Parenting Contents Archive

If you have teenagers in your care, think about their swelling emotions like the water in a cresting river: You want to keep it moving but not let it burst the banks. @nytimes @LDamour https://t.co/8BDuIgRbBg

*cries in American*

Husband Doesn’t Think Covid is a Risk for our Family

My husband and I aren’t on the same page about Covid or vaccines and how best to protect our family. We are both vaccinated, though he had a fit about getting his, and his unvaccinated family members keep showing up and want to stay with us. We have two small children- a toddler and a preschooler. I think we all know the story of how people end up with different perspectives when it comes to critical thinking, media, and being influenced by the thinking of family members, etc. But it’s gotten to the point where we are very divided on this issue and I feel that he’s putting our family in risky situations by not telling his unvaccinated relatives that they can’t come visit and use our house as a home base while they go out to bars and social events, at least not while the case numbers are spiking in our community. How do we bridge this gap? I’m running out of grace and emotional resilience and it has changed how I view him.

It’s only the second week of kindergarten and my son is already out sick.

My fiancé and I are both vaccinated. We’ve kept the kids indoors as much as possible and with limited contact between family. This past summer I tried “homeschooling” my son but for the life of me, could not get him interested in learning. So we decided it would be best to send him to school. We live in Texas, so no option for virtual learning and mask mandates have all been crazy. I am just so frustrated, we’ve done everything in our power to keep him and our almost 2yr old safe and yet here we all are miserable and sick, most likely with Covid. And a part of me feels like I failed because maybe I didn’t try hard enough and I should have homeschooled him. Idk anyways thankfully his school offers free Covid testing for students so I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Sorry just needed to rant a bit.

"Parents are not okay"

So my parents love me this much?

Does it ever shock you how much you love your baby and it’s weird to think that your parents also love you this much. At least I think they do? It makes me sad to think how relationships change throughout time and thinking that my baby and I might not be as close as adults. Idk just a random thought!

Eleven year old started her period yesterday

Thankfully she wasn’t freaked out (we discussed what to do ages ago) and she’s doing virtual school at the moment. We cut the school day short so she could take Advil, help me bake brownies, and take it easy. Today she wakes up and asks how long this lasts…”Probably just a few days.” “How many years?” “Well, I’m 41, I started at your age and I still get my period.” “Ugh, this is annoying!” Poor kiddo. I wish I could tell her it gets easier/better, but I don’t want to lie.

.@NBCOlympics, @ClassDojo, and @ClassroomChamps are teaming up to offer kids the chance to learn crucial life skills—straight from U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes 🙌🥇: https://t.co/m5qf1l6Smf https://t.co/UecIaX6cEq

Favorite and regrettable registry items?

I (FTM) am working on starting the registry with my husband and we have no idea where to start besides the obvious basics. Nobody else in our families have young kids (youngest is 27) and there’s been a lot of new products designed and refined over the years. What are your favorite “must-have” items (besides diapers and wipes) and what items (if any) did you regret adding to your registry?

Reading

I have an 8 year old in 3rd grade. Its time for chapter books. She hates reading. How do I get her to transition to the books with no pictures? Ive read to her since she was born. Definitely debunked the myth of, "if you read to your child they will love reading when they are older."

Unethical Life Hack for SAHMS

Want your husband to do more around the house? For the kids? Help with dinner? Put them to bed? I have found the secret. and it is not exactly the best solution to everyone's problems but it's been working for me... get a 2nd shift job. that's it I have been working 2nd shift for about a month now and their dad works 1st. we have a neighbor watch them during the overlap of when we're both not home which is around an hour or so. but every night now, he has to do all night time routines with the kids and spend all his time with them. Making him sole caregiver at night. Like i said, idk if it'll help everyone but for those of you who have school age kids and are able to afford to go back to work. I highly recommend working 2nd shift.

Please give me hope the next couple years will be better

My husband is in a really dark place right now (I posted another thread about him having PPD. I know what we need to do about that) Because he is in this dark place he thinks it will never get better. He’s doomed to be over exhausted, sleep deprived, get fat, and never be able to focus on his business again because we’re in the thick of it right now with our 8 week old and both sleeping a total of about 4 hours a day (me at 1 hour at a time) him in a 4 hr block at night. Please tell me it gets better from here. Real experiences from those of you who have gone through the purple crying period and now have a toddler. I am thinking positively and say that in a just couple months he will be better. We will get more sleep, we will be able to work and take care of our son without tearing our hair out. I just need other people’s experiences so I can give him real hope and not just my positive thinking.

Please help we are at our wits end.

I don't know what to do to get my 4 year old to behave and not get into trouble. Every discipline we do to try to get him to stop miss behaving he turns it into a game. We have done time out chair, corner, taking toys/cartoons/sandbox away. We have him in behavior therapy but anytime we ask for advice all we get is do special play time which we are and nothing is changing. We have asked several times and get the same response. Please help we are both at our wits end on what to do.

Best diaper brand?

Trying to decide which diapers I should try, I've never made a poll before but if you can comment feel free to tell me why you picked your pick [View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/pbgm51)

Am I being selfish?

My fiancée gave birth to our first child 2 weeks ago, making my mom a first time grandmother. Our plan was to live at my mothers place but my mom is someone who likes to be in control and doesn’t like to listen to what other people have to say so we decided it was best that we find our own apartment which we did. However, we only live 5 minutes from her place and she’s been coming every other day for the past week 1/2. It’s concerning my fiancée and I that this will become a habit. Talking to my mother is like walking on eggshells; regardless of how you say things she takes it personal. Is it mean if I tell her to come less?