Parenting Contents Archive

How to tell my 9 year old that his 6mo old puppy killed his rabbit last night.

OMG to make it worse today is his 9th birthday. Last night my wife went outside to see why the dog would not come when called and found him chewing on our poor pet bunny. My son JUST spent hours out in the rain to make him a new hutch and play area too. Hardest part is how to tell him that I had to burry his rabbit this morning AND now we have to get rid of the puppy as we have a 1 year old and a cat also in the house. How can I tell my boy we are losing 2 family pets overnight without ruining his childhood? Let alone his birthday. .

School board meetings are a great way for parents to get involved in their child's education and make an impact on the community. Here's why you should head over to the next one. https://t.co/kdHv1kjUSS

How old is too old for kids to share a bedroom?

My son is 7 and my daughter is 5. They have been sharing a room their whole lives. We rent a small 2 bedroom house and I know we need more space…but simply can’t afford it. The kids have started arguing a lot lately and their room has turned into a huge mess with all of their toys and books. I really want to move so that we can afford a bigger place but my husband is against the idea because he doesn’t want to uproot the kids from their neighborhood & school. Unfortunately we live in a place where renting a larger place would be way out of our price range. Torn on what to do.

I don’t want my son to grow up feeling like his mom spent more time on her phone

Than playing with him. My son is 18 months soon and since he became a toddler and more conscious of my phone use, I knew I needed to stop using my phone so much. He’ll be playing with his toys and there I am, doom scrolling. I’m making a plan today to taper off using my phone. I won’t use social media from 8am to 6pm while my son is around. I’m going to steadily increase that goal to no internet at all, only text and calls. I’ll see how this goes and adjust from there. Shout out to all my fellow parents that grew up hooked to a screen and are trying their damn best to not pass that addiction on. ✊🏽

Gifting diapers to new first time parents.

Hi, My brother is soon having his first child. I have access to diapers at 50% off and have been slowly buying diapers to gift them before the birth. Is this something you as new parents would appreciate and if so, for how many months and what is too much?

How involved should I be in my 3 and 4 yo’s soccer practice?

Should i shut up and let the coach be the coach? I feel bad letting a highschool girl deal with babies who arent listening. But also, they’re little, how much can they be expected to listen?

Sometimes I worry about my decisions as a parent, like where to send my kids to school or how to discipline them…

And other times I read histories of how medieval Vikings treated their children and HOLY FUCK bromos, we are all doing just fine. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Flu season… how do you single parents handle it!?

So, here I am, laid out on my ass due to the flu. I’ve barely moved from a laying position in almost 3 days. My 3 daughters are also sick, but my wife seems ok. She’s the only one of us 5 who got her flu shot, as they were offering it at her workplace. She was home for the weekend, but back to work today. I’m basically laying on the floor of the living room with 3 sick kids (8/5/3yo), all miserable and coughing and faces full of boogers. The 3yo also has the world’s worst diarrhea. It’s so ridiculously bad over here, it’s almost comical. I’m no stranger to being with my kids all day, but man alive, us all being horribly sick truly sucks.

3yo refuses to stay in bed. We need help

So my wife and I have 2 kids. Our oldest just turned 3 in October and he's generally been amazing when it comes to sleep. Recently however, he flat out refuses to stay in bed. Naptime/bedtime usually go like this: We snuggle up on his beanbag and read 2 stories, then we'll just chat for a little bit (2-5 minutes) with the lights off, then we'll go potty, then hop in bed. I say goodnight, and leave the room and within 10 seconds, he's sobbing and walking out of his room yelling "I don't wanna go to bed!". We are at our wit's end as the last few nights have taken 2+ hours of going back and forth. Yesterday's nap, we (my wife and I) locked ourselves in our room and he eventually fell asleep on his beanbag. How do we enforce bedtime?

I mean, he's got the spirit?

There are 2 dirty pans on the stove from when I cooked breakfast for my husband and 5yo. I did not eat breakfast. Son: mommy you should wash those Me: snort Husband from the living room: anytime you want to start washing dishes, kiddo, feel free to start. Til then, leave mommy alone about it. Also husband: *empties dishwasher once every couple weeks and takes out trash and thinks that's the sum total of the house chores he needs to do to be considered a functioning member of this household.* I couldn't hide my wtf face, but my husband didn't notice.

So I found out I’m pregnant

So I found out a week ago that I am pregnant, my partner and I have been trying for almost 2 years. Now that I am pregnant I am scared shitless to tell my family. My sister lost her baby last year and my family likes to control and tell me what to do all the time. I am scared there gunna hate me and yell at me. This will be my second I had a son 5 years ago and they yelled at me then. I’m 26 I thought that was a good time to have another baby.. how would u tell you family ? If there so strict??

4 days in, is it always going to be this hard?

Hi all, UK based for context. Had a C-section 4 days ago, been home for two days. I know it’s only a few days in but this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and during the nights i’m questioning why I even made this decision. Nights are hard, there’s no sleep, i breast feed on demand…all stuff I knew about having a baby right? But god this is…so much harder than I ever could have imagined. What I want to know is…while I’m in the depths of adjusting to motherhood, coming to terms with the reality of a new baby. does it get better? Will I sleep a normal night again? Will I ever stop worrying about whether she’s ok, if she’s getting enough food and love? I guess I just need a pep talk from other mums😪

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Does anyone have any funny nicknames for your baby?

My baby is nicknamed: Baby shark—for the way she shakes her head super violently to get the bottle Squeaky beeper— for the cute noises she makes when sleeping Little gaslighter—for when she makes noises that sound like she’s distressed that freak us out but she’s actually perfectly fine and dead asleep Poop monster/Little pooper— she poops about a million times a day What are some of yours?

Sick of every article about baby teeth cavities blaming sugar

So I’m trying to do some research on how baby teeth cavities get fixed. My four year old has some large cavities on her back molars, partially from us not switching to fluoride toothpaste soon enough, and partially from letting her brush her own teeth too early (she would clamp up her mouth and scream and I just didn’t want to deal with it while also caring for my now two year old). My oldest loves fruit. She gets fruit juice maybe once a week and candy rarely. But all the articles I’m reading are super judgy and basically every single one says that kids who get cavities get them because they’re eating too much sugar and processed foods. One article (from a dentist’s website) said you should only feed your kids organic and unprocessed foods. Like??? Sorry I’m not the perfect mom and my kid got some cavities 🤦‍♀️ I’m feeling super paranoid about the cost since our insurance is stupid and you need to pay upfront and all these articles are doing is making me feel like a shitty mom 😔