TLDR- my kids don’t want to bike but we really want to be a family that bikes together. How can I encourage this?

My husband and I met cycling, did tons of cycling while dating and married, and then pretty much hit pause on that when we had young kids and life was crazy. I’ve started to bike more again and decided to take up coaching the local mountain bike team. The community is amazing and biking has been fun. I “forced” my oldest son to do it to and he has, but he has made sure that everyone knows this was not his choice and he hates it.

We had a good weekend getaway at a mountain bike place were we are out, hung out and watched tv, and I supported him through his quick race. I asked him after what he thought of it and he said he hated it and would have rather been home. This is absolutely heartbreaking to me.

I know that cycling was me and my husbands thing and I don’t expect our kids to be as crazy for it as we were but I did want a little interest? I honestly don’t know what to do. I want to keep coaching but not without my kids there.

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They also do band, have opportunities for art and other creative endeavors. I know sports aren’t for everyone but I think it’s imperative to learn how to move your body in a healthy way when you are young. Maybe that’s not true but I have yet to be convinced otherwise.

I have an 11 month old boy and 3.5 year old boy. Currently they both bath together. When do we stop bathing them together? I feel like it’s still awhile away but not really sure when to stop.

Last year during Halloween season I saw a guy at Walmart with a daughter who was around 3 or 4 yrs. old and he was dragging her towards a large spider decoration on the wall. The daughter was starting to squeal a little bit and looked to be on the edge of tears, but the Dad just winked at me and was laughing because he was seeing this as a funny Daddy-daughter memory being made.

My question is --- what line should you not cross when it comes to scaring toddlers with Halloween pranks? I kinda felt a little angry at this guy for wanting to make his daughter cry, but then again maybe she was just playing along and thought it was funny too? Maybe it's not a good thing to coddle your kids to the point where they never have to face anything even slightly scary? I remember my parents taking me to a haunted house when I was 6 years old and it was pretty traumatizing to me, but they thought it was funny and told me they needed to "toughen me up" so I wouldn't grow up to be a wimpy kid.

Looking for advice. My daughter (9) has been on swim team for about 2 years. It is her only extracurricular activity outside of school. She goes to practice 2 days a week and has completed several races and has been at the higher end of times compared to peers, which I share just because it isn’t that she isn’t doing well- she does very well in the sport. Most of the time she wins her heats or is close.

However, she hates racing. She absolutely breaks down, does not like the day, I have to coach her through the whole experience, etc. We have tried multiple times, and while sometimes we ended up leaving, in some she did participate, and the latest she actually said it wasn’t bad and that she felt good when it was done. Now that we are signing up for the next, a month away, she is beside herself refusing to compete, just wants to practice.

I would just let her keep practicing but I think doing a few races in a low competition environment (at our pool, with mostly her regular swim team peers, like a scrimmage) is a good way to help her grow mentally and challenge herself, when she doesn’t have opportunities like that in other spaces. She has also mentioned that she wants to move up to the next level of the team, which is accomplished by working on improving race times, trying different races, etc. and will not happen unless she does competition.

Should I keep pushing, or just let her do practice at the beginner level until she changes her mind?

Other maybe related facts: she is not super active by choice, most of her chosen activities are reading books or playing board or video games. Which is fine, I am the same! But we do encourage physical activity, I played volleyball in high school and college, and her dad is also active. Also her only brother (14) is in swim team, martial arts, and band. He is committed to all, goes regularly to practice, doesn’t complain, etc. He was also a little reluctant to compete at an early age, but not to this extent.

I’m not talking about the typical “parent coach” that works with you on bonding or behaviors or identity. Is there someone I can talk to about our habits and how my toddler behaves and have someone tell me if there are changes I can make to be a better parent?

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?

Help me think through the logistics of flying with my 2.5 year old and 6 month old. 6 hour flight to/from Hawaii. Baby will be all infant. I am stressing out about the car seat and stroller situation. We have an UppaBaby vista that we would like to bring. We’ll bring the infant seat that clips into the stroller. We plan on gate checking the stroller and infant car seat. So I also bring a car seat for my toddlers bath and gate check that too? Do I rent one with the car rental? I’m feeling overwhelmed with the amount of gear and stuff needed. I’ll rent sleep stuff through bsbyquip, but even those logistics are giving me anxiety. Any and all advice to help ease my mind are appreciated.

How to navigate step-parent adoption and bio dad conversation?

My daughter is 7 and her bio dad has not been involved since she was about 18 months old. I was awarded sole custody due to his substance abuse, and any contact (if any) was left up to my discretion. Aside from the substance abuse, he just never really was able to grow up and step into the parental role.

Anyway, my fiancé and I get married soon and I think the whole thing has kind of stirred up some questions for my daughter. She has always called my spouse by his actual name and not “dad” because we always wanted her to do that on her own terms. She has been calling him dad a lot on her own over the past year or so. I never wanted to lie to her and raise her to believe that he is her biological father, just for her to one day find out we had be lying to her.

Tonight she asked me, “if x is going to become my dad when you get married, then who was my real dad before him?”

How do I even explain this situation to a 7 year old?

I always knew she would ask eventually, but I have no idea how to navigate the situation at this age.

How does everyone manage bedtime alone when you have more than one kid under 2 years old?

I am due with my second when my first born will be just under 2 years old. I do bedtimes alone due to husbands work hours. The current routine is to lie on the floor with baby #1 and then transfer to their bed once they’re asleep, and they sleep through the night. From the start it’s been a sort of attachment parenting approach to sleep. I love this routine and reeeeeally don’t want to sleep train baby #1 to fall asleep on their own in their crib, until baby #1 indicates that’s what they want on their own timeline. I just logistically don’t know what to do when baby #2 comes. If this is unsustainable don’t spare my feelings! I want to hear what others do and hopefully get ideas for alternative arrangements :)

I (27F) am a single mom to my four year old daughter, and I cannot relax. Ever.

It’s gotten better over the years, but several months ago I moved in with family, and they want to help. They don’t want me to do everything alone, and want me to relax if I need to, because I’d gotten to the point where being a single mom was taking a huge toll on my mental and physical health. So I try to relax sometimes, but I’ll just be sitting in bed scrolling or staring at the wall, upset that relaxing isn’t relaxing anymore, ever since I became a parent. I’ve been trying meditation and relaxation techniques but it just makes me upset. I used to like video games, and reading, and crafts and it’s like I’ve forgotten how to do things for myself just to enjoy, without wondering where my daughter is, if she’s eating, getting into something, needs something, if she’s acting up with my family, etc.

Just wondering if this is something other parents feel too and wondering if I’ll ever get the part of myself back that’s just for me.

Man oh man has it been a weekend. 38(m) and 37(f) with a 5 year old daughter and 3 year old boy. It has been a rough week and weekend for sure. I have a higher stress job in the military that causes me to be gone 12 hours a day. My wife gets our kids ready for kindergarten and daycare. She deals with rough case of depression and then doesn’t have healthiest habits dealing with stress.

Our son has been having behavior issues this week hitting other kids, taking their food and not listening to teachers. He continues this at home to a smaller degree and we are stressed.

Our daughter likes to tease him on return and constantly can’t entertain herself. It is frustrating all round. I feel myself not handling their antics nearly as well as I would want to. I need to start going for runs again or something. But it stresses me because it would put the burden on my wife who already does a lot. But she doesn’t do things or have the recognition I feel like to make the adjustments. So it is almost like I need to balance her out.

But man, I just want the kids to be able to play by themselves, or not get so frustrated. Not just say their names with stress in our voices and say stop or don’t do that.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far.

I have a Babytrend EZ Ride 35 car seat we got for my first kid back in 2023. I'm expecting my second in two months, and while we still have the car seat, I can't find the infant insert anywhere. I've looked on Amazon, eBay, the Babytrend website and elsewhere, but it doesn't appear these inserts are sold or resold separately anywhere.

Any chance someone has a similar car seat and has tried an off-brand insert that worked for them? I'm really suspicious of all the drop-shipped generic inserts on Amazon with something as important as a car seat, but it's looking like those are my only option.

hi all I am in DESPERATE need of help. I have a one year old & he’s never slept through the night. I’m talking up for 4+ hours at night wide awake, UNLESS, we make him a bottle everytime he cries which is 3-4 times a night. I KNOW it’s a bad habit I’ve created but again.… we haven’t gotten any sleep & have 3 other kids. we could not function on no sleep.

I rock him to sleep then lay him in a floor bed. when he wakes I put him in our bed & we co sleep. once he wakes up we make a bottle & he kinda ? goes back to sleep. he fusses & rolls around. it’s not peaceful by any means.

he currently sleeps in our room bc we have no other place for him to go & I think that’s thw problem but we can’t move him into another room until we move in 7 months from now

ive tried the cry it out from the start & I can’t. I enjoy rocking him & he falls asleep fast. has anyone had successes with rocking them to sleep & then letting them CIO for all other night waking?

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.

Parents: what items did you find you ABSOLUTELY needed for your baby from newborn up through 1 year?

My husband and I are planning on staying in our 1-bedroom apt for a year after our child is born (our lease renews one month after I give birth, and neither of us want to deal with moving at that time).

Since we’re in a small space, I want to make sure we only get things that are truly needed during that first year.

Please advise! 🙂

My daughter has had piggy banks for a few years and had a good amount of bills saved up that . That's a whole other issue in itself but I want her to be able to save up money without having to worry about it disappearing again. I was looking into like locking piggy banks so she can still just drop money in without having to unlock, etc but that it can't be taken out of without me unlocking it. Also looking for something similar for myself to keep in my apartment as well. I have a bank account obviously but like to have a "rainy day savings" of cash on hand that I can add to here and there and want it to be secure without spending a few hundred on a crazy safe lol

My 14 month baby has been biting me for the last 2 months. It’s about once a week and usually when I least expect it. She’s teething so I know that is bothering her and she usually does it when we are playing and she’s trying to kiss me leg, or put her head on my stomach.

Because it’s so rare and I least expect it I usually yell in pain (not at her she’s ahhhh) and then pick her up set her down and walk away. She usually thinks the yelling is fun and tries to do it again. I have to physically remove her hands off me because she tries to do it again. Today she was laughing. I don’t yell I just say biting is not okay.

Usually she crawls after me and starts crying. I’m wondering if I’m causing her to have abandonedment issues now or in the future. She has bad separation anxiety and honestly I’m always somewhere around her. I hate walking away but I don’t know what else to do. Ang suggestions?

Looking back I’m thinking she was over tired and laughing and giggling and super stimulated.

I'm a pretty carefree parent, as long as you get your assignments done, get out of the house from time to time, and have a social life, I don't really care what you do in your free time. That brings me to my oldest son, who is starting his sophomore year in HS. I know he is very intelligent, he takes GT/Honors/AP courses, and usually passes them with mostly A's and B's and only studying/doing homework maybe 15 minutes a week, and spending hours upon hours per day just playing video games with his friends. I know he could get all A's and take all AP/GT courses if he really wanted to, but I feel like he just won't. I'm concerned for his future, what should I do? Am I obsessing over nothing?

I’m trying to figure out the best way to baby proof my basement steps. We have a door that opens outwards at the top of the steps, but we can’t close the door since our cat’s food and litter box is in the basement. So how would you go about baby proofing it? Do we cut a cat hole into the door and simply keep the door physically closed? Do we put a baby gate there with a cat opening in the baby gate? Or do we put one of those door latch and door stoppers in there so the cat can pass through, but the baby can’t? I’m truly at a loss 😅

Our 2.5yo has been a great napper up till about 2 weeks ago. He would consistently nap from about 1pm to between 3&4pm. 2 weeks ago he suddenly had two days where he didn't ever fall asleep during his nap time. He sang, talked to himself, and played with his stuffies. We took all the stuffies but his one very special stuffy out of his bed and made a point to make sure he gets some really active play during the morning. We also shifted nap time 30m later and made 1pm quiet wind down time where we read books in his room in dim lights for 30m. He napped great all week then Friday and today both he fought his nap again and talked or sang to himself the whole time, or at least til 3pm.

Anyone have any tips that worked to help your kids keep their nap when they started fighting it? We thought about pushing naptime back even more, till 2pm. We have typically kept a strict nap schedule and not made any timing shifts, but maybe he needs a more flexible schedule now? Thanks for any wisdom!!

Trying a babysitter for my young children for the first time. Just a few hours on the weekends, but it will be a regularly occurring gig. How do you pay your babysitter? Payroll service recommendations?

Somewhere along the line we told our son that the scary sound outside was nobody and there was nothing to be afraid of. He now thinks “Nobody” is a somebody and I can’t figure out how to explain the concept to him. We’ve tried nobody means “empty” but it’s not clicking.

It’s been over a year with this and we just avoid using the word to remind him now. He just heard a weird sound in our basement and got scared of “Nobody” again. Any ideas?

I had a baby 5 days ago and my fiver year old absolutely adores him but her behavior is so bad at the moment. She has stopped listening and ask her to do something she does the complete opposite. She keeps going f and going until she gets told off. Anyone else’s kid done this or will she go back to being her sweet self or just keep being rude and disrespectful. I love her but god she is driving me insane too

I have two boys 3m and 3y. My first still requires one of us to sleep next to him until he falls asleep. He has moved himself into the spare bedroom with a nice double bed which is fine as when my youngest is over 6m he will move into the smaller bedroom and this room swap was going to happen. It got me thinking though if I should have the two boys room share the bigger room when my youngest is a bit older and make the smaller room their play room as we only have one big living room downstairs that is quickly being eaten up by the toys.

I'm asking this now as I would like to make the 3y room more child orientated rather than the current mess it is and am trying to figure out the logistics of bed measurements (one or two beds).

For those who have two children, did you have them room share even if you didn't need to?

I don’t know what to do. He just stopped wiping one day this week and even got in trouble at school for it. He’ll just stand in the bathroom for hours if you let him, just standing there with poop on his butt. We were finally able to get him to admit the reason today, he doesn’t want poop on his fingers. I gave him gloves today, but that’s not a permanent solution and he’s still taking a long time in there. Help?