Parenting Contents Archive

Sleepover with girlfriend I wasn’t told about.

My eldest 13F had a birthday sleep over and invited a friend (who’s preferred pronouns are they/she) and I felt off. So I asked her today, after the friend went home, are they friends or dating and she said dating. While makes me feel uncomfortable (not in a homophobic way but more of a…. She’s dating someone, neglected to tell me and had them over for a sleep over). How do I approach this? What kind of ground rules/conversation should I be having. I was not prepared for this yet, even though I knew she likes girls, I just don’t know.

When life hands you lemons...

Yesterday my youngest son had a lemonade stand. He's been planning this for weeks and I, dreading it. We waited for a day his dad had off because I don't do well with people and while I had my doubt's he would do good because of my experience with the village we live in, I still figured a few would pop over. I was totally being pessimistic and I thought, rightfully so. Nonetheless, he had his stand, from 1-4, and let me just say... What a turn out! Many many people came by to support him and encourage him, loving that a 7 year old was finding ways to earn money. He earned 62.50 yesterday and while I don't do well with people, I ended up having a great time as well! Moral of the story ? When life gives you lemons, have a lemonade stand!

We stopped swaddling and baby is now waking every 1-2 hrs. Help?!

So our 3mo outgrew almost all of his swaddles and began rolling to his side. We stopped swaddling cold turkey and since then he has stopped his usual 3-4 hr stretches and is instead up and crying every 1-2 hr. What should we do? How did you lo behave when you stopped swaddling and how much time did they take to readjust.

Banning electronics in the car?

So, my father is extremely against my 5yo playing train games on my phone because he’s worried he’ll turn out like my alcoholic brother (my father is too self-absorbed to realize it was his abusive parenting that caused my brother to turn out the way he is, not the games he played). Today I let my son play his train game while we were on a 1hr drive w/ my father. Within seconds, he orders me to “put that brain-washing device away”. As I try to speak, he tells me to shut up, that I don’t know what I’m talking about, and how apparently he’s “not raising him that way”…. I quickly reminded him that *I* am my son’s parent, not him. Which he refused to accept. He considers himself my son’s father bc we’re living in his home temporarily (I’m disabled & saving up to move out). I really don’t know what to do or say to him at this point. Should we just avoid car rides from now on? Or am I in the wrong for giving my son my phone?? Any advice at all would be great!!

Eating my parenting stress

Does anyone else have days when you stress eat all your feelings? Kid has a meltdown at the store? Eat. Has an accident on your freshly cleaned couch? Eat. Running on 2 hours of sleep? Eat double. If I knew parenting equalled so much extra eating I may have thought twice!

Why do people rsvp yes when they’re going to just bail?

I just don’t get. We did very little last year at all in the way of celebrations. Planned a birthday party for my son and invited 5 friends. Any siblings could come as well. Birthday party was roughly 30 minute drive for everyone and we asked for no presents. Out of the 5 friends 1 (who had to travel the furthest) was there on time. 1 got there a full 2 hours late. 1 texted a few hours early to say they could make it. Other two friends just never showed. Our arrived vs rsvped number was 8 vs 18. I literally ordered food for 10 people that didn’t show. The invite was casual and mentioned 6 weeks ago. I just don’t get why you’d rsvp yes if you don’t want to go. Guess we’ll just eat all these sandwiches I ordered as left overs. Pretty sure I am losing some numbers too.

“I had this anger because I see the other kids read and I couldn't read and then they call me to read and I'm struggling, the kids start laughing, so I shut down and get mad and throw a book or something." https://t.co/xLGzCJOXar

2 year old is the worst sleeper ever

I lost my temper today for the first time and shouted at her and now feel awful. She turned 2 in March and has yet to sleep through the night but also takes forever to get to sleep (both naps and bedtime) and after 90 mins of her refusing to go I burst. It's now 20:43 and she's still awake despite being up at 5am and only napping for 45 mins. I feel like we've tried everything and I even made a post a while ago asking for advice and tried everything that was suggested and still nothing. When the hell is it going to change? The sleeping app on my watch thinks I get an average of 1.5 hours sleep each night. It's just sickening hearing friends kids go to sleep in minutes and then sleep for 13 hours when it takes me at least an hour and then even if you exclude all the waking up only sleeps for about 8-9 hours.

What song is/ are your kids obsessed with?

Im just curious what your kids are currently obsessed with. As I was replaying "Sprinkle Party" for the 20th time today it made me wonder what are other parents having to endure? Is it a song you like? Or find incredibly annoying? Baby Shark was the popular one for a while for almost everyone, so was curious what could be next.

Something I think we all need to hear. We are all doing the best we can, you are doing a good job momma's!

Stinky neck?

I was always warned to watch out for your newborns neck rolls, to wash it especially if milk or spit up gets in there. But it seems like the washing is not helping? Any tips or advice on how to take care of this? I feel bad that her neck smells every time I hold her. We bath every 2-3 days, wash neck throughout the day, tried washing with soap but that didn't work. We tried washing with just wet washcloths, still not working. It's causing dry skin now, I tried lotion on the dry patches that look painful but that didn't help either.. Am I stuck with a stinky neck baby until she is able to hold her head up? Lol help!

Gender disappointment.....in siblings?

My kids are 11, 10, 6, and 1. The oldest will be 12 next month and we were talking the other day being he got into a fight with the 6 year old. At the end of the discussion he said, "I wish I had a sister instead of 3 little brothers." This is something he has said for a while. Ever since boy #3 he has been saying he wants a sister but normally because he is annoyed with his brothers. This time it started because he was annoyed with his brothers but it was said it a more sad tone of voice. I was wondering if anyone dealt with this before.

How do you manage multiple kids at once?

I am currently pregnant with my second child. Last night my husband and I babysat a couple with 3 kids. Ages were 8, 5, 2 and my own is 4. I legitimately did not know what to do as as a parent of one lol. I started by checking every 15 minutes to make sure all kids were playing nicely. Then I thought, "this can't be sustainable as a parent of multiples...what do they do to make sure everyone is alive and not trying to fight eachother? Lol". Seriously how do you manage to keep multiple tabs at all times? I'm nervous about going from 1 to 2 now lol

Why is it socially acceptable to ask people if they are breastfeeding?

As the title asks, why is it socially acceptable to ask people if they are breastfeeding? And then to comment on it if they give the "wrong" answer? How is this ok?

Potty training a 3 year old cold turkey method.

My son turned 3 in May and I want to potty train him cold turkey method. He will be using underwear in the day and diapers at night. Anyone else try this? Any tips?