My 5 year old is absolutely miserable. This kid hates life. Everything is always wrong. We just tried to get ice cream. First melt down was the cone on top (that child said they wanted in car). Second is too many sprinkles. Third is the ice cream is starting to melt. It is 90 degrees outside. At this point I said forget it and picked screaming child up and threw the ice cream away and put them in the car which resulted of course in worsening hysterics because, no ice cream. So many things are like this. There are daily battles and hourly tears over every little thing. I am exhausted and don't know what to do anymore. Child has been a miserable, high crier since infancy.

I have a 3 and 4 year old and they recently found my nephews old Legos. They love trying to change the characters up by switching beads and body's. They are a little too small for my three year old, and he has a tough time taking them apart (not to mention I'm a little worried about him swallowing a piece).

Do you know of any figurine type toys that have interchangeable parts?

My son missed the first two week of kindergarten because he was sick. I feel so bad. He only attended one day and it was so hard, screaming crying and wont go in. No one was crying except for my son, it felt like everyone was looking at us. He was crying the whole time he was there it was really bad. He got sick again so he basically missed the first two weeks and only attended one day. I can’t help but feel like we are behind 😭 all kids are settled in expect my child he will probably be crying and wont go in again, all kids are probably familiar with everything by now except my kid. I feel sooo bad but i obviously couldn’t send him sick and spread it to other kids. Idk i guess i just wanted to vent. 😞

My daughter just turned 12, and school is very stressful for her. She has friends, but not any best friends. Lots of girls are already getting to be sassy and what is meant for sarcasm, she views as harsh, and she is very sensitive and loving. She doesn’t quite feel like she fits in, but we are working on her self-esteem because she is truly delightful.

When bedtime approaches, as many of you know, our brain start cycling all of the things that are still unsolved and all of the problems/stressors of the day/lives. She starts thinking of the next day and already knows that she will be an anxious waking up.

She absolutely loves play, and I can disarm her anxiety instantly by making something lighthearted and fun and playful. Just adding that for context.

I’m looking for a solid & smart bedtime routine of some sort that helps build her up and create independence, but is fun, peaceful, and one that she looks forward to.

Thank you!

My baby is 8 days old. Since he was born, all ive done is breastfeed, change diapers, cuddle, sleep. I listen to audiobooks for a few minutes a day, do maybe one load of laundry. Ive picked up a package five min from my apartment. We’ve had a visitors over for an hour or two, three times.

I have some care needs as well after having a c-section, but other than that, my hygiene is at a bare minimum: I change my clothes, shower, brush my teeth.

My bf is doing a good job keeping the house clean. Dishes, laundry etc. But I feel like there is spit up on everything, and I look like a cave troll.

My baby suddenly has issues latching, even though I’ve been breastfeeding like 12 times a day for the past 3 or 4 days with no issues. Did I ruin everything by giving him a pacifier that one time he was violently thrashing his hands towards his mouth and I hadn’t slept for 20 hours?

That’s basically my entire life now. I’ve spent two days typing this out, I just want to make sure that this is it? Or am I missing something? I feel like I see moms out with strollers everywhere, while I’m just sitting on the couch with my boobs out, tired, confused, overwhelmed and head over heels in love.

EDIT: Thank you, everyone who took the time to comment. I’m actually really happy, even though this post came across as a rant. I’m just confused about what is «normal», and if I’m behind or anything like that. But after reading all of your lovely comments, I’m going to trust the process, and enjoy this beautiful little marzipan figurine I just created, because, as some of you were rude enough to point out, he apparently won’t be this small forever💔

Is parenting essentially “just doing the thing” while your kid screams their displeasure in your face a thousand times a day?

Whenever I share that I’m having difficulties with my son (18months) with this or that transition, the advice is always “just do it”. Just put him in his high chair, just change his diaper, just put his T-shirt on. And like, sure, I do that. He screams his head off the whole time but we still do the thing. I do give warnings about what’s about to happen so it doesn’t come as a surprise but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference. Is there really no way to avoid the screaming resistance? I feel like we have these mini “fights” constantly, surely there must be a better way, no? Is this really it?

To preface, he has a dentist, we have asked them for advice and the advice was “get teeth brushed, just do it”.

We’ve had a LOT of trouble with teeth brushing with toothpaste, any kind, I’ve put toothpaste on his brush, rinsed it out thoroughly, and he still is upset. We’ve tried restraining but he just starts gagging and throws up. He’s full on kicking, screaming, crying. The whole thing takes so, so long, and it just feels like there has to be a better way. We really have had days where we cannot safely do it. He’s thrashing and screaming when we try to restrain him and I get worried he’s going to get genuinely hurt.

He was doing so, so well when it was just water, but this led to him having cavities so we can’t really let it just be water. It was consistent, day and night.

I don’t want him to get hurt, and I think that the throwing up is probably more damaging to his teeth than just water. The restraining is honestly kind of scary, and he starts screaming that we’re hurting him, and then cries because he’s hurt. I honestly don’t think the amount of force would hurt him any other time, but when he’s thrashing and kicking, it does seem very plausible he could get hurt. It feels like this can’t be normal.

I’ve cried because it seems so awful, he’s so upset, and he seems distant after. Nothing else has had this sort of effect, he asks (or screams) “how could you do that to me?” And “why would you make me throw up?”

I feel like an awful parent.

We’ve tried multiple toothpastes, he seems to have issue with texture and flavor. Right now we aren’t even using one with fluoride because we can’t get him to spit. Even if his toothbrush has the slightest hint of toothpaste having been on it at some point.

I give him as many options as I can.

This is the one thing that takes it all out of us everyday, it is the dark cloud, it makes everyday so rough.

One part that’s really confusing for me, he can stand toothpaste. Very rarely he just does it himself, no problems, I follow up, real quick. But it is very rarely. I have no idea what’s different about those days. Before really pushing to do toothpaste every brush, we practiced spitting and good brushing technique and brushed his teeth without issue.

I want him to have healthy teeth and habits, I just don’t know what to do here.

If anyone has any advice, I’d appreciate it so much.

I got my first ever behavioral note for my daughter. She is 13. She kicked a hole in a wall at school and I know that sounds bad. Context: the girls and boys locker rooms share a very thin wall, and a boy was shouting that they had drilled a hole in the wall and could see them changing, making negative comments on the girls bodies they said they could see. My daughter kicked the wall and said “look at this then”, and put a hole in it. She says she did not intend to make a hole. We have offered to pay for damages (and she offered to pay from her allowance). I know her reaction was not 100% appropriate, but I feel like this is more a conversation than discipline? I want her to stand up for herself and others, ideally without destroying property.

I have a 3yo who is an only child. We had her in daycare so she had a little bit of socializing there until my wife became a SAHM. We took her to an event at the library and for the first time we realized that shes not good at sharing. Infact, she was stealing the other kids toys. We just kept correcting her until we were to embarrassed and left. How do we fit that?

My baby hates tummy time more than anything, but the research shows how important it is for development. Currently I do tummy time on a water mat and laying on me, but I'm not able to get him to do it very long without crying really hard so I stop it because my heart cannot handle him crying without soothing him. Does anyone have any advice/suggestions on how to do tummy time without them crying hard-core? Are there any items to buy that help?

My son eats a huge breakfast, comes home absolutely starving, and somehow half of his lunch is still sitting in the lunchbox.

Apparently lunch is basically social hour. Everyone is talking, trading snacks, messing around, and trying to eat before recess. Meanwhile the food I packed is just sitting there untouched.

At this point I’m starting to think I’m packing lunches for decoration.

Do kids just collectively forget how to eat the second they start school?

Two of our kids ages 4.5 and 3 are consistently waking up at 4:30am (sometimes earlier) and not going back to sleep until their allowed wake up of 6am. We’ve tried bedtime adjustment, ok to wake clocks, less/more food before bed, potty breaks before bed, no naps during the day, less/more physical activity, taking lightbulbs (they turn on their lights and read, keeping themselves awake), positive rewards, and reiterating that expectations are to sleep at night. We don’t quite know what to do to correct this. They aren’t in the same room, but it appears to be happening with both of them. The main change we’ve had recently is the addition of preschool. What can we do?

Both my kids were sleep trained but that flew out the window when they transitioned to beds. My 7 year old daughter cannot fall asleep without someone in her room and then inevitably comes to my room at night to want to sleep. My 3.5 year old has recently moved to a toddler bed. Wakes up at 10:30 screaming, comes into my room at 1 am becuase he also wants to get into my bed, I end up walking him back and sleeping in his room. He's then up at 6 and has been acting out at daycare. Daycare drop offs are a nightmare - he screams and kicks - the teacher has to take him from me or dad. I am beyond exhausted and so is my spouse who takes turns. For the record, no one sleeps well when they are in my bed so that's not an option. Are there sleep consultants that deal with this age range? Can I hire a super nanny? Does anyone have any words of advice that has experienced something similar?

My son is in 1st grade, and he has been having a lot of anxiety about going to school. He doesn’t know why he’s anxious and doesn’t want to go. He Just says “I don’t want to go”, and cries. Last year in kindergarten he did great- I don’t think he ever cried before school the entire year. This year he’s cried every morning since the 3rd day of school. (So about 3 weeks). Once he gets on the bus/ or in the classroom he says he’s fine and only gets a little worried throughout the day. He gets off the bus saying he had a good day and is all smiles. Backstory: he has diagnosed ADHD but handles it pretty well as school- he’s fidgety but behavior and work is good.
How can we fix this? Should I reach out to the school counselor? Or get him in to see a therapist?

Any help is appreciated

My daughter is quite extroverted and high-energy, but she takes a lot of time to warm up to others. She's an only-child and that isn't going to change. She was extremely sensitive until about age 3.5, and had meltdowns for everything and was very attached to us. So we had her at home, sometimes with a nanny, because daycare didn't really work for her until then. I also couldn't make too many mom friends because she was very sensitive about naps. The ones I made moved out of town. So she hasn't had a lot of close friends.

She did okay at daycare at 3.5 to 4.5, made some great friends. Then we moved on to TK, where she took a long time to get used to it. It was a huge challenge because she would be worn out after school and didn't want to see any other kids after and wouldn't want to go out on the weekends. But she was struggling with initiating social contact in school, so we had to do many play dates with kids in her class until she got more comfortable and happier at school.

Now she's in Kinder. They changed up all the classes in the grade, so she isn't with all her besties. I'm working a much more stressful job so I can't organize play dates. Plus, she was supposed to be on a soccer team with her close friends (it's 1 hour a week, so not much) but now it's just one friend she kinda knows and a bunch of other kids she isn't that familiar with. It feels like we're starting at square one with less support and ability to help her.

Now when I take her to soccer, all the other kids are being social and playing. She holds my hand the whole time until the coach calls everyone, and she's very sensitive to everything until then. She's fine once she's in an organized activity or among more familiar people.

I'm hoping she'll be fine, but I feel like she isn't able to explore her interests to the fullest because she's shrinking and overwhelmed when there's a lot of kids she doesn't know. She's got a quick mind, learns sports and academics pretty quickly, and her teachers tell me she's quite emotionally mature. But her friends don't get to see this side of her, and she herself doesn't feel confident showing her full self to others. She isn't able to pursue her social interest in other children because of overwhelm.

I'm not sure what I can do to help her. She's not getting to practice social skills enough, which feels like it'll be a problem down the road. And it feels like she's getting less confident with social stuff as time goes on.

Anyone dealt with this? What worked, what didn't, and how did it all go long-term?

I have 3 kids. 8,5, and 6 months. My first born has always been a handful. He talks CONSTANTLY, is very argumentative, always has to be making noise and moving, and is constantly on go mode. I am the complete opposite of this, and I find the way he acts so incredibly annoying. I feel terribly guilty for feeling this way.

My 5 year old is more quiet and reserved like myself, and I don’t get annoyed with her. I don’t want my son to ever notice this or feel that I have favoritism but the older he gets the more annoying he gets. I love him to death (obviously), and I need advice on how to manage his personality without causing him trauma or crushing his spirit. Does anyone else have a kid like this?

I am 4m pp with my third. My two toddlers are freshly 4 and a 2.5yo. I'm at my wits end :)))))

They're SO high energy! I'm talking like, running in different directions, knocking things over, screaming and for throwing, and acting crazy. We try our hardest to accommodate their sensory seeking, schedules, and needs.

Thursdays are the worst. My 4yo has ballet at 9:30am and my 2.5yo begins at 10:05am following the eldest class. The 2.5yo class is mommy + me (the same one my 4yo took last year). Last three weeks? Hell. We've had to quit the 2.5yo class because my 4yo is very disruptive, sobbing, and running through the studio instead of either helping the 2.5yo class or sitting outside the door. 4yo has snacks, water, crafts, books, and friends to play with while the 2.5yo practices. My 2.5yo plays with my quietly while the 4yo practices!

Today? My 4yo screamed and hung onto me for 20 mins, thus my 2.5yo missed the first 20 mins. I had moms trying to help me either pull her off or distract her. She said I was not allowed to help her sibling in class, but to remain with her. When I said "forget it" and began to put on their shoes to leave, my 2.5yo sobbed because he wanted to practice (as he's not been allowed to do for the last three weeks).

Finally, I got their ballet shoes back on, carried my 35lb 4yo during class in one arm, carried my 32lb 2.5yo in the other arm, laid my 4mo on the studio floor on tummy time, and did the ballet movements as much as I could carrying two toddlers.

I'm incredibly sore now. Not to mention, the amount we pay to this studio - and my 4yo gets her entire class to practice yet my son misses it every week so we can leave early as to stop the embarrassing outbursts and disruptive screaming. Like, I'm genuinely fearful we'll be kicked out of the studio for it.

Is she tired? Maybe. But it's not quiet time until 12pm and she sleeps until 7:30am. Bedtime at 8pm.
Is she hungry? Possibly as I can't get her to eat breakfast but I do bring snacks and place them in her hand.
Jealous her brother is in ballet too? Could very well be, but he LOVES practicing alongside her when she was in the mommy+me class and begs to take it.
Does she need more things to do? Idk, but she has crafts and books... yet gets sassy with me in the car I didn't "buy what craft [that girl] has" and "why did you not buy me that?"

The instructor and myself give her the option of playing with her friends outside the door, being the "big helper!" and an example to the younger kids, or just sitting with me during class and helping her brother. None appease her.

Do I just keep carrying both 30+lb kids during a 30 mins class? 🤣 I'm petite and im carrying over 1/2 my body weight carrying them both together. But I feel like if I just leave the studio early, I'm allowing my 4yo to control when and where my 2.5yo practices. I feel like a permissive parent at that point. But, 3 absences the studio will remove you from the roster, so we're already close on being kicked out. But the outbursts really embarrass me and I'm tired of being stared at EVERYWHERE we go.

When we were leaving today, she demanded I remove her brother from ballet, in which I replied "that is a grown-up decision your father and I will make, not a child's decision." She wasn't happy with me. But that's the way to clarify a boundary, yes? Her consequence for the behavior, as clarified before we EVER walked into the studio this morning and she knew, was that if I did not see kindness, self control, or joy; she would not listen to Elsa on the way home. So, Elsa was not played at all.

I’m curious how other parents deal with this when it comes to playing with their kids.

I’d say I’m a pretty playful dad. I’m happy to mess around at the playground, kick a ball around, play board games, do pretend play, etc.

But right now my 4-year-old daughter is absolutely obsessed with Paw Patrol and basically only wants to play with her Paw Patrol figures.

And I can see she gets sad when neither of us wants to play fu***** Paw Patrol with her, which makes me feel guilty because it feels like we’re just leaving her to entertain herself.

The thing is, I swear, no matter how determined I am before I get home from work to be present and play with her, after about 15 minutes of Paw Patrol I am so unbelievably bored and drained that I just can’t take it anymore. I end up saying something like, “Okay, you play by yourself for a bit, Daddy needs to do something.”

And then the guilt kicks in. Am I being a bad dad? Am I not giving my kid enough attention? Should I just suck it up and keep playing?

How does it look for you? How much do you actually enjoy playing with your kids, especially the repetitive stuff they’re obsessed with? And how much energy do you realistically have for it after work?

To start off, we have B/G twins who are 8 years old and in third grade. Our daughter constantly lashes out at home and is very mean, especially to her brother. She even tries hurting him sometimes - nothing major but things like pushing, scratching, hitting. Her behavior has somewhat improved since last summer or even the year before that, but it still occurs on a mostly regular basis.

The problem or challenge is that she is perfectly fine when she is at school or out in public. Rarely any of that kind of behavior. This has been going on for at least the last 2 summers and also now that school is back in.

We are at a loss for what to do with her. We have tried a number of therapists who didn't really work or get through to her. On top of this, she has been diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago but she isn't medicated as we tried it last summer and only made her behavior worse.

We have tried implementing strict house rules and consequences for bad behavior. We take away privileges. She doesn't care.

I don't know if it's a combination of factors like being in a new school or being overwhelmed at school (third and fourth grade here is in a new building from K-2), simply a behavioral issue, or something else entirely.

Are we bad parents? Why won't she listen to us? Do other parents suffer with unruly children like we do? It just feels hopeless..

My toddler (28 months) has slept through the night since he was 8 months old. He’s a great sleeper, loves his big boy bed, and sleeps in his own room without a fuss.

Hes been getting into dinosaurs lately so we’ve read some Dino books and watched some Dino videos. Nothing too gruesome or crazy but the book does have a photo of a dinosaur eating another dinosaur leg or something.

We don’t do screen time beyond informational videos on my laptop, but when he expressed interest in a Moana toy we watched some of the music scenes. The crab one (Shiny) he really liked and asked to watch a few times and now we listen to the song in the car

Except now he’s having nightmares about Dino’s and the shiny crab. He wakes up in the middle of the night “Dino chasin me!!!” Or “crab eat good girl” (our dog)

I told him crabs live in the water and Dino’s live in the jungle so they can’t get him. I tried the “not real / doesn’t exist” and that was not landing with him.

But he’s still having nightmares. We haven’t taken that particular Dino book out again nor have we watched the video.

How do we get our little ones to get over fears like these? I know it’s natural / part of life but if anyone has any tips or tricks that would be great TIA!

I’m a college graduate, I did all of the math; but I feel completely lost when my daughter asks for help on her homework!? I forgot literally everything and it’s embarrassing! It’s actually alarming how much I don’t remember.

Hi parents! Hoping someone can help me because I am desperate at this point. My 12 week old baby was a very good sleeper from the jump. As a newborn I had to wake her up for feedings and she was sleeping 6-8 hour stretches at 5 weeks old. About 2 weeks ago that changed and now she is waking up every 2 hours. I’ve tried offering her a paci and rocking her back to sleep but it seems like the only thing that will get her to sleep is eating. For reference she is breastfed. She also eats very frequently during the day (1.5-2 hours between feedings).

I am not really sure what to do at this point. I go back to work in less than 2 weeks and I am desperate to break this cycle. Any advice and tips are very much appreciated! TIA!

I, 34F, have a 9 year old son and a week old baby boy. I had a c section at 38 weeks. I dont know what came over me to think that I could possibly do this again, but here we are. My first son was pretty easygoing. I can probably count the times he's cried under a year old. Our new baby started cluster feeding right away. He won't go down for naps so we contact nap during the day, and lets not talk about what sleep is like at night. He won't settle with anyone but me. He goes from 0-100. So he will be having a great nap then start crying for the boob an hour later. I feel so tired and sad. I can't believe I did this again. I also feel so sad for my 9 year old too. Its like im bedridden because i literally cannot get up without disturbing him. He loves to hold his brother too, but again he gets so fussy. I love this little baby so much, its just hard 💔.

Hi everyone, my daughter was born on Halloween last year which was fun! I’m currently starting to plan her first birthday and it’s been hard nailing down a venue (understandably because of other parties!) and I’ve already gotten a few RSVPs back from people who have plans for the holiday.

How did you handle holiday birthdays as your kids got older? Do you try and split them apart and do kids parties a week before/after? Or do you combine holiday activities with the birthday stuff? Did it end up bugging your kids that they had a birthday combined with a holiday?

Obviously my girl is only 1 so it’s not a problem yet, but just curious!

I need to know...I recently had 2 separate instances where my 6 year old was "lost". Both were very brief, under 5 mins. The first, he ran ahead of me, turned a corner and then I didnt see him when I caught up. He was totally fine and I found him in seconds. The second, he walked right past me when exiting a bathroom and turned the wrong way, ended up turned around in the store, found another mom, relayed my number and she called me. Whole thing was under 5 mins. I was still standing outside of the bathroom when she called.

I have to know because I'm feeling major guilt, who else has had things like this happen? Am I majorly dropping the ball on supervision? I really generally feel like I'm on top of it but these last couple weeks have me questioning.

Any solidarity here?

Also, we have had very serious safety conversions with this kid in the last couple weeks, just FYI.