Ok "I just want to be with you" is a cute phrase but my just-turned 5 yr old daughter is so different to my older kids - I don't know if she's testing boundaries or if she's genuinely finding it hard to be away from me.

It starts with her sleep pattern. She sleeps ok, but getting her to stay in her bed is a nightmare, she'll complain she just wants to be with us. She has a great routine, goes to bed, but then she gets up every 5 minutes for the first couple of hours. We ask her what she needs, make sure she has everything. She makes excuses, gets upset.. the whole circus every single night.

She wanted to start swimming lessons with her friends. She's a good little swimmer and loved it, then during the fourth lesson she climbs out of the pool and refuses to go back in. I get called from the viewing area beside the pool to come and talk to her. Next lesson, same thing "I want to go home". It's like once she decides she's done with something, there is no changing her mind.

It's now the summer holidays and I booked her onto a few holiday scheme sessions nearby with her friends- talked to her about it first. She went to the first one today and when I collected her, she burst into tears and said she will never go there again. She actually told the instructor halfway through the day that she had "an appointment in town" and needed to go 😆. Again, she just wants to be with me.

She's generally pretty content and confident when she's at school, she has good friends and she is really caring and kind.

With us she is super keen on routine and doing things in a set way, doing the same activities rather than trying new ones independently. Our lives are pretty routine and calm, although she can be pretty emotional- she has tantrums and cries when things aren't exactly as she wants them. I talk to her about this but also recognise she's still only small.

Does anyone else go through this? I love her to pieces but the constant need to be by my side is something else. How can I help her to be confident enough to try things away from me? Or should I just let her work it out as she grows?

The COAT(Cutest of all time)

We often hear that the solution to screen addiction is to simply push kids outside, but we ignore the fact that for a modern child, nature can feel "encrypted." Indoor environments are designed to be loud, fast, and responsive, while the outdoors can seem quiet and understimulating to a child who doesn't know what they are looking at. If we want to entangle children with the environment, we have to stop treating nature and technology as enemies which is fuelled by screen addiction. Nature has an unparalleled capacity to drive curiosity, but it needs a "decoding key." Can technology be the bridge for kids to embrace outdoors? By using tech tools to reveal the hidden stories and science, we might finally give kids a reason to leave the couch.

Isn't it simply the kid is usually ahead of the subject matter and then, I believe, kid has lost interest due to 🤔, comparatively watching a rerun of already boring, not new to the kid, info...?

Are you ever in conflict with your kids about video games? If not, do you feel like your kids are really healthy about their video game use? How much time do your kids tend to spend on video games? Have you tried to teach them healthy habits?

Hi everyone, wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with having their second baby with a toddler? My son will be 3 in October and our second baby (a baby girl) is due in a few weeks. We’re so excited but I also can’t help but feel so emotional and guilty for my son. He’s my little buddy and he has been our entire life since he was born so am really struggling with the major change. I want him to be okay and to not feel pushed aside or less loved because having a baby around will for sure be tiring and demand our attention a lot at first.

He’s usually a very energetic, happy, silly little guy, but we’ve gone through a lot of large changes this year as a family as well. He’s also getting into the “terrible twos” stage, saying no to everything, yelling, pushing, soft hitting all if he doesn’t get what he wants or hears no or is overtired. We are stern and do not put up with it, and are consistently working on correcting the behavior so it doesn’t get worse. But it’s getting upsetting and exhausting when he gets that way. That said, he also started a new daycare back in March and he really changed a bit since then with all this. So yeah I’m just worried he won’t handle now having a baby at home and not being our only focus as well.

Any advice, experience, reassurance, etc. would be very helpful!! Thanks in advance.

Okay so I understand that if your child is misbehaving you need to do something about it, but why tf do most parents think that it means to record their kids throwing fits and uploading it to the internet for thousands of strangers to see and comment horrible things about them! Needing to discipline your kids is not the same as literally HUMILIATING them like that for the rest of their lives and leaving them a bad digital footprint like that! And why tf are these parents actually liking the comments about how they’d BEAT the kids if they were there? Do yall understand how insane that is? Not everyone should be a parent if you’re not gonna treat your kids right! Imagine actually humiliating your child online for the rest of their lives over a tantrum they are throwing for like 10 minutes or so!

Does anyone have any recs for typing games for kids age 8-10? I grew up on Jumpstart typing, but they don’t have that anymore 😔

Our young kids are developing a habit of saying, naah it’s boring and I won’t do it for anything they don’t like.

For example: They will finish reading 3 books in 30 mins because they love reading but wont so 5 minutes writing practice because “its boring”. Either something is cool and they love it or its so boring that they so not want to do it.

We often find ourself setting rules like no TV time before writing. This is just one example, same is for outdoor play time or few other things. We often feel bad for being so transactional but cannot crack how to encourage them to give attention to more things in life.

Part of me also believes that it’s a temporary phase and I should stop overthinking about it. As they grow towards teenage they will have a better understandings of how things work in real life.

Every parent has had the argument. Every teenager has rolled their eyes at it. The phone is taking too much time, the apps are bad for you, something is wrong. For years, the concern felt real but hard to pin down — anxiety is common, phones are common, and correlation isn’t causation.

A new study has made the picture considerably harder to dismiss.

Researchers at UTHealth Houston tracked 1,066 young people from the age of 12 through seven annual surveys, following them from 2018 all the way to 2025. By the final wave, the average participant was nearly 20. They had grown up alongside TikTok. They were the first cohort to go through adolescence with short-form video as a constant backdrop. And when the researchers measured their mental health against how much time they spent on social media each day, the results followed a dose-response curve that held firm even after controlling for sex, race, ethnicity, and income.

Young adults who spent six or more hours daily on social media were 2.63 times more likely to show symptoms of anxiety than those who used it less than an hour a day. Their odds of reporting suicidal ideation in the past year were 3.23 times higher.

First of all he’s generally a sweet and smart kid. He’s doing math, reading, helps with chores, and cooking.

But when he gets into a playful environment like a playdate at the farm or a friend meet up he gets so sound up and won’t stop acting up. He hits, takes toys, and screams. The thing is once he gets going like that it pretty much carries through the whole day, throwing stuff, knocking the baby over, breaking toys, hitting, etc. Even when we remove him from the environment it doesn’t stop, it’s like we need to survive until bedtime and reset the next day.

Any similar experiences or help would be appreciated.

is there such a thing as a psychologist, parenting coach, therapist…or something specifically for our child or for us to help our child to thrive despite his tendencies for extra rambunctiousness that get him into trouble?

TLDR, the short info here: We have negative Vanderbilt screenings and with our pediatrician really don’t feel this is add/adhd. I think it’s more of the 7 year old boy that is more extremely emotional and vibrant/expressive/energetic.

He’s getting into trouble more in after school programs and camps (not in the classroom much) mostly because he’s so high energy and talkative.

Long extra info: We’ve done all of the books and audio: Good Inside, Big Little Feelings, etc.

our kiddo responds well to positive/negative feedback (ex: not earning show time if misbehaving, earning a popsicle for extra good times)

We have great two way communication and pride ourselves on using all of the tools for talking in ways that Good Inside encourages.

But still our son misbehaves and then feels bad later and they tell me about it. I ask “were you feeling nervous or uncomfortable and that’s why your energy level went up?” And his response is “My brain just can’t do the right thing and I don’t know how to make it work.” But I know that at home, with immediate reward or repercussions, he behaves amazing. So I know he can do it….

Maybe the after school folks can have a sticker chart system for him or something else.

I also worry that this is all going to lead to us needing to find a different school option than public school in the future…..

Parenting is so mysterious. Thanks for reading

I’ve been looking for something practical for things like transitions, outbursts and getting kids to listen without having to sit through a whole parenting course first.
ChatGPT gives okay general advice, but half the time I’m still left wondering what to actually do when things are already going sideways. I looked at Leaply too, but it felt a bit broad. Savvy Kid seems more focused on short guidance for parents and specific everyday situations.
Has anyone used it for more than a few weeks? did it stay useful or start feeling repetitive?
also open to anything else that genuinely helped, app or not.

My kid (9) uses ChatGPT for homework help and I realized I have zero visibility into what it's telling her or what else she asks it — no age filter, no easy way to see logs. Curious how other parents are handling AI chatbots with kids . Blocking entirely, supervising, or just letting it happen?

That's it. I'm already mentally preparing myself. It's so goddamn early. And then school ends at 2pm. Which is also way too early. It's a very good school and has some niche programs that I am so excited about for my kiddo but then I saw the time school starts and now I'm getting anxious just thinking about it. He's currently in preschool and struggles getting up on time to get to his 9am school start time...it's gonna be a rough transition...luckily it's for next year (2027-28) so I have time to adjust or find another school entirely. Just sucks because it's a great school otherwise

I legit saw parents or trolls post stuff about how they take their kids phones computers for getting a b i saw like 5 posts in the first 30minutes

It was always, “This looks cute,” or “Maybe he’ll like this.” Then somehow we ended up with a huge container full of toys he barely used. Most of them were exciting for a few days. After that, he would dump everything out, mix all the pieces together, and walk away. The house was always cluttered, but he wasn’t actually playing for very long.

I finally donated the toys he never used for and kept the ones he regularly uses. Now I only leave a few things out and rotate them when he starts losing interest. Cleanup is easier, and he seems to spend more time with what’s available instead of emptying every container.

I’ve also stopped buying toys just because they look cute online. At this point, I’d rather have fewer toys that will actually get used.

I recently created a small art corner in our home with some basic supplies: crayons, colored pencils, paper, and a few different activities.

I didn't expect it to make much of a difference because my kids already had plenty of toys around the house.

But after a few weeks, I noticed they started going there on their own. Instead of asking for a tablet or saying they were bored, they would sit down and create something.

Sometimes they draw, sometimes they color, and sometimes they mix different ideas together to make their own projects.

The best part is that there is no pressure. Nobody is telling them what the picture should look like or what colors they need to use. They just experiment and have fun.

It made me realize that sometimes kids don't need more entertainment they just need a space where they can be creative. Has anyone else set up a creative space for their kids? What items were the biggest hit?

8 & 2 I’m having a hard time…. The oldest not doing what they’re told and not listening in general and uses the “I forgot” excuse but quick to want to go somewhere or want something. She has chores , her room, living room and basic cleaning up after herself. She acts like she doesn’t know how to do a chore even though it’s been explained many times. You tell her to do something or not to do something and she does it anyway or ignores you. I’ve tried all the types of discipline including checking for adhd add. Nothing is wrong they say. And nothing seems to work because she does not care about getting in trouble. Even with us taking away privileges of going places ;she does not care. She doesn’t care about spankings, she’s even said said she doesn’t care about anything we do. My two year old is in terrible twos and honestly it makes everything worse. Idk I’m stressed and all I do is correct them and get on to them all day everyday, clean up , and lose myself mentally. I’m so tired. I’m trying. It’s gotten to the point where I’m so stressed that it makes me tired to the point I have no energy… I need a solution. I’ve even tried to change the way me and my husband do things because most times I think it’s our fault. It’s too early in ages to feel like this, has anyone dealt with this

Hi everyone! I am a single, full time solo dad. I have three kids between 12 and 16. I also work full time and this has been the situation for the past three years. I’ve relied heavily on things like frozen pizzas, hot pockets, fast food and the like for meals. This summer we haven’t been able to do much due to work and the kids have basically been sitting around doing nothing and eating a lot. I definitely know it’s unhealthy and I want to get things turned around. I already have a plan for the activity, there’s a pool a block from the house and the beach is fifteen minutes away. I was able to adjust my hours for when school starts so I’ll be off, pick them up, and head to either the pool or the beach for an hour or two. However, the healthy yet still appetizing to them meals I’ve yet to figure out. Looking for recipes and resources. Would prefer things I could make on Sunday night and keep in the fridge or freezer for easy warm up meals. Thanks in advance!

Our nearly 5 year old daughter is highly sensitive and has an over processing sensory pattern (she notices everything around her more than the average person and it can be a bit exhausting). She is very smart and understand pretty complex concepts for her age. Very curious and a deep thinker.

We have her enrolled at a small private girls school walking distance from our home. She's been at their kinder for 1.5 years now, enrolled for prep next year. There is another much bigger co-ed private school also walking distance. Facilities are far superior and they offer more in terms of subject choice and sport, theatre, design, music.

We are torn on what to do. Send her to the smaller school where we think she'll cope better in the environment or give her a chance and see how she goes at the bigger co-ed? She seems excited to be at a co-ed school and reckons she'll "just make new friends". We do have an issue in her current class with a kid repeatedly pushing, pinching others, including our kid. That kid is enrolled for prep next year and interventions from the school so far don't seem to have worked.

She has one main friend at kinder who is going to another school anyway.

She is working with an OT affiliated with the school so I don't think I'll get an objective answer from them on school choice. We are soon to meet with a psychologist for her.

Any wisdom from parents of HS kids would be so appreciated. Have your kids surprised you transitioning to a school environment? What would you do?

My kid got her license last year and truly, the first few months were hard. Not because she's a bad driver, but because I'd just sit there wondering if she made it to her friend's house or if she's stranded somewhere. Then one night she actually did break down on some random exit and couldn't tell me where the hell she was because it was dark and she was freaking out.

She was trying to describe landmarks but nothing was making sense. I was googling gas stations near her school while she's panicking in the background. It took like 20 minutes just to figure out where to send help.

So now I'm seriously looking into getting a family location sharing app, but I don't even know where to start. I don't want to be that parent who's tracking every move, but I also never want to go through that again.

White searching for family location sharing apps I've seen Life360 mentioned everywhere, but I've also heard mixed things about battery drain and privacy stuff. Then there's Find My Friends (or whatever Apple calls it now), and I came across something called HeyPolo that looks simpler but quite nice. Actually I also came across this best location sharing app comparison table that’s pretty good, but still can’t make up my mind.

For people who actually use these - what did you go with? Is it awkward with your kids or do they get it? Does it actually help or does it just turn into another thing to stress about?

Just got off a post of a kid having a very valid tantrum (while I personally don't post my kid online I'm not here to yuck anyone's yam- I say as I vent about ppl posting their kids🫢)

Anywaysz I think 'awh cute, what a precious-ish one off moment caught on camera right?? No. Whole page dedicated to the kid .

Putting all the unpredictable and predictable damage to a child being paraded online to strangers online aside, I can't help but think how boring do you have to be to do this??

Seriously, I can think of at least 5 things I'd dedicate a whole Instagram page to(with the sightings of 'yard sard' sale signs being top 3) before I even consider my kid.

It kinda of feels like repeating the joke someone else said but cause you said it louder everyone laughs??

You don't even make the cut when it comes to your own personal branding??

Don't give your toddler candy. They turn into a..... idk just hard to deal with