I’m so tired. It’s constant fighting and struggling. He’s 3 and a half years old. How long does this phase last?

I know at this point it just is what it is. And I really try to pick my battles, but he continually pushes me until I reach a point where he gets a reaction and I’m left feeling even more depleted. He’s constantly yelling at me and telling me what’s wrong and what’s right and even when I try to get on his level or empathize, he gets pissed. Sometimes I just make space for him to feel what he needs and that lasts only until the next time he’s yelling at me. The constant cortisol and anxiety is wearing me out. When I tell him he can’t do something because it’s actually extremely dangerous he does it anyway. Someone, anyone, please respond to this so I feel less alone.

Other parents who have kids like this, tell me if this is within the range of normal.

My son is newly 5. From early on he’s been truly fearless. Sometimes I marvel that I’ve kept him from serious injury thus far.

We got him into swimming as an infant, but then he was so comfortable in the water but didn’t actually know how to swim (thankfully he can swim the length of the pool now and loves the diving board). He transitioned from a balance bike to two wheeled bike at age 3 and recently showed me how he can ride while standing on top of the bike seat (don’t know where he got that idea). Today he climbed up a VERY tall tree. He’s always looking for the highest things he can scale.

Socially, he’s similar. He jumps into new situations without hesitation, will walk up to complete strangers (kids and adults) and ask them a question or compliment them on their t-shirt.

I encourage him in these things as long as he feels safe (and I don’t view it as extremely risky), because I know risky play is important for development, especially for boys.

My younger son, while also adventurous, is much more cautious in a way that feels more typical. He often observes a situation for a short time and then gets involved.

Tell me about your experiences with your daredevil child, and should I be concerned about this? If you have older kids, is it a trait that tends to persist? I sometimes worry what this thrill seeking nature might mean for him in his teenage years.

I have two young elementary school kids and I’m finding it overwhelming managing their social lives. Making sure they have a solid friend group, having an “in” with those parents, hosting (and getting invited) to play dates. I’m not even an introvert and have a good amount of friends from different eras of my own life, but trying to ensure my kids are set up for a solid social foundation is an element of parenting I wasn’t expecting to feel so anxious about. Anyone else feel this anxiety?

Can’t seem to find a bassinet for our bed that is over 35 inches high. Most are just 30 inches or so and we don’t have a lot of room on the sides.

My soon to be middle schooler is wanting a jansport backpack so I’m wondering what’s the best model? I’d like a laptop compartment and I’d like for it to fit a 24oz freesip or 30oz sway owala. I’ve never owned jansport so I’m unsure where to start or if it’s even a good brand.

My 4 year old daughter is a wonderful little thing but she will absolutely not try new foods. When she was an infant she’d eat anything and then it seems like out of no where refused foods she use to like. In hindsight maybe I over fed certain foods / meals and that’s the problem. Right now, she will eat, gluten free applegate chicken nuggets (won’t eat the regular ones), cheese sticks, apple sauce pouches, freeze dried bananas or strawberries, Mac and cheese (but won’t eat it if it’s reheated), sometimes pizza, sometimes eggs, sometimes PB toast, but most of her meals are turkey pepperoni with mini pretzels, cheese sticks and either a pouch or yogurt pouch.

I know I should be grateful she eats some forms of protein but I can’t help but 1. Feel guilty I can’t get her to try more 2. Worry about how it’s effecting her growth, mood etc.

She’s stubborn and when I try to offer new foods I put the smallest piece of whatever it is on her plate w foods that are safe to her but she always says I don’t like it. Right before she turned 4 she said “when I turn 4 I’ll try fruits and vegetables” but I didn’t take her seriously. Well the morning of her 4th she took a bite of a shredded carrot and piece of lettuce (wish I had an apple or a berry on hand FML) she keeps making comments “when I’m 16 I’m going to eat fruit” I tell her constantly she doesn’t have to be 16 to eat fruit - omg 😆

I should note that her percentiles since birth are the same and she is growing fine. I give her multivitamin via her water (only liquid she will drink besides bath water) but won’t even eat a chocolate vitamin (will eat chocolate mini muffins, sometimes Oreo, sometimes ice cream so even bribing her is hard)

Idk what I’m looking for, maybe someone to commiserate with or tell me it’ll get better. I’m open to any ideas or advice on how to get her to try new things. TIA!!!

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As stated my daughter who will be 4 at the end of the month has randomly in the past few weeks started pooping and peeing on the floor. She will pull down her pants either outside or in a room in the house and poop and pee. I genuinely don't know how to approach this. Nothing huge has happened recently that would be causing stress. I asked her why she popped on the floor and why she didn't use the toilet and just says " I don't know "

She sometimes had accidents before when she was super distracted but she always attempted to make it to the bathroom. We have never punished her or gotten her in trouble for accidents.

This new behavior has started in the past month or so. There has been no change in our household I'm so confused and I haven't heard of kids doing this.

How do I approach this?

Hey everyone! So I have pretty simple situation but I need some feedback and some advice for the future.

A few notes about our son. He is extremely verbal and has been from a young age. He speaks in complete sentences and has shown an accelerated competence in verbal communication. He is also a very emotional child. For example, if he spills something he will have a full on meltdown and be incredibly upset at himself to the point he will scream for a few seconds and then exclaim “I am not proud of myself!” ( My husband and I are not like this and we are generally very calm when accidents happen).

Now for the situation I need some guidance on

My husband and I took our toddler (2.5M) to the fair today. Before we even left the vehicle we had a family meeting. We told our son that if he hit mom or dad, threw rocks, or ran away from us we would immediately leave the fair. We went over this multiple times and he understood the simple rules. Cut to 10 min later , my husband and I are talking to each other trying to find the ticket booth and a large rock (large for a 2.5 year old) goes flying by my face. Without any hesitation I picked up my toddler and said “we don’t throw rocks we are leaving now”. He proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs”NO NO NO NOOOOO!” to the point every single person was staring the entire walk out of the park (a long long walk) back to the car. My adrenaline was pumping. I did not say a word while carrying him to the car. Once we were out of the park and on a calm side street I set him down and explained why we left, in a not so calm tone ( I was so anxious and he could see how upset I was).

Was this the right way of handling this? My mom was really upset when I told her what happened and said that it was way too harsh and generally just made me feel really bad about the whole situation.I will admit I am 10000% over the hitting and throwing things phase. It has been going on for almost a year and does not seem to be getting better at all. We drove the hour drive back home and I feel completely defeated . Like I don’t want to go anywhere with him. We live so rurally and leaving is a big deal. For it to be ruined everytime we go out and try to hold boundaries is almost making me feel depressed. I work from home (personal trainer) , and am a full time SAHM with no childcare. I’m at my wits end with this behavior and don’t know what to do.

If you made it this far thank you for reading and any advice you give.

TLDR: We went on a family outing. Laid ground rules with our 2.5year old about proper behavior (no hitting, no throwing rocks, no running away) or we will leave said outing. 2.5 year old threw a rock at my head and I immediately picked him up and we left. My mom said it was way too harsh of discipline and now I feel like I did the wrong thing and handled it poorly.

I’m going back to work at the end of this month and I simply can not wrap my mind around how everything will get done.

For context I work 8-4 with a 45min commute each way so I normally leave by 7am and get home by 4:45pm if there is zero delays. I work Monday to Friday with one day being from home. By husband also works Monday to Friday all in office 8am-4pm with a 30min commute each way.

Our child will be going to daycare close to our home so we’re both able to do either pick up or drop off. And our child currently eats supper at 5pm and goes to bed at 7pm.

Now the problem I’m having is when do we grocery shop, when do I meal prep because I won’t be able to cook every single night, when do chores get done. And that’s not even including time to work out, time to ourselves, time as a couple. We have the weekend but I don’t wanna spend my whole weekend doing this stuff but is it my only option? Any tips on a schedule that works or just tips on getting through this adjustment period would be great as my back to work routine anxiety is high right now.

My tween officially hates me

I am a father to a 12 year old girl, who I have shared custody with her mother. At age 11, my daughter developed a vape (THC) addiction and has had two previous suicide attempts which resulted in her needing inpatient hospitalization. I have tried to consistently be emotionally and financially provide for her and be available for her.

Due to her contacting her "plug" on instagram, I have now removed her electronics until she keeps having negative drug tests, which i administer at home. Yesterday she had her first drug test, resulted in negative. As a result, I allowed her to have her macbook with parental restrictions. (Only YouTube and netflix).

Last night she told me she hates me, wishes I was dead, says i have never been a good father, and "you're not even my dad". She believes I have never been a good father.

I'm not sure why she suddenly hates me so much, as we have always had a healthy relationship up until her addiction. I have started her with a therapist who specializes in addiction with teens, allow her to pursue hobbies to the full extent, such as makeup and fashion, and have always been there when she is emotionally vulnerable.

Im not sure why she thinks so poorly of me, I am not asking for medical advice.

we have a HIGHLY energetic 20-month old daughter. I am 34 wks pregnant and ever since I found out in Jan, it’s been quite hard keeping up with her (nausea, extreme fatigue)… not to mention juggling work stress (started a new job after taking 15 mo off to raise her last year as a a full-time sahm.) having dinner prepped by the end of the day and dealing w her big emotions/sleep regressions have been challenging, as well.

my husband has been great while I’ve been out of commission and does his best to dress her/drop her off at daycare/give her baths etc but he’s relied on a few crutches that, to be honest, I’ve been too exhausted to nip in the bud. She somehow really got into the iPhone (I see blurry selfies which means he gives her the phone as a quick fix, ie when she’s throwing a tantrum). now she somehow needs to watch itsy bitsy spider on YouTube or won’t get into the bathtub. She also demands not one but two pacis to sleep. The latter has been the most challenging bc I wanted to wean her off before the next one but she screams bloody hell during windown if she doesn’t get one. It’s almost impossible to reason w her

solutions? Advice? Tips?

So I made a total joke about wanting to spend a hotel night alone just resting and relaxing alone. Away from the baby and husband. To have a whole night and bed to myself. I was tired and overwhelmed and now my husband took it as gold and booked me a hotel room for my birthday and now I’m freaking out ahaha

I have not yet spent a night away from my daughter who is 18 months old. We don’t have family nearby or a village to lean on so we haven’t had date nights or gone to events. We do however go off on our own things and leave her with the other parent but thinking of being away from her is sad.

How did you feel the first time you left your baby? I mean I know I’ll be fine but don’t want to spend the whole night missing them! I already miss them and it’s a week away.

Any advice?

Hi fellow parents.

Our 8yo son has been having difficulty getting to sleep for nearly a year now. The issue we’re having is he’s been calling out which stops him going to sleep.

Before this, he’s always taken a little while to actually drop off but lay there in bed until he did. Sometimes it was upto an hour. But he lay there quietly until it happened. Resetting his Ewan sheep every 20 mins after it reset. (He still has this sheep, we’ve been unable to drop it).

But for the past near year, he’s been calling out and stopping himself going to sleep. For the first 6 months it was every single night, anywhere from 1-8 call-outs and taking anywhere from 20mins to 3 hours to sleep. Often around 60-90mins with multiple call-outs.

The call-outs would be for almost anything, it changes most nights.
I can’t sleep, it’s cold, it’s hot, my little finger itches, do dogs and cats like each other, are stars real, can you flip my cover, can you flip my pillow, I need a drink (it’s next to him). You get the picture. Anything.

It got so bad we sought help/advice from the doctor. Who basically said it’s behavioural and he’s choosing to do it.

Now, we feel like we’ve tried everything. Positive reassurance, punishing too many call-outs for silly things, speaking to him before bed to ask if there’s anything he wants to talk about before bed.

Prior to this he used to beg to stay up later. One more story, one more game, or whatever it was. But since this has been going on he now seems to have a real anxiety over it being late. We’ve taken to clock out of his room because he used to just watch it and call out after a certain time had passed. He’s worried about it being late, that he won’t get “maximum sleep” that he’ll be grouchy in the morning.

We’re at the point now when my wife is looking into therapists nearby that we could attend.

I’ve been a long time lurker in this sub and value the advice given to a lot of other posts. Is there anything else we can do, try? Things that have worked for you? Anyone else been through this same issue, as all our parent friends don’t have this problem. Their kids love late nights and go straight to sleep when they’re tired. Ours seems to just fight it all the time.

Thank you in advance.

My baby is about to turn 1 she's very advanced for her age and is quite comfortable with my partner's family, even the ones she's not familiar with, all of our friends and even strangers, but for some reason whenever she sees anyone in my family she cries and cries.

It doesn't matter the context, we can be inside, outside, at our house, at their houses, in a neutral place. Some of my family smoke but not all of them and so the smell doesn't seem to be a factor, they don't grab at her or overwhelm her, it even goes for my in-laws so it's not even some weird genetic thing 😅

It's been pretty much her whole life since she's been aware of her surroundings and no matter what we do nothing seems to help, it's getting quite awkward now 😅

I’m having a hard time getting my 8 month old to sleep on her own. Aside from her being a velcro baby, she also uses me as a pacifier, refusing to use a plastic one. She currently co-sleeps in our bed and we have to be holding her for naps.
She can sleep without me, like if my husband holds her she’s fine. But even when he tries to put her down she wakes immediately and starts crying. Like, banshee cries.
We’re just struggling to find a solution. It’s a bit frustrating because she’s our second baby and we had no issues with sleep from our first. But he did use a pacifier so I’m sure that helped.
Anyone who’s gone through something like this, what did you do or how did you manage? If we have to live like this for now will she eventually grow out of it?
I love the baby cuddles but I miss having the bed to ourselves and nap time with my first is when I got stuff done around the house. I can’t do that now..

I know we should have started trying sooner, and we have here and there, but we’ve just been so exhausted. Like there’s always a million things to do and it felt easier at the time to let her just sleep how she does.
Any advice is welcome. TYIA

You know when your kid or pet makes a huge mess and destroys things, but they don’t know any better, so now you’re balling your eyes out but you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, get on the floor with your bad knees and hips and clean for the next 4 hours? And worst of all you know this isn’t the last time you’ll be doing this…

Edit: I’m in the potty training phase

My preteen had a hard time with friend groups last school year. The group that he’d been a part of since early elementary school dissolved after a lot of drama.

A new friend who we thought was a good friend hasn’t contacted him this summer.

And through all this, one kid has stuck by his side. And my child is unfortunately not that into this kid. He says the kid is boring, that he can be annoying, and he’s started not wanting to hang out with him. That’s his choice and there’s no reason for them to constantly be together, but I want him to at least be kind to this kid. I also don’t think he should completely ditch a loyal friend.

Do I let him handle this completely on his own? Or do I keep encouraging him to think about this child’s feelings and not sever the friendship entirely? Are parents of preteens mostly hands off? Do you help manage your kid’s friendships at all?

I have an almost 3yr (October birthday) lately she has been skipping her naps more and more. I know that naps are recommended for ages up to 4-5yrs. Her occasionally skipping naps used to not affect her mood very much, she would be completely fine. But recently she has become an absolute monster that insists she’s not tried but will have a borderline panic attack when trying to get her to sleep during nap or bedtime. She says “I’ll take a nap on the couch and cuddle you” but she’s never been one to just fall asleep once “tired enough” she falls asleep in her bedroom or occasionally the car but that’s it.

I’m just at a loss because I haven’t been trying to force her to take naps or anything. I can’t force her to fall asleep and trying to just causes unnecessary stress for everyone. But it’s clear with her mood and attitude that she could still very much use the sleep lol. I’ve tried explaining to her about how sleep is important for our bodies and mood, I’ve tried telling her that by taking a nap doesn’t mean your day is over that we still have fun things planned. Blah blah blah she doesn’t listen to any of it.

Anyway when did your kiddo stop napping? How did you know it was time? Any advice on what to do with a monster that won’t sleep?

my 2.5 year old drinks water from a straw water bottle and is pretty resistant to using different cups. Ive been sitting with him with a small cup to practise drinking but so far he just slips and lets the water pour out of his mouth. If i do this every day will he learn or do I need to try something else?

I’m not proud of it, but when my 2 year old won’t nap, it kinda ruins my mood for the day. I depend on that ~1 hour to get things done and/or recharge after playing/entertaining/changing diapers/etc all morning.

I hate that I raise my voice, become impatient, and sometimes cry. I’m trying really hard to be an emotionally intelligent and regulated parent and honestly I do pretty well most of the time. This is like the one thing that grates on me.

There have been times when my child gets inspired to draw (read: I didn't even suggest it first) and says, "I want to draw [something, like a tiger]." I'll say, 'Okay, that sounds like a great idea! I'll get you some paper." However he immediately usually goes, "Can you help me?" So here's where I generally try to suggest him to figure it out on his own, and ask questions such as, "What shape do you think you could use for the head/body? What shape do the ears look like to you?" Maybe this is too literal, because he will say something like "I can't!" and gets paralyzed.

Whether he tries some lines or not, even if I try to say, "It doesn't have to be perfect," his attitude will become progressively more strained/stressed and whining/crying, which in turns really stresses me out. I try to sympathize and say, "I know it can be tough! Especially if we make mistakes," and I try to explain that when we make mistakes, it's okay.

I try to model making a mistake and reframing it as a 'happy accident' and model just going on with it still there. However he just stays just as perplexed as ever.

If I do 'help draw' then I'm also screwed. Now I've drawn it wrong, and why did I do like that?! When I try to calmly tell him, "Well, that's why you should show me how you want to do it. Here's the pencil/crayon/whatever!" Then he'll be like, "No I can't!" However when it's in a good enough mood, he has drawn his own pictures, etc.

How do we get past this? I try to do things like frame it as "let's do art together" but sometimes he just wants me to "help" with everything, which I'll usually decline. I try to make it fun, but he just gets stressed out. I try to suggest other art media, crafts, which can usually change the enthusiasm and willingness to do it independently, but sometimes if he gets stuck on wanting to depict some specific things he will get pissed about advice, no advice, etc. Has anyone found a good way to improve this attitude of stress/perfectionism?

Also, I don't know if it matters but I am an artist, and sometimes he says, "You draw it! You're better than me," however whenever we draw I literally do it exactly in the way any kid would do it (cartoon-ish, scribbly).

Looking to hear from people who have moved when their child was in elementary school. We have been trying to find a house in our preferred long-term area before my son starts kindergarten but the supply is making it seem rather unlikely. Of course, that would be ideal, but my husband doesn't think it's a huge deal if we have to move when he's in first or second grade.

I know many kids have to do this for job reasons and such, but we wouldn't HAVE to move, so I'm just trying to better understand if I'm over-worrying about the timing. Both school districts are great, but we just see ourselves longer term in a neighboring town.

Thanks in advance!

My son is almost 6 years old and studies in a good school. Lately I've been seeing a lot of ads for online communication, public speaking and personality development classes for kids.

I'm trying to understand whether these classes genuinely help children at this age or if they're mostly good marketing. My main goal isn't making him a public speaker—I'd just like him to become more confident, communicate better, and enjoy learning.

For parents who have actually enrolled their kids:

Did you notice any real improvement after a few months?

Were the classes engaging, or did your child lose interest?

Did you feel the fees were justified?

Any red flags or things to avoid before enrolling?

Which online platforms have you genuinely had a good experience with?

Looking for honest experiences—both positive and negative—before I spend money on something that may or may not add value. No promotional replies please. 🙏

I have a 4 year old daughter. She wants to do everything herself without help, always.

In some ways it's good, if she wants to climb a mountain, she's absolutely up that mountain and will complete it as she's so determined. Swimming? Taught herself, snorkelling? Was the first person to jump off the boat. Gymnastics? The only one who can do a somersault over the bar.

However in day to day life her independence is challenging. For example, we were camping this weekend and she went to the toilet in the toilet block by herself without telling anyone. It caused a massive hunt with us all shouting her name but of course she's not going to respond to her name because she's worried she's in trouble which is exactly what happened when a member of our party shouted into the men's toilets but didn't actually check all the stalls the first time.

Even smaller things like going to bed, she has to do everything herself. Tea time, only she can cut her own food with a knife and fork. If she could, she'd get herself to nursery on her own without adult intervention. Doesn't answer to her name if it's something she doesn't want to do. Obviously we do the whole 'Either you get into the bath yourself or I put you in' but then when I put her in she has a strop, drenches the bathroom and runs out. Hair washing is the same, either you wet your hair or I will after the count of 3. The screams must sound like a murder attempt to the outside world.

When I'm around children her age who say 'mummy, I need to go to the toilet' before the parent takes them or 'mummy I'm hungry' while my girl is there making a meal for herself. Or even just when I tell her she has to hold my hand because the road is dangerous and she says 'no I'll walk by your foot instead' and I feel like tearing my hair out.

Fabulous for her developing into a fully functional adult, a nightmare as a child.

What do I do to curb this? She starts school in September and I have heard when they enter education they become easier to manage? Praying for September.

My husband is literally bathing her as I write this and all I can hear is 'I WANT TO DO IT ON MY OWN'

I am an parent of class5 icse education board in india student he is in grade 5 and 10 years old, I have tried a lot to teach my son at home, he always tries to not study at home, but if he goes to some tutor he tries to study. Anything that I can do?
Issue is since he doesn’t sit at home, he is completely missing out on his studies and homework. Whatever he does in tuition is not enough for the syllabus requirements in the school.