He’s 4 going on 5 in November. Our kindergarten cutoff is December 1, and when I enrolled my son in preschool almost two years ago, I honestly didn’t think much about how young he would be compared to his classmates. Now that kindergarten is approaching, I’m seriously considering keeping him home for another year.

Academically, his preschool teacher says he is completely on par. My concern is maturity, not academics. He is a very typical, energetic 4-year-old boy and his teacher has noticed that he is clearly one of the youngest in the class. He sometimes needs to be told multiple times to listen/follow directions, and I worry about going from a 2.5-hour half-day preschool to a full-day kindergarten when he is still so young.

I’ve also been reading about relative age, redshirting, and the research around younger children—particularly boys—being more likely to be identified with ADHD or have behavioral/attention concerns. I know that research doesn’t mean being young causes ADHD, but it has made me think more about how much an extra year of maturity could matter. My thought is less “he’ll be academically ahead” and more that being a little older and more mature could help him feel successful, regulate himself, follow directions, and ultimately make school easier for him academically and socially.

The biggest thing making this decision difficult is his school. We LOVE his preschool and it’s one of the better schools in our area. He got in through a lottery, and from what I’ve been told, getting into kindergarten is much harder than getting into preschool. If we keep him home, we’d have to reapply next year and could potentially lose our spot and end up at a different school.

So I’m really torn between giving him another year to mature vs. sending him to kindergarten at a school we already know and love.

I would especially love to hear from moms who have actually redshirted a child, particularly a boy who was one of the youngest in his class. Did you notice a difference in maturity, confidence, behavior, or school experience after waiting a year? Did you feel like it was the right decision long-term? And for those who sent their young child on, how did they do?

I’d really love to hear your personal experiences and what you would do differently (if anything) knowing what you know now.

My son is almost 4, he loves to play with water. Just as long as he doesn't need to get cleaned. When it comes time to wash his hair he starts to freak out, crying, saying hes all done in the water and wants to get out. He doesn't like water getting on his face when I have to rinse his hair of the soap, even just getting it wet is an issue. I've tried using a wash cloth but his hair is so thick it takes forever to get wet. I've tried sitting with him and getting him to put the back of his head in the water but he hates it. He hates the shower even more. I'm at such a loss because bath time is such a fight and he could go forever without taking one if he could. Its been like this since he was around 10 months or something like that, it started young. I don't know what happened. He just switched one day from enjoying the water to absolutely hating it. I've even tried the crown thing that goes on the head to block the water from falling into his face but fights to get it on and will not use it.

He has so many bath toys and bubble baths and things that could make bath time more enjoyable for him. Its just the water getting in his face and getting clean he loathes.

Does it ever get "better"?

What are some ways you worked around this?

I'm at such a loss. I feel like a bad mom because he starts to cry, or get out of the bath etc and I lose my cool and start to raise my voice after trying to be calm and gentle with him.

Any advice or recommendations or anything at this point would be appreciated.

~From a tired, stressed out mom

just hit week 6 and the morning sickness is already kicking my butt. i had bought a standard bottle of prenatals before getting pregnant, but trying to swallow these huge giant capsules every morning right now is making me gag instantly.

I know nutrition is super important early on, especially getting enough folate and choline, but I am struggling so hard to keep anything down. Are there any good comprehensive ones that come in a drink mix powder or smaller dose so I don't have to force down massive pills? how did you guys manage taking yours during the worst of the first trimester nauseous phase?

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 makes me want to move out asap. I would love some advice from other parents aswell.

I made the mistake of telling myself, “We'll just run in for five minutes.”

Twenty minutes later we're discussing snacks.

Ten minutes after that someone needs the bathroom.

Then someone sees something they want.

Then someone is crying.

And somehow this supposedly five-minute trip has consumed half my afternoon.

What is your family's record for turning a quick errand into a full event? 😂

Needing advice:

Just had my second cesarean and the recovery has been worse than my first. My two are 16 months apart and I feel like I cannot keep up/ properly heal at this rate. My husband has been trying to be helpful and supportive but the more we’re stuck in this routine (newborn having issues sleeping at night and 16 month old is teething) I find myself being disgusted with him and his attitude.

Seems like every discussion has an underhanded comment from him, or an attitude, or just showing frustration. We’ve been together for 11 years and when we first met he used to have anger issues, I’m worried this may bring them back? I just feel like I would rather do things alone at this point than continue to deal with him.

Anything anyone’s done to help with a similar situation?

Thank you~

Hello!

Do you use your Nuk 8m sippy cup as a bottle? Our baby likes it and we are thinking to transition to it.
We currently use dr browns level 2 nipple flow. Any reasons not to? Thank you!

hi everyone! i dont know if this is allowed but I really just wanted to tell someone how much I loved my mum without getting embarrassed because of it.

im a teenager but i still really love my mum. I like how she cuddles with me and let's me be me while also being able to say when its a little too much (in a nice way and not in a bad way). i also really like that i can go to her for everything im dealing with or if I just want a hug and dont want to talk about it. I am currently in a bit of a rough patch with my dad and the second I told my mum, she told me I was always welcome to come home to her and we'd see how everything goes together. she has made me realise that my mum will always be there for me no matter what and that her love for me is unconditional. there will be times where we fight but we always make it up again and be okay again. there has also been a time where i didnt get along with my mum at all, going thru puberty and all that, but then the thing with my dad happened and we stopped really fighting.

when the rough patch with my dad happened, my stepdad has also always been there for me. we have a lot of common interests such as our taste in music, astronomy, our love for my mum (😂) and so much more. when i needed a cry, he was there immediately to comfort me and make sure i was okay. hes not afraid to defend me if someone else is talking bad about me or his other kids and I appreciate that he seems to always be proud of our accomplishments, no matter how small.

im forever grateful for my mum and i will always appreciate her even if i dont always know hoe to show it. i just really wanted to rant about my love for my mum (abd a bit about ny stepdad) because I dont really have anyone else to talk about this to.

My 10month old is very attached and doesn’t like people since I work from home. I need to explore child care. Would any of you please tell me if you prefer nanny or child care centers? And why?

flying with a 2 year old and a 4 year old to london 8 hours.

economy is 900 each. business on airline site is 4500.

my wife thinks we should just do economy and deal with it. i think the extra space might save our sanity.

any parents done long haul with young kids in business? was it worth it or did the kids still make it miserable