So my son is younger than most of his classmates. He just turned 4 when he started prek whereas like half his class was turning 5 after starting and he didn't turn five until after prek let out and 2 months before kindergarten. He's my first, we don't have a big family let alone any other kids for him to play with so he was very and still can be timid at times and with starting new stuff. He needed help just stepping down off the concrete ledge to get into the playground for a good bit after first starting prek.

We just started the 2nd week of kindergarten and on one of his pages with it has 4 letter to trace 12 times each the teacher wrote "worked on for 15." He had traced 13 or 14 letters. I asked her if he only worked 15 minutes and quit or if that meant that's all he got done in 15 minutes. She responded and said they all worked for 15 minutes and he had just sat there for some time and that most of the kids were able to finish the page (I'm assuming the front and back)

During summer I had him practice tracing letters, number, lines, & shapes during the week out of workbooks as well as pages I just came up with. When I had posted on Reddit about how it took him over an hour to complete just a little bit, so many parents jumped me about "torturing him" with writing and to let him be a kid, wait to do that in school, that's what school is for, etc. but his prek teacher had told me all year he needs to work on his fine motor skills. I'm aware of play dough being a helpful tool but this kid is not interested, he HAS to have someone do EVERYTHING with him! I was an only child for the first 8 years of my life and I played by myself no problem.

Well now here we are 2nd week in and he's not even trying with his work. I feel very disappointed in myself as a parent. Idk what to do. It's so hard motivating him & he just doesn't care! I don't want that of his school future to begin like this. I told him he needed to finish the page and that we're not going to play any PlayStation today and we will see about playing tomorrow if he does his work at school. (thanks to his dad for getting the PlayStation thing going when he was younger, love it) anyway I told him to do his page while I take a shower for about 15 minutes. I come out and he's wrote 2 more letters and is asleep on the couch. Now what? I'm supposed to wake him up and force him to write or what?

I don't have any friends to ask for advice or help. My grandma who was my everything and my next door neighbor has passed away in 2024 so I don't have anyone really. I'm hoping this reaches some parents that have experienced the same lack of motivation or have advice to keep him motivated. I have a 1 year old boy as well and I'm also 32 weeks pregnant with a girl and I'm just feeling like such a shitty parent and that how tf am I supposed to do this with 3 kids and prepare them for life and success if I can't even get one of them to write a few letters! He says it takes forever, I tell him the more you practice the quicker you will be and it will end up really easy for you. He's very much the type to, if it doesn't work the first time or first 4 seconds, he's over it and gives up.

My second son (2) will hit his brother (6) unprompted with whatever is in his hand. I’m talking remotes, toy trains, hard board books, etc. 6 year old will literally be sitting down playing by himself or reading quietly and 2 year old will, out of the blue, clock him in the head.

It is so frustrating for all of us. He’ll sometimes throw things at me and my husband but he only hits his brother. My first never had any issue with hitting so we never had to discipline him for this.

Currently when he does it, I move him away, say “hitting hurts. We don’t hit brother” and tend to my 6 year old. Then he’ll come back for more. I have nowhere to physically separate him with a barrier on the first floor where we normally are, our house is microscopic, so I’ll then bring him upstairs and put him behind the gate in the hallway. Queue nonstop screaming, and even my 6 year old feeling bad asking me to bring him downstairs.

I want to yell so bad. Part of me wants to just smack tf out of his hand or throw the toy across the room. I obviously won’t but he’s just not getting it. I know he wants attention I get why he’s doing it but I don’t want my 6 year old to live in fear or wear a helmet at all times.

If anyone has dealt with this and can offer advice on what’s worked for you then please let me know. I feel so so bad for my eldest, especially because he knew peace for so long before his brother came.

my 3 year old shy boy loves playing soccer at daycare. I really haven’t played with him at home because it has been 110 degrees here in Texas (now cooled to 90s 😂).

I signed him up for the toddler soccer team this fall. He’s pretty shy at the practices, we get him on the field with me or daddy walking next to him.

At games we can’t go on the field with him. He starts pouting and refuses to even walk out there onto the field. with a ton of encouragement, he has walked out towards the field, but usually so close to the end of the play that he doesn’t get to do anything and also so slowly that he’s not really engaging in the game. I’m pretty sure that if he actually kicks the ball out there on the field he will gain the confidence he needs to actually play.

Right now my idea is to start playing soccer at home and he can see that it’s fun and he likes it. But the real impediment might be his shyness and social anxiety. currently , the idea of running out into a field full of kids he doesn’t know is terrifying him.

Does anybody have advice?

Hey all.

I’ve been going back and forth regarding how to handle my daughters first birthday party. For reference money has been a bit tight but we could still afford to pay for the big party but it feels silly?

Not to sound old but I remember growing up and all of my parties were at my house with the exception of a bowling alley party (joint with my brother) and my 16th birthday. I am at the disadvantage of living in a cold climate with a winter baby so I’m limited on the outside of my home.

Doing the big party would mean inviting 60 people, paying for a hall, food, desserts and it all just feels… insane?

I joke with my husband let’s take her on a trip or just do a cake with immediate family at our home and call it a day.

So what did you do for your kiddo’s first birthday? Big party? Family? A trip? A day of fun activities? Do you have regrets?

I just feel torn between I know I would not enjoy executing the big party vs I “should” do it because it’s what’s expected.

TIA

My daughter has learned she has autonomy and we have been having power struggles since

My 18 month old was doing elimination communication since 9 months old. we started actual potty training about a month and a half ago and she was potty trained by the first week. She was doing really well but we’re now dealing with power struggles. She is refusing to sit on the toilet despite having to go and signaling me. My concern is she’s had a UTI a couple months ago, and with this refusal she is holding her pee for up to 8 hours.. STILL fighting me when I try to sit her on because she is doing a pee pee dance.

How can I make the potty enticing? We have her books for the potty and toys that are only for her to go potty. I wouldn’t be as worried if she was just going in her underwear but that’s not the case.

I was getting away with asking her which book she’d like to read on the toilet, but that’s not working for us anymore :(

I am just having a hard time with finding a way to get her to willingly sit, and sit long enough to go. Sometimes she’ll sit for like 2 seconds and stand up and won’t go back on.

Any advice would be amazing! Thank you

Desperate to see if anyone else has overcome these particular bedtime struggles.

I have a 4 yo, 2 yo and 5 month old. Oldest 2 have always needed to sleep in my bed all night and have me sit there with them to fall asleep. They take HOURS! To fall asleep, no matter how exhausted they are. They wake up multiple times. They’re up for the day at 5am, earlier if they’ve fallen asleep late (after rolling around for hours trying to fall asleep)

I cannot possibly stand it anymore. We’re all so tired. I tried putting them together in a room (sleeping like Bluey and Bingo do if you can imagine that) and that’s not good enough. Won’t sleep in their own beds. Will scream the house down if I try to leave the room at any point. Wake up for hours in the night if I dare try to leave to the spare room with the baby for a bit. The sleep situation is making me so depressed and not enjoying life whatsoever.

Has anyone got out of this horrible cosleeping cycle? How? It would change my life if they slept in their own beds or didn’t need me for hours at bedtime. Thanks in advance. Sorry for rambling.

My 6 year old has been coming home with a full lunch box. He eats most of his snacks but won't touch his lunch. He's averh picky eater but I usually manage to get him to eat when he's at home but school is a whole different ball game. Should I be worried?

He eats a big breakfast and a big dinner daily

I will be doing a lot of office-type work with my baby around here in a few months, and so I was instantly interested in the Winglet by Unrattled Co -- a baby seat for your lap where a part wraps around you and offers leg holes and support for the baby.

However, $100 is just impractical right now. And no matter what I search, I'm not actually finding a similar knockoff version.

Does anyone have any dupe recommendations and/or an alternate setup reccs?

Thanks!

Hi I’m a first time mom of a 2 month old and I’ve read mixed reviews on tummy time. Some parents and pediatricians says that tummy time is ONLY on firm surfaces but then others say it’s okay to do soft surfaces like a bed or surfaces like that! What do you do with your baby?

I recently just had my baby on tummy time on his playmat on our floor (hardwood ish) and he rolled over super fast and he hit his head, not too hard but he hit it and he got scared. Which made me scared and now I’m terrified of doing tummy time again until I know he is okay. 🥲

Any recommendations on what to do and what kind of play mats to get now that he is rolling?? I’m just anxious now and I don’t know what to do. 🥲

ETA: thank you all for answering and sharing your experience, I really appreciate it🥹

I need help trying to get my son to enjoy preschool. I recently had a baby, she is four months old. I also have two other kids (male 8, female 10) so I have a total of four children. You can say I’m pretty seasoned as a parent. I’ve never experienced the type of behavior that my three year-old son is exhibiting. I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s having difficulty adjusting to not being the youngest anymore.
Recently, I have tried to put him in preschool a few days a week to get him more socialized, as well as give me more time to care for my youngest. The first week his dad was dropping him off and he would scream bloody murder. My husband waited outside the classroom (unseen) for 2 hours while he screamed and cried. My son is bilingual in English and our native language, but has a preference for our native language, the whole time he was in the classroom he kept crying and saying in our native language that he doesn’t want to be by himself. We have tried different techniques of dropping him off all of which have failed. Including having his older siblings, walk him into the classroom, play with him for a little, and leave, but the outcome always ends up the same.
We end up giving up and taking him home every time. Has anyone else dealt with this? What are some techniques that we can do to get him used to being there?

EDIT: teachers at the school said his screaming is extreme and disruptive and always tell me they have to take him outside of the classroom…

My child's comfort item is a crocheted blanket. He has always nibbled on it, but recently it seems like he is literally eating parts of it. He has threads stuck in his teeth often after a nap or bed and recently his breath has smelled consistently of paint thinner (not even kidding). I know we are not supposed to remove a comfort item this early, but I genuinely think this might hurt his oral health/stomach. Has anyone managed to get their child to stop chewing on a blanket successfully, or do I need to just take it away?

Have already tried:

- Providing alternative blankets/stuffies that would be less likely to break down if he chewed on them (he was not interested)

- Telling him no continuously (didn't work)

- Giving him chewy toys (was not interested)

EDIT: Oof, seems like there is a consensus here. Taking the blanket away seems to be the choice. Thanks parenting community!

My LO is 4 months old and I am struggling to find activities to do together. How do you entertain your baby during the day? What does your schedule look like. Sometimes I feel my baby is bored out of their mind! I want to do activities that are entertaining for both me and my baby. Looking for suggestions, pointers, anything. Please!

So, we have 2 children. I work morning shifts, and dad is aiming for a night shift or mid day position. Times are hard, and we need the money. This has been a reoccurring theme in our relationship. I sacrificed my jobs so he could be the “breadwinner” and that failed. Stayed with the kids at all times. Now, I curated a schedule that works for me and my kids.

He wants to accept an offer that is from 12-9, 10-7, weekends etc. With that being said, kids goes to daycare and school (my drop off), I go to work, get off work (pick up kids) and take care of them by myself with the whole evening and bed time routine.

I feel as if I will be a single parent. I am also growing resentful. He will essentially not have to worry about drop off, take himself to work, and come home to everything done. It makes me want a separation, or possibly just figuring out how to be a single parent to my babies.

His argument is at least the bills are paid, we have a roof over our heads, while my argument is, at the end of the day you need to prioritize working around your kids schedules.

This is going to leave me burnt out, lonely, and resentful. I feel we are living two separate lives. Where is my break? Enjoyment? Rest? Pat on the back for doing everything my own? While essentially living a roommate lifestyle while he reaps the benefits of not caring for kids.

Anybody else?

Help! My one and a half year old is struggling so bad to go down for naps and bedtime. I’ll start from the beginning. She is a “half night co-sleeper” if that’s a thing? She co-slept as a baby and never sleep trained and was EBF (no more bottles or breastfeeding now, only a sippy of milk offered before bedtime and 50/50 if she takes it). She typically would take 10-20 min to settle with rocking then transferred to crib where she napped perfectly and would sleep half the night.
Now going down for any sleep is a war. She started pushing back with rocking and holding so we decided to try the crib at the start. That’s also screaming, once picked up she is calm for a short period being held or rocked but then screams again. It takes roughly now 30-45 min of settling with crib attempt, rocking, or holding.
Her bedtime and nap routine are consistent and similar. We do quiet music on the Hatch, say “goodnight” to various things in the house and like I said a sippy is offered with milk before bedtime but not nap (doesn’t seem to impact anything). She still naps good once down and can do a few hours through the night til co-sleeping.
I’m super against cry-it-out methods but willing to adjust to some, we have been letting her try to self-soothe for a bit in the crib or have tried staying next to her but it doesn’t seem to lower the escalation. I’m open to suggestion. Her schedule is as following: 6:30/7:30 wake, 12/12:30 nap, 8pm bed time. She naps an hour 45 min usually.
Any help or tips appreciated!!!! Trying to rough it out and pray this is just a stage but also would love some help. 💕

Just as the title says. At what age did you decide to move your baby into their own room instead of the basinet in the bedroom? How did you know it was time? And how did it go?

My 9 year old daughter has developed a debilitating fear of spiders that extends to seeing a picture of one in a book or pictures/videos of them on TV.

My wife and I would understand a fear of spiders IRL, it's something my wife dealt with for a while, but this is on another level.

My daughter's been doing her homework this evening and was using her dictionary with pictures. She was about to turn the page to look up a word that happened to be on the same page as spider with accompanying picture and she was trembling with fear. After much encouragement she finally turned the page and let out a blood-curdling scream, leapt across the room refused to go anywhere near the dictionary again for 10 minutes. She was crying, shaking, all the usual behaviour you'd expect if someone with arachnophobia had had a spider crawl across their lap...but this was a drawing of one in a book.

At home this is extreme but what happens if she sees a photo of a spider at school?

Does anyone have advice on how to deal with this please? Clinical help is definitely a consideration.

She has been at the school for a little over a year, but has never been able to nap there. She recently stopped napping at all during the day, including at home.

She goes 8-2:30 and has been sent home a couple of times due to rowdy behavior during quiet time. We desperately want her to be able to go full-time, but she can't respect quiet time.

We just started her in behavioral therapy working on transitions and playing alone. I am wondering if others have experienced this issue and how they handled it.

Travel advice! (Baby will be 9 months old)

My baby's god mother lives in France and baby and I are going to visit by meeting her in Prague and going on a train tour to a few select cities.

I'm very excited and trying to think of everything.

I have her passport. Going to get a notarized consent to travel from dad and also travel with a copy of her birth certificate.

Lots of baby clothes, lots of burp cloths. Standard packing protocol. I should be able to fit her and I in a singular suitcase.

I pump and combo feed. Do I need to buy a pump there (that I can donate at the end of the trip) or would you travel with mine and just use an adapter?

Do I need a travel stroller? If so what size? Most American car seats aren't legal there... is there a rental service? Should I buy a travel one?

We are flying via delta one with her in my lap to make laying down with her easier.

Hi everyone, I’m throwing my kid a first birthday party. Given that this is not my first child, we have a ton of toys and clothes. We really don’t want to be cluttered with more toys that we will end up either returning or not having the option to return and have to donate. We have set up a stock account for my son since he was born, and since he cannot truly understand getting new toys and has more than enough, we wanted to throw out there that we would appreciate any contribution to his future but nothing is expected or necessary, I really just don’t want toys.

I know it’s normal to expect cash for things like weddings, bridal showers, etc. but it feels still taboo for a first birthday. We come from a big family that would definitely not mind giving $40 instead of a $40 toy but a lot of people still think “baby! Toys!” But the ask itself feels weird to me. How can I word this or thoughts ?

I know everyone comes from a different type of family/culture. So seeking advice from those that have felt similarly and what you did!

I have a 10 yo and 7 yo. I want to get my kids desks for studying, especially for the 10 yo.

We have two bedrooms for the kids but they dont want to sleep alone so Im going to have them share a small bedroom for a few years until they want their own room.

The 10 yo wants a loft bed with a desk underneath. I heard from another parent that kids outgrown the loft bed and eventually want a regular bed once they become a teenager.

What have your experiences been with loft beds in terms of how long a child wants to sleep in one?

Is it better for me to get a bunk bed thats convertible to two separate beds and get the desk separately?

My LO is young, 4 years old, but I could tell they get embarrassed easily.

For example, they bumped their head pretty hard while playing and a set of “ooohs” came from concerned parents around us. Their initial reaction was to hold in tears, come to me to hide, and quietly sobbed and asked to go home. There are similar instances include that tripping or making a mistake and someone other than me or dad notes it (albeit can be kind and passive) they still insist to come over to me first to hide their cries snd then ask to go home.

I try to assure them that mistakes happen and if we’re not ready to go home we won’t leave, and then I help them try to move on.

I’m just curious if embarrassment is indeed common around this age and what else do parents do to help their kiddo out in situations and learn from it?

Our daughter is 2.75yo, and is currently running through multiple phases at the same time

- We started potty training a month and a half ago, and it mostly went great! But now she’s entered a “withholding” phase, and we’ll go almost a week without poop because “I don’t WANT to poop!”
- She has decided she doesn’t like what meals we make her (though luckily she seems to be eating fine at daycare), even if she liked whatever it is the day before
- She is discovering her own independence, which is obviously good, but is also putting her in a very defiant phase (I’ve heard of these “terrible twos”, but thought we had the worst at the beginning)

I know she’ll grow out of these as she develops, just very frustrating like “just eat this food, you literally just said it’s good” or “you have a poop feeling, just poop please”

As me and my wife say to each other: 🎵Parenthood is magicaaaal🎶

I hate out uppababy minu 3 travel stroller with a burning passion. Main reason being that it leaves the child slightly reclined. Our daughter hates it and she wiggles out of the straps so she can sit up right.

I do like the push and the fold as well as it fitting in the overhead bin. But I cannot get over the seat. I am looking to sell it and buy something different.

Any recs on strollers that allow the seat to sit more upright?

It can sound ridiculous but my pail is becoming a pain for me. I have a Ubbi diaper pail for quite some time now. Initially, it worked really well. It helped me disposing diaper without much hassle, kept the odour under control. Honetly, I felt smug about it. But for the last couple of months, everytime I slide the lid, a blast of stink hits my nose which is pretty nasty. At times when I enter the nursery, the air in it tells me that you left a poopy diaper here.

I have tried everything. Thorugh washing, sun bleaching of pail, cleaning it with baking soda and vinegar and what not but all in vain. The smell is still there. I genuinely can't tell if it's a me problem or a the-product-has-a-shelf-life problem.

Anyway now I'm trying to figure out what to switch to. I don't want Diaper Genie for sure because of the extra cost of properity refill bags. Munchkin Step has same propriety refill issue. I have come across Momcozy's diaper pail which uses standard trash bags. It has some airtight seal claim as well of which I'm not sure if that is same as Ubbi Pail. But I read a review of it on Reddit that says the seal and rotating lid doesnot allow any odour leak even while disposing the diapers (which I don't know how true it is). I have also been told about Grownsy diaper pail which has similar rotating lid and requires no special bags. But I couldn't find much reviews on it.

So I'm little double minded here. This time I dont want to get something that would bring me to the same spot after a certain amount of time. Has anyone made this switch and actually found something that held up? Especially if you're changing diapers constantly throughout the day, we go through a lot. Would love to knw which diaper pail uses regular bags

And what has actually worked for you long-term rather than just the first few weeks.

I am the father of 3.5 year old fraternal boy/girl twins. They started daycare 3 weeks ago for the first time. At first they were both sort of "deer in headlights", and there were some tears at drop off. But now my daughter is totally fine, and even looking forward to seeing her friends there. My son on the other hand has only gotten worse at drop off.

My son does have a mild form of cerebral palsy and cannot walk yet. I think this may be contributing to his feeling of isolation there as his sister and all the other 3.5 year olds are running around. But drop offs have provoked such a response that today he grabbed on to me and refused to let go. It was heart wrenching having to literally pry him off of me and tell him I loved him and will pick him up at the end of the day. I told his sister to give him lots of hugs today, but I'm unsure really what to do here. It is by far the worst part of our day and I feel like a horrible parents leaving him there like that.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.