Parenting Contents Archive

Sleepover with a sex offender?

My son (12) wants to have a sleepover with his friend. After talking with his mom, she informed me that she is a registered sex offender. She said she wanted to be completely up front about the situation and explained that it happened 20 years ago, and she has an indecent exposure charge. I looked her up on the sex offender registry and her story checks out. She told me it was way before she ever settled down and had kids. She wants me to be comfortable with my son being at her house, and she said she didn't want to try to be sneaky and not tell me. I'm not sure how to proceed. She was up front about it, and I appreciate that. She also made it clear that not all people on the sex offender list are child predators or rapists, and I do understand that. What would you do?

How do you do it, parenting without traumatizing?

Not to say I am traumatizing my children. But I see flaws in me I never want to project in them or make them feel effected from. I don't want to be a fake sitcom mom where everything is great and drinks two bottles of wine before bed. I want to be real with them and be honest and man do I love them so fucking much but I don't want them to grow up like me and feel the "my childhood sucked and I need therapy now" feeling. Not that anything is wrong with therapy, I am IN therapy and love it. But you know what I mean. I just want to be a good parent and love them and also teach them not be little assholes in society. Is that so hard?

Hurt feelings don't vanish on their own. They don't heal themselves. If we don’t express our emotions, they pile up like a debt that will eventually come due. https://t.co/pZfDwwALwE

What to say instead of “Because I said so”

I try to answer as many questions as I can as a parent, but sometimes, at the end of the day, I lose all desire to be informative and I shift into “let’s make it to bedtime without losing my temper and my sanity”. Additionally, my Littles have challenges processing information, so I could answer a simple question, and they will ask it five minutes later, completely unaware we had just answered it. I hate saying “because I said so”, because I hated getting that answer as a child. So, what do I do when it’s the end of the day, and they ask “why do I have to go to bed?” “Why do I have to brush my teeth for two minutes?” “Why am I wearing fuzzy pajamas?” The only thing I can come up with is “that’s a great question, we can talk about that in the morning”. This is usually responded to with “why?” [BECAUSE I SAID SO , I think to myself]

Pet Guilt

I don’t know if this is common for a lot of new parents but I’ve really started to resent our dog. He’s acting up of course because he’s jealous of the new baby which I understand must be hard for him. However every time he barks or paces round the house it drives me crazy. I wouldn’t ever get rid of him that would be totally unfair but has anyone else felt like this and does it go away?

Hate is learned, so are: #kindness compassion justice #empathy charity #tolerance #respect goodness altruism character but must be intentionally nurtured in #children. #parenting 10 Ways to Raise Tolerant, Non-Racist Kids https://t.co/NP39jkMxqo…

🤳Just like in the offline world, life online can have its ups and downs. #Parents can support their child by promoting positive self-esteem online. These Talking Points are a useful way to help start the conversation: ↪️ https://t.co/NW3a0qq10i #TheFullPicture https://t.co/SQeoi0wzhJ

My 6 year old is dramatically and tearfully monologuing about how she has to do so much cleaning and never gets to do what she wants to do...

...as I'm literally scrubbing the toilet in the kids' bathroom, which I never even use. I just can't anymore.

“Micromanaging”

My husband has this habit of getting dressed and being halfway out the door to do [whatever] before mentioning to me that he’s leaving. Then, if something else is going on and I say- “do you *need* to do that *right now*?” he accuses me of “micromanaging” him. He says that I need to tell him in advance if something else is going on. (Sure, let me schedule our kid’s tantrums on the shared calendar.) He generally doesn’t care if I do the same to him in regards to running errands. Yet if I need to slot in some time to relax at home, he basically wants me to declare that I AM GOING TO RELAX NOW and remove myself from the main living areas. If I say things like, “I have a splitting headache, I just took some meds, hopefully I’ll be functional in an hour” and lay on the sofa, there’s nO wAy FoR HiM tO kNoW that it’s a bad time for him to dip out on parenting and go run errands that I didn’t know he wanted to run. Somehow he doesn’t see the double standard.

Someone please tell me when the dumping all the toys out phase ends

Absolutely nothing makes my 2.8 year old happier than dumping all his toys out. He has way too many toys. I’m 8 months pregnant and exhausted. I have explained to him 3 times JUST TODAY that we put things back after we use them but nope. I feel bad because he loves dumping them out and will play and be so happy for hours but it is so hard to get him to focus on putting them back. Should I just not let him dump them out at all?? It’s making me crazy.

Here's to all the parents who see the good kid underneath the bad choices. 👊 https://t.co/q1hogC3BQm

3 year old is obsessed with learning worried about him being bored when he starts school

So my son is 3 and already working on first grade workbooks… which already seem easy for him. He has never had a single day of school and I’m kind of worried that when he starts school he is going to be bored because he’ll be in pre school learning letters and colors when he’s known that stuff for two years already. He is currently able to read, do addition and subtraction, some multiplication, sequencing, writing, language arts, reading comprehension. Is there a way to maybe test up into higher grades? So that he is actually learning at school. Or is that a bad idea because he might get picked on for being younger than everyone if he moved up?

Age gaps in friendships. My teenager has befriended a preteen.

My oldest will be 16 in August. He is immature for his age. His younger brother is 14 and most people think 14 is the older one. We also have a 10 year old who listens more to the 14 year old than the 16 year old. 15 js a good and smart kid. He does everything he is supposed to do and has normal 15 year old responsibilities. Cognitively he is 15. It is his emotional level that seems younger than his peers. He was in foster care until he was 6 and he has far surpassed the expectations we were given when he came to us. But for his birthday he is asking for things intended more for younger kids and his interest are more for younger kids. As a result he has befriended our 12 year old neighbor. It is innocent. They play games together and all that jazz. My son said he likes hanging out with the neighbor because kids his age talk about things that make him uncomfortable. Is this problematic? Should we discourage it?

Stay at home parents

How do you recharge? How often do you do it and how long do you take for yourself? Should my kids bedtime and nap be sufficient? I haven’t been outside of the house without my kids in three weeks. My temper is short, I’m in a funk where I’m not motivated to do house work, I’ve probably been on my phone to much this week. Does this make me sound like someone who shouldn’t be a stay at home mom? Talk to me.

Marking anniversary of the tragedy in Florida nightclub. ... Orlando Shooting Won’t Stop Gay Father from Dancing https://t.co/O8WYQJ3m35 by @DidacticPirate #citydads #parenting #dadlife #Pride2021 #PrideMonth2021 #Pride #LGBTQ #Pulse