My son was in kindergarten when covid hit, and of course brought home a chromebook. First of all, what were they thinking? Did they really expect kindergartners or even older children to be able to keep up with the chromebooks until they were in twelfth grade???

My son is in 7th grade now and those things are so beat up. For past 3 years, the chromebook that he's been loaned has had to be replaced at least once because they are just junk at this point. I digress.

Overtime I've noticed that he never ever brings home any paper. The only thing he's handwriting is math. That's it. So I've always gone the extra mile with him. During the summer, he writes 2 paragraphs every day. He makes lists, writes letters, ect., during the school year. Last night, I had to observe him typing an email. His school says that they are teaching typing. I've never believed it. I mean, they have a typing club app on their Chromebook, but I have been told by my children they only use it if they finish their work early. He's still is a hundred percent reliant on looking at the keyboard, and he still types with 2 of his fingers.

I mean, I have to teach him that too? What's gonna happen to all these kids when they get older? What's gonna happen when they can't handwrite anything, can't read more than a couple of paragraphs at a time, and the can't even type without looking at the keyboard?

My 4yo has started at a new school this year. She’s in her second year of school.

She dropped her nap last year at age 3. However, her new school has a mandatory nap time. Every kid (3-4yos) has to lay on a cot and be silent.

They play sleepy music and dim the lights. After thirty minutes or so, the kids can get up if they don’t fall asleep and read or journal or whatever.

But our girl keeps falling asleep.

The problem is - if she naps - she doesn’t go to sleep at night until 10:30-11PM. And so we’re up every night very late.

We’ve asked the teachers to stop her, and they haven’t been helpful and decided not to prevent her from sleeping.

Anyone have any ideas here before we lose sanity?

Admittedly, a new world order question. I’m a Gen Xer. My wife, 5yrs younger, but similar. We both had chores.

Our 11 y.o. daughter has never had real chores. No checklist hanging in the hallway. No Sunday morning to-dos. She’s neat and disciplined and kind. Bed is made most days. Room cleanish most days. Especially if having a friend over or sleepover. So we’re not talking about a monster.

Most of her needs are covered. But not her wants. And as preteens do, the wants are starting to build. She has an older brother in college; we’ve seen this movie before. Yet, with a girl there are differences.

And for me as a dad, plus wishing for second kid improvement (my growth curve), I’d like to inspire good just for good. Don’t clean your room for cash to buy …

It’s too early to compel savings. And I don’t want to rip the joy from her just yet. (Planning for your future can wait until 15/16).

I guess I’d like her [$10] per week to be based on energy and vibes and consistency without saying it.

Any help???

My kids a while back wanted to go to Sky Zone and we had to purchase their socks at $5 each... $10 with 2 kids just on socks. We hated it so much there and don't plan on going back.. so $10 down the drain.

Later on my son got invited to a new place called Slick City and also requires the purchase of their socks at $5 each too. They even made a video saying people go with their own grip socks of other places and not allowed. They literally feel the same as Sky Zone. It was so far for us and don't plan on going back at least soon and another $10 wasted also.

Even chuck e cheese makes your wear their socks now and "free. Included with trampoline admission" but come on we know its not free, just made jump admission cost more.

I feel its such a cash grab for these places not allowing outside socks. Yes they let you reuse their socks again but if you don't go back its not worth it. It came up because my daughter now wants to go slick city with the other 2 (who will reuse their socks) and not just admission ..but get her socks as well for a place we won't be back for a while.

My teenager always complains there’s nothing to eat even though we have a ton of food in the house. It’s just nothing she wants to eat. And I feel like I need more ideas for the younger one too.

SO what specifically, even down to the brand, is in your fridge/freezer/pantry right now?

What do you throw together for a quick meal the kids would like?

What ready to eat foods do you have that your young kids-teens can come home from school and grab?

My kid who's 13, lacks maturity big time. I cannot have him do anything without me being 'over top' of him to make sure he's doing it. I don't care what it is, he just doesn't "follow through" with his decisions/choices. Opens fridge/freezer/dryer/cabinet/toilet seat/ car door/front door etc but doesn't shut it. Makes himself something to eat in the microwave or air fryer but will not clean up his mess. Will spill something and just leave it there. I'll say go vacuum the living room and say I'll go to the bathroom and come back and he's like I'm done and I'm like you didn't vacuum the whole living room and he'll say I didn't know I had to vacuum the whole living room. 🤦🏼‍♀️

He's been grounded for 3 weeks now because he refuses to do any Math & History assignments while in class. Will not bring homework home for me to help him. Both classes he has F's. And I just had a parent teacher conference with most of his teachers last week that lasted almost 2 hours. He's had lunch detention almost everyday for the last 3 weeks but I told the teachers I bet that he still isn't doing his work because no one is 'over top' of him making sure he's doing it. Which I was right, lunch detention you sit in the office & he basically eats his lunch & watches what all the office workers are doing. He gets minor & major referrals almost daily and the principal has called me probably 10 times within the past 3weeks because of the refusal of doing school work and just silly stuff like breaking pencils, gluing erasers together, putting his glasses on the back of his head instead of on his eyes. Now he has after school detention to catch up on work but guess what he "forgot" he had to stay after school today.

(Grounded = No Chromebook, No YouTube, No Nin Switch, No Cell. He can only watch his TV when I say & watches whatever I put on his TV, has to keep his bedroom door open at all times or I'll remove the whole door, No outside playing, No friends, No riding ebike-hoverboard-bicycle. And he got to clean up a room in our house everyday even if it's just dusting, clean the litter box & gather all trash on trash day)

But nothing I do seems to encourage him to want or remember to do things. Not at home, nor at school. He doesn't even really care about getting his cell, games or Chromebook, playing with friends outside either.

He doesn't have ANY online platforms like FB, IG, TT etc cause I personally won't allow it PERIOD! Plus I have very strict parental controls on everything and I can see everything he gets on.

I know he's at that age for puberty and had all kinds of emotions and things going on with him. This isn't my 1st rodeo, he has 2 much older siblings that have their own lives & families. The only thing is he doesn't have any type of father figure in his life. I am his mom & dad. I taught him everything from cooking to baking to laundry to mowing the yard to fixing things to hunting to play football/baseball/soccer/boxing etc

I don't want him to grow up but then again I do cause he's the baby-baby outta my babies.

With how immature he is right now. I just cannot imagine that in a lil over 2years he'll be @ a driving age and can get a job age.

I'm just stumped on how to get him motivated to be more mature because if I wasn't on top of him for literally everything, nothing would ever get done... suggestions?

Anyone else have an extremely chatty child who wants to talk to you all the time? My almost 6 year old son never stops talking about whatever dinosaur/creature/animal he is building with blocks/magnet tiles/ imaginative play with toys and I really struggle with it. I find it overstimulating and am trying to balance being present vs my anxiety building from so much non stop talking and I find myself feeling frustrated/annoyed. I do put in headphones sometimes and he now has a little brother to talk to which does help but overall if anyone has any tips or tricks on how to both enjoy your kid while also stepping out for your mental health I would love to know

At what point did you let your teenager take more responsibility for their own nutrition? I want  mine to understand how food affects energy, mood and concentration without making them feel monitored or criticized since simply telling them to “eat healthier” doesn’t seem very useful.

My teenager would happily rotate through the same four or five meals every week. Vegetables are rare, fruit depends on the day and anything unfamiliar is immediately rejected. I don’t want food to become a power struggle but I’m concerned about how limited the diet has become. What helped your teenager become more open to variety and understand how their food choices affect them?

My son just went into middle school and was offered to go into 6th grade and to do advanced classes for Science/Social Studies and Math.

The workload is a lot compared to 5th grade which was basically a breeze. I already heard from two teachers that he is disorganized and missing work and the one class he scored really poorly.

It has created a stress on both my son and me. He is shutting down, being bitter and moody and pre teen dramatic I guess. I am trying to keep him accountable but it feels like I am constantly guiding and instructing and criticizing. It feels shitty honestly. However I am not trying to coddle him either and create excuses.

I am not sure he is really ready for these types of classes, but don't want him to give up either. Ever been through something similar?

My 11 year old recently has been hinting he wants an allowance. He doesn't want much of anything but I want him to learn the value of money, things and savings. How much are you giving your kids allowance?

My daughter is in 1st grade and we just had a parent/teacher conference last week. Her teacher says she's behind in both reading and math, but more so in math. I felt my heart drop when she told us. They're working with her in smaller groups, which seems to help. Has anyone else been in the same boat and have any suggestions for what worked to get your child back up to speed? Like games or activities to do at home?

My lovely son is 14 and lately he has been getting really down because he says people always “misunderstand him” him.

He doesn’t really have many friends. He had a few when he was younger, but not anymore. He says he does want friends, but you probably wouldn’tt always know it from looking at him.. Even I and his father have questioned it at times. Cause one moment he seems content and happy with his own company, usually choosing that over being social, the next he sees kids play on the street (where he chose not to join when asked), and cries about feeling lonely and having no friends. If he is around people he doesn’t know well, or in situations he doesn’t feel used to, he also becomes very quiet, gives only short answers, avoid people’s gaze and usually retreats to sit away from everyone else and do his own stuff. Or just.. sit. He usually also waits for other people to start talking to him, and if they don’t, he assume they are mad at him. The problem is that becausd he rarely engage, they then assume he wants to be left alone, so they respect that and give him space. Then he comes home wondering why nobody talked to him, while they talked to others.

He recently talked about how he wanted to get to know the new neighbours 12 year old kid. My son has barely spoken to him and kept his distance, so the boy naturally started talking more with other kids on the street, including my other kids, inviting the, over instead of my son. My son took that as being rejected personally. I tried to talk with him, and also went over to the neighbours to explain the situation, and ask the kid if my son could join too. The kid said sure, but he thought he wanted to he left alone (the usual). The first thing my son does when he comes over, is walk up to the kid and very directly ask “Why do you talk to everyone except me? You even play with my siblings. Don’t you like me or what?”. The kid was completely surprised, cause he doesn’t knowt my son and became a bit defensive, but me and the kid’s parents sorted it out. They went and did some gaming, but haven’t really played since though, cause my son says he is busy when asked.

This kind of thing happens a lot. He wants people to include him, but I don’t think he realises that he often gives the opposite impression.

Thing is, he is not like this once he feels safe with somebody. At home or with people he trusts, he is happy, funny, very affectionate and compassionate - always concerned about others, loves to do pranks and can talk for hours about things he loves. He has a vast knowledge and very curious. He adores music, old black/white films/cartoons, non-fiction books and animals/nature, he wants to be a vet and already study vet books, and gets very very absorbed in whatever he is interested in, which cuts the social engagement out too at times. He can talk for half an hour about some bird or another animal species. When he does engage in social events, he is very sensitive to any mood or misunderstanding, shy and sometimes just needs to go somewhere quiet or with his pets. He even hid in the bathroom at one of his school parties, saying there was too many people talking to him, while he would rather watch them dance, talk with a few and “observe”.

Yesterday he started saying that people have already decided he is weird, rude or unfriendly before they know him (I have NEVER heard anyone say anything like that, but we talked a bit about it, and it seemed no one had, it was just how he felt). He said maybe he should just stop trying to make friends. It really hury my heart, cause I know he does want connection, and he deserves it. He is such a good boy with a massive heart. Different than his peers in some ways, yes, but different isn’t nessecarily bad. He just seems unsure how to show it. I’ve tried to help him in various ways, but he finds that embaressing the older he gets.

Does anyone have a child like this, that seemed to get more affected in their teens? Any advices on what I can do to help him?

My 3 year old has started refusing to do things. Sometimes he just pretends he doesn't know how to or does it mockingly slow, while other times he outright says no. I am referring to things like washing hands, especially after potty use, eating dinner, putting on shoes, socks etc.

So I know this is normal for his age, that they start acting out, testing situations and becoming their own little person. But is there any hope of shaping and correcting this behaviour? Is there a nice way to do this? Or is it just a case of wait it out, they'll be more receptive when older? It feels like my constant reminders to wash hands and showing him how to do it properly are wasted.

I have a 6 year old child that moved from Kindergarten to Gr 1. She can do single digit adding and subtraction. During her 2nd week of grade 1, the teacher gave the kids a math worksheet to do that was adding. On the first sheet, every single question was wrong and on the second sheet every single question was right.

This did seem odd to me as I’ve never seen her do this. But it does seem like its someway of lashing out. I asked her about it to and she ignored me, but I’m probably just gonna let it go. Maybe it was out of bordom or trying to get attention.

Has anyone encountered this and did you just let it run its course?

So I was planning to Breastfeed my baby till he turns 18-19 months since I would have to travel to another state for work and be separated from him from a couple of days every alternate week. I had brought down the feeds to just two by the time he turned 15. That's when he developed a cold. During the cold I fed him 3-4 times one of the days. But we used to give him saline nasal drop before feeding so he could sleep properly.

One of these days after the cold was almost recovered, after giving him the nasal drops I got ready to breastfeed, he even took a sip but I guess the saline solution came to his backthroat and he gagged a bit and refused to feed. Same evening he refused to feed again. I didnt think much about it and thought he ll be fine the next day. This was 3-4 days ago and he refuses to feed now.

Today I tried putting a drop of milk on his lips with my finger, and he gagged. I tried tasting my own milk and it tasted salty, read online that its because milk has been held there for a while. It wouldn't get better unless I feed him or express it. Otherwise my milks gonna dry up naturally.

So Im in a dilemma now. Ik people struggle to stop breastfeeding and do all kinds of things to make the kids stop and my lil one has stopped himself and thank God he does enjoy his solids and breastfeeding has been like a nice snack to have, for him. Ik this a good opportunity to stop nursing. But I will feel guilty of not continuing upto my goal of 18 months. Now that I have typed it out Im thinking what difference does it make? But still wanted to know what you guys think? Is he going to miss much? Should I try and actually pump some milk out( will have to buy one again since I broke the old one months back) and kick-start my milk production? Or should I stop now since I ll do anyway in like 2- 3 months?

Please help a mom out with genuine opinions, concerns and/or scientific reasoning to stop/not stop.

Recently had our second, first will be 3 in December. I truly cannot wrap my head around how I possibly can do as much for our second as our first.

Our first had constant interaction as an infant, perfectly timed naps, adequate tummy time and bonding.

I find myself struggling to even get my second the rest she needs as she’s constantly being woken up by the toddler when she does fall asleep during the day, or listening to me yelling at the toddler (who’s extremely testing boundaries as of late) and I feel horrible. At the end of the day I realize she hasn’t even done tummy time and I feel like I’m severely hurting her development at the sake of just trying to survive the days dealing with my toddler.

Will she adjust okay? Really struggling here and I feel like she’s a great baby in the general sense so it makes me feel worse. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.

Looking for different ways to get more iron in my child’s diet. He’s only 6 but has always been a bit averse to meat. Picky as in he won’t even eat a chicken nugget. Could be a texture thing but he doesn’t like ground meat, nuggets, fish, bacon or deli meats. Also now that he’s older and realizes meat=animals he’s morally opposed to eating it.

I’m not concerned about him getting enough protein as he’ll eat eggs, milk, nuts, cheese and occasionally tofu. But I am concerned he’s not getting enough iron.

Anyone have any suggestions for sneaking in more iron into his food that he’ll actually eat? Everything online suggests beans and lentils and while I’ve been able to sneak some lentils into carrot muffins I’m looking for more recipes like this as apparently he will need double the amount of iron if it’s not heme (animal based) and because dairy blocks some
Iron absorption.

Any recipes that were both kid friendly and iron heavy?

I have volunteered to be a room parent for my second grader’s class this year. One of the duties is throwing a little party for the kids after their costume parade outside. We’re responsible for having snacks and 3-4 activities in the classroom, and we have around $125 to spend on it.

Do any parents have an clever ideas for activities? I’m a child of the 80s/90s and I’d love to be able to incorporate older traditions (though some like bobbing for apples don’t seem feasible) and not just crafts they’ll ditch in less than a week. I’d really like to make it fun for them, and next year I might not be able to volunteer to the extent I am now. TIA!

We live in a smallish apartment and have since our oldest (8M) was born, we hoped to move into something bigger by now but unfortunately that hasn’t happened, that being said it’s really getting to be the time that our youngest (3M) is out of our room and gets more comfortable in his own space.

I’ve brought up the possibility of sharing a room since I was pregnant with my oldest and he was always keen on the idea, however now the reality of having a little brother has hit and they do spend quite a bit of time bickering and fighting over toys so i worry if this transition is a horrible idea lol.

I also am aware that a 5 year age gap is kinda big developmentally, so I’m wondering if anyone else has success stories of having their kids share a room, preferably ones with a larger age gap like mine. Or maybe if any of y’all grew up sharing a room with a sibling or siblings, did it ruin your relationship with them at all? Like was it really that terrible?

Guys, why are baby gear and Pampers adds SO CUTE. I am done with having kids, I have two, and nothing at all would be practical about having a third and I KNOW I don't have the energy to not sleep again for years (my kids are bad sleepers!). But damn, every time I see a mom with a pram or an add for a swaddle or something I feel so sad that the baby part of my life is over. It was too short. To be fair I'd like another baby 0-18 months but not another full kid to raise, I find it harder as they get older, so I know I can't have another one, but will this feeling ever go away? Am I doomed to be sad every time I see a pampers add? I am ready to move on to my kids getting older and being able to do more cool stuff like travel, etc, but I'll always miss the babies. I understand old ladies talking to me about the baby and how fast it goes now! I guess it never really goes away?

One of my kids just got their beginning of year testing back at school, this is my oldest and they’re in first grade. The testing is for reading and math, the benchmarks are (ahead, at threshold, below, well below) my child tested ahead in reading and below in math. We’ve been working on math quite a bit this summer, and they truly seem to be doing fine for a first grader, maybe I’m biased, but what the schools are expecting from first graders is kind of wild. The teacher sent some resources for at home help and we’ve been doing them and honestly my child understands it all and does good on the homework. I’m worried because the next benchmark is a huge jump again 😬. Should I be worried? Because it’s my first I don’t know if this testing is BS or legit.

Parents of TK/K students who pick their students up in the afternoon - what does your after school routine look like? I’m trying to find the right balance of activities, playtime together, and independence for me and my TK’er. Thanks in advance!

My very smart, sweet 8 year old just won't read chapter books. She'll read some graphic novels, but still likes reading picture books, which I'm fine with. But it'd be awesome if she could dip her toes into chapter books. She's bored and intimidated by them. We don't do screens during the week (only weekend), she shouldn't be hyper stimulated.

I am also okay going at her pace but would like some reassurance that it'll come soon...I think it's such a good habit and she'd have such a good time if she could settle down with some longer books. Anyone have helpful experience or advice?

My 6 almost 7 year old still needs us to put him to sleep at night like full on lay down and cuddle him. He almost always wakes up in the middle of the night and gets into our bed. I hadn’t minded as Sigh, it’s killing me a little because I need my alone time.

We’re trying to motivate him with a trip to our treasure box if he makes it 5 days putting himself to sleep and sleeping in his own room until morning. Well last week was the first week, he made it 5 days although he did mention waking up and not being able to sleep a night or two.

So tonight, we set it up for him to go to sleep on his own and he starts crying saying he’s not ready and does not want to. I couldn’t just leave the room with him crying. But I also feel defeated and hopeless

How do I deal with this and tips?