for longer than 10 or 15 minutes, even last night she was doing it in the middle of the night. From 1:30 on she didn’t sleep for longer than 45 minutes. I’ll put her down asleep and then after a short amount of time she’s writhing around and awake. I struggle to get her to actually sleep for 2 hours, to the point where it’s time for her to eat again, but getting her to eat is impossible because she falls asleep and won’t finish her bottle…go to lay her down and she’s awake in 15 minutes. Idk what to do anymore. She’s so overtired at this point, and just refusing to sleep. I feel like I’m playing catch up with her, and I’m sure tonight is going to be a nightmare since she isn’t napping today. She was an angel yesterday. Slept like a pro, went right to sleep effortlessly. Did I not have her awake enough yesterday and that’s why she’s like this today? How can she be so different from yesterday? Any tips? How do I reset her? I’m losing my mind here.