Parenting Contents Archive

Husband doesn't know what grade our kid is in

We were out to dinner with friends the other night and started talking about the kids. My husband mentioned that our youngest was in 6th grade, however, she's actually in the 5th grade. He swore our kid was in the 6th grade. I think this speaks volumes about his level of involvement in our children's lives. I'm obviously the default parent, but that's no excuse. Is it unreasonable to despise him for this?

How harmful are words like “chunky”?

My SIL recently told my preschooler that she was working out because she didn’t want to be chunky. I don’t use this language at all because I hate my body and have some dysmorphia over hearing all the women in my life talk poorly of others’ bodies. My SIL is obviously not necessarily wrong, but I do wish she would have said something like “I’m working out to take care of my body” or “I’m working out because it makes my body feel strong”. I feel like by saying “I don’t want to be chunky” she is planting a seed that it isn’t ok to be anything but thin. I know that I can’t protect her from everyone’s opinions and language but I’d like to minimize it, especially right now that she’s so young.

What is a reasonable age to expect kids to make their own breakfast?

My older girls are 9 (will be 10 in october) and 12 and won't take any initiative to make themselves breakfast. If I don't, they're going to school without breakfast. I'm not talking anything fancy. They aren't ever willing to get a bowl and pour themselves a bowl of cereal. I just don't get it because I know I was doing that at 9. And definitely doing it by 12. I've realized how much I do for them and I'm trying to step back and let them do things, except they just decide they'd rather not eat than get themselves something? Even after school "I'm hungry" when our kitchen has a ton of snacks. Won't make themselves a sandwich. Obviously I make dinner. But gosh. I'm exhausted

Playground mulch

We are working on landscaping our backyard and adding in a play structure. My original idea was to use rubber mulch because it seems safer to land on due to bounciness and no splinters, as well as durability of the material. Sand is out of the question due to lots of neighborhood cats potentially seeing it as a giant litter box. Grass isn’t ideal either because we’re in southern California and want something more drought/water bill friendly. Saw a TikTok the other day about astroturf, rubber crumbs/mulch and increase in cancer. This is making me rethink my original idea and lean toward wood mulch. Wood mulch however, can get gross/moldy/decompose and needs to be replaced occasionally. Curious how much is fear-mongering and how much is legitimate concern. And a little bit of WWYD as a parent? I’ll link the TikToks in a comment.

He’s leaving

I have a 12 month old daughter, we’ve been together 8 years. I’ve supported him. Counselled him. Encouraged his passions. 4 weeks ago we were talking about a second baby, then he went on holiday for 2 weeks…..came back with a tattoo. And apparently clarity that he’ll never be happy with me. He’s struggled with attraction, mainly because I’m not his type and because I’m older. This is worse than when someone dies, at least they didn’t chose to leave.

How to cope with cluster feeding?

Can someone please give me actual advice about cluster feeding that isn’t “enjoy the special bonding time” and “sleep during the brief periods between feeds”. Little dude is 2 weeks old, he’s cluster feeding at night, but there there is no ‘brief period between feeds’. He goes on for half an hour, comes off naturally and settles for all of five minutes, then starts screaming / rooting again. We’ve tried everything else to soothe him, checked all other things that could be unsettling him, and the only thing that calms him again is the breast. I’m at my wits end and I feel pathetic that I’m coping this poorly this early on. Any advice welcome.

Is it OK to let my 10 month old stay asleep in this position?

She tends to fall asleep this way and eventually gets on her stomach or back, but sometimes that could be several hours later. Is it safe to leave her be in this position? https://imgur.com/a/XwHplap

What the hell am i supposed to do?

You ate and you’ve been changed. You’re too young to play. You don’t want to be in your swing, bouncy chair, or on the play mat. You don’t want to be held. What the hell am i supposed to do with my 11 week old?!?

Bathing with an infant

I'm having trouble figuring out the logistics of taking a bath with your baby. I hear a lot of people do it and I want to try but the idea is scary. I'm afraid of dropping him and having his head go under the water! I thought as he got older I might feel more comfortable, but he's 3 months now, has pretty good head control and I'm still terrified.

MD claims that not requiring childcare/ not leaving baby for first 18 months will increase separation anxiety.

Hello Reddit ! I am looking for evidence based input that discredits my primary care physicians claim that my one year olds separation anxiety (was crying at the office) is caused by the fact that she has not been babysat. She has stayed with my husband and I (separately or together) at all times. We do expose her to other children (2-3 playgroups per week) and she sees extended family almost every weekend. My PCP believes that her transition to daycare when she is 18 months will be far more difficult because she spends all her time with us. We just truly enjoy her company and do not feel the need for childcare at this time. Bonus points for research articles that show no correlation between refusing childcare and maternal mental health as she insinuated that I must be suffering from PPA. Thank you !!

A father dropped off baby and left big grass stains all over my grey rug :((

I started doing home daycare, one of the dads dropped of their baby this morning and i noticed after he left there was big green grass stains all over my front entrance rug! He had work boots on. I tried to get it out after he left to no avail, its really bugging me. What should i do? Do i say something? How do i prevent this from happening again? Im not one for confrontation Any advice on how to get grass stains out of carpet? Ughh

If you got stretch marks in pregnancy, out of curiosity could you please tell me what your diet consisted of? 😅☹️

I was wondering what women that got stretch marks diet consisted of? What did you cook your food in? Did you get fast food regularly? Organic food? Ghee? Grassfed butter? Raw milk? I’m trying to figure out if there’s a correlation between what you eat and stretch marks, if so we could be able to help millions of women prevent it for the future 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Need song recommendations

When the day is going to shit what songs do you listen to to "reset" that makes you feel empowered and like a badass? I need song ideas to scream at the top of my lungs to, to do a crazy silly mad dancing to, songs to play when I feel like just sitting on the floor and crying etc. Any upbeat, "you got this" recommendations?

A haiku written by my wife whilst BF

Squeezing the baby Like a small living bagpipe Hoping for a trump (Also, we're British so trump means fart here).

baby teeth

my almost 8 month old son is cutting his first tooth and this may be a dumb question but do babies use toothpaste on their teeth or just stick to plain toothbrush with water until they’re older?