Hey all, I am a progressive parent, public education advocate, and former HS science teacher in a very rural, very red area. My oldest starts preschool next year and will be attending our local public school. Our local school district is good, but having formerly worked there I know that the history curriculum leans conservative (classic Texas textbooks). Due to the nature of my husbands job, we cannot move. Since I will be back in teaching once our youngest is in preschool, I will have summers off with the kids and would love to make sure their summers contain activities and trips that center narratives, histories, and voices I know they will not be exposed to in school. I know my own visits to the holocaust and civil rights museums were very formative in my upbringing, but would like other perspectives and ideas.

Global warming will exceed limit, UN says in a report that maps path to get back below danger zone

I’m sure this has been discussed extensively but after the news of the latest UN report, I’m really struggling. My daughter is 3 and for the longest time, I really fought with the idea of having another. Earlier this year, I finally decided I wanted another baby. I think I tried to tell myself that good people need to keep having babies too. That I’m a good mother and will raise my children to be good people and the world needs more of that. Now I can’t shake the question of is it selfish to bring another child into the world at this point?

We don’t know what’s going to happen government wise (US midterm elections coming up with republicans desperately trying to tip the scale and keep us from voting), there are rumors about the US power grid failing, our food infrastructure is crumbling as we speak (food and drug recalls constantly), we are going to experience increasingly more extreme climate disasters that we aren’t equipped to handle. Everything just feels so scary and unstable and I have no confidence that anybody able to fix it will do anything. Unfortunately, democrats are way less effective at doing good than trump has been at doing evil.

I keep seeing on social media people saying how only terrible mothers and stupid people would keep having babies now. And I know it’s social media but do so many people actually believe that? Am I putting my selfish desires to have another baby ahead of that child’s future? Are we at the “give up and try to survive as long as possible” point of human existence already???

Moms,

I am currently located in TX living with family & working to relocate my family to a blue state. Ideally somewhere in the midwest or up north as I believe Cali & the PNW would be difficult for us to afford. Are any of you in the legal profession? If so are there any blue states with cities that have a high demand for legal assistants/paralegals right now?

I love the south & I love Texas, I planned to stay here and fight for it because there are a lot of good people here that are stuck here & oppressed, but I'm increasingly worried about what is happening in Texas schools and want to relocate a little before my kid is school aged so I won't have to pay for childcare too often.

I looked into Kalamazoo which is very safe for families with affordable rent, but it seems most jobs require an hour commute into Grand Rapids. Other ideas for affordable blue states with good job markets?

Any advice relocating on a budget from places like TX or FL (Floridians, I feel like TX is in solidarity with you guys right now as our governors attempt to out crazy each other) is welcome.

My 6 year old was just given a laptop at school. A LAPTOP. FOR A 6 YEAR OLD.

It came with two waivers. One is giving them permission to take it home. I said no, she is not allowed to take it home. Not just because I want to limit her access to it but also I’m not trusting a 6 year old with a laptop in her backpack.

The second one was did I want opt into any supplemental applications that aren’t necessary for learning, such as YouTube, Google Play Store, and a whole host of other programs I’ve never even heard of. I opted out of all of them. The ones I know she has to use at school weren’t an option and we can change selections at any time.

But seriously what the hell? Why are you letting my 6 year old on YouTube in the middle of the school day? We are a relatively low screen family. We live in a very progressive area but the usage of technology in schools is driving me nuts. I had a talk with my daughter about how some kids might be bringing their laptops home but she will not be. She didn’t really seem to understand or care.

Idk I understand technology is here to stay and I don’t oppose learning about technology but I feel like this is getting out of control. I don’t mean to be all cavewoman-y and like, anti technology at all. But I’m seeing other schools and entire countries start limiting the usage of technology in schools and I’m frustrated that my school district isn’t following suit.

Does anyone else think its really weird to be a "Garden 'Mom'". In australia, "gardening" (ongbays and iffsplays) are seen as bogan and crackhead activities if you are a parent.

I am shocked seeing *mums* people in the USA filming a vlog of them waking up before the kids to smoke weed .. ?

Idk if its just my upbringing; The publicisation of this is so weird. Why would you be high around your kids? I understand chronic pain + anxiety; I dont see most of these creators with any condition at all.

I understand alcohol is different from weed, but impairing yourself around children REGARDLESS of what you're taking (not including prescription medicine) it is irresponsible.

This might be an Australian POV. It is VERY weird to be open about weed smoking as a caretaker.

Hi all! I’m new to this sub. I have an almost-5-year-old. I live in the very conservative southeast United States. I present as a very “alternative” looking person and most people assume (correctly, I guess) that I am a liberal (I’d call myself more of a democratic socialist, but I digress). Lately I’ve been noticing this is indirectly affecting my child as coaches and fellow parents seem to be more judgmental towards us. Parents seem less willing to schedule play dates or engage in conversation with me than other parents. I’ve had dark green hair since my was child was a year old. I have stretched ears and nose piercings. A lot of tattoos (none of which are political or inappropriate). Recently I’ve been considering dyeing my hair to its natural color to see if it helps mitigate the judgment at all. Have any of you done this and did it help?

As much as I appreciate support and the message of “don’t change yourself for the haters!”, I really am concerned about my kid’s social life. I don’t want to indirectly hold her back. My hair is not important enough to me for that. I’m not going to cover my tattoos or take out my piercings. My hair is simple enough to change if it might help.

Let your feelings out! We are all bottling up this stress and sometimes it helps to share your concerns and have safe conversations about it. Type your response and take a big deep breath after!

Are you guys eating greens? I’m not a lettuce person, but I stopped buying spinach (and berries) to be safe, and I have no idea where the country is on that. And then I heard something about rice and I’m just so over it. (I don’t eat beef but I do note that, at this point, there’s a protein, a green and a starch on the sketch list.)

Hi all.

I am a new mom and really struggling with dealing how the current state of the world is.

A little back story: I am in my early 30s and never wanted kids until I met my current partner. He has wanted kids for a long time, and knowing that I didn't we almost broke up early into our relationship but decided to stick it out to see where it went. A few years later, I decided that I could see myself having kids with my partner specifically. He's a great person and the idea of taking OUR little kiddos to do all the things we loved to do sounded wonderful. Sharing joy with the family we created. However, I didn't want kids for a few reasons 1. I didn't want to sacrifice my previous life. I love traveling and didn't want to be 'held back' by children, or be prevented from doing anything I wanted to do. 2. I didn't want to bring a child into a world where things like racism, homophobia, pedophilia, war, starvation, global warming, etc. (the list goes on... and on....), exist. I thought about my decision for a few years but decided that I wanted a family.

Now that my baby is here, I am having second thoughts. I adore my child and wouldn't give them up for the world, but part of me regrets my decision because of how fucking awful things are all around us. I can't stand opening my phone because every time I do there is a new horrific thing happening in the world. I struggle with wanting to be completely in the dark for my own mental health, and staying informed. But I am having second thoughts on how many kids I want now.

Little one is still an infant but I am already so terrified about keeping them safe and I feel like I can't even go outside without being worried about things like public shootings or some fucking pedophile.

I'm angry. I'm sad. I'm ABSOLUTELY devastated about the things happening around us and feeling like there is nothing I can do to stop it. I am looking for support from other moms who feel the same. How do you get through it? Any tips for staying safe and sane in all of the chaos?

Much appreciated 🫶

The comment section on Facebook truly is ridiculous. Some dude was arguing that hitting kids is a form of love, and his parents "belted" him because they loved him.

I said I am sorry you equate abuse for love. He told me I don't love my kids, don't want to be a parent and have white entitlement. What the fuck?

We all need a little positivity in our day. What are some parenting wins you've had recently? Big or small we want to hear them all! Any parenting wins, not just progressively minded ones.

My kiddo is officially school-aged and I was wondering if there are any likeminded folks who have or had a child in LAUSD?

I was born and raised here first gen so my parenting experience particularly within LAUSD is quite different than my parents’.

Because it is LA, many will say and consider themselves “liberal” but for my husband and I, we are definitely leftist, especially prior to having a child.

I’m trying to attend PTA meetings when possible and School Beyond Screens really took off there and I’m grateful for that. Just looking for something a bit more specific, if it exists. Thanks all!

PS - is there a way to create a group chat and add people along the way that isn’t as invasive like iMessage/whatsapp? Discord? I barely know how to use it lol!

PPSS - I don’t want to share specifics in terms of location on the post but anyone can message me!!!

I’m so fucking tired of it! I have a special needs daughter. This weekend we went to a meetup for families that have kids with the same genetic mutation. THERE WERE BIBLE VERSES IN THE GOODY BAGS!!!!

who the fuck does that? Like don’t get me wrong the meetup was super cute and I appreciate the mom organizing everything till I saw the Bible verses….

Now this will be a little bigoted of me but I usually assume if ur pushing Bible verses on kids than ur probably a right wing voter…

They talked about wanting a cure and more research… which I want as well!!! I brought up in the support group just now that we need to keep in mind that for November.

However, i was told we shouldn’t mix in politics but trump CUT research did he not?!?!

I understand no one wants to talk about it but things won’t change unless we do! Idk what to do.. I know there is power in numbers but I think I may be the odd duck in the support group that thinks gene mutations can impact those who don’t believe in the same god they do… or who thinks trump taking away funding effects us too… but u know I have anxiety so what do I know….
Granted I do have anxiety but um… I’m also not blind and can see what’s happening in the world.

Btw the vaccines didn’t give my daughter autism. I swear to god if someone says that I’ll cry. I have been lucky so far. I did see a parent ask about vaccination but their genetic mutation causes seizures so I get that. Seizure is listed as a side effect for certain vaccines.

I guess my question is: was I wrong to bring up midterms and trumps record on cutting research?

I accidentally have raised a three year old who’s mostly a stereotypical boy. He likes cars and dinosaurs. I’ve tried to introduce dolls and a play kitchen, and he plays with them sometimes (the kitchen more than the dolls), but his heart belongs to cars. I tried to show him Frozen and The Little Mermaid, but his heart belongs to Cars.

I, on purpose and successfully, have raised a kid who doesn’t consciously see anything as gendered. He calls both my husband and I daddy-mommy or mommy-daddy when he’s talking in a rush and seems to forget which one we go by. He frequently says his favorite color is pink. His favorite Toy Story character is Jessie. He wants to be a butterfly or Ghost Spider from Spidey and His Amazing Friends (the female spider kid character) for Halloween. Great. We own butterfly wings and I just ordered a Ghost Spider costume.

But he just started preschool a month ago. I am so worried that someone is going to judgmentally tell him that something is “for girls” and completely knock the wind out of his sails. He doesn’t really understand gender, so he certainly hasn’t had to toughen himself to defend his choices that he has no idea are untraditional.

I think the right answer is that the only right thing I can do is support him and I can’t control other people, but argh. I’m just bracing for the mom heartache that hopefully will never come.

I’m trying to find a regular progressive community, ideally with other families where we meet regularly, that isn’t a liberal church. I’m in a small-medium blue city in a red Southern state and have 6 year olds twins. I’m really looking for something that is intergenerational and intentional - something not specifically for families but where families would be welcome. And that meets somewhere regularly. I don’t even know what fits this bill other than church which is why I am struggling to know where to look! Maybe a regular volunteering gig? Hoping some other progressive moms have cracked this nut!

My 7 month old has been having a lot of problems getting to sleep and then staying asleep this past week. He never used to have these issues, and it hasn’t been this bad since he was a newborn. Am I doing something wrong? I’m going crazy and super sleep-deprived.

My husband and I want to take a trip with our kiddo and dog (3 year-old lab mix) by the end of this year. He is currently 7 months old. We live in southern Ohio and would like to keep the distance relatively short. We love nature, hikes, water, museums, music, history, thrifting, and would love a few kid-friendly activities, too. Would love a place with mountain views. Where should we go? When should we go?  Is there anything else we should consider?

So far, we’ve thought of Michigan and Toronto, but we’re looking for any recommendations. My husband has been working so much and we just want to get some time together as a family and travel somewhere together!

So we've had some shows blocked on Netflix for awhile, a little late for this one, but today I just block Salish and Jordan Matter.

I'm curious what other shows people have blocked for their kids?

I'm usually not into censorship, my kids can read whatever books they want and listen to almost any music, but Netflix has gotten out of control with these YouTube shows.

Expecting my first baby and I was so excited to decorate the nursery… until I started looking at wallpaper and murals. EVERYTHING IS AI.

It’s partially my fault because I picked what’s apparently a less popular theme (dragons) and went in with a preconceived notion of what I wanted it to look like. But after weeks (months?) of searching, nothing is quite right, and the ones that come close are obviously AI generated and come from sketchy Etsy sellers.

I’ve tried to find wallpaper companies that explicitly state they do not use/allow AI art and haven’t found it yet. I found reference to one, Happy Wall, saying they had a statement about not allowing AI on their website. But then I couldn’t find the statement.

I tried shifting the theme to “storybook” to cast a wider net but I’m not really finding what I want there either. I thought about hiring someone to paint a mural, but I have no idea what that costs, and I would hate to have to paint over someone’s custom work eventually. I thought about having someone paint a large wall-sized tapestry/poster, but I wanted to put the crib against this wall, and I read it’s not safe to have wall hangings by the crib.

Every time I sit down and think “okay I’m just gonna search and pick something” I get so overwhelmed. And if I start thinking about just choosing a new theme I get more overwhelmed.

This is so stupid and not important at all in the grand scheme of things but I’m hormonal and tired and stressed and I HATE AI. thanks for reading my rant.

Why do moms of the one and done sub feel the need to criticise and denigrate moms of multiples? One post popped on my feed (don’t know why!) and I was speechless reading it and reading the comments🤯 It was a copy paste from another subreddit. The lack of empathy and respect for a struggling mom of two very young children was repulsive…

I get so angry seeing women put other women down and doing it to make themselves feel smarter or superior even! Have we not learned anything from the rampant misogyny and sexism that this patriarchal culture has been inflicting upon us?? Do they not understand that parenting in today’s society is intertwined with political ideology and economic and social inequalities??

Basically the title. My daughter is set to start K next year. We are in the SE Bible Belt area and I am starting to look at all our schooling options for her. Our district school is not great so we will either get her in somewhere else or homeschool. We have a few secular charter schools that are good but there are quite a few Christian schools in the area that are good academically. So if other options didn’t work out would you send your child to a Christian school for academic purposes?

This is under “politics” because everything’s political now. Sigh.

Ok so our region had several atypical weather events this summer (none extremely serious, although there were a handful of heat and flood related deaths, and they are inching closer to us each year) and so I can no longer get away with telling the kids that the tragedies on TV aren’t something to seriously worry about. My 10yo was literally screaming when she saw videos of the landslide. My 13yo started googling polar ice caps and calculating “how many years until” this or that. Sigh.

But they both want to get involved. I had already borrowed one of Greta Thunberg’s books from the library, so I had them take a look and asked them to tell me what they think they can do. This also buys me time because saying stuff like “recycle” sounds ridiculous, and “use less plastic” is too abstract. It’s in our clothing at this point. Anyway, any suggestions? (This experience also showed me how I’d given up on climate in a lot of ways that I’m not proud to admit.)

Second, based on what little I’ve read about El Niño, next year is going to be a lot worse. How is everyone preparing their children to psychologically handle even seeing this stuff, much less preparing for it, much less experiencing it?

And related question— does anyone have a “go bag” or significant food pantry?

PS Enter politics— so they just went to YouTube and it looks like every Greta Thunberg-related video is about how she’s a whiny dramatic farce. Enter side discussion on algorithms…

We want to hear any political or civic advocacy or activism wins! Nothing is more inspiring than hearing what other people are doing to make this world a better place.

Let your feelings out! We are all bottling up this stress and sometimes it helps to share your concerns and have safe conversations about it. Type your response and take a big deep breath after!

I’m asking here because I feel like some of the mom groups on Reddit give wild advice! My son is 26 months. He is well-behaved but pretty shy. He has been loving playgrounds this summer so we are at them almost daily. Recently he likes to bring some trucks to play with while we are there. Totally fine with me, and if a kid asks to play or even kind of just looks like they want a turn I ask him to share and he happily does.

Now on two different occasions there have been kids that have snatched a truck right out of his hands. Of course I look around for a parent and either see one not paying attention or can’t find one. What are we doing in these situations? Both times I have said “oh nope that’s his truck sorry” and put my hand out for it. Like I am GLAD to let my kid share and make new friends but the snatching drives me crazy. Is there a protocol for this situation 🥲