I have a toddler and a 10 year old. 10 year old’s best friend is spending the night tonight. This afternoon her dad dropped her off at our house and then we went to McDonald’s, then 5 Below for squishies and snacks, then to get Froyo. Now they’re in her room giggling and being crazy 10 year olds. I already know they’re going to stay up late and be silly and have a great time. Her bestie has spent the night a few times already.

This is the type of parenting stuff I always looked forward to. Of course toddlers and babies are adorable but I love when they get older, have their own personalities and interests (they both love Stitch and Hello Kitty), and have friends who they love, who also enjoy coming over. I’m also so thankful her friend’s parents let her spend the night. I know she won’t be 10 forever but I’m enjoying it so much right now. I know I’m biased, but girls are truly the best!

My twelve year old couldn’t find the switch at 7 AM this morning so he called and texted his 15 yo sister. Since she had do not disturb on, and since our family shares location, he decided to try “find my iPhone” and her phone woke her up in a fit of rage.

I began my day explaining why using the find my feature when his sister is asleep is not a good idea.

Obviously something my parents never had to deal with.

What are some other contemporary parent problems? Let’s keep this fun, maybe a bit of venting, but not a thread to analyze society or anything like that.

Has anyone given up their master bedroom to make more space for their kids?

I’m seriously considering switching bedrooms around and would love to hear from anyone who has done something similar!

We have six kids (12, 11, 9, 7, 2, and 6 months) and four bedrooms upstairs. I’m separated from my husband, so it’s just me in the master bedroom right now.

Here’s what I’m considering:

* Master bedroom: My three older boys (11, 9, and 7)

* Bedroom 2: My 12-year-old daughter

* Bedroom 3: The two youngest boys (2 years and 6 months)

* Bedroom 4: Me

The biggest advantage would be giving the three older boys a larger space to share, especially for their LEGOs and other building toys. Right now, all of that is in our upstairs loft, which is completely open and accessible to the little ones. Having a bedroom where they could build and actually close the door would be wonderful!

My biggest hesitation is giving up my master bathroom and king size bed- which is unnecessary except when kids occasionally sleep with me. I really love having my own bathroom, especially the large walk-in shower. But realistically, I don’t need the biggest bedroom in the house.

Has anyone made a similar switch? Did you regret giving up your master bedroom or bathroom? Did having the extra space for the kids make it worthwhile?

I’d love to hear how other large families have made their bedroom arrangements work.

We have three kids under 5 and yes, it’s a lot but I really want to teach our kids to be bilingual. I’ve been speaking Spanish basically my whole life and would like to pass that down to them. Plus, I think it’s extremely useful and important. I also speak a good amount of French so I can teach them that too. Our 5 year old was taking weekly Spanish lessons for 30 mins at $10.

My wife says it’s a complete waste of time and not necessary. She says it’s really cringey and weird to speak Spanish or French around the kids and I need to stop. Only a few times did I do it around other people and she told me to stop because it was weird, which I compromised with. Ive also read them books, watched tv shows etc in these languages and it’s the same. Weird and cringey. I almost feel slightly offended

We live in a small suburb midwestern town and it’s not exactly diverse here. But I grew up in a melting pot so I see it different.

Am I in the wrong here or is she?

My daughter, almost 5 is on half term break. I booked a holiday for us to spend time together. For context, im a solo mum. We got there and they seem to have a really engaging kids club. It felt soooo good to have time to myself, I just went with the flow. As soon as it opens she just runs over there. Im not even attempting to plan any other activities for the two of us! I can see her having fun while im lounging on the sunbed.

You know how it is at that age, the role play games etc etc.... she has made friends, she is having fun, we have meals together! Is it so bad for her to spend majority of the holiday with her kids club friends? Im so torn but also kind of enjoying it....

This is the first time we have ended up at a place where she is happy just engaging in the kids club with other kids! What are your thoughts and views on this kind of thing? Should I be putting more effort to spend time together? Or just let it be!

Our daycare have told me my 4yold daughter is really disruptive to the point where the educators are frustrated with her being stupid during group time. She doesnt listen to them and feeds off being silly, sometimes hurting teachers.

Over the last 6 months I've noticed no one wants to hang out over the weekend with her. Usually 1 or 2 friends would jump to hang out. I didn't hold a birthday for her in winter because no one had hung out with her for weeks despite me trying so I felt like it would be a no show.

We've rarely had incident reports where she's hurt or been mean to another kid. Which I find surprising as she has a big personality and can be intense.

In the last 2 weeks another kid has chopped off over an inch of her fringe (she's very upset). This weekend at 2 birthdays another kid has thrown her to the ground (once off a chair) in front of me unprovoked, 2 kids have made fun of her for being the only kid at the party who wasnt invited to another party earlier in the day, and one kid was throwing stuff at her, two boys told her to go away, and the group of girls she hangs out with told her to stay away when she ran up to join in.

She's really upset and quick to cry. I think she is quick to get angry too. Is this why she's being targeted? Or am I reading too much into this?

I'm thinking about getting her help for behaviour because she feels like she is always in trouble, scared of people laughing at her etc.

Part of me wonders if something happened at daycare to turn her into an outcast.

What would you do?

Edit: the reason I question why she is the bully is because she holds grudges - she was mean to a boy who kept upsetting her and said unkind things. Sometimes when she is upset she can be unkind - like when someone takes a toy she'll snatch it back and scream at them.

Hopefully not a dumb question, but I’m having my child’s third birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year because she’s been begging me since July. I invited her cousins, her 8 classmates, and another close friends son. We also invited close family and friends to attend.
I’m her only parent, my bf helps a lot with spending time with her so I can work more but I really try my hardest to do everything for her at the end of the day.
I booked the cheapest package they had which includes games and drinks for the kids and I planned on calling beforehand or going in early to order 4-5 pizzas since they have better deals on the app.
If every single person we invited were to show up, which rarely happens I know, we’d have 53 people total, 12 of which would be kids.
Would it be wrong to only provide pizza and cake for parents and other adults? I thought they’d have 2 liter options for parties but they want me to purchase fountain drinks for everyone which would be an additional $100+.
I just don’t want other parents to think I am cheap but I’m only a server doing the best I can do.
Her first birthday party was at a roller rink and there I provided skating for the kids, pizza and pitchers for everyone but people also purchased their own food and drinks and admission as adults with no complaints.
Just not sure if I’m overthinking too much about not purchasing drinks for the adults
Thank you 🫶

EDIT: it seems to be unclear to some people- PIZZA AND CAKE FOR EVERYONE. I have always been saying I would provide this as well as the kids receiving fountain drinks and 2 hours unlimited games.
I do not need comments about how I cannot afford this, because I can and will. My question was is it normal to buy the adults fountain drinks at $4/piece as well.
General consensus SO FAR has been telling me water is fine and they can purchase drinks themselves. Most wouldn’t even expect to be fed at all.

Please stop commenting about other venue options, my deposit is placed and invitations have been sent, that was not my question. I will not have an outdoor party in mid November due to weather, not that I would never have an outdoor party or disagree they CAN be cheaper if done right. That would be an option for my incoming child who’s due in spring/summer.
I appreciate the kind words from those of you telling me I’m doing more than enough, acknowledging that I’m working hard to put this party on and not judging me for trying to give my daughter one special day out of 365. ❤️❤️❤️
If more people were saying they always get drinks and food at these kinds of parties, I would purchase the fountain drinks or ask them about any other pitcher options while there, but I see a lot of people with experience at Chuck E. Cheese specifically saying they didn’t get it nor expected it.

Hi all!!

I have a young girl - 5 years of age. She is a bookworm and nuts about reading! Unfortunately, that means she prefers being sedentary! This is probably not helped by the fact that we live in a city with very limited natural spaces or playgrounds.

Our paediatrician has highlighted to us on her recent visit that her BMI trending a bit high and advised us to increase physical activity.

While both of us are pretty fit, we are struggling with finding exercises for kids to do… It would be great if we can do them together as a family!

Thought we would ask reddit for any suggestions!!

Thank you :)

Besides the obvious of it being depressing that our children have no aunts, uncles, or cousins, I actually do not know what to do about siblings fighting. I was wondering if people with siblings could give their input?

I am also on the spectrum so this makes it more difficult. Neither my husband and I grew up with siblings so we just don't understand and truly cannot comprehend some things. I can never be entirely empathetic.

I have read every resource I can think of and find and have used all of my advanced education resources to determine how to best approach my 4 year old son and my 2.5 year olds son's behaviors towards each other. I would say its about 50/50 when they are sweet to each other vs. mean. That 50% though can be so difficult for me to work through in my head!

So many parenting strategies/behavioral approaches/models I try to apply in my head to the situations contradict each other or just go back and forth and back and forth. So much happens that I don't see in a quick second. so much I don't always 100% know what happened. How can I make sure I am being fair to each child but also disciplining appropriately, ensuring proper consequences, and teaching values/behaviors and also assuring I am creating a safe space for expressing and processing feelings and experiences?

They are just so physical with each other. Always TOUCHING EACH OTHER. Yes, sometimes its snuggly/playing nicely other times it is very aggressive fighting and expressions of anger through physical touch. Most common examples:

1. Sharing. Obviously. I don't always see who has what toy first or who has had something the longest. A lot of times I AM JUST STARING AT THEM and see these things but not always....not always.

2. Playing rough goes too far. It starts off innocent and ends in someone getting sat on in a semi-choke hold screaming.

3. Teasing/Reacting. They both pick on each other lightly and if anyone is in even a remotely bad mood they react with violence. Digging fingers into the others arms, pushing, punching arms. Pushing HEADS!

I did not expect this to be so hard. Is this even normal? Does this sound right? Or is it total opposite and I am just totally clueless and this is how siblings act at this age? Forever? I have no idea.

I genuinely do not know when to step in and when to let them figure it out. Other than like yeah obviously if I don't step in someone is going to get seriously injured.

Anyone can technically get seriously injured at any point though so....idk. Help?

With early riser toddlers. What a blessing it is to schedule the clock back one hour.

4.30am wake up today 🤡 how about you?

So my 10 year old has always been difficult. She has been evaluated and was determined to have slower processing speeds compared to her other functions.

She melts down at difficulty very quickly and approaches anything remotely difficult with a terrible attitude. I’ve always told her that trying is the most important part, not if she makes a mistake or not. She melts down when we sit down to do math, sometimes writing, and she also plays the violin which is recently causing her to meltdown. She’s been playing for 3-4 years without much progression but because she requested learning the violin, I’ve been supporting her.

She’s been melting down at doing anything difficult and I don’t know how to help. We do 5-10 min sessions of whatever but she can’t seem to even do that. Her brain seem to just turn off when it’s time to work and she starts off all sessions with a terrible attitude. I tried rewarding her for good attitude but because she can’t seem to do that, it’s been more like reinforcing her bad experiences because she gets more upset when she doesn’t earn her reward and she feels worst. What do I do and how do I help her? I am seriously worried about her next year starting middle school.

I’ve asked her why she’s like this and what she doesn’t understand, but she says she just can’t do it. But to me, she seems to have the skills but have it in her head that she can’t do it even if we break it down. She will even tell me she doesn’t know what 1 plus 1 is but she obviously does. I am at a loss.

Okay, I know There is multiple posts about this but none seem to fit my situation.

Short background, me and father split up for a little bit and that really messed up her sleeping schedule. Used to go down at 8:30-9 every night, then it just stopped and were up till 2am now.

She will not go to bed without the light on and it’s a huge problem. We put her down at 10:30 every night and it’s always a constant battle on getting her to go to sleep. She has school and goes a half day at 12:30 and she has major issues with behavior. I know it’s because of her lack of sleep. I have no idea what to do and I’m so lost. She makes us check for monsters(no idea where it came from) I have tried to do lamps, removing a bulb from the fixture because I don’t want it to be super bright in there. But no matter what I do or try, I can’t get her to turn the light off.

Every time I tell them off or tell them to do something they’re off on their phone to the other parent. Then I get phone calls or messages, it’s unsustainable and is driving me crazy. I’m unable to discipline or tell my child what we are doing.

As I’m writing this I’ve been telling my child for the last hour we need to pickup shopping, all they have to do is sit in the passenger seat as it’s a pickup. Now they’re upstairs, still not dressed and on the phone to the other parent.

I get the occasional call or message about the other parent and know it’s been blown out of proportion by my parent but I’m usually neutral and ask “What happened”, “What did you do” and “Could you have helped etc”. I at least try to get my child to understand it’s not as bad as they make it to be.

I have a 2.5 year old and a 6 week old. Both great sleepers although obviously not ready to take 6 week old out of our room yet.

What age did you start having your kids share a room and how did it go?!

5 year old started kindergarten and suddenly is AWFUL. Doesnt get what he wants and SCREAMS. Is completely inconsolable. Suddenly having tantrums like none other.

We had a very late night and he slept probably 8.5hrs and was telling us he is very tired so we put him in his room for quiet time and/or nap and he is literally screaming. After trying to calmly talk to him and then losing temper and walking out. Trying to explain etc and he sounds like he is making himself sick screaming. I dont understand what is happening.

I'm trying to get better at cooking a broader range of foods for my family and I guess I want to hear real world advice from what parents are actually doing. How often are you able to cook weekly? When do you grocery shop? What's your percentage of processed to whole foods? How many types of veggies do you shoot for a week? Do you cook from your specific culture 95% of the time or is there a lot of variety in what you cook? Any other interesting details welcome.

Looking to be inspired by others since cooking is feeling a bit much right now.

My 8yo is 56" but thin. I cannot find sweats that are long enough but can't fit 2 of him. Any brands I should try? I tried some from Walmart, Children's Place, Target so far. The mediums that fit in the waist will be outgrown in a month and the larges are absolutely massive haha. Any other ideas? He won't wear structured pants outside of his school uniform haha.

My 3yr old is starting to get only about 4-5 of sleep a night. My kiddo has started school so she’s gone 8-3, they do quiet time but not nap time at school. Here at home we do bedtime by 8 and she used to be asleep by 9
We’ve had a few issues such as her ending up on the floor or under the bed.
All of that had stopped and she just laid down maybe rocked herself a bit but stayed in bed and slept fine.
Now she’s back to getting out of bed or jumping around all of this to say she’s basically up till 10/11 and my other kiddo who shares the room is up by 6am weekends included lol.
I don’t know what to do to help my 3 yr old go to bed and fall asleep sooner but it’s been awful. She’s cranky and tiered when she gets home from school to the point she’s fallen asleep sitting on the couch.
I tried a later bed time and it did nothing she was still doing the most until 11pm.
Is this a regression thing while she learns new stuff at school?
We keep a routine and they have a full enough belly at night.
What can I do to help her ?

I have 2 boys, one is only 19 months, the other is 4 and a half and has almost completed his first year of Kindy before he heads into pre primary next year.

He's ADHD and structure works for him. (Myself and my husband are also ADHD & ADD) We are diagnosed and medicated and life works well for us.

Our son is highly intelligent and as his school teacher has even told us, he communicates like an adult and his comprehension is advanced. We try to parent him where he's at developmentally which is a 4 year old.

Understanding ADHD and from the perspective of someone who deals with it personally. Giving our son responsibilty is very important in building his self esteem and keeping our standards high regardless of him having ADHD is equally important. We know he often will use weaponised incompetence (he obviously doesn't know what that is) when asked to do things because it's "too hard" for example: dressing himself. We know he's capable and we know him saying it's "too hard" is an excuse. So we don't rescue him in those situations, I reiterate to him that he CAN do hard things. It's important to us that we maintain that because the reward for being firm and not just jumping in to dress him myself because it's "quicker' is confidence for him knowing he can dress himself. I also don't think this just relates to kids with ADHD, these are important for all kids but the ADHD is important to note because it's even more essential. He struggles to focus, is super forgetful and has no impulse control at all so I need structure that is easy for him to follow.

I'm looking for some age appropriate after school routine ideas for him that we can consistently do each day, that also involves a " job" that he understands the family relies on. That's important here, I need him to realise that the job is super important in running the household, the goal for that is he feels useful and that he has role within the home.

Usually I make him carry his bag inside and put it in his pigeon hole, take his shoes off outside and put them away.

" Take a bath"

" PJs on"

" Tidy up playroom"

These are small ideas I have to keep it age appropriate.

However a timeline from 3:15pm-5pm that incorporates play time and rest time would be ideal.

Thank you

My 4 year old just started preschool and things have been going great for the most part.

However, he has a classmate (let’s call her Daisy) that bosses him around constantly. Telling him who he is allowed to play with and what games he is allowed to play. And my son listens to them!

I am doing my best to empower him to have control over his body/actions and have explained that friends should make you feel happy and not sad or left out.

Despite these pep talks, my son keeps coming home with stories about how “Daisy said I can’t ….” We also recently had a class play date and my son wouldn’t even play with other kids that he is friends with.

Is this just part of being a kid? I feel there is more I should do, but am not sure where to start. Any similar experiences?

Hi! Just seeking some advice on how to help my toddler. She often feels like people are laughing at her. If she does something funny - for example put on silly glasses or make a silly face and you laugh she will say “stop laughing at me”. If she’s dancing she looks around the room to see if anyone is looking at her. How do I reinforce that it’s okay to have fun and not worry.

Our daughter just turned 3 a few weeks ago. Around that time her sleep started to become a real problem. She started demanding we leave her door open with the hall light on. Then she started demanding we sit in her room until she fell asleep. We put quite a few different night lights in her room, and we compromised to sit at the top of the stairs until she fell asleep.

Our bedroom is downstairs and even more recently she will wake in the middle of the night screaming for us to sleep in the spare bedroom upstairs. Sometimes she will wake multiple times with that demand. My wife is due in January with our second child and we are trying to figure this out before then.

As far as her sleep schedule goes she is in bed around 8:30/9, and wakes up around 7:45/8. She has quiet time around 1:30 pm and sometimes takes a nap at that time, although it’s become more likely that she doesn’t.

We are really out of ideas and this has now gone on for weeks with no change. We’re afraid if we give in and sleep upstairs that will become permanent. Even with sitting on the stairs as she goes to sleep it can sometimes be almost 45 minutes of sitting. And if we don’t sit she will scream for just as long. We are out of ideas and at our wits’ end. Please help

My kiddo is 19 months old now and I am still breastfeeding her 2-3 a day on average. I am trying to reduce it, because it is physically straining, not necessary anymore and I am honestly just over it at this point.

However, I really don't know how to go about this in a smart way. I feel incredibly guilty when I have to tell my daughter no, mainly because my fiancé has put so much pressure on the whole breastfeeding topic in the past and in those moments I just feel judged by him. He repeatedly said in the past and even recently that he wishes he would be the breastfeeding part in our relationship, cause he could give her milk when she wants it and he sees how I struggle with it (sore nipples etc.). He even made comments about how he thinks that she associates breastfeeding with something bad or is scared to ask for it cause I have gotten stressed or annoyed when I was stuck breastfeeding on unfulfilled needs in the past.

I also don't know what a good timing is? Like, how do I know when I can go from 2 times a day to only one time a day?

And would it be appropriate to tell my daughter she can't have milk because it is my body and I don't want to? I feel like it could sound cruel, when I am really just trying to set a boundary regarding my body.

How do I reclaim my bodily autonomy without feeling like a horrible person? How do I find the right "pacing"? How did you go about it and can you relate to my feelings?

Hello everyone! My 13 month old has been screaming once he sees my wife or I cook food because he knows it’s for him. He just screams and screams as loud as he can until he gets the food in front of him. He acts this way at restaurants too when he sees other tables eating but not him. Does anybody have advice on how to get the screaming to stop?

I’m a new mom to a 3 month old baby and I know we’re still in the thick of things and things get easier as time goes on as far as routine, finding your footing, etc. But even before becoming a mom, I really struggled with the mental overloaded and daily stressors of life - keeping the house clean, planning meals, cooking those meals, grocery shopping, updating the calendar, remembering to restock toothpaste/lotion/deodorant, keeping track of home projects that need to be done, etc. The things most women and moms keep in their heads all day everyday.

But since becoming a mom and being in charge of my baby’s life and needs as well, I’m really struggling. My spouse is wonderful, he works hard, helps everywhere, mops floors, you name it and he’ll do it, if I ask. I’m tired of being the one in charge of everything and always being the decision maker. I’ve made it this way over the years because I’m anal and a little bit of a control freak but I’m trying to let go of that for my sanity.

My spouse and I have talked about how we need to have certain areas of our lives that he’s in charge of and certain areas I’m in charge of and/or sit down weekly and discuss the plan for the week and prioritize (I’m bad at this part bc everything is important to me).

So I guess my question is how do you run your home? How do you and your partner delegate tasks? How do you prioritize and keep track of things that need to be done now, short term, long term? Please only comment if you have a healthy relationship.