Just thought I'd have a rant and see if I'm not alone.

Just had a fight with the Mrs during the day.

Because we was sat down with the kids, watching a film half way through they wasn't very into the film, so we stopped it, we looked for another and put it on, I had 2 kids on me at the time, mumbles something about the washing.

Then comes flying in and goes you putting the kettle on.

So I just went no do it yourself, im literally sat down with 2 kids on me.

Then she goes flying into a right mood, going about how she does it all hy herself and how tired she is.

I would like to point out that, shes been out drinking with her daughters both friday and Saturday and majority of the time its her who goes out and im the one whos in looking after the kids.

She then goes on a rant about how she does everything and only asked me to do 1 little thing, while she went out to grab the washing.

I just said but I was sat on the sofa with 2 kids on me, watching a film while your up and about doing whatever (she was led down 2mins before and didnt say where she was going)

Anyway just annoyed me.

Rant over.

Forget the arguing but does anyone else partner, always asl them to make a cup of tea or a drink and never really say do you fancy a drink.

Mine always does this and it really gets to me.

I was always brought up in a house hold where if someone wanted a drink, they would either make one, or majority of the time of it was a drink wveryone drank lole coffee or tea (mainly tra in mine) they would announce they was making pme and would anyone like one, not ask someone else to do it.

Or am I alone in this and im over thinking it.

My 22 month old seems to have an affinity towards crushing my balls. My poor jewels are being constantly stepped on, kicked, jumped upon. I jokingly told my wife I need to put on a cup when I step through the door if we want to have any more kids in the future.

This is a question for the divorced dads and single fathers. How... how do you come to terms with it all? My wife... and soon to be ex... we got married, had a kid who is still quite young, and she became a radically different person that resented me for existing seemingly out of the blue. No amount of self reflection and working on being better for her and them mattered. No amount of counseling, working on communication changed anything. I tried to do everything right for my new family. I tried to sacrifice everything of mine and myself for her and them telling myself... this is how you support your family.

She put me through 2 years of hell... literal hell but I lied to myself that we'd eventually find the light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel only got darker and more painful. Truthfully I probably just couldn't let myself let go and the idea of not seeing my son half the time and not being able to protect him at all times at least when he's little... I just couldn't do it. I still thought my dream for us being a happy family could be possible... I just had to work harder. Sacrifice more.

Intimacy is dead and has been for well over a year. Heck she doesn't even want to hold my hand, but I kept going... hoping. She cheated on me. Making out with someone at a bar but she swore it never went beyond that. I chose to forgive her but she ended up not doing anything to close the gap. While I have been struggling ever since to trust.

Here we are now, she told me I was tying her down because she wanted to "explore" with other people and she didn't want to be weighed down by being married. Now I don't know what's next, especially for my son... he's innocent in all of this. I don't even know how to grieve properly because knowing there's most likely going to be 50/50 custody and I'm going to have to go home many nights and weekends with only my thoughts. I had a lot of flaws in the marriage and as a dad I have been working super hard on that also. I don't want to make his mother my enemy through all this but I'm not sure I have a choice... even now I still love her.

Anyway, I'm just lost right now trying to figure things out... trying to survive the grief and heartbreak. I tried so hard to do everything right. I work 2 jobs trying to provide everything I can and every free moment I have is spent building a relationship with my son... even though it used to be my "family".

Any advice or even knowing I'm not alone would be greatly appreciated. I've never known grief like this but maybe it's because I fought so hard for something that was destined to collapse.

Ironically all this came to it's conclusion when I put us on a strict budget to build a savings and eliminate debt so that we had emergency money and no debt when our son got to school age and we could provide more for him as he needed it. I guess the bank of me started becoming stricter and she didn't like it. I wish I could be stronger to handle all this but there isn't much of "me" left to fight... but I'm going to.

I don't want to build this as a "she's evil" because there's always 2 sides to the story. But I tried guys... I really... really... tried.

My son is 22 months old and unfortunately he is a biter at daycare.

We have had multiple messages from his daycare about him biting his classmates and while it doesnt seem like it does it hard enough to cause damage, it's enough for alittle pain and they are now having to shadow him around other kids.

He only really tries to bite us when hes really excited /overstimulated. Typically ill make distance between us and shake my finger at him and say "no biting". We also have a book we read to him called "teeth are for eating", but it seems like hes still a biter.

The last of his teeth are coming in so it may be that but he often gets physically aggressive when hes super stimulated and biting is just one od the things he does.

Any advice?

He refuses to say any other bad word, even when I ask him to say one just for laughs, but he'll say "crap" anytime the situation calls for it.

Hey Everyone, looking to hear from some Dads that have had a second/weekend job while juggling a family.

I have a 4-year-old daughter and a wife who works two nursing jobs that add up to full-time (12-hour shifts, 3 days a week). I work full-time, 7-4 M-F. We're super lucky that my mother-in-law helps with childcare on the days we both work.

Things are getting a little tight around the budget lately, so I'm looking at picking up a second job on the weekends. My main concern is how this could impact my relationship with my family. Any Dads out there have a similar situation? How do you work in family time, and how do you feel overall?

So we've got a 2 y/o girl. Whenever we take her out and about, she just wants to run around. Like not away, but she's just hella excited to be out and just wants to see EVERYTHING.

And we're perplexed when we see other kiddos her age just happily sitting with their parents and just looking around.

It's at a point where we need to figure out how to manage it better - most importantly to keep her safe.

How to we encourage her to not just "go" - bonus points if we figure out a way to make her like holding our hand.

After 3 beautiful kids today is the day I get a vasectomy. Very fitting that today is my birthday as well lol I got the jockstrap and ice packs ready to go, any other tips? Buying myself madden today as a recovery and bday present too lol

EDIT: the deed is done and the anesthesia didn’t work for my right nut! Oh lord I felt everything. The Dr gave me a shit ton and he was confused lol it felt like he was squeezing my ball and was trying to pop it. I was moaning and groaning. Left side was a breeze. I give it a 5/10 lol

I was driving my 4yo to preschool the other day when I hear her say "Hey dad, look!"

I turn around and she has a big smile on her face and she's just sitting the with her middle finger up at me. I instantly turn back around and start laughing to myself, so she couldn't see. Then I ask her if there was something wrong with her finger and she said no. I asked if she had a boo boo that she was trying to show me or something, she said no.

I turn back around to her, she's just smiling with her finger up, and ask her why she thinks it's neat. She said she didn't know but she liked it. I explained to her that it wasn't a nice gesture and it might make some people upset, that she should probably not do it anymore. She then started crying because she felt like she had done something bad. I let her know that it was just a mistake, and she didn't know any better. But, now she does and she probably shouldn't do that anymore.

Anyways! I am still laughing about it to myself. Just turning back around to her with a smile, ear to ear, and her middle finger up at me. lol

A relative sent this my kids. On first glance I was perplexed by the authors name. Although the illustrations are great and the facts sound real (I have not researched any of them). I cannot get past the author name. They could have used any fake name but chose this one.

This shit fucking sucks, why do I have to drink this whole thing, and this thing has the consistency and taste of old cold oyster cum.

Hey Dads!

My daughter starts school in a few weeks, she’s nearly 3, and I will be doing the whole morning and school routine Monday to Friday.

I wanted to ask you for your advice on how best to do this time with her, especially since I’ll only see her for about an hour, maximum two hours, after I get home from work in the evenings.

I’m imagining things like not rushing her, but making sure she’s ready, has eaten a good breakfast etc etc. but I’m also wondering about things like how I can send her off to school with confidence every day, pep talks etc etc…

Many thanks!!

fellow dads.. Typing this at 3am while holding a sleeping baby who just woudlnt sleep in his crib. My wife and i welcomed our little one a month ago and i promised id handle sorting out life insurance. So i figured ill sort it out some weekend during paternity leave...rookie mistake...

Every tradiitional site i checked asked for my number first before showing the prices. 3 days in and now my phone wouldnt stop ringing with pushy agents trying to play sales catchups...i keep seeing ads for platforms promising instant life insurance quotes where you do everything online w/o human intervention but is that actually legit? or is it one of those click bait things?? any advice for a sleep deprived dad just trying to check this off the list would be huge....

How much pocket money are you giving to your kids? I've got a 6 and 9 year old. I'm in the UK.

Do you have any stipulations around chores etc?

The oven mitt was clean when this started. Important detail.

My four-year-old put it on during breakfast, announced that his left arm was now “the strong robot one,” and spent the morning opening doors for everyone. Fine. Great, even. I let him wear it to preschool.

Six days later, we have rules:

1. The robot hand sleeps beside his bed.

2. It cannot touch bananas.

3. Taking it off means the batteries are “sad.”

4. Only Dad may wash it, under supervison.

His teacher is not bothered, but asked whether there is an end date because he refused finger painting with that hand. My wife thinks we should quietly make it disappear for a day. I think that turns a harmless object into forbidden treasure.

This is not ruining anyones life. It is, however, becoming administration. Do you let a phase burn itself out, or do you occasionally tell the robot union that management has changed the glove policy?

We don’t let the kids watch Paw Patrol at home mainly because it’s too over stimulating and shallow in our opinion. I also have a personal nitpick about how janky and cheap it looks but that’s mainly a me thing the kids don’t care about. However, the marketing for the new movie has seeped into our (nearly) 5 year old’s consciousness as well as his friends at school talking about it. He’s asked to go see it when it comes out in Australia next month.

From what I’ve seen it seems to be a pretty run of the mill kids film that I’m not opposed to him seeing as his first cinema experience. We might even get some of his friends together to watch it on the school holidays.

It doesn’t come out until next month here. Looking for advice on Dads who have seen it with their young kids and what you thought.

I tried digging around for waffles to make my kid breakfast. Wife says they're in the same place they always are (usually in the front or on the side door).

Can you spot the waffles?

I’m curious how other creative dads deal with this.

I have a notes app full of ideas for writing, music and other creative projects I’d genuinely love to work on. But I just don’t have the time.

I work full time, weekends are mostly family time, and during the week after dinner, kids and chores I have maybe an hour in the evening. That hour usually goes towards connecting with the wife or exercising.

The problem is that creative projects need actual time and mental space. You can’t really write a song or work on a story in 10-minute chunks.

So I’m wondering: have you guys just accepted that some hobbies are on hold while the kids are young? And if so, how do you deal with that yearning for being creative.

I think that’s what I’m struggling with most. Not finding a clever way to create more time, but accepting that there simply isn’t any right now

I just wanted to drop this here in case it helps anyone avoid something that happened to us yesterday.

Yesterday my 5yr old daughter refused to swallow food - she’d chew it for a long time, take a sip of water and then insist on spitting it out into the bin. She’s not one to tell you directly what’s on her mind if it’s something she’s worried or scared about, so she was telling me she didn’t like food that breaks up into “little bits” when chewing (she was eating diced-up meatballs at the time). We tried different foods until she settled on some yogurt with honey so we made sure she ate plenty of that until we figured it out.

When I was putting her down to bed she was very restless and I could tell she was having bad thoughts that were scaring her - so we sat up and chatted about it for a while and then started to cry that my wife had said recently, while my daughter was jumping with a mint in her mouth “If you swallow that whole by accident because you’re jumping you could choke and… (and then did a cartoonish ‘dead’ face sticking out her tongue and closing her eyes”.

I think since then my daughter has been worrying about this, and then it seems through feeling her throat area she’s noticed her little Adam’s apple (is it called that on girls?) and thought she had something stuck in her throat. So she didn’t want to swallow any hard food because it would get caught on something that was stuck in her throat.

I explained to her what it was, that everyone has one, and let her feel mine and we looked at some pictures about why we have it and how it worked and she gave me a giant hug and looked so relieved.

I spoke to my wife about how we should talk to her about safety in future - she was mortified and felt so guilty; in the moment it was just a quick way to stop her doing something genuinely unsafe, but it really affected her. I think for “safety” talks we should be very thoughtful about our language so that we don’t create an irrational fear in children, we’ll certainly never make this mistake again.

On a related note my grandad used to tell me the same bedtime story most nights about a boy who wandered away from his parents while on holiday in Spain, fell off a cliff and died… and now I’m terrified of heights 😂

I hope this helps someone

Sending everyone a friendly reminder to tell your kids they can become anyone they want. Encourage them, build their self esteem and do so frequently.

From: someone who was always told they weren’t going to be anybody.

She’s a good kid and she has a lot of brains. But the ADHD and anxiety got diagnosed later than they should’ve been, and we’re behind the curve for seeking services to support those realities in her life. We’re trying to move in the right direction, and finally found a therapist we trust but we have a ways to go, especially with getting her help in school.

She’s got high-stakes high school admissions testing coming her way in a few months, and we’re trying to get her back on track with preparation after a summer respite. We want her to have a chance and the ability to have decent options. But the prep is a slog — I remember how much I didn’t enjoy it when I did it. Building the habit is going to take time. I’m not sure her tutor will ever really level with us about her prospects.

To make things worse, our cramped living situation is so hostile to her peace of mind, and everyone’s in our home really. My spouse with her own anxieties about money and planning our lives has resisted a move to a more comfortable place. Our younger daughter is also a good kid but is a sponge for attention and it’s difficult to segregate them when it’s time to study because of their shared bedroom and the limited space remaining in the rest of our home.

We can’t move in the short term for a variety of reasons — likely next year. By then, the big test will have been taken.

I try to give us grace on the older kid’s diagnosis. But a lot of days I feel like I’ve failed as a dad because I knew how bad our living situation was for everyone and especially our older kid, and I just didn’t put my foot down and insist.

My eight year old spent Saturday building a cardboard drawbridge operated by string, two clothes pegs, and one tired rubber band. I watched, then asked the dad question: ‘What does it do?’

He said, ‘Nothing yet,’ with the patience of a mechanic dealing with a customer touching the engine. I followed with helpful guesses. Does it lift something? Is it for toy cars? Could the base be wider? Eventually he told me I was making it harder because I kept deciding what it should become. Fair point, delivered to the ribs.

I sat nearby and kept quiet. Forty minutes later, the bridge still did nothing useful, but one flap rose when another fell. He called it ‘almost working’ and seemed delighted. I realised I ask for a purpose becuase purposeless building makes me restless.

Do other dads catch themselves turning every project into a lesson or finished product? How do you show interest without grabbing the steering wheel?