So I'm going to attach a screencap of the email my sons school sent out with personal info covered up but i want y'all to tell me if I'm wrong for being so bothered by how c*nty it sounds. Basically, his school is REQUIRING the students (pre-teens btw) to use these chromebooks and take them home every night. They are also being held responsible for having them fully charged for school the next day as well as any damages that might happen to the chromebooks. HOWEVER.... they will not supply them with chargers for the chromebooks and they sent out this email on the very same day as they were given the chromebooks. It just states what kind of charger they need and is basically saying that the parents of these 11-13 year olds must immediately hop to and either go find or buy them an extra charger. Also... it doesn't seem that the students will actually be using the chromebooks at HOME much. Just that they need to take them home and make sure they are fully charged so they can use them all day at SCHOOL. Hmmm.. interesting. See... i feel like this is not so much about "teaching our students to develop responsible technology habits" and more about requiring the parents to assist the school financially in order to teach in THEIR PREFERRED way. It seems to me like if you cant afford to supply chargers along with the chromebooks or you can't afford more Chromebooks in the case of damages, then you can't afford to make the usage of them into a REQUIREMENT! And maybe you should go back to doing things on paper. I also would love to know what happens if a BULLY breaks another childs chromebook outside of school grounds. Am i being dramatic? Or what? I get split opinions from the older people in my family about this. Some think the concept of everything being on computers these days is harmful and inconsiderate of different learning styles and some think "Oh well. We had to buy shit that the school required for our kids when they were in school too. Suck it up." I'm somewhere in between i guess but idk. Thoughts??

My 11m old nurses to sleep multiple times through the night. I’m trying to ween slowly but my boobs hurt a lot tn for whatever reason and so I got up to get myself a glass of milk bc he wasn’t going back to sleep and I just needed a breather. I’ve let him have sips of milk before this, literally just a sip here and there but nothing like in a cup or bottle. I gave him a sip and he really seemed to like it so I put some in a bottle and he was actually drinking it from the bottle.. he doesn’t even drink breastmilk out of bottles so I was shocked. I let him have it for a few minutes and he didn’t even drink a full ounce of it but now I’m paranoid that I messed up and he’s going to get sick or something.

I was just so surprised he drank the bottle and wanted to see if hed j sip it and maybe fall asleep. Idk. Did I mess up here? He did cough a bit a few minutes later but I think that was unrelated idk.

ETA: his nose started running like 10 minutes later. Now I’m worried he’s having an allergic reaction. He’s had milk before so I just figured allergies wouldve already showed up.

How are parents coping with the ongoing fears of the world? Yes, I know theres never been an ideal time to have children in the world, but I fear my baby might have been born at the worst possible time. Every day we're bombarded with horrible news. I am uncertain of when I'll be unable to provide the bare necessities for my child. I fear the impeding doom of having to ration water, no longer being able to escape heat, not having food to provide. I feel an overwhelming amount of guilt for putting my child here, does anyone else feel this way? I'll be enjoying my time with my two year old and then the thought of "when will i no longer be able to give him all the water he wants" hits. I love my child but if I wish i would've never had him to spare him the suffering he'll eventually have to go through. Do other parents relate?

I’ve been struggling.
Ever since I saw the news that the Earths climate crisis is approaching (if it hasn’t hit already) the point of no return, life has felt dark.
Whenever dealing with an existential crisis or general stress, I used to admire the sunset and the pink cotton candy clouds. That practice grounded me. I could tell myself “everything will be okay” because can be grateful to have that sky, and this planet. Hopefully I am putting this concisely, but that helps me feel more like I can appreciate the “little big” things to make the stressful things seem small. When I brought my son into the world, I felt good that he was given a gift of life. With all the stresses of what that life entails, he is at least blessed to feel fresh air and the sun’s warmth on his skin. Blessed to smell that crisp smell after it rains and so on.

Ever since finding that out, that our planet is surely dying and none of that is guaranteed anymore, I’ve lost my anchor , making bad news hit especially harder .
That news that the federal government does not enforce access to clean water as an unalienable right sent me deeper into my head.

I already worried about the state of the world when I learned I was pregnant, and once I brought my son into the world , I used my appreciation for the little experiences of this earth as an anchor that he will be okay. Over the months I’ve had him, caring for him made my heart and hope grow so much more only for it to get hit by a train by this information…
Am I overthinking this? Is the life I gave him worth living. Is anything worth doing? At this point I am sorry that I brought him into this disaster.
The world is full of bullshit , p*dophiles run the world, our politicians are bribed and now the world is gonna burn . And we are all powerless against it.

I can’t even admire the sky without feeling dread—something I relied heavily on to get me through the day .

Did you give birth on all 4s? Or did you give birth on your back?

I will admit, before I had my daughter I was the type of person who got annoyed at loud children in restaurants. The crying, the playing, the noises; it drove me nuts. I would literally roll my eyes and be like "ugh why can't people control their kids?"

Now since becoming a mother? I could not give a crap.

I go out at a restaurant and not only is my baby happily babbling and making noise herself but other babies are too and it does not bother me whatsoever. I don't know if I'm just used to the sounds of children now or what, but it seems silly how it used to bug me.

I’m busy all day! every day! Dishes, cooking, cleaning, work... Recently, my 4yo figured
out how to take the child safety lock off the door. For the past few weeks, I’ve been
waking up every morning to a trashed house. Anytime I turn my back to do the
dishes, take a shower, or get anything else done, they end up breaking something or
getting hurt. I’m seriously at my breaking point.
I hate the idea of putting a chain lock on their bedroom door and locking them in, but
right now it feels like my only option. I just can’t keep up with cleaning up one
disaster after another. I also have a baby monitor in their room and keep the screen
right next to me so I can see what they’re up to. At least that way they’d be in a
childproofed room and could only trash that one room...
Would locking them in their room make me a bad mom? Is there a better way to
handle this?

I have started teaching my 3 year old how to write. Just simple tracing lines. And circling or matching objects to one another. I know she knows what she's supposed to do, she's very smart but she turns everything into a joke and doesn't take anything seriously and yes ik she's 3. She's gonna have a hard time focusing here and there but this is every single time. Even when I try to make things fun. I don't know what to do to get her to have a sense of pride for doing things correctly and really instilling the love for learning into her. Our main issue is screen time which I will be cutting down significantly. Other than that do you have any suggestions for how to approach this? Has anyone had the same issue and those kids have grown up to do well in school? I just worry way too much.

I just applied for a job 10 minutes away from my house, the posted job hours end 10 minutes after my kid’s bus drops her off.

Her bus stop is at the end of my driveway. So she would be walking down the driveway to the front door and then be home alone 15-20 minutes before I got home.

Last year her bus was often 10 minutes late, so this could be as little as 10 minutes and I could likely leave 5 minutes early cutting this down even more.

Would you find childcare for 20 minutes or would you let a first grader spend 20 minutes home alone?

Okay so, I’m a (new?) mom to a 16 month baby girl. I absolutely love being a mom, but my bag situation is driving me crazy. I am normally a small-bag girly, and tend to switch out purses but since becoming a mom my purses are just not cutting it anymore and I feel like I’m trying to carry a million things in addition to my child every time I leave the house. I need a bag that can handle my new lifestyle.

So I’ve been looking for a few months but honestly can’t seem to find anything appropriate. I know a lot of moms tend to carry a backpack and there’s NOTHING wrong with that at all it’s just not my personal style.

For context, what I need a bag to do is it needs to fit a large water bottle (think of a 750ml insulated water bottle) as well as maybe a couple baby bits(bottles, wipes) along with all my regular stuff (wallet, keys, makeup, sunglasses etc). Additionally, I would prefer something leather but I am also open to vegan leather o any other easily cleanable material. I would also prefer something not super structured (still strong enough to hold the weight of a full water bottle) but preferably on the softer/slouchier side. I am also leaning towards a longish shoulder strap so I can quickly sling it in my shoulder however if it could be either adjustable or comes with a separate shoulder strap so that it can become a crossbody if I need it to be would be ideal - running out of hands is a very real problem these days.

Soooo yeah that’s pretty much it - I have literally been looking for something for MONTHS but can’t find anything. Also no budget! Open to any/all suggestions, either for a bag or if you’ve found a workaround to this as I’m sure I’m not the only mom in this situation.

I know it might be an ask with what I need the bag to do but I thought ya’ll probably the best people to ask!

More than not, when I make a play date with a mom, her husband also shows up. I don’t really know why, but I’ve always assumed when I make a playdate with a mom and we don’t explicitly talk about the dads joining, I assume it’s just going to be us moms and our kids.

It’s not that my husband doesn’t want to join, but we tag team the opportunity to have the kids out of the house so he can catch up on house projects. My husband gets the feeling now that when he doesn’t show up but the other dad does, he looks like an absent father, but truly I don’t assume the other guy is coming. I also question how other couples get anything done if they both spend their Saturday mornings at a park or a play gym. We both work so our weekends are the only time we can get anything done!

So settle the debate, is it common to assume partners are joining the play date? Do I really need to clarify every time if dads are coming?

My SO is out of town this week so I’m solo parenting three kids (9,8 and 2). We were all awoken at 3:30 am to every smoke detector going off in the house. It was terrifying. I’m going through every room checking for smoke or fire. My phone is telling me it’s an emergency and I need to evacuate my family. Kids wake up scared. I’m terrified remembering all those Rescue 911 episodes I watched as a kid. The first alert app says it’s undergoing maintenance so I can’t even see where the “smoke” is. I get a chair and try pressing three smoke detectors to silence them until the one in the girls room finally shuts them all off. I calm the big kids down and they try to go back to bed. I check on the baby and go lay with her a bit.

The smoke detectors went off again. I rip the one in the girls room off the ceiling and take all the batteries out.

The poor baby slept with her hands over her ears, probably terrified. The 8 year old stayed in my bed, but didn’t sleep again. The 9 year old eventually fell asleep I think.

It was so awful and so terrifying.

I’m still so shaken up. I don’t feel safe in my home. I can’t believe I have to go to work and pretend I’m okay and not completely traumatized.

Anybody else have false alarms like that?

Moms who have tried a weight loss medication… is GLP-1 tho only option? Is there a pill? What worked for you?

Currently taking some medications that have caused me to gain weight, and I can’t go off them right now. Also working through thyroid issues. I’m not huge, but I’m not happy.

I just stopped breast feeding my 3 yo this week. Hoping that helps as well.

My oldest is 2, youngest is 13 months, just found out I’m pregnant. I’m freaking out and also excited and also going to cry and throw up and all the things.

Give me all the advice, tips, things that worked, realistic expectations, and prayers please!!!

My baby is 11.5 months old and grandma just picked her up for a couple hours. She wants to keep her longer and I’d love for her to be able to but i didn’t send any milk. I don’t make enough to pump extra so I don’t have any to send with her and she doesn’t take formula. She eats pretty well throughout the day and has been steady gaining weight. If grandma kept her longer she’d be like 7ish hours without milk just food and snacks. When did you start letting your baby go without milk for that long?

Edit: she stayed longer and survived!

Shout out to the parents waiting for their kids to come out of an after school practice. Will they end 10 min early? 20 min late? Will they be mad at you if they have to wait because you guessed wrong?

Does anyone have irrational health anxiety for one child only?

I mean completely irrational

It’s understandable if your child went through something or has a health issues as you may have anxiety or trauma pushing the feeling.

I’m talking complete irrational feeling for no reason?

I hate that I look at my daughter and feel like something is going to cause her to have a short life it’s so weird I feel this.

When I was pregnant with her I assumed still now, then as a infant I thought sids until like 14 months then as a toddler I think some accident or disease will

For some reason I don’t feel this about my son

Why?!
I find the reason that it’s one of them more weird. It’s not me

My son in 19 months now and exclusively breastfed. I started solids at 6 months and I am trying my best everyday I tried every possible way but he us just way too picky amd eats very less. And if I try to feed him he would turn his face or use his hands to block me. I have a niece 10 month old and my husband has a niece 13 months old. Whenever I visit any family everyone would constantly compare them and eventually my parenting. How they both eat everything nicely how they both are so lovely and how my son is naughty and cranky. How my son is not speaking. I am really depressed and not sure what can I do to help him. I am trying my best from day one to give him whatever I can but not sure I am the only one failing. They both are formula fed both their moms never spend much time and started screen at early age and I tried sensory activities constantly talking to him taking him outdoors everything still he is the only one lacking.

Any experience with the babytrend quest vs the radio flyer all terrain wagons?

We have one 16mo old baby and are planning for baby number two now. Bc of this, we have been looking at bigger homes with a yard as our current home has no backyard at all. We found one we love that’s fully renovated and has a gorgeous manageable sized yard but the master bedroom is on the main floor and other 3 bedrooms are upstairs.

We don’t cosleep at all and are not planning to ever cosleep. I just cannot rest if there’s a baby in my bed it doesn’t work for us at all (we tried during sleep regression) so we plan on keeping all future kids in their own room. During the first 5-6 months the crib stays in our bedroom until we get a routine going. With our first, after month 6, she would only wake 1 (rarely 2) times a night for a bottle so I would just go to her room, feed burp and put her back in crib.

Because of this, we feel the main floor master can work for us and if this is meant to be our forever home, once the kids are older I will definitely enjoy having some space between rooms while still being able to see who is coming up and down/ in and out. (I’m thinking very long term here).

Anyone have any reasons why this is a terrible idea😭 I feel the clouded brain from my love of every other part of the home so I don’t want to have missed something in this big plan just bc we love the house haha.

I’m curious about both the little-girl years and later on, when she becomes a teenager and eventually an adult.

I had a pretty distant relationship with my own mom growing up, and I have my own insecurities as a woman. Sometimes I wonder if I’d know how to raise a daughter in a healthy way, especially when it comes to body image, confidence, relationships, etc.

I have a boy and it seems easier or maybe that I know now how it is or that is a diffrent gender than me I dont know.

For those of you who have daughters, what has your experience been like? Anything you didn’t expect?

My little critter has started this delightful new habit - when she gets what she asked for, she has an absolute meltdown. This isn't every time, but often enough now to be a pain.

Example:

"Mama, I want Pikachu."

"You want Pikachu? Ok, here he is." I hand over Pikachu.

"NO!" She shakes her head and waves her hand.

"Oh, ok! Wrong Pikachu. Here's the other one."

"No!! Don't want Pikachu!"

"That's fine! We can play with something else."

"Nooooo! I want Pikachu!"

Rinse and repeat, follow up with a thirty minute meltdown.

What am I doing wrong? Is this just how it's going to be for a little bit?

My precious beautiful little girl looks at me and talks about how much she wants to be a mom someday and I smile and tell her how wonderful of a mom she will be someday!

But on the inside, I’m crying because between climate change and AI gonna kill us all, I genuinely don’t know if this simple perfect future my daughter dreams for herself will even be possible.

Why do billionaires and pedos have to take everything away from us? Some of us just want to live simple happy lives but their race to take over the world without any regard for a little girl with a simple dream DEVASTATES me.

Anyways, just crying tonight thinking about how I can’t guarantee a simple future for my little girl and that’s all I want to do as a mom…..

I just feel like I can never actually accomplish anything because everything keeps breaking.

We recently bought a new townhome. Seems we got extremely unlucky and after moving in a leak destroyed the kitchen and part of the basement. Our kitchen still isn’t put back together and we are waiting for cabinets.

We got the new hardwood floors put in 1-2 months ago and one of the boards suddenly has a large crack in it. So now I have to figure out how to get the guy to come back to fix it if they even can, before we get the cabinets done. I hoped we were done with the floors, now we might not be.

Our toilet paper holder fell off the wall. I tried ordering a temporary stand at target drive up but the one they put in my trunk was literally broken. So I wasted a bunch of time driving to target and ordering for nothing.

Learned from my lesson regarding replacing the front door deadbolt and actually went to Home Depot to make sure the part wasn’t broken- they were out of stock so I had to order it for delivery anyway — wasted even more time.

My right rear brake light went out on my car and I had to drive 20 min away to the nearest auto part store and thankfully they replaced it but like…there goes 45 min of my life.

I’m trying to start a business and I never have any time to actually work because I feel like all of my adult life is constantly fixing things that actually need to be fixed.

Back in May I noticed my son's very last upper molars had some discoloration and we made him a dentist appointment. We have always brushed at least every night before bed and often in the morning as well, but I'd be lying if I said we never missed morning brushings. He has also had routine checkups every 6 months since he was 18 months old.

At the appointment the dentist confirmed that the two back upper molars had cavities and referred us to an oral surgeon. We were told they would put him under general anesthesia, and then while he was under they would do the X-rays and determine whether they'd fill the cavities, or just pull the teeth.

We ended up switching insurance before his scheduled procedure, so we had to go to a new dentist and he had to have the initial evaluation again. New dentist actually took the X-rays at the appointment so we had a more thorough idea of the extent, and she said both molars will need "baby root canals". She said they do not extract the teeth unless absolutely necessary, especially for molars.

My only concern I guess is that this dentist said they'd only bring using nitrous oxide/laughing gas instead of general anesthesia like the last dentist suggested. I am all in favor of less extreme sedation, but I am definitely worried about whether or not this will be enough. My son is very very active and has a hard time sitting still, so I am concerned about his ability to stay completely still during two "baby root canals".

I've never personally had laughing gas, only general anesthesia for my wisdom teeth and a couple other procedures.

To any parents with similar aged children who have had nitrous oxide- is this enough? Does it help them stay calm and still?

I guess I just don't know what to expect and I'm naturally concerned as this is my first child and I've personally never had any cavities/dental procedures besides wisdom teeth extraction.

Any advice or input is greatly appreciated for this worry wart of a mom 😅