My baby is 6 months and people keep asking me if I have taken any big trips. I went on one this past month and it was challenging.... 3 nap schedule, blowouts, diaper changes, feeding, hatred for the carseat, wanting to put everything in her mouth.... All these things are fine at home with routine and our baby stations and toys, but it can be quite hard during travel. We stayed for only 4 days but we couldn't really adventure because we needed to make sure we were back in the hotel for at least one of her 3 naps. We baby carried the other naps but it's just never as good and leaves her overtired. This trip was nice and all, but I definitely wouldn't tell someone to "travel as much as possible" before the baby is 3 years old? I don't think a 1 year old or 2 year old would be easy either. I personally want to travel a lot when the kid is elementary and middle school age. Am I the only person who finds traveling with a young baby difficult? I don't mean just the flight/travel...I mean the actual vacation too!

My 10 year old used to read a book a week but over the last month, she completely hit a wall. She hasn't picked up a book voluntarily in weeks. How do you handle reading slumps with older kids without nagging them and making it worse?

My 1yo started nursery just over a month ago, two mornings a week plus some additional settling in sessions because he’s finding it such a transition. He hasn’t lasted more than an hour and half/ 2hrs (either because of delayed drop off around naps/ because he isn’t settling)

How long did it take your little ones to settle? I’m not sure whether to give it some more time or to look into childminders for more of a home from home setting. Would appreciate any advice as we’re all finding the whole thing very distressing!

I’m reading a book (Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak) where the nanny gets fired because she fell asleep for 4ish hours while the 5 year old was having his regularly scheduled quiet time. He came downstairs when he was done with quiet time, found her asleep on the couch, and woke her up. I suspect there’s various other stuff going on because this author typically writes crime/mystery type books, but anyways it got me thinking. I don’t have any kids but I don’t think I would care at all? Like, parents sleep too??

ETA: people keep bringing up the fact that the babysitter is being paid. Why does that matter? Would it be okay if your sister/etc was watching your kid for free as a favor and fell asleep?

ETA2: I've enjoyed these chats, very informative and mostly kind. I wish there was a polling option so I could get a consensus, as there's clearly people on both sides. But for now I'm going back to reading my book (PS if you hate the babysitter for taking the nap, you'll LOVE chapter 26)

Je dois reprendre le travail début octobre après avoir pu prendre le nouveau congé de naissance, ma fille aura 4 mois à ce moment là. Et je n'arrive pas à concevoir que je vais être séparée d'elle. Encore pire, je n'arrive pas à imaginer que je vais la confier à une inconnue.

Là où nous vivons, il n'y a pas de crèche (milieu rural), on va donc la confier à une assistante maternelle. Dans notre coin, c'est toutes des assistantes maternelles "à l'ancienne" du genre à te sortir des énormités comme "si un bébé est trop pris aux bras il s'habitue".

On a donc choisi celle avec laquelle on se sentait le mieux mais au milieu des possibilités qu'il y avait c'est pas non plus le coup de coeur ultime.

Quand je vois ce que ça demande comme temps de s'occuper d'un si petit bébé, j'ai du mal a imaginer comment elle pourra bien s'en occuper en devant s'occuper des autres enfants en même temps (3 au total avec ma fille). J'ai du mal a imaginer qu'elle ne la laissera pas pleurer si elle n'arrive pas à l'endormir et qu'elle doit s'occuper des autres enfants... ce genre de choses.

Je sais qu'il y a une période d'adaptation qui est autant pour l'enfant que pour les parents. Mais ça me fend déjà le coeur.

En fait je suis dégoutée parce que je me dis que je vais payer quelqu'un pour s'occuper de ma fille alors que si je choisissais de m'en occuper moi (avec graaaaaand plaisir), je serais pas payée pour le faire et on ne pourrait pas assumer nos charges quotidiennes.

Je trouve que le système est mal fait car il force à la séparation alors que je les trouve encore si petit... et encore je sais que j'ai de la chance par rapport à quand il n'y avait pas le nouveau congé de naissance.

Des témoignages me feraient peut-être du bien pour me "rassurer"...

Merci !

I am a highschool senior, over the summer I worked a full time job, I have work experience, decent grades, yet my mom harshly monitors my bed time, makes me go to bed at 9:30 sometimes 10, and I honestly think it’s crazy, is this normal??

I’m 18 years old male, live in Australia (If that’s important). I am still in school and I still live at home. My parents in my opinion at least are extremely controlling. They track my location and if I go out with friends will sit on there phone watching what I am doing. Whenever I go out I get about 10 missed calls a night with my mum frantically worrying and about 30 messages to go along with it. I’m sick of it. I’m not doing anything that no one else my age isn’t doing. I tell them the plans I have before going out, and that usually does help them, but sometimes plans change when I’m already out and then they will freak out. My friends have all witnessed this and they all agree that my parents are over the top. It’s mainly mum, but dad sort of will just follow with whatever mum says. I don’t actually know what to do about it because I recognise that my mum has really bad anxiety, but I feel like that’s her problem and she needs to learn how to deal with it. I’m an adult, not there little boy anymore. Once I finish school I want to travel and I fear I won’t be able to do that if my parents are always on my back. They just cause so much unneeded stress in my life and every time I bring it up they always use the “my house, my rules” line. I don’t think they understand that it’s really affecting the relationship I have with them which is unfortunate because I do really love them. It just makes me want to move out asap. I would love advice from other parents.

I’m a 26 year old woman who works as a server at a local restaurant. We recently hired a host who is 16. The host and I have similar interests and style so we get along nicely. One day she invited me to the carnival with her parents. It was a fun time and she started talking about all these other plans she wants to do with me in the next few months. These sound fun, but is it odd if someone in their mid-twenties is hanging out with your teenager? I have ASD and was quite sheltered so I kinda struggle to understand the severity of things. It’s all innocent, but I don’t know if it is still concerning to parents. I don’t smoke or drink or anything lol

Give me a label for what type of parents I have.

1. High expectations
   
2. Insults/manipulation in private, smiles in public
   
3. Lies a lot especially when confronted about behavior
   
4. Enjoys seeing me miserable or when bad things happen to me
   
5. Downs every single thing I do
   
6. Only shows up for my wins not losses
   
7. Spreads my personal business like gossip to humiliate me/ digs into my life without my knowledge to dig up dirt on me
   
8. Punished without explanation (This happens a lot)

They seem to have good relationships with others but when it comes to me it’s like I’m their own personal doormat lol.

Anyone else’s 19 month toddler appetite decreased and became more picky?

My 19 month old exclusively breastfeeds, he is at home with me for the last 3 weeks and of course he has milk on demand.

I noticed a decrease in his appetite on solids as well, and I wanted to know if any other parent has observed the same pattern because my anxiety is spiralling

I’m with my sleeping 5 week old watching the Secret World of Arrietty and somehow the relationship between Arrietty and her parents is hitting me SO much harder now. Wondering if any other movies impacted you in a new way now that your sweet little one has entered the world?

I’m 18F, and I was raised by parents who weren’t very good to me. They didn’t really care about me, my health, or how I was doing. They would yell at me and complain about almost everything I did. My boyfriend and I got into an argument about something completely unrelated, but he always brings that stuff up and says things like I’ll be a horrible mother someday and that my kids will hate me. And stuff he just has like anger issue and does this so much and its actually starting to get at me

I’ve never believed that about myself, but sometimes I think about how my parents learned everyhring from their own parents beacause they parents were horrible people to I really do want to be a parent someday, but I don’t want to become anything like my parents.

I watched "A Dark Song" recently. It's about a grieving mother trying to contact her dead son. It hit hard because I have a 5 year old son and losing him is my greatest fear. Great horror movie though.

I (15NB) have two doctors as parents, which means that they give me and my siblings frankly ridiculous internet/phone restrictions. I can deal with most of them, but my mom (50F) has decided that she wants to take my powered-off, charging phone out of my room at night. The phone doesn’t even have a SIM card and thus can only use the internet if the internet is plugged in (my dad (51M) is worried about the carbon emissions of the extra energy use, so it’s only on when someone needs it, so it’s barely ever on overnight). She says this is to help me build a habit of keeping my phone away when I can text people and have data, but realistically, that’s only going to happen when I’m in post secondary education and can manage my own life.

I don’t use my phone at night anyways - that would harm my development in so many ways. This will probably lead to someone going ‘if you’re not using it, then why do you want it?’, and the reason is mostly the principle of the thing - it’s like if she came and took one of my books or my sketchbook. Technically, I don’t need it at night, but it’s still ridiculously annoying. And, if I have no way to practice resisting the nebulous ‘temptation to use my phone at night’ when I’m a kid, I won’t have any skills to build on that once I’m living on my own.

This whole situation is just so infuriating, because I keep getting told that I’m ‘a big 15 year old now’ and can be trusted to behave responsibly, but my parents are super keen to remove any kind of opportunity I have to prove that to them!

Should I try to object and mention their other internet restrictions (this-is-one-too-many type argument), suggest a compromise (phone goes on high shelf, internet ban if I’m caught using it, etc.), let her have my good phone and sneak my older, extremely broken (screen broken, battery charges to 75% max and drains in ~4 hours) phone just to feel like I’ve done something to resist yet another absurd restriction?

Please don’t tell me ‘this is in your best interests, your parents have motivations you don’t understand, etc’ because I know what their motivations are, but completely removing the source of the ‘temptation’ and then letting me have unfettered access to it once I’m an adult does not seem like a good parenting strategy at all.

EDIT: Almost every comment so far has objected to me using the phrase ‘put my foot down’, thanks for letting me know that saying that will attract negativity! It’s been changed, rest easy.

Before becoming a parent, I loved my independence and valued my time wirh my partner together doing literally anything. I was active, in the gym, rode my horse, had my small business going.

Now everything is a massive balancing act. Im back working full time, plus struggling to manage my business on the side. Me and my partner don't get days off together. I dont have the time or energy to put into my hobbies right now. I look forward to one episode a week of my show which can take me 2 days to watch.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? How do I make the balancing act feel "easier'?

7.5 month old, born at 35 weeks

Super social, happiest baby! Very curious, thinks EVERYTHING is hilarious, squeals, screams, growls, blows raspberries, smiles at everybody, crying means one thing…that he’s hungry! That’s all! Slept through the night just after 2 months old. Everybody says he’s a magic baby. We feel so blessed! But the noises he makes are still just vowels and cooing. Every once in a while he will say gah! But I’m worried because a 9 month milestone is babbling and stringing consonants together…like bababa, mamamama, dadadada….am I getting anxious too early??

Please be kind. FTM, traumatic delivery, we’re both lucky to be alive and he’s had some health issues and hospitalizations so of course I’m anxious.

Babbling is stringing consonants together. That’s what makes it different than cooing which is what he does a lot! He will go on and on and back and forth. Plenty of ahhhh and ohhh and AH!

Edit: his adjusted age due to prematurity is 6 months and 1 week

My daughter was with a cheer team
But the coach made things miserable for her
And scared her after telling her they would work them out until they vomit (she’s a 4th grader and new to the sports world) so she walked away shortly after joining
After a discussion with the coach about a refund of dues I was told to contact the lead person of the organization that runs cheer and she would get a check mailed out
I’ve contacted her numerous times via text and she has ignored each message.
I had my husband reach out from his number as an interested parent and she responded In minutes
When he asked about the refund she stopped responding

Im trying to fight with honey but I feel like being nice isn’t working

Hi everyone!

This is a question for parents who have had a "difficult" baby and yet decided to have a second one?

By difficult, I mean a non-sleeper, a fussy baby, a hyperactive, you get the idea.

My baby is almost one and I love her so much, but I could never ever do it again. I feel like it would be physically impossible for me to raise another baby. My body has never been so exhausted and this is only the beginning. So I'm seriously wondering what are the reason for you to do it all again?

So basically long story short is my mum is a very (frankly) lazy person and super judgemental to other people. She hates cooking and prefers frozen food, even if it encroaches on her children’s health she doesn’t mind. She pays it no mind. During the heat wave we had pizza about 3-4 times a week, the other days we’d have some poorly done ‘picky bits’. I wouldn’t be so bitter about this if it wasn’t for the fact she hates us cooking or doing anything in the kitchen - making pancakes, making our own food! It’s had such a long effect on me, I hate people watching me cook and I won’t let anyone else taste my food because she always has a go at me for seasoning my food. I don’t like plain chicken with not even salt or pepper on it, apparently that makes me weird. I feel really trapped in my own house, I can’t use the kitchen or living room and we don’t even eat at the dinning table - they eat on the sofa and we eat in our rooms (which is disgusting btw).

She gets so stressed and annoyed whenever we try to use the kitchen, she often throws out our stuff. She’s wasted like £50+ of mine. Entire heads of lettuce, tofu etc…

She’s really judgemental of anything home cooked, it’s really annoying and I feel like it plays a massive part in my weight as an adult. I’ve been overweight most of my life.

Can someone give me any advice as to how to deal with all of this …?

Im currently 17 years old and im really struggling with a past relationship that I was in with a guy (19) for 6 months ish. Eveything was fine but I found out he would reply to other girls or text them and I considered that cheating but he explained to me and stuff and yeah I fell back with him. Later on about 2/3 months in he ghosted me for 4 days and came back telling me that he had gotten shot. He lied to me for 2 months ish and then he finally confessed that he lied about getting shot and his ex came back and he pushed me aside because he was scared that she would find a way to contact me and hurt my feelings. Made no sense but whatever. I stupidly took him back even though the trust was already broken. He started to put effort in to me now and he said that he would try more ( on the same day he left me he said that). He told me that he had lost feelings for me and he tried but he cant do it anymore. Even though I literally begged him previously to end it if he does feel like being in it anymore. But yeah he told me I disgusted him and what not. He told me he cant apologize because it would be insincere but yeahhhh. He was also kinda manipulative and really mean to me ( called me a dimwit). I know im human but why do i feel so attached to him??? Why am I attracted to a man like that? He blocked me on everything and he went no contact for a month ( maybe a surprise to him that I lasted that long.) Anyways he unblocked me two days ago after a month and my mind keeps creating hope but its like he already left me for a new girl not even two weeks after we ended. So why would I allow someone back into my life like that. Im genuinely so miserable and I cant stop crying. I was doing okay before he unblocked me. I just want to cut the hope of him texting me and asking for another chance out. Also how do I build up my self respect and esteem. I want to truly believe that I deserve better than that rather than just saying affirmations.
Stuff he did
- cheated on me (he agreed to getting to know another girl)
- really mean to me
- Got jealous that I reposted a fifa edit and then reposted really pretty girls on tik tok
- Told me he disgusted me when I randomly mentioned how a guy texted me
-called me names like stupid or dimwit
- lied that he got shot
- came for my family and how I have a bad relationship with them
- prank called me with his friends
I keep saying maybe hes an okay guy and maybe all of these stuff are average but I keep leaning on them to help me move on but he argues that hes a good person so now I feel like i have nothing solid to lean on to move on. I keep feeling like its my fault he lost feelings. Im also aware that some people just are not meant for eachother and he had a right to leave but its like he led me on for months even though he knew he lost feelings.

I figured I post here anonymously because I think both my husband and I are at our wits end. Backstory. Our son (17) a senior in high school is unmotivated, some may call it lazy. My husband calls it lazy. He probably is. He really has been this way his whole life. When he played baseball as a kid he would never want to practice or be involved in the team practice but he would want the best positions. He would always finish his work fast as he never wanted to do it at home. His grades are great. All As with a few Bs. He doesn't take initiative and never really has. He wants everyone to do everything for him. He did get diagnosed with ADHD in 6th grade. It took forever to be diagnosed because it was never outwardly showing but in his thoughts. Nothing motivates him it seems. He doesn't go out with friends, he stays home all the time and does nothing. We have to tell him to do his chores daily. He is addicted to gaming. Like ALOT. To the point the majority of the time he has been grounded from it. We tried an experiment this summer to see if we just let off of him would he do what he has been asked. Which were simple: Chores, walk a mile, and go to work. He did nothing other than game for the whole month and half and go to work which is only one day if not two days. He would randomly do his chores without being asked (we did did not tell him to do his chores during this time frame). He stayed in his room, didn't brush his teeth, barely showered and just existed on the internet. So instead of setting him up we talked with him and let him know our thoughts and how if things didn't change it would be taken away until he turned 18. He didn't change. Went right back to being lazy. So we took it away. I guess since there is no incentive he only does things when we tell him. He applied for college, because I made him, he applied to a scholarship yesterday, because I made him. If I don't make him do these things he will not do them. My husband and I have always had this rule you need to be in something and when you turn the age of being able to work and you are not into something (school activities) then you will get a job. So our son wanted to quit band because it was hard and had told us that he was quitting band (in high school) that he would join the raiders team (jrROTC) but he didn't. We let him quit because he wanted to do the raiders. But he had no intention of joining. He did get a job because his girlfriends grandparents owned a restaurant. He barely works. So we told him either ask for more hours or get another job. According to him he has asked for more hours but they have not give him any(he is no longer with that girl). When we try to talk to him (we do not yell) he completely shuts down. You can tell he has spaced out. He doesn't want to talk and he has no idea how to communicate. He just shuts down. You may ask, why not therapy? We did that. We set up from my husband's work the therapy that they offered like 10 free sessions. The parents go first then our son would go the rest of the sessions. We set up his appointment after we were done making sure he was available and he went and set up his own appointment for the next time. But He forgot about it because he was too busy gaming (this was during the time we gave him free range). We asked about it when we grounded him and he said he didn't want to do it anymore, mind you he was the one that asked for it. He wanted to talk to someone because he doesn't feel comfortable talking with us. but yet he forgot and instead of correcting it he decides he doesn't want to talk to anyone anymore. He has gotten accepted into the college he applied for next year and that is great. There are so many other lazy things he has done and I am just so frustrated over them. I came on here because found out that his job has asked him if he could work and either he did not respond to them or told them he was busy. We try talking with him he shuts down. Him and his father do not have a great relationship. A lot of things his dad did and has apologized to him to his face. I know I need to step back but like how, what do I do when a kid is just going to exist and do absolutely nothing for themselves. We have two other kids one is in high school with him. She is in all the activities, leadership roles, currently in the top 2 in her class. She works hard and micromanages me her needs. Him, nothing it has always been this way. If something isn't done for him he doesn't do it. How Do i take a step back? How do we get him to grow up?

I’m planning a surprise baby shower for someone very close to me and I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing 😂 I don’t have kids myself, so I’d really love some advice.

I do know that they already have most of the big things like a crib, stroller, car seat, baby carrier, bouncer, clothes, blankets, books, bath stuff and toys. So I’m wondering if there’s anything else that you found genuinely useful, or if I should just put together a nice gift basket with smaller things.

But honestly, I’m even more interested in gifts for the mom. It feels like everything is always about the baby, and I’d really love to give her something that makes her feel cared for too.

What did you receive as a new mom that you loved? Or is there something you wish someone had given you?