Parenting Contents Archive

If your child can't remember what they did at school...

...tell them they did something they definitely didn't do and watch what happens Me: What did you do at school today? Kid: I don't know. Or Me: Did you learn more about Maps of Moscow today? Kid: what? Me: Did you learn about the streets and the tourist spots in Moscow? Kid: No we learned about weather and learned words to write about weather. Works every time for me!! Might be useful for others, and it's fun to think about random things to tell her she learned about.

My husband won't speak to me because I wouldn't have sex with him.

We have been together 18 years. 2 kids. I'm 37, he's 39. My sex drive is shit after kids. I have very painful ovulation and pelvic pain the doctors can't figure out. He constantly tries to badger me into sex, and gets really pissed when I say no. It's like he's super nice and everything is fine and if I say no he flips a switch and turns into a raging asshole. Last night I was exhausted and said I was going to bed and ***maybe*** we could get down in the AM. This morning he immediately started rubbing up on me and grabbing my tits and trying to put my hand on his junk and I got super upset and told him to go away. He completely flipped and refused to speak to me and just called me a 'habitual liar.' What the actual fuck?????? I'm starting therapy for myself tonight and you better believe this is a topic. Fuck this.

One ER visit later and we are parents now

So the craziest thing happened today. My wife and I suddenly became parents to a baby boy. We had no idea my wife was expecting and I drove her to the ER for some cramps to find out she is in labor. We weren't planing on having any kids so we are both grossly under prepared. Any advice or encouragement would be creatly appreciated. Will be reading through some posts tonight to see what what lays ahead. To everyone that is wondering my wife is healthy, baby was born slightly premature but seems healthy and weights in at 1.98 kg and 45cm tall. Estimated to be 31 weeks old but honestly we have no idea. I am keeping a close eye on my wife but slowly but surely our shock is turning into excitement. Can't wait to go see our baby tomorrow. :) wish us luck.

Good news: for babies born to vaccinated parent, 60% had detectable antibodies at 6 months, compared to 8% of babies born to parent who had COVID during pregnancy. From a preprint, so typical precautions apply, but the evidence for vaccinating during pregnancy is already strong. (REPOST)

When did your LO start to crawl or sit up?

Hi! My little 6 month old is so lazy lolll. We put him on his belly and he just wants to lay there and suck his thumb. He can roll over a lot, but also I feel like he can sit on his own but just doesn't want to lol. Dr said I'll prob see a lot of progress by 7 months. I know all babies are different. I'm just curious when everyone else's baby started!

How the hell do you do Christmas with 2 sides of the family and your own?!

Backstory: Me and my wife live in New Zealand, so we have a summer Christmas. Christmas for us has been waking up, doing gifts between ourselves then going to my parents for gifts with my family (parents, sister + husband and nieces), follow by a BBQ for lunch. My wife is from the UK, so her family (also in our city) does Christmas in the evenings - generally arriving at their house at 4pm and leaving around 8:30pm after a roast dinner and gifts etc. Long story short, it's exhausting. We have a 3 month old now. We want to start doing Christmas with and for him. Obviously this Christmas is a write off because he has absolutely no idea. But as the years go on, we want it to be more and more special for him. Our problem is, we will effectively be doing 3 (!!) Christmas's if this continues and we really don't want that. It's exhausting and takes away the fun of Christmas. Just wondering how others do it and if there's any advice.

Grab every opportunity to show that academic failure isn’t personal, pervasive, or permanent. Failure isn’t forever. @edutopia https://t.co/RovEdXVSUo

What’s a thing you didn’t know you’d do that isn’t taught in parenting books?

Avoiding eye contact with my toddler for a variety of reasons. It’s as if eye contact is a trigger for some type of meltdown. Example: 2yr old trips over her own feet and falls on the floor. Nothing major. Not even a bump on the head. She looks around to see if anyone saw, and hones in on Mommy (me!). Eyes connect. And suddenly….*”WAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”* Or she’s watching TV and I need to nurse her little brother. I quietly walk with the baby past her, accidently turn my head to look at 2yr old and BOOM, eye contact. She is no longer interested in the movie and rolls off the couch to follow me to my room. I run down the hall and close the door behind me because she’s not allowed in my bedroom (too dangerous and she likes to touch everything). Que screaming and pounding on my door. If I’m just sitting with her on the couch and she’s playing on the floor with her toys, she’ll look at me, eye contact, and BOOM, crying because the wind offended her or something 🤦🏽‍♀️

Putting Our Cat Down - need advice

My husband and I have an 8 year old son and one month old daughter. Our cat will be euthanized in our home tomorrow evening. My entire family and I are heartbroken. Initially, we planned for our 8 year old to be with us and asked my mom to take the baby. But she believes it’s not a good idea for the 8 year old to witness this (even though it’s a very peaceful and compassionate process). Do any of you have experience with walking your children thru something like this? Do you recommend he be there or not? Are there other things we should be doing to help him remember our cat or grieve through this experience? Our son refers to the cat as his brother. They grew up together. He’s also a very empathetic and mature boy. I want to honor his feelings through this even though I am also struggling with it. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Gliders/rockers: how do you choose?!

Okay so this is the most annoying thing about shopping for baby. We have only found one store to try out chairs in person (BBB). We thought we found THE ONE until I read reviews. It was super comfy too. Damn. It appears to be sold out/discontinued now (can’t find it on their website). Anyway, no where else has actual floor model gliders/rockers for us to test out. We are very picky and hubby is tall so before paying a ton of $$$ and spending time putting the chair together, we really want to make sure it feels good. Any suggestions?? 😒😩🙏🏼

Potty training is a different kind of Hell

I’m tired of potty training. I hate it with a passion and this is already our 3rd attempt. Started early at 20 months (curse the Facebook groups) and again at 2 years old, now he’s 2.5 and his teacher is suggesting we try over thanksgiving break but holy fuck. He can pee and poop on the toilet 100% fine when he’s buttnaked but he’s been in bottoms for 3 days now and has pissed through every single one outside of naps and nights. Is he just not ready?! The school won’t work on PT unless they see he is actually ready according to their “standards.” He checks all the boxes EXCEPT for the “child must WANT to use the toilet” box. Should I just wait for them to tell me when?! I’m tired of cleaning up piss and having to wash all of his bottoms after each day.

Would I be a bad dad?

I have a dilemma and I’m very torn. I have a 5 year old son and his mom and I split about 3 years ago. We are good friends and able to handle everything between the two of us no courts or mediators. We split his time 50/50 week on and week off. So recently as he has been getting older he has been wanting to spend more time at his mom’s and recently he asked if he could spend more time at her house. My time next year in the fall because of him starting school and he will be at his mother’s more than with me, so it will happen at some point. It’s a hard thing for me to hear and to wrap my head around. On one hand, I want as much time with my child as I can, but on the other hand, I want to give my child what he wants because I want him to be happy. If I agree to this, would this make me a bad dad? I will still see him and get him but at the same time, it won’t be the same as it is now. Can I get some opinions and thoughts?

4 month olds feet turning blue and red. Just started today… Normal or of concern?

Christmas movie recommendations for very sensitive kids?

My girls get scared easily, they really can’t watch any Disney Movie or anything with too much excitement. I thought it would be nice watching a movie together as a family during the holidays- do you have any recommendations for a drama/ adventure/ excitement free Christmas movie for kids? (6,4,2) Thank you 😊

I’m going to a boxing class tomorrow

Just like the title. A new boxing gym opened and I’m going to try it out tomorrow. I am 3 months post partum and have a lot of rage. I have about 50lbs to lose too. Hopefully it his helps!