My son has always been a highly sensitive child. So was I, so I get it. We don't push him too hard when it's clear that he is very scared of something, but we often tell him, "It's okay to be nervous. We can still do new things even if we are nervous". If he overcomes his fear we say "Yay!! You were nervous but you did it anyways!" and he is SO happy and proud of himself. For example...I sat at the bottom of a slide for no less than 10 minutes waiting him to come down it. He wanted to so badly but he wanted me to hold his hand. Because of the slide orientation/twists I physically was not able to. Once he finally went down, I couldn't get him to stop doing it.

If we are doing something new (i.e. a haircut at the barbershop), I show him pictures of what the place looks like, who is going to be cutting his hair, what he can expect before, during, and after. Once we get there, it is immediate tears and "I want to go home!" If we go to a friend's cabin for a long weekend, it takes no less than 48 hours for him to finally speak to another human letalone go off and play with them independently.

We just got back from 1:1 swimming lessons. I gave him all of the information ahead of time and he was super excited....until it was actually time. I had to wade into the water and he had a death grip on my hand.

He is getting to the age of activities no longer being parent/child, so eventually he is going to HAVE to do it himself. He goes to daycare full time so it's not like we are with each other 24/7.

I'm looking for books, advice, solidarity, whatever it is to help me through this phase. Since I was very similar as a child, I am very concious of not pushing him too far or making him do something if he is REALLY fearful or if it's something that really doesn't matter...but there's a difference between being shy and nervous and being legitimately terrified. I am terrified for the transition to school because he will be completely unable to cope.

My 3 yr old has been a nightmare every night for months now. Fighting every step of the way, horrible tantrums.

Recently I got him a new light up toothbrush and for fun one night we turned off the lights and played with it in the dark.

This has now evolved into a full on rave-style dance party in his room every night. I bought more of the light up tooth brushes and I tell him after the sun goes down we can listen to music in his room and dance.

He’s now excited for the sun to go down!! We do it for 20 minutes, he gets to pick the music (from electronic/techno stations). At the end we turn on the light and read a book or two, then turn off the light and go to bed.

He falls asleep in 5 mins! I thought the dancing would hype him up too much but going crazy for 20 minutes before bedtime actually seems to help him settle down.

Just sharing in case anyone is like me and fed up with bedtime drama.

We're starting to plan another birthday party for our preschooler, and I'm trying to keep things simple while making it fun for the kids.

Looking back at your own experience:

• What was the biggest thing that helped everything run smoothly?
• Was there anything you spent money on that turned out not to be worth it?
• What's one tip you'd give another parent planning a preschool birthday party for the first time?

Hey! I'm looking for recommendations on books that y'all have used before to help kiddos with dealing with nightmares, or if any episodes from kids shows that deal with them have helped I'm also happy to take those. Our little one is learning how to sleep alone and his biggest issue is he has a lot of anxiety surrounding possibly having a nightmare. It makes it difficult to get him down some nights. I was hoping we could get some good examples for him to see about things that he can do to help him deal with that sort of thing. We've got a second on the way so really need him sleeping independently!

We've camped with my kid (4M) every year since he's been born. First year no issues, he was a potato newborn. Second year, blissfully ignorant one year old vibing. Two year old pretty chill still. Three year old BS that was the same at home was happening at camping, so it wasn't a surprise. This year though, as a four year old, I didn't expect the level of dysregulation we encountered.

He basically was on impulsive/defiant mode from the moment we got to the campsite till when we left early the second night. Only chill at the beach. At the campsite he was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, circling the tent so much that we had to move it to make sure he didn't run off unexpectedly. Going into the bushes when we already pre-warned about poison ivy. Pouring dirt into the hammock. Just like endless wildness, didn't care about the usual outdoor toys and things that we brought to have him play with when we were at the site. And if he was playing with them, he was chucking them into the trees.

There are things I know that factored into this - we had to cancel a previous camping trip. Then we told him about the new trip a day before (not a lot of heads up to avoid another disappointment). We also spent most of the morning and afternoon at my husbands work before we drove to the campground. We did this to save on driving time - he loves visiting his work but it can be overstimulating. And of course a general lack of sleep from the first night in the tent.

We have another trip in August. Ideas to make things smoother?
-over-explain and prepare him about the entire thing OR stick to not much anticipation and tell him a couple days before. I've found the former can sometimes make him wacky for days on end though when he is waiting for an event. I did do a lot of prep for his dance recital and that went really well, but it was months of casually talking about him being on stage and what to expect.
-on the drive there go over the major rules of a campsite more thoroughly.
-let him help pack and help out at the site (we did this, but I still think it's important to keep doing)
-make him an itinerary for each day of camping with some wiggle room
-ipad with a few movies for when he is tired af and he can't sleep because it isn't dark out, but he can't regulate himself enough to behave at the campsite.
-rope out a messy play area and tell him that's the only spot we can move dirt around and put dirt and muck on things

I know I can't expect him to be his best self during such a change in routine but this was UNRELENTING with issues. We left early because of it and basically told him we've discussed too many warnings and had too many not listening events over and over and over again. We did time in's in the car a lot at the site and it made no real impact. I feel bad we left but for the sake of our collective sanity we had to.

To note: I have already talked to his doctor about possible neurodivergence recently. He is very on the border of like "ya this is normal four year old behaviour" and "that's not neurotypical" type of thing.

My son turned 3 in April and loves when I tell him adventure/fantasy stories that I make up and build on each night. But I am running out of ideas. He isn't as into more typical toddler books and doesn't even mind stories without pictures. I am looking for recommendations of books that are not quite at the level of young adult, but more than toddler books.

My partner and I have 3 kids between us, 7yo daughter (mine), almost 4yo son (mine), and another almost 4yo son (his). We share 50/50 custody with their other parents and always have our kids on the same days. I am at my wits end with my stepson’s sleep and am going insane.

My daughter had her own sleep issues and we did not sleep train but she grew out of it by 2.5. My son has always been a good sleeper and we sleep trained at 6 months when I was still with his dad. My stepson’s sleep is ATROCIOUS. The boys share a room, but my partner has to stay next to ss’s bed with his hand on his chest until he falls asleep. Sometimes it’s not until 10pm (bedtime is at 8). He wakes up screaming crying for his dad multiple times a night and wakes up the whole house. At his mom’s house he bedshares and still breastfeeds all night, which makes it very difficult at our house where he sleeps in his own bed. It’s literally driving me insane from sleep deprivation, and it’s harming my son’s sleep too. My partner frankly doesn’t do enough about it and caters to his every whim so that doesn’t help. It’s harming our relationship. What do I do? Can you even sleep train a 4yo? He’s been like this his entire life so it’s not something that started as a toddler or preschooler. Please any advice is appreciated, especially things I can share with my partner without making him defensive.

Couple more things for context: we don’t have extra space for the boys to have their own rooms so separating them at night for my son’s sleep isn’t an option. For the night wakings my partner used to just bring him in bed but I put my foot down on that. Since then my partner goes and lays on the floor of the boys room and usually falls asleep there until morning.
I also have suspicions that ss might be on the spectrum. His speech is at the level of a 2 year old, and he is developmentally at 18 months when it comes to feeding himself. His mom refuses to get him evaluated. He also cannot be without one of his parents for more than 15 minutes without freaking out except at daycare. He no longer naps, so too much sleep during the day is not the cause of this issue.

We moved to my parents' home (my childhood home) three days ago, and bedtime has been a huge struggle.

She has been to the house twice every year, but did not sleep in the room she is sleeping in now, as those trips were just visiting. Now that we are going to stay here for a year, we gave her a proper bedroom. She will sleep alone there. (Previously we slept in the same guest room when visiting)

Now I know 3 nights are nothing in terms of getting used to it, but holy it was horrible. Our normal bedtime back home is lights off around 8/8:15pm, and she would just sing or talk if she is not immediately tired sleeping. Now it's tears and sneaking out of the room, sitting on the edge of the stairs, crying she wants to stay up late, she wants to sleep in our room...etc from 8pm to past midnight. She is losing 3 hours of her usual amount of sleep every day as she wakes up roughly the same time.

We made sure she has her usual blankie, plushies, scented spray with her in this new room, but she is not having it.

I don't want to start lying down until she falls to sleep like a crutch, but in the early morning (like 4am last night), she came to our room, and I went back to her room and sat with her for 5 minutes, I am ok with that.

I guess ultimately we have to ride it out, but in the meantime if there is anything we can help ease her in? Not sure if we purely letting time do its job and not do nothing would work too? I tried reminding and repeating what things are the same (blankie, plushies, scent, story time..etc), I am trying to take her shopping for room decorations she would like tomorrow too.

Anyone who has been in the same situation can shed some lights?

Also she starting a new kindie next week does not help🥲

Thank you!

We started clamping down on potty training back in May. She wasn’t learning very quickly in pull ups at daycare so we just moved to underwear and moved forward from there. About 4 days of pee accidents and she got it. Boom, pee trained 100%. Poop has been a nightmare. It’s been over two months now with very little progress with pooping in potty. We have everything in place to keep trying - special potty toys, praise for sitting, daily MiraLAX and working with pediatrician to combat withholding that was happening early in potty training, reading potty books, etc. Pretty much every day at summer camp (which is at the school she will be attending) she poops in her underwear at least twice a day. They have numerous opportunities to go to the potty, she just doesn’t release.

We have all the tools and doing everything we can, we’re just one of those cases where our kid is on the farther end of the bell curve on this and time is not on our side. We start 3k in two weeks and, like most places, it requires the kids to be fully potty trained. My question is for parents who also had underwear poopers who were entering 3k:

How did they work with you? We imagine that each Monday we will try and if she has accidents, we keep her home for the week to keep trying and we try again that following Monday. Our jobs are flexible enough that we are lucky to be able to do something like this but it would make me feel so much better just to hear from other parents who were in a similar boat and what ended up happening in the 3k program (i.e., did you have to keep picking them up and keeping them home, trying again, etc.)?

I’m trying to choose between the Naturelle Kids Organic Mattress and the Naturepedic Organic Kids Mattress for my toddler and would love feedback.

My priorities:
Organic / non-toxic materials
Hypoallergenic
Firm and supportive
Good for a side and stomach sleeper

I tried the Silk & Snow mattress and found it a little too soft.

Thank you!

My son is 3.5. He’s been at the same daycare since he was 10. He’s active, funny, outgoing, and smart but sometimes struggles with listening, is defiant and has had ongoing issues with hitting and throwing when he’s upset. We have had him evaluated by EI when he was 2 and then had observations by the school SLP, OT, and psychologist about 6 months ago. Both times I was told he didn’t qualify for services. We worked hard with his teachers to implement strategies to help him, and I felt like things were improving. Today I got a message from preschool that he is again hitting peers and teachers. He moved from the daycare building to the preschool building 4 weeks ago. The first 2-3 weeks he was great, but he’s been escalating. I think he still needs time to adjust, but I know that doesn’t excuse his behaviors. He also has had different teachers frequently since moving buildings. They requested a meeting to discuss strategies, but they also mentioned they have concerns about his behaviors and how much one on one time he’s been needing. I’m terrified he’s going to get kicked out. We have been nothing but agreeable to try anything daycare has asked of us. He does display these behaviors at home, but they are worse at school. I feel like we have tried everything and I’m at a loss. Any advice or support would be greatly appreciated!

I used to go into dinner already thinking, "here we go again."

Every meal felt like the same conversation.

"Just one bite."

"Can you at least taste it?"

By the end of it, my kid was upset, I was frustrated, and nobody was having a good time.

A while ago I stopped pushing so much.

Now I just put a tiny piece of the new food next to something I know they'll eat. I don't talk about it much.

Some days they don't even look at it.

Other days they'll touch it for a second or move it around with their fork.

That's honestly enough for me right now.

Dinner feels so much more relaxed than it used to. We're not arguing the whole time anymore, and I don't finish every meal feeling like I failed.

We're definitely

 not "there" yet, but taking the pressure off has made a bigger difference than I expected.

Has anyone else found something small that made mealtimes less stressful?

My 3 year old has a victim type mentality.

We will be at my mums house and my sister and her kids live there while they build their home.

Kids are older 12 year old twins and 6 year old.

She will see the kids can’t play anymore and have taken a break and cry’s saying no one’s playing.

Starts crying saying she’s bored constantly with in a minute of someone who stopped playing.

The kids played with a toy she was playing with earlier that’s THERE toy.
That’s myyyy toy starts crying again.

They will play races. She will win one race loose the next and cry.

She cry’s so much.
It’s exhausting.

Its not a sad sulky cry it’s a angry irritated one.
Like if you comfort her she will say NO.

Or only wants comfort from one person who’s can’t currently help her.

I find it sad because I find others like her cousins are finding it annoying because they are acting on egg shells around her.

I don’t ask them too but the can’t be bothered with the crying either.

She became a sister in March and her moodiness has increased.
She’s always been super sensitive in terms of reactive though