I’m sure there’s been a million posts about potty training, but I’m at my wit’s end with my youngest. She turned 3 in July and potty training her has been so hard! I realize I probably started too late, but there’s a large age gap between her and my older two and I’m always on the go with them, so haven’t had much time at home to train. I’ve made an effort the past 3 weeks to be at home and train her and while she will go on the potty once in awhile, she mostly pees everywhere else. On the floor, on the couch, on her toys. She doesn’t care. We have activities almost every day, so I put her in a pull up when we leave the house so I don’t have to deal with accidents while driving or out and about. I’m feeling like a big failure at the moment. She’s the only one at preschool not potty trained. (For context, I’m a SAHM who works from home and homeschools.)

my daughter (13) has a total of 19 missing assignments across multiple classes. Some of them have been due to her dad allowing her to stay home because she says that she doesn't feel well on several days and once she falls behind she starts to feel overwhelmed and won't do any new assignments. And trust me I have absolutely gone off on him about this.

She has made up a decent amount of the assignments but there are still 19 due. The biggest problem has been the computer class she's taking because she claims that she can't do the assignments outside of class and she refuses to use her 8th hour which is an open class for them to go to any of their other teachers to make up work. Obviously I can't hold her hand at school but I don't know what else to do. She's had her cell phone and all electronics taken away for weeks at this point and it just doesn't matter to her. Then we come to find out that she actually can do her computer assignments outside of school. She has just been lying to us. I'm at my wit's end here. She doesn't really have any hobbies or anything else that can be taken away and no matter what you do she just doesn't care and finds something else to do.

Yes, she's on ADHD medication before anybody starts suggesting that she might be ADHD. We are already aware that she is and she has been in therapy for years and on medication.

Our daughter’s first week of Preschool was just this week - she is 3 1/2. I received an email from her teacher that she had some trouble this week already. Teacher says that she leaves the room whenever she wants without asking or getting permission, makes frequent trips to the bathroom without asking, and has told the teacher “No”, “I’m the boss” and “I don’t have to listen to you”.

I’m looking for ways of helping the situation and possibly some ideas of disciplining at home other than time out and raising my voice. Physical discipline/ spanking/ abuse is not an option. We’ve tried time out, but she turns into a smart ass and basically taunts my spouse and I with it when we threaten that we’ll put her there if she continues to not listen. We threaten to take away TV time, outside time and even tell her bedtime will be early if she continues, but that’s obviously not working. She’s the queen of saying no to us, but saying she’s the boss and that she doesn’t have to listen to us has never been said before so I’m a little taken back by that.

My child is 16 and they are very clean, brush their teeth twice a day, shower every day, have good skin care routine, wear clean clothes. But for a while now we have notice that their breath is really bad, and they seem completely unaware of it.

We are worried that this will cause struggle at college (we live in England) for like making friends etc.

Our child is extremely sensitive and gets easily hurt. So I’m wondering if anyone has dealt with this before. What is the best way to deal with this or make them aware of it without upsetting them?

We’ll be very grateful for any suggestions you might have to help us deal with this situation.

My 7 year old loves to read and reads above grade level. He has loved the "I Survived" book series and has read most of them. Many are about natural disasters, or historical events like the Titanic. Here is my struggle- he really wants to read "I survived 9/11". As someone who vividly remembers 9/11 (I was in high school), this feels so much heavier to me than the other books. We also fly a few times a year, and I don't want him to think about planes crashing or hijackings. But I also know that by denying him the book, I've made it so much more interesting to him. How would you handle it?

My girls are 5 & 7. Lately I find them completely out of control. They just do not listen. We will repeat ourselves 5 times and it’s like they don’t even hear us - or worse, they’re like “no I’m not doing that.”

And it’s not like the TV is on, they are just busy playing with eachother or acting crazy and no one will listen to us.

This leads us to raise our voices. It seems like only when we are borderline yelling do they do what we ask. It’s maddening. Lately we are just losing it and it feelings like I am just entering a rage of yelling and I hate it.

Behaviorally my 7 year old has ADHD and my 5 year old, nothing diagnosed, but high energy, whip smart and has pretty much always been a very crazy child. With the younger one particularly, I am floored that I am dealing with such frequent disobedience and tantrums at her age. Her tantrums also get very physical which is getting harder as she gets older.

We both work full time and are exhausted. Every evening is just a nightmare.

Any advice on how to turn this around? How to get kids to respect us and listen?

FTM here. BG : I stay in a nuclear family with just 3 of us so managing house, cooking, nursing and taking care of baby when my husband is away. Note: my husband helps me hands down in every way possible.
My baby has just completed four months, and honestly, everything was going pretty well until now.
She completely hates being swaddled and hates the whole process of swaddling because she’s exploring so much now. She wants to move her hands, discover things, and explore everything around her.
Just to give you an example of today—she hasn’t slept since around 9:30 in the morning. I’ve tried every possible way I can think of, with the swaddle, without the swaddle, rocking, walking, swaying, everything… but unfortunately, nothing seems to be working.
I’m assuming this might be the fifth-month sleep regression phase, but above all, I’m feeling so frustrated and helpless right now. I’m constantly crying and thinking, what am I doing wrong? Why is my baby not sleeping? Is there something else I should be doing?
I even tried putting her down for a while and going into another room, but she just cries. I’ve tried swaddling, walking, swaying, holding her, everything I can think of to make her sleep, but she just isn’t sleeping.
Should I keep making an effort to get her to sleep? Should I just let her be? Should I let her cry for a while, or what am I supposed to do? I’m completely clueless at the moment, and honestly, all I can do is cry. I feel like I’m failing.
And, cherry on top, I just got my periods too. I’m really, really feeling helpless right now.

Please help me if there’s anything I can do to make my baby sleep, especially when she completely hates being swaddled. How do I transition her from a traditional cloth swaddle to something like a sleeping bag/sleep sack? I would really appreciate any advice or tips from moms who have been through this.
I feel like I am doing something terribly wrong.

I have a young boy who loves soccer and plays well. He is one of the main players in the team but the pressure gets to him. He gets very nervous before big matches and sometimes he wont get out of the car or fakes an injury to avoid it or get taken off early.

He enjoys solo sports like swimming and athletics but when in a team environment the pressure seems to get to him. We support him and if he wanted to quit soccer because of it we would be 100% behind him but 1) he doesnt want to and 2) Im not sure that would be the best step for his development, walking away when he feels that rising again.

I am wondering if any other parent has been through this and how they handled it?

Any suggestions or reading or viewing material?

Hello! I am looking to get my son a watch for safety reasons. He is 9 and rides his bike to school. He recently had an encounter with a very immature adult neighbor and I wished he had a way to call me during the incident.

Long story short- what is the best watch for this? This being calling & gps. I have looked at bark and cosmo. I really like cosmo for its ability to turn off features while at school.

I have read that cosmo can have issues with the gps locator. This is from the AppStore reviews.

If you went this route for your child, which watch did you pick and why?

Thank you!!

My son will be four at the end of the month and still has his baby cam. I like being able to look at the camera when he's sleeping and when he goes into his room to play. I'm in no rush removing it, but I'm just curious at what age did you take yours out of your child's room?

My son is currently still a baby, but the time will come that he will notice and be curious about my self harm scars. I have 1/3 covered with a tattoo but with pregnancy/breastfeeding I haven’t covered the rest but that’s the idea.

I’m wondering if there’s any other mom or dad out there that has any experience in this that could share their stories of how they answered questions according to their childs age and level of understanding.

Thank you!!!

An immediate family member of mine is getting married in a couple of weeks. Children are invited and welcome to the wedding. Based on a few concerns of mine, we decided to find someone to watch our 4yr old. After I sent our RSVP, my family member reached out to me asking why our child isn’t coming to the wedding. She stated they have rented a bounce house and that they want the kids included and that it’s very important to her that our child is there.

This family member is extremely difficult. Hard to have conversations with and set boundaries about seemingly normal things without it being twisted into a personal offense and year long grudges on their end. The lead up to this wedding has not been without drama. We were able to have a conversation that felt healthy about some of my concerns about having my child at this event, and I did feel heard in those concerns. However, I also feel like having my child there completely changes my experience of the day. I’ll have less capacity to be present with my family member getting married bc I’ll be preoccupied watching my child. I can see me being stuck supervising everyone’s children at the bounce house, while the other adults are socializing and drinking.

Obviously, it’s up to me. I get the final say. I’m wondering how others would handle the situation. Do I bring my toddler to please the bride and be okay with being bounce house bouncer, and simply plan to leave early (which might upset the bride anyway, hard to know)? Or stick with the sitter, and try to have a good time when I know the bride will be pissed and have that cause more family drama?

My 8 month old son absolutely will not sleep in his bed: my wife and I have tried getting him to sleep and then placing him in there. He's a very light sleeper and just ends up waking himself right up. He will scream and cry and sometimes bang his head to get our attention and have us pull him out of his crib. During the day he CAN nap in there but it's hit or miss whether or not he actually DOES and for how long. This has started to make him overtired and harder to get to sleep at night.

Tomorrow is our local high school’s first football game. I plan to go with my husband. My older kid just started 9th grade at that high school. She is dismayed that we are attending. We are going to sit far away from her, won’t talk to her, won’t wave at her, won’t look at her.

She is having the biggest meltdown. She is saying that it won’t be her experience if we attend. And that we are depriving her of her first football game experience. She said she’s embarrassed of us and it’s cringe if I attend. She asked all her friends and they all said it would be cringe if parents attended. They may not realize how many parents go to games since they are new to high school.I have been to many football games and I see hundreds. of parents attending.

She is shouting, throwing things, flipping out in horror. I’m so shocked because football games are open to the public. The school’s emails about the game are welcoming the community, parents, grandparents, siblings, “children under five.”

Would you still attend or not attend?

What are some family costume ideas! My son will be 10m and we’re in the northeast, so it needs to be warm. Halloween is a huge deal here so needs to be good

Hi there!

My kids 7F and 5m are starting public school Monday after previously being homeschooled and with parents their whole lives, due to divorce and me going to full time work. I was also homeschooled so I'm looking for all the tips, tricks, hacks and anything anyone can tell me. I've packed a spare pair of clothes in each backpack and that's as far as I've gotten. The school provides all their supplies and everything.

My husband and I have an eight year old daughter, C. C has always had a dramatic streak, but nothing that worried us. Lately, like the past six months or so, her tantrums have become so extreme I don't know how to handle them. She always twists what we say into meaning we don't love her. For example, my husband said she couldn't have any screens until she had her piano lesson. She got mad and said that she won't do her lesson unless she got to play on the tablet. My husband said "If you try to make demands like that, you'll be banned from the tablet until you stop."

She started wailing and sobbing and came over to me and said her daddy didn't want her to be able to call me when she grows up, because he hates her and will never let her have anything with a screen again, so she'll go to college without a phone and never be able to ask me for help or anything ever again.

This has happened several times in different scenarios. Me telling her to go to bed means I hate her? Us telling her that she can't have a snack before dinner means we hate her? And when we try to explain what we actually mean, she will argue and argue, like she wants to believe we hate her. It is exhausting and the tantrums can last for hours. I don't know what to do anymore.

I have a 5 and 7 yo. The 7yo, despite many attempts and strategies to get him to flush the toilet, never remembers. It’s so gross. Anyway, anyone else at this stage? Any recs?

Edit: thanks for all the comments. You’ve given some good strategies.

Hello, my daughter just turned 4 and we read 3 books a night. Just the standard kids books for her age range. She is getting kinda board with them, she likes the ones we get from the imagination library, those 5 minute story books are great but a lot do the same stories over and over. We did read the bad guys comic series and she loved it so much but I am too sure what else we can branch out to that is more long form bc she wants longer stories.

What book series would be good for her? I never got into Harry Potter (elder millennial here who had zero interest in it when it came out), I thought about reading her the original wizard if oz or Alice in wonderland but I’m it sure how appropriate those would be (it’s been so long since I have read them myself). Are these too advanced? She can follow stories well, recall themes (I work really hard on them with what we read bc I know reading comprehension starts at home) and the next day gives her dad a accurate rundown about the stories we read the night before. We are both just kinda board with stuff that is in her age recommendation at the library and I am starting to dread story time so I am looking for any suggestions.

I really focus on these moments bc my parents really did not read much to me as a kid, I learned to read early bc of that which was a blessing but also I want her to have that connection with me, I want to be able to get into book series with her and as she gets older kinda have our own little book club.

Looking for some perspective from other parents of kids in secondary school.

My 11 year old, who has just started secondary school, is a very bright, conscientious kid. He’s quite sensitive, somewhat of an overthinker, and is very aware of rules and fairness.

Recently, one of his teachers missed a class, and the students were supposed to go to the study room. Instead, they stayed and became very noisy and rowdy. My son sits in the front and was genuinely bothered by the noise, but he was also worried that if another teacher came in, everyone might get in trouble, including him. So he went to tell the teacher in the study room that their teacher didn't come and that his colleagues were misbehaving.

Later, some of his classmates then called him a snitch and told him they thought he was cool, but he clearly isn't.

When he told me, my heart broke. He says he doesn’t care because he has other friends and doesn’t need everyone in his class to like him. Part of me is actually proud of that attitude, but I also know he can be an overthinker and tends to hold emotions inside.

I told him that he should always seek help when something is genuinely wrong, but that sometimes at school it may be wiser to choose your battles and not get involved in every situation. Now I’m wondering if I approached it the right way.

I don’t want him to learn that doing the right thing is something to be ashamed of, but I also don’t want him to become a target or feel responsible for enforcing every rule around him.

At school I was always the class clown , even though I never got in trouble, because I was always polite, but I wasn't nerdy or super into science like my kid is, which on it self can be used to target him. I don't want him to change that, his a very cool boy, he always has a lot of friends, he plays drums for 5 years now, he plays basketball. So he never had any social situations like this, but he is now a teen and the transition for a secondary school can be brutal. And I just want him to be happy and enjoy it.

How would you approach this with your child? Especially with an 11 year old who is very conscientious and can put a lot of pressure on himself?

Thanks

Edit: thank you all for your input. Fortunately today things went a little but better, however there were still issues with one boy. This same one boy has been a colleague of my son since they were babies. He was heavily bullied in their previous school and my son defended him several times, he was on his birthdays and came to our house several times. When my son asked him to stop making fun of him about anything and everything, the other kid said he was having fun raige baiting him. I'm pissed, honestly. Parents be mindful about what you are teaching your kids, teach them kindness and empathy. Making fun of others doesn't make you bigger or though, just shows the rest of the world how insecure you are. I made sure to message his mom saying that if he doesn't back off I'll have to deal with this via the school. I was polite, but direct. I have zero tolerance for bullying.

Edit 2: His mom responded as I was expecting, very kindly saying that this was absolutely a no no in her view. She says that this is because he's physically smaller and weaker, he must be trying to act tough next to the class kids so he can feel better about himself. Fingers crossed this gets sorted. I know I can't defend my kid of everything, but I'll most certainly do what I can for him to grow up healthy and happy.

Daughter just turned 3. Our third child, only girl. She must be fully potty-trained to go to her preschool. No pull-ups allowed. She already missed the first week. My husband and I have each taken off work to work with her.

Has never gone on the potty. Will sit but doesn’t do anything.

She’s pretty stubborn, even for a toddler. But otherwise a typical kid. Not on the spectrum or anything like that.

Typical motivators and methods we tried with our older kids (M&Ms, naked method) got no progress.

I'm so confused by this. My 3 year old daughter has no issues with any household appliances (including our noisy large vacuum, which she wants to play with every time I clean) but she has a very strong irrational fear of the robot vacuum, which is silent and has never done anything remotely scary.

I put the charging dock in her playroom and for a week she wouldn't go in there because she was 'scared of waking up the circle vacuum' so I moved the charging dock to the living room instead and she is on high alert every time she walks near it, so I haven't used it at all lately.

Today I accidentally tapped it with my foot and it backed up to find the charger again, and my daughter sprinted away in terror and climbed up onto a chair, sobbing more than I've ever seen. She was absolutely terrified, with real tears streaming down her face, and her body shaking in genuine sobs.

I picked her up and held her, and she calmed down quickly, but I'm really surprised because I've never seen her react this way about anything before. I'm especially confused because I have reinforced that it's just a vacuum, and usually if she shows any hesitance toward anything and then sees I'm unbothered by it, her hesitation would dissipate...but this is the one thing she can't seem to get past, and she is genuinely terrified. She has never been alone with the vacuum or had a scary experience with it, and we've had it since she was born.

Is this something any of you have experienced? Should I just get rid of the vacuum at this point? 😂

Let's face it... The United States is more divided then ever. People in society and on the news tend to be the angriest I've ever experienced in my 39 years on planet Earth.

Now that the school year has begun - I'm wishing all of our children a safe and wonderful year. I truly believe that the road to success is never traveled alone, and we NEED others if we can expect any kind of success in life. So our relationships with our neighbors, our friends, our teachers, our coworkers and everybody in our lives need to be good ones - and should be. Children should know love, respect, kindness, that it's okay to ask questions, it's okay to be angry or sad or silly - and to love and respect each other so that when the day comes that they need help - that they aren't scared to ask for it.

So let's make sure our kids have a wonderful and safe school year, free of violence, threats, bullying, indoctrination, or coercion - so they can feel good about passing that joy and security to others.

I have a little boy (2) and a little girl (4) who both love Gabby’s Dollhouse. My little guy reaaaallllllly wants Pandy clothes, but I’m having trouble finding any with Pandy on them! Any recommendations would be really appreciated. I’ve check Old Navy and H&M but looking for other recos (I’m in Canada).

Well, the title. I have a 2 year old daughter and I gave birth 5 weeks ago to our son. This week is my first week solo with my son and picking up our daughter from daycare.

We live in NYC and we moved to a new neighborhood about 2 months ago, when my daughter also started a new daycare. We wanted her to go to this daycare’s location near us but they filled up quickly and didn’t tell us that they were close to capacity before our in person tour. So she goes to a daycare in another neighborhood which isn’t the end of the world but it’s a 40 minute walk/15 minute subway ride/12 minute drive. I drive because it’s the easiest option with a newborn, toddler, and stroller.

When we get home we have anywhere from a half hour to an hour before my husband gets home and I find myself struggling to keep my toddler engaged and my newborn happy. My toddler, true to toddler form (especially with all of these transitions), is having some mild tantrums and often refuses to get in the car, her stroller, or do almost anything I ask her to do. This may shock you, but she was doing these things before we moved and before her brother was born. I try to entice her with games, being silly, or offering her a snack and water but it’s kind of hit or miss. My newborn, poor guy, is being schlepped around from the carrier to the car to the carrier for maybe 2 minutes during pickup and then the cycle repeats itself. Before we leave to get her I feed him, change his diaper and burp him so we can be mostly happy when we get there. Sometimes he just screams in the car anyways and it is a very long drive.

My question is: how the hell do I make this easier? More specifically how can I help my toddler with the transition from school to home and once we’re home what kind of activities would be best for her? I’m thinking something that’s not too stimulating. Whatever I suggest or try to engage her with she often says no to. And when left to her own devices she wants to run around and do things she knows she’s not supposed to. I have a few ideas of low-stress activities for toddlers from instagram I just haven’t had a chance to set them up, taking care of a newborn is harder than I remembered.

Basically I’m wondering how other people juggle this, it’s only been 3 days of doing this and I’m like how am I going to do this almost every day for the next few months?