Parenting Contents Archive

My heart is breaking as a father of young children in Texas

I am at a loss for words right now. Young children in an elementary school are not going home tonight. My heart is breaking for the families. I can only imagine the pain they are feeling in Uvalde tonight. Is the best we can really do is hope that it never happens at our kids school? Is it enough to be thankful my kids attend schools with thick doors and entry control procedures? I am so tired of this crap. Gonna hug em extra tight tonight.

FUCK

Again???? Fucking again???? AGAIN???? FUCK. FUCK. FUCK THIS FUCKING COUNTRY. FUCK THESE FUCKING SPINELESS POLITICIANS. FUCK THESE 18 YEAR OLD RADICALIZED LUNATICS. FUCK THIS PLACE. FUCK FUCK FUCK HOW THE FUCK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY. I AM SO FUCKING HEARTBROKEN AND FUCKING FILLED WITH RAGE. FUCK THESE ARE OUR FUCKING CHILDREN AND WE CANT EVEN SEND THEM TO FUCKING SCHOOL

Being an older parent with a baby

I'll be 39 in July and I currently have a 3mo baby. I've read up on the benefits of being older when having kids, but I gotta say..... One disadvantage is the sounds my joints make when trying to sneak around my babe's room during a nap!!!

My husband keeps minimizing how hard breastfeeding is

Title mostly explains it. My (32F) husband (34M) keeps making comments about how I have it “easy” with breastfeeding because all I do is “sit on the couch with a baby on my nipple”. I don’t know how to get it through to him how hard breastfeeding is. Mentally and physically. I guess I just wanted to rant a little and maybe get some validation that I am not alone.

MIL acts like I am a surrogate

This is our first baby on both sides of the family, so naturally it is a special baby. What annoys me and makes me feel disrespected is how she constantly says that my baby has all the qualities of her son (baby does look like her dad). She then goes on about how girls become daddy's girl when they grow older. When I was pregnant she was adamant that the baby takes on the name of the father (our country allows children to have mother's name as their lastname). Yesterday she casually asked me whether she could take the baby to see her extended family. WITHOUT ME. For 21 days. Yeah. All these minute things build a larger picture of "Yeah you are nothing but a birth giver to the baby". I mean it's been ongoing for a year now. Yeah I don't treat your only son like a king, but he hasn't been that caring and supportive since I gave birth, so don't expect special treatment. I just needed to rant about this whole thing.

Vaccinate your damn kids

I’m so upset right now. When I was about 4, my mom became an antivax fanatic. Fortunately I received the important early childhood vaccines, but I never got gardasil. My mom was EXTREMELY against gardasil for some fucking reason. I was so indoctrinated against gardasil specifically, that even when I turned 18 and caught up on the rest of my shots, I hesitated to get that one. I finally got it at 22, but I guess it was too late for me. I just got a Pap smear last week and it turned up abnormal. Turns out I have a high risk strain of HPV that could have been preventable. Not entirely sure what the next steps are, but I’m so angry at all the anti vaccine bullshit right now. Give your kids gardasil. Fucking hell.

How do you do anything productive with a baby?

I feel like I’m always tied to my baby (4 months) and have no time for chores and by the time he goes down for a nap I’m exhausted. He sleeps for 30 minutes every three hours and so I can eat something during his naps and then I’m back to baby caring when he wakes up. My piles of laundry and dishes keeps growing:(

PPA/PPD check-in!

For those who have PPA/PPD…how are you doing? My little guy is 4 months and I still find every single day to be a struggle. I still find myself regretting becoming a mother and I’m scared that I’ll never enjoy it. Life still doesn’t feel normal and I still don’t feel like myself. I dread having to pick him up from daycare and I feel so guilty about this. Weekends are so draining being needed all day, every day. I’m tired of the 5+ wake ups per night. Everything is overwhelming. Wake windows. Sleepy cues. Formula issues. Reflux or no reflux. I’m just tired. I stopped my medication and I don’t see a therapist. I need to make time for myself, but feel like I can’t. I’m drowning, but sending love to all of you.

Shooting at Texas elementary school

14 children and 1 teacher were killed by an 18 year old gunman today in Uvalde, Texas. I feel sick to my stomach. I don’t understand how lawmakers are so “concerned” with the life of a bundle of cells while they refuse to protect our living children from guns. Then I think to myself, I should homeschool my children but literally shootings are happening everywhere.

How much are you paying for daycare?

We're about ready to start going two days a week. We'll be paying around $600/month. Most daycares in my area don't post their prices publicly. I'm just wondering what the average cost is both here in the US and abroad.

is it OK to let kids play outside?

I know that sounds dumb. I have two children (5f, 6m) When I was 5,6,7 my parents let me run around in the woods by myself or with my friend who was the same age as me....it seems like this isn't that common anymore...and I'm nervous about sending my kids out. We live on a dead end street in a nicer neighborhood, at the end of the street there's an empty lot that the kids call the "desert" because the ground is dry and cracked. Would it be ok to send them there to play unsupervised?

Glasses advice

I just found out my 4 year old son needs glasses. Any brands / advice would be greatly appreciated. I never needed glasses and I know they can be kind of pricey so I want to make sure we get something durable and I care for them properly.

That Moment When Your Baby Finally Decides To Eat From Both Sides

I am SOOOOOOO happy. No more pumping, less leaking. No more getting out of bed to warm up a bottle because right boob is out of milk and the creature is still hungry. Best part, no more painful engorged boob! We had latch issues with left for 3 months! I decided to try again and BAM she's like "hey, this boob is just as tasty!" Just had to share. Am very happy.

How would you feel if your daughter wanted to try a combat sport?

Maybe she doesn't necessarily want to become a fighter. She may have tried something like ballet, swimming, gymnastics, etc, but she didn't like them. So when it came to something like boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, MMA, etc, that was more what she liked. Would it in a good way surprise you that she liked such a sport?

Trampoline

We recently got a trampoline, kids are 1.5 and 3.5. I was on the fence because I know they can cause injuries but we ended up getting one of the spring free ones and so far my kids have been loving it. I got some negative comments from family recently saying we are definitely going to end up in the ER. I am sort of rethinking now and wondering if we made a mistake. Anyone else have the big backyard trampoline and have positive stories - like you've had it for 10 years and no injuries lol