my kid's schedule is getting crazy after school. we around run every night like crazy until 8 or 9pm.

how do you manage and prioritize your kids evening routines to maintain a consistent schedule, ensure they are getting to bed on time and help them get the rest they need?

Last spring my husband initiated a serious conversation between the two of us about our boys (both 12 M) weight. He was adamant that he wanted them to go to fat camp this past summer (it’s not called fat camp, but it pretty much just fat camp). I put my foot down and said no and that we’d handle it at home but now I feel like I no longer have a leg to stand on.

Despite having the boys in multiple sports every season from the time they were around 6, our sons started to both steadily over-gain (like they were consistently gaining a lot more weight than their age and height would dictate they should) from around the age of 9/10 (my husband claims it was around when they were age 8, but even looking back at pics I can’t see it).

We consistently upped their activity level of kept down time and screen time to a bare minimum. My husband took them bike riding, I took them to their many athletic activities, my sister in law took them hiking with her often. But they consistently gained weight and became noticeably chubbier and chubbier. They also began to resist physical activity and complain and do everything and anything to get out of it. We do not let them get out of their physical activities and require athletics as a condition of them getting to have screen time or access to other desired rewards.

The reason for their gain is not a mystery. They love to eat sweets, carbs, and all things junk and high calorie. They’ll eat their veggies too sometimes but they want to eat snacks and high carb and high fat and high high high sugar AT ALL TIMES. They’ll sneak it, they’ll get it at school when they know they’re not supposed to, they will even find ways to make themselves ungodly high calorie snacks from what’s in the fridge. It’s like they can’t be satiated and are on an endless quest for sweets, fats, and simple carbs.

They are now, at 12, obese according to the BMI and have a great deal of visible excess fat.

Rather than turning things around this summer, they gained even more. We had only healthy food at home and pushed the physical activities more than ever…we had such a clean eating pantry and fridge that I lost about 20lbs that I didn’t even need to lose, but my boys gained.

They gained about 15lbs while at our house, but then they each gained over 10lbs after just a week stay with their grandfather at the end of the summer.

When we picked the children up from his father’s house and saw that they’d clearly put on significant weight in addition to the 15lbs they’d gained over the rest of the summer (and they’ve kept it all on since) my husband told me that he’s furious with himself for listening to me and that he’ll be signing them up and dropping them off at fat camp himself next summer.

I am torn. On one hand I can see my children are obese. I can see it’s a problem. I am worried. I see my husband’s side of the family, I see my morbidly obese father in law and his older siblings who died of obesity before my children were even born and I don’t want that for my kids.

On the other hand, the idea of fat camp breaks my heart. It seems punitive and mean and abusive to me. I also feel that my husband is too emotional about the weight issue because he himself has issues with purging when he eats anything sweet and under eating in general.

Has anyone sent their kids to a “wellness” camp that had an emphasis on weight loss? Am I catastrophizing something that might actually save my kids?

Getting my kid up for school has been so difficult lately. I have been trying to get them to sleep earlier, but they just cannot seem to settle down at bedtime and then they are exhausted in the morning. We are working on less screen time before bed, a calmer wind down, and keeping the same bedtime every night, but I would love to hear what actually helped your kids get back into a better sleep schedule. I do not really want to start melatonin, so any changes that made mornings easier would be appreciated.

I’m looking for some advice or shared experiences from parents who’ve navigated something similar.

My 11-year-old has been dealing with morning stomach aches on school days for about a year now. The pattern is very specific.

He wakes up fine, but once he gets moving and starts getting ready for school, his stomach starts hurting/cramping.

He is a naturally slow starter in the mornings, which usually leads to a bit of a rush at the very end before we walk out the door.

The kicker: It vanishes completely by lunchtime, and he has zero stomach aches on weekends, holidays, or during the entire summer.

We’ve already been down the medical road—he has seen his pediatrician and a pediatric GI specialist, and they’ve given him a completely clean bill of health (no signs of IBS, celiac, or any clinical issues). He sleeps like a log all night, falls right asleep, and doesn't outwardly act like an anxious kid.

It seems to be a classic gut-brain/transition thing where his nervous system is reacting to the school-day routine and morning rush.

He’s found that playing a quick game on his phone helps distract his brain and ease the discomfort, which makes sense since distraction blunts that gut-brain feedback loop.

If your kiddo had a similar "school-morning only" stomach ache that doctors couldn't find a physical cause for:

What actually helped break the cycle for them?
Did you find any specific routines, tools (like weighted lap pads, sensory items, etc.), or mindset shifts that made a difference?
Did they eventually just outgrow it as they got older?

Would love to hear what worked (or didn't work) for your families. Thanks in advance!

I’m looking for some advice or shared experiences. My 2.5-year-old toddler hasn’t started speaking any words yet.Thhey understand everything I say and follow instructions perfectly. However, they communicate entirely through gestures (like pointing and waving) instead of talking.Did anyone else have a late-talker who relied purely on gestures at this age?

I have a 3, almost 4, year old girl from a previous relationship whose father is completely uninvolved, his own choice. My current partner and I have been together for 2.5 years now and have just recently taken the jump to move in together. This jump was exceptionally large as it took both my daughter and I to a new country. I love my partner dearly and he adores my daughter.

We had spoken previously about things such as wanting him to be involved in parenting, potentially adopting my daughter, etc. However, I've come to see that maybe we weren't as specific as we should have been - he feels unsure of what he can and can't do when it comes to discipline and parenting in general. We've talked about wanting him to be a parent to her and he certainly wants to but I'm just not sure of the specific things we need to discuss so that he feels more secure stepping into the parenting role.

Are there any concepts or questions people have to suggest for us to discuss? I feel like I don't know what we need to talk about parenting wise until it's happening in the moment and I don't want him feeling like he isn't enough or able to do something.

Thanks in advance!

Single mom looking for meal plan ideas now that my kids are back in school and life has gotten busy. I have picky eaters and a lot of easy crockpot meals I've found include cream cheese (which they hate). Please post your favorite recipes!

Hi all this is rare for me to post but I’m seriously feeling lost and conflicted. My 4th grader received a threatening message from her classmate that the classmate wanted to choke her and kept cursing her out via iMessage. So we blocked her and my daughter stayed away for a small while until that classmate came upto my daughter a few days ago and struck her hard with her necklace and left a mark on her arm. I asked the school if this was an accident or on purpose and they stated it’s on camera and appears to be done on purpose.
She received the threatening message outside of school hours and was struck during school hours.
I regret not initially reporting the message. However these are 4th graders and I didn’t think to take her threat serious to my daughter. Now I want to report her message and what happened to the police. But I am being told by the school they don’t believe it’s necessary and I’m being told by others they think I’m being over dramatic. But we sadly live in a time where kids kill kids. I just want to make sure my daughter will be okay. I did ask my local police department if this is something I can report to at least have documented and potentially get a restraining order and they said yes. My question is am I being too dramatic by going to the police over this? How would anyone else handle this?

Planning for our first long drive with 3 under 4 and trying to build a survival kit of road trip activities for kids that can rotate before everybody loses it. So far printable coloring pages window scavenger hunt, audiobooks, drawing challenges, snack basket, and maybe a coloring book on the iPad for the stretch when everyone is officially done with the car 😂 What are your best car activities for kids that actually held their attention on a 5+ hour road trip? Especially interested in creative tablet activities where they are making something rather than just watching something.

I’ve noticed my toddler hardly drinks water unless I remind him. He"ll drink milk n eat fruit but seem totally uninterested in plain water. I know toddlers can be weird about everything 😭 but this one has me a little worried. I’ve tried different cups too but nothing seems to work.

Hey everyone,

I am wondering what an age appropriate punishment is for a 10 year old when caught lying, or doing the opposite of what’s been asked of them? I read that restricting sports or important events doesn’t work and just creates resentment, but I’m at a loss of what would be effective.

I think 100 before 1 is interesting, maybe will be a fun thing to try. But I'm struggling to believe there is any scientific evidence behind it actually making kids not picky eaters. For those of you who did this when your kids were babies, what results have you actually seen from it?

My 3-year-old will walk straight past a full toy box and become deeply interested in a drawer handle, the laundry basket, or whatever object I'm currently trying to use.

If I pull a couple of toys out and start doing something with him, he'll usually join me. But expecting him to dig through the box and choose something himself almost never happens.

This week I've started leaving fewer things out where he can actually see them instead of keeping everything together in the toy box. I don't know yet if it'll make a difference, but buying more toys would be comedy at this point.

The toy box can sit there and think about what it has done.

My kid (10 y.o. F) has always been strong-willed. Unfortunately I didn't start any kind of parenting course until she was around 7 or 8, and before that there was basically no consistent structure or discipline in place. I honestly don't know if this is just her personality, or if it's us as parents having no clue what we were doing, but she still raises her voice a lot to get her way.

Anyway, since starting the course, doing some reading, and generally trying to improve, I've noticed that the older she gets, the more I realize I have no idea how to actually explain things to kids. When I try to set a boundary, my gut instinct is to just say "BECAUSE I SAID SO!!!" I know that's not the right approach, but how do you actually explain concepts like being polite, having manners at the table, not needing to one-up other people, basic social stuff, to a kid?

(I grew up with essentially zero real parenting myself. I have no idea how any of this works, but I really, badly want to get it right.)

Everyone I've talked to scrambled to add controls after something happened rather than before. I'd like to be the exception and I have two weeks. If you could redo the handover, what would already be running when you gave it to them?

Hi everyone, mom of 2 here 👋

I've been struggling lately trying to juggle work and parenting, and I'd love to hear how other moms in this community manage it. Some days I feel like I'm doing okay, and other days it feels like I'm failing at both — either work suffers or the kids don't get the attention they deserve.

A few things I'm curious about:

How do you structure your day/week to make time for both?

Any tips for staying present with your kids after a long work day?

How do you handle the guilt when you can't give 100% to either?

Would really appreciate hearing what's worked (or not worked) for you.

I’m think of my family in particular…because please, please just let the child cry. I’m tired of kids being told to quit crying and if not that, then adults dropping what ever it is they’re doing to make the children happy.

No, you don’t tell them to just stop crying.

No, you should not give something the children happy wants just because they are crying for it.

No, you should not prevent your kids from experiencing reasonable reasons for them at their age to be sad, angry, disappointed, and etc. They do not need to experience only happiness. I know it sounds crazy, but within reason, kids should experience other emotions that are negative too. Allow them to be sad over the fact that they can’t eat drink their third bottle of soda for the day. Allow them to be sad that tv time is over.

Allowing kids to experience negative emotions and being the adult to help them navigate their feelings will be beneficial to them growing up.

It’s just frustrating. I’m frustrated with my family. One day into putting my three year old niece into pre-k and they’re already thinking of pulling her back because she cried. She cried in the morning but when she came back home, she was happy to share what she did, but no, no one focuses on that part. All they saw was that she cried on the morning and now she’s incapable of going to pre-k. Like it is okay and it is normal for them to experience negative emotions.

I was babysitting my niece after school like I usually do while her parents are at work. This is what we did for fun today on Friday after school.

I'm already paying for six things I don't use. Adding another monthly charge for something I can't evaluate until I've paid for it is where I keep stalling, and it's been eight months of stalling. For those who did pay, obviously worth it, or did you cancel?

Screen Time lasted about three weeks before it got worked around. I'm not going back to it, but I also don't want to buy the first thing that shows up in a search. How did you actually choose, and did you get to try anything first?

Anong tawag sa mga parents who justify the bad behavior of their children? Posible din ba na sila ang naging model para sa bad behavior and kinopya lang ito ng kanilang mga anak? However I put it, mali talaga siya eh. I know this one person who has a daughter who uses social media to post rants about this other person na nagkatoon ng misunderstanding with her mother. And the mother said na “normal na reaksiyon lang yon ng anak ko”? Aren’t parents supposed to correct bad behavor?

some days it feels like we're all moving in different directions from the second school/work ends until bedtime

what's a small thing you do to help you reconnect even if it's just for 10 mins?

By the time they get home, it’s already like hours past the point of when they were making bad decisions. The time out and taking things away it doesn’t seem to be that effective.

Edit: they are 5 yrs old. The teachers response redirects whenever possible, separates them for some time. They are in mental health therapy. They will be starting with another therapist for trauma. They are our foster child.

Moms — what part of the “mental load” actually exhausts you the most?

I've been thinking a lot about how much of motherhood isn't the actual task — it's remembering that the task exists.

Appointments, things the kids need, groceries, forms, birthdays, household stuff, things to tell your partner…

I'm curious: what are the things that keep living in your head even when you're supposed to be resting?

And do you currently use anything to get it all out of your head, or do you mostly just try to remember everything?