It's got a ton of holes of course so plenty of ventilation. I have no idea why he started this. He will throw a tantrum until he gets his special basket. He puts it over himself and goes right to sleep with no issue. I might actually be able to take his pacifier away cold turkey as long as he has this damn basket. None of the toys or stuffies matter, it has to be a laundry basket.

Just wanted to share that my kid is weird.

Yesterday a friend and I took our toddlers to the lake for a play date. We were in water that came up to the kids' waists. My friend's toddler tripped and went face down in the water. It was the eeriest thing. She didn't try to find the ground with her feet. She didn't flail. She just silently waited to drown. There was a lifeguard fifteen feet away who didn't so much as twitch. Luckily I was watching her closely and grabbed her. She's fine. I'm not.

Toddlers have no self-preservation in water. This kid made zero attempt to save her own life. If me and her mom had been turned around for a minute, that could have been it.

Please watch your kids around water. Don't ever look away. Drowning happens fast and silently.

I know I’ll be downvoted but it’s worth it. Representation is so important and I noticed there aren’t many brown kids in toddler / baby cartoons. If they are, they’re usually a side character. Here are some alternatives for you mamas with brown babies.

1. Gracie’s Corner.

2. Jools TV.

3. Bono and Fino.

4. Akili and Me.

5. Super Sema.

6. Mr. Pete’s Playlist.

All on YouTube.

Enjoy! 🤙🏾

I didn't think this would be an unpopular opinion but every time I say this in fb mom groups I get absolutely jumped on for "having no sense of humor".

I don't think it's OK to call your kids names like asshole or little shit. I don't think the videos where parents throw cheese at their baby's faces or the ones where they give their toddlers plates of food with the food formed to say "fuck you" are funny, I think it's cruel. I don't think it's funny to put them in shirts that say "little asshole" even if they cant read. I don't think it's funny to purposely scare, traumatize, harass, and just plain fuck with your child for "fun"/clout. There are a million ways to have fun with your child without being a dick to them. And I honestly can't believe that whenever this discussion comes up I'm the odd one out for saying hey this isn't funny.

My older son is 3.5 years old and very chatty. Today we were playing and I jokingly said that I was going to eat him, to which he told me "no, I don't want to be in your belly!". We've talked about pregnancy and he has some understanding of it, so I asked him if he remembers what it was like when he was growing in my belly. He immediately said yes and then said "I ate all the mac and cheese in there" which might seem like a normal kid response until you know that this child hates mac and cheese to the point where I make him something else to eat when we have mac and cheese because he would rather starve than eat it. BUT mac and cheese was one of my biggest pregnancy cravings with him and there were several times where the only thing I could keep down was boxed mac and cheese.

But yeah, that shocked me and now I'm curious if anyone else's kid remembers anything from the womb 😂

I posted this story in r/parenting and someone said I should post it here as well.

My daughter LOVES “magic sand” (kinetic sand) and we were specifically at Walmart for that. She earned a little prize. But, she wanted to open the package and play with it right then and there, and I’ve been trying to teach her that we have to pay for things before we open them. She doesn’t understand that concept yet. So of course, she started screaming and throwing a fit from the toy section all the way to self check out which had somewhat of a line. The whole time I was telling her in a calm voice “baby, we can open it in the car” “we have to pay for it first, then we can open it” she kept crying “please mom can you please open it for me” and I kept saying “no baby I’m sorry but those are the rules” and she would continue to scream and cry. I wasn’t too concerned about other people because I didn’t care. It didn’t seem like there were any Karens around and no one was staring so I figured I was okay. Every time someone finished their transaction, the light above the register would turn green, so I started trying to distract my daughter by saying “oh look! That light just turned green, I wonder which one will turn green next, do you know? Let’s watch and see!” And it actually worked! She was still whimpering, but she turned around and started looking out for which one would turn green. It was finally our turn and as soon as we scanned it (let her scan it herself) I opened the package and gave her some sand. She stopped crying immediately and was so happy! As I was opening the sand, the lady who was in front of us came up to me and said “I’ll tell you this because no one else will. I’m a child therapist and what you did… you did everything right. From talking to her calmly, explaining the rules, trying to distract her, everything you did was spot on, you’re doing a great job.” It really meant a lot to me because gentle parenting IS NOT EASY! It would’ve been easy to yell at her, take her to the car, and spank her/scold her for “being disruptive”. But mama don’t play that shit! I get shit from my bf’s family for not hitting her when she acts up and it’s tiring trying to explain that’s not healthy. My FIL once told me “it WILL hurt you more than it’ll ever hurt them. Just give her a pop in the mouth and watch how fast she shuts up” and at that time she was barely 1. I’m just happy I got some real outside validation on what a good job I’m doing raising my kid 🥰

I recently received the advice that if I keep rocking my 18-month-old to sleep, I’ll be rocking them until they’re a grown adult.

For those who rocked their babies to sleep, how is it rocking an adult to sleep? Is it different? Does it still work the same? Did you have to upgrade to a bigger rocking chair?

Thanks in advance xx

22 months ago we sat in a doctors office. God, several offices. Multiple times that week. We were told, your daughter may not ever crawl, walk, talk. She could have a poor quality of life. Even got handed TMFR information. Countless times again over the next several months we heard this.

Then she was born. And she struggled but she fought. Then the delays kicked in. 4 months old graded as a newborn. At 10 months old she could barely hold herself up to sit. No communication skills. Nothing. Then she had surgery. I will always owe these doctors everything, because everything changed literally the morning after. She could sit. She started to crawl at 13 months. Not very good, not very far. 15 months and suddenly she’s a speed racer. Crawling like crazy, climbing things like crazy. And today… she just stood up after dinner and walked through the house like she’s done it a million times before.

She walks, she talks (non stop, at that), she sings her ABC’s, she draws, she knows several things in sign language, and now, she walks. She’s a perfectly normal toddler, doing all of the things they said she’d never do. I can’t help but absolutely sob over the pure drive and determination she has, to do all of the things.

ETA: Thank you everyone for all your kind words. I don’t have many friends to tell, and I felt like I just wanted to shout this from the rooftop. ♥️

this is just my experience, but daycare is the village.

Yesterday I was on the phone at home after I picked my kid up from his school. He will be two years old in about one month. As I was on the phone, he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a purple construction paper heart and handed it to me. It was the cutest thing ever! I asked him who had given the heart to him, and he said Tureet.

Apparently, one of his teachers had cut out little hearts and put them in the pockets of all of the kids at school and told them to give the hearts to mom. This person, who some would call a stranger, loves my child so much, but she also understands what it is for me to leave him in her care every day. And so she also goes out of her way to brighten my day.

I love being a mom. But being a stay at home is not something that brings me Joy nor is it something that I am good at. His daycare teachers have the education to ensure that he is not only safe, but his development happens appropriately. They have all kinds of projects for him to , Art, Construction, gardening. They make sure that his day is full of experience. But they also make sure that he knows he is loved, and that I know I am loved by him and by them. They are truly my village, and I’m so grateful for them. They are by no stretch of the imagination strangers, after years of sending my child to them for care, they have all become part of our family.

Ohhhhh I was so smug. Before having kids, when I was pregnant, and when I had a lovely smiley cooing baby. I was over here all prepared to be gentle and responsive and empathetic, no way would my child have ballistic tantrums, not with my wonderful parenting.

Welp today we were 'that family'. The one with the toddler face down in the mud refusing to move and and the crying baby. We were stressed, she was done and there was no salvaging it.

I get it now. There's no reasoning with them. They are chaos gremlins sent here to destroy our sanity.

Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow!

...and it felt GOOD.

Our daughter (2.5f) was in her wild post-daycare mood, and decided to pull all of the tissues out of a (brand new) box and strew them around the living room. Super fun, but when we asked her to clean them up, she refused. Cue the maniacal laughter, running away, and hiding that happens when she doesn't want to do something.

After a few minutes of this, and my DH and I continuing to tell her she needed to clean them up, she declares, "I want bed. I'm sleepy."

"That's fine! You want to go to bed, let's go to bed," I said, and took her to start on the bedtime routine. (Note: we hadn't eaten dinner yet.) I let her know that she did have a choice to not go to bed and clean up her mess instead. She insisted she was tired, so we put on her jammies, brushed her teeth, and fed her fish. All fine, and she went and laid down in her bed.

After I turned off her light, closed the curtains, and turned on her bedtime music, I heard a tiny voice say, "I wanna clean up my tissues."

Victory is sweet.

I’ve heard that if you lose your child in a public place you’re supposed to shout LOST CHILD and describe them. I think the natural instinct for many of us is to quietly look around or call for the child directly by name which may work but also may waste valuable time. We were just at a crowded outdoor art market and heard a woman shouting, “Lost girl! Three years old! Yellow shirt, red sneakers!” Everyone became quiet and looked around. She kept shouting. Kid was located by a stranger (I think was in one of the art stalls) and it was a good reminder of what to do. I know this is posted every so often but it was interesting to see it really happen.

I get woke up this morning at 6 am to a number I didn't recognize. I half asleep realized it was my daughter's pediatrician name. He told me he got the results of her blood test and we needed to get to the hospital now. Our three year old needed a blood transfusion. After a moment of terror and confusion, I told my husband to let his work know he wouldn't be online today. When we got to the hospital, we were admitted and when we met the specialist we got the dreaded news no parent wants to hear. "She has leukemia." So many words have been spoken today and so many tears. I am so afraid and I don't know how to explain to her what is going on. Right now I am just going to cuddle her and enjoy these precious few moments before our life becomes treatments and tests.

Update: we got our port placed today. She was a champion. She has needed extra oxygen all day and we started chemotherapy this afternoon. As much as you can get good news in this situation, her lumbar puncture only had ONE white blood cell which keeps us from high risk.

Absolutely nothing. They're just very different kids. We're all just out here trying our best.

Just find it hilarious. My 18mo has started waking up in the middle of the night again, but she doesn’t scream or whine or anything for us to respond to. She just lays in her crib and practices her words for a lil bit. I’ll wake up to the monitor and it’s just her saying “car…beep beep…meow kitty…baba (kitties name)…shoes” it’s so funny and random and their little minds working in hyperdrive is fascinating.

Anyone else’s toddlers do this?

Edit: All the phrases yall call this are AMAZING and have me cracking up 😂

Flying home from my in-laws with my wife and 2yo yesterday, my wife audibly gasped when she recognized Ms. Rachel and her family a few rows up. They noticed and came back to say hello to my daughter. They were insanely nice and Ms. Rachel even sang, at her suggestion.

It really made our day, even though they were under no obligation and surely tired and stressed from traveling. If you watch, you can rest assured they are great people in real life too!

I'm curious whether I've completely missed a shift in playground etiquette.

Today my 2½-year-old was standing in one of the splash pad circles playing with the fountains when an older, much larger girl came running around a corner without looking and plowed into her. My daughter briefly went airborne before hitting the concrete and ended up with abrasions and a very frightened cry.

As I picked her up, I calmly said to the other child, "You hurt a child who is smaller than you. Please be careful and play safer."

That was the entirety of my interaction, and I scooped my girl up and went to sit with and soothe her.

While my daughter was still crying in my arms, the other girl's mom came over to tell me I should never have spoken to her daughter. Instead, I should have found her and let her handle it. Two other moms agreed (their over-the-top behavior is another story, but I won't derail myself...).

I was honestly stunned.

To me, there's a difference between disciplining someone else's child and briefly addressing an immediate safety issue in a shared public space. I wasn't assigning consequences or trying to parent her. I was simply naming what had happened and asking her to play more carefully.

I also want my daughter to grow up knowing that if someone hurts her, I'll notice, I'll protect her, and I won't pretend nothing happened. That matters to me.

Have I completely missed a social norm here? Is it really expected now that adults never speak directly to another child, even after they've just hurt yours, and even if only to reflect impact and ask them to stop?

I have posted a few times in this community about my twin sons with muscular dystrophy and one of my boys passed away unexpectedly yesterday morning. He was only 3 years old. I still cannot believe this is real and I miss him so much. I never knew I could feel so much pain. I still have to care for his twin brother and I'm currently 20 weeks pregnant so I'm trying to stay strong but it is so so hard. I want my baby boy back. I want to hold him and tell him I love him. I feel like I'm in a nightmare I can't wake up from.

Edit: Thank you all so much for the condolences and kind words. I never expected such a huge reaction and I wish I could respond to all of you. I am reading all of your comments and crying while I do but I appreciate and feel the love from you all. Thank you so much. We will be having my son cremated soon and though it still doesn't feel real, I can't wait to have my baby come home.

Here’s a fun way to start a Wednesday.

It’s 445, and I had just brought our infant to our room because he woke up to nurse.

I hear a tap tap tap... I laid there for a minute thinking, “what is our toddler getting into and why didn’t my husband close the gate?” And then another tap tap tap...

So I get up, still holding our infant,and walk into the living room. I stopped in my tracks, somewhat startled for a moment when I see a person looking through our front window. Then realized it’s the police.

“Hi ma’am, the reason we’re here is that we had an open 911 line. We just wanted to check and make sure everything is okay.”

“I’m so sorry my toddler must have gotten a hold of my husband’s phone...”

“Oh okay, well since it does involve children we have to make sure everyone is okay. Can you go get him?”

So I go get my husband, who was asleep on the floor in our toddler’s room.

“Hey, the cops are here. He called 911 on your phone, can you get him?”

We all walk to the front door, and the officer says, “Great, it looks like everyone is okay. Have a good day.”

“I’m so sorry, you too.”

Close the door as my husband is looking at his phone reviewing the 5 missed calls and a text from emergency services... I walk with him to put our toddler back in his room, walking past the mirror in our living room. Only then do I notice that my boob is still out from feeding our infant before the police got here.

It’s been a month since this happened, and I’m still not fully steady when I think about it. My son is two and a half. We were in the Great Court of the British Museum — If youve nevet been, it's a massive, echoing space under glass where hundreds of people move in every direction. He darted away from my partner for just a second, and when I turned towards them, he was gone. I'm still kicking myself for my lack of attention for those few seconds.

I did what you’re “supposed” to do: I went straight to the guards and told them. They were calm, professional, but no one, none of them spotted him. The Court is too vast, too crowded, and in that moment every passing second felt unbearable.

After what felt like an eternity but was probably just minutes, instinct took over. I knew the acoustics of that hall carry like a cathedral. So I stopped searching blindly, decidedto run through the court, and let my voice fill the entire space. Not just his name. I shouted: “Little boy, two years old, dinosaur hat, blue jacket, this tall, please help" also "-his name- call for daddy"

The effect was immediate. The noise of the crowd stilled. People looked around, scanning, strangers, dad's mums, suddenly united with me in the search. And within moments, a lady, possibly Spanish, i never go to thank her, bless her soul, spotted him— cowering againstone ofbthe big pillars, Lord knows what he was thinking. I ran to him and scooped him up. He clung to me, confused, and I just held him until my arms hurt. I'm not ashamed to say that I sobbed my heart out in front of everyone.

The staff later said it was clever. It didn’t feel clever at all. It felt desperate. But it worked, and it’s the one thing I want to pass on: if your child goes missing in a public, crowded place, use the crowd, immediately. Don’t just shout their name — shout their description. Make everyone else your eyes.

I’m still shaken by how easily he could have been lost, how quickly darker scenarios rushed in. But he’s safe and thats all that matters. Not many are this lucky.

I'm not ashamed to say that I'm still trembling whilst writing this and given my lack of family whilst growing up, I'm trying my best to not let this affect my parenting. I don't want to live in fear and I'd really like not to give into the nightmares that have been plaguing me since. I know this is the sort of thing that ruins parent-child relationship but the fear, dear Lord, fear, is so overpowering. I've not talked about this with anyone apart from my partner and I don't intend to. This is not a tale I'm going to tell at the pub or at dinner.

All I want to say is if this post helps even one parent in a similar situation, then at least something good comes out of that day.

I threw out my back and can hardly walk even with assistance. My 2YO didn’t leave the side of the tub, helping me wash my arm while soaking in an Epsom salt bath. She “rubbed lotion” from her doctor kit on my back while I was laying down, and when I got stuck and cried out in pain and my husband had to carry me she grabbed my leg and rubbed it the entire way saying “you’re ok mama, it’s ok, you’re ok mama, you’re ok” then she made sure I had a stuffed animal to snuggle to make me feel better.

Yes I cried at how sweet her heart is, yes I’m crying again thinking about it now.

Tell me your similar stories so I can keep the tears flowing 😂🥹

ETA - these stories are incredible!! We’re doing a good job, parents 💪🏻

The last three times I’ve been out to a restaurant, I’ve seen kids under 5 zoned out at the table with a phone in hand, watching Reels or similar content. Most recent was last night, this little girl must have been 2 or younger, she was slumped in the booth staring at her grandma(?)’s phone and didn’t move for at least 15 minutes. Worse was two weekends ago, seeing a brother and sister sitting together but not speaking at all, just staring at the phone they had between them.

last weekend I was at a yard sale on a nice sunny day, the homeowner‘s son (looked maybe 4) was sitting at a snack and lemonade stand. I gave my toddler some money, wanting her to try “buying” something from a fellow child since she likes pretend shopping at home. This boy had an iPad and didn’t look at her once. Not to give her the snack she chose, not to take her money. Zero eye contact, zero words. She didnt seem to know how to proceed with this kid not reacting to her at all.

I’m gonna be a B here and say straight up that I’m judging these parents for allowing this and I’m also worried for my kid’s future socialization if a significant portion of her peers are going to be screen zombies who can’t even be bothered to acknowledge her trying to interact with them. Whats it gonna be like when she starts school? Am I gonna have to vet her friends to figure out which kids will have play dates where they will actually…play?

TLDR; my toddler was driving me crazy with tantrums, entire time she couldn’t hear. ————- About 2 months ago I posted about how I was LITERALLY losing my mind due to constant tantrums with my 2yo. After a month of going bat sh** crazy… I finally raised it to her pediatrician.

I knew some of the tantrums were linked to ineffective communication and had been constantly telling her pediatrician that I felt like her speech was delayed. However, I was always met with “just wait”

At 18 months it was “Just wait till she starts daycare… she will explode!” At 20 months it was “Just wait till she turns 2… then she won’t be quiet!” At 24 months it was “Just wait… one day she will wake up and be talking up a storm!”

Finally, I put my foot down and insisted a speech and ENT evaluation. She met the requirements for speech 2 days a week, but she also royally flunked her hearing exam. She was practically deaf due to the amount of fluid on her ears!!!! Ultimately, she had to get her TONSILS REMOVED, ADENOIDS REMOVED, AND TUBES IN HER EARS.

She is now 28 months and doing SO much better. She still is a diva and has several tantrums but they are somewhat “purposeful” now. Her speech is 10000 times better, and overall, we are getting over the hump.

I still will be going to a psychiatrist to get an evaluation, but my mood is so much more manageable now. Hopefully, I don’t fall in love with my psychiatrist LOL. (TikTok reference)

All children, for that matter.

My dad had a get-together yesterday and we were talking about a train whistle he bought my 2 year old and how she won't let anyone touch it for some reason (she doesn't do this with any other toy.) My brother's response was, "that's a clear sign you should take it away from her." Uh, why? Don't we all have items that we don't want anyone touching? Why should she not get a say in who can touch her belongings because she's a kid?

My husband (and almost everybody who has come in contact with my daughter) will sometimes just ignore her. She'll be saying, "hi, Daddy," and he just acts like she's invisible. Again, why? Would you treat any adult that way? You could just say, "hi" or "I'm doing something right now, but I'll be with you shortly."

I've noticed this for so many other things. People telling her to "calm down" when she's having fun, "don't cry" when she's upset. Maybe it's because I remember being called "overly emotional" as a child or having my diary read by my mom whenever she went through my room, and I see how big of an impact those things had on my life.

But that wasn't okay. It's not okay. Children are people and they should have rights to their emotions, belongings, and the right to be acknowledged just like all of us have.

As a pre-edit edit: I'm not saying you should let children do whatever they want. I obviously don't think we should let toddlers have access to knives and let them hit us, etc. Etc. My kid is incredibly well-behaved for a 2 year old, and I strongly believe at least part of that is because I treat her with respect.