Mountain View
Modern Parent
My mother-in-law whines about sharing her birthday with her grandson.
My relationship with my mother-in-law has significantly deteriorated over the years. Initially, we had a cordial relationship, but as time passed, she has become someone who always feels slighted by every situation.
My 9 year old is being exposed to things I don't agree with
My 9-year-old son has made a new friend who is 13 years old. She is the older sibling of a friend he made at his dad’s house, and I do not know them or their parents. They live in his dad’s neighborhood. Recently, my son mentioned to me that his friend is in the mental hospital because she is suicidal. He explained that her parents caught her smoking weed, grounded her, causing her to run away and become suicidal, and had to be hospitalized. I was shocked to hear this because I have never heard my son talk about drugs or suicide before.
My Teenage Son is Very Unruly
I have a son who is ‘out of control’, to say the least… I currently have full custody of him as his mother had some issues in the past and lost her rights. His mother is currently in the picture and doing much better, but still has no ‘official/legal’ rights, just for reference. He is currently staying at his mother’s house as he does not want to be at my house due to my ‘stricter’ rules. He is equally, if not more, disrespectful to his real mother than to his stepmother.
Is It Normal for Daycare to Make a 3-Year-Old Wait Over 2 Hours Between Restroom Breaks?
Recently my son got transferred from PK2 (2–3-year-olds) to PK3 (3–4-year-olds) last month. A challenge that has come up is potty training. My son is potty trained at home, he does not use a diaper at home. He knows when to give notice to go to the bathroom, albeit will have accidents every once in a while. And mostly those accidents are that a little pee or poo seeped out in the process of letting us know.
I’m a mom that's scared of my 6-year-old nephew
My nephew has had a very hard life, both his parents are addicted and have abandoned him. He lives with my father who is extremely neglectful and abusive (he didn’t hit my nephew but he did with me and my siblings). He’s pretty much left alone constantly, my father doesn’t play with him doesn’t take him outside, and doesn’t even get him to school. He will be repeating kindergarten because of this.
My male toddler was sent back home to me in another girl's clothing.
As a parent, it can be challenging to find the right nursery for your child, especially if they are not used to being in a childcare setting. In my case, my toddler (m) recently started at a new nursery, and he has been struggling to settle in. This is particularly frustrating since we had him in different settings before where he was very easygoing and chilled out. However, this new nursery seems to be giving us a hard time.
I think my wife could be a better stay-at-home mom.
4.5 years ago when our first child was born the plan was for us to continue working. After 6 months of paternity it was time for her to return back to work, 2 days into childcare she had a breakdown insisting she needed to be a stay-at-home mom, I reluctantly agreed, this would mean incredible pressure and stress on me being the sole provider. We didn’t sit down and talk about what this would look like and what her role would be as a traditional homemaker.
The Incident That Made Me Reconsider My Marriage
It was just a typical day when my son (7) came home from his afterschool program without his math workbook. My husband was also at home at that time, and he began joking around and suggested that my son use another workbook from the previous marking period. But my son insisted that it was not the right book, and he can’t use it. My husband continued to push the joke further, saying that it was just a math book, and that he should do the problems anyway. This led to my son getting agitated and eventually throwing the book. My husband got angry and lectured him, making him do squats or pushups as a punishment.
MIL conveniently scheduled a celebration on my anniversary
My significant other (36M) and I (24F) are currently saving up to move in together in September. In the meantime, we each reside in our respective parents’ houses, but we visit each other from time to time as we are in a long-distance relationship. To celebrate our anniversary, I went to stay with him at his parent’s home for a couple of weeks.
I'm a Single Mother Just Venting
To make a long story short, I got hitched at 20, moved to Arizona, got knocked up by my newlywed husband, and had twins at 21. Two years later, our daughter arrived. I ended up getting divorced at around 25–26, after five years of marriage. My ex and I are from the Midwest, and despite our divorce, we always intended to move back to the Midwest to raise our family with Midwest values. Well, he ended up remarrying someone who’s native to Arizona within six months of our divorce. Despite that, we’ve maintained a somewhat healthy, co-parenting relationship with 50/50 joint custody.
Coping with the Reentry of a Neglectful Parent in Our Lives
My ex was physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive. He left us when our oldest child was five and our youngest was only three months old. My youngest son was born with complications and the financial stress of all the hospital bills finally caused my ex to run off with another woman. He didn't provide any child support, never visited, and completely abandoned us. Thankfully, my husband now is a wonderful man and an amazing father. He has been there for us right from the start, through every surgery, doctors' visits, ups and downs, all the tears, and the joys. Now, 13 years later, my youngest son is curious about his biological father, which is understandable.
I got the call today that no parent ever wants to get.
Today I got the call that no parent wants to have. My child was reported by another as having been physically aggressive towards them since December, but they only now wanted to come forward. I just about blew my top, not at the accusation, but at the fact that my child would even *think* about touching someone else without permission; nevertheless for harm.
21-year-old single mama desperately struggling
I’m a 22-year-old single mom, and I feel like I’m barely surviving. My one-year-old daughter fights sleep every night and wakes up throughout the night, and it’s been that way since she was born. I’ve tried everything to get her to sleep, including sleep consultants and training, but nothing seems to work. I’m at my wits’ end, and I feel like I’m just getting by.
My kid is an nightmare. And it's my fault.
I am a single mom who co-parents with my ex (43m). He gets Aaron every other weekend and holidays (what he wanted before y’all come at me). Aaron’s dad isn’t financially or support system stable and was even homeless for about a year. Custody time was not suspended, and I even paid for my kid’s furniture and clothes when the ex got back into housing. And once or twice for hotel stays on the ex’s weekend after I found out he used my kid to get into the homeless shelter during a pandemic.
My Partner is Inviting a Co-worker Over to Drink While Our Child and I Sleep, Without Telling Me.
Is it just me or would other people be uncomfortable about this?. My partner works long hours in the film industry and usually gets home very late, after our son and I go to bed. He usually sleeps in the basement spare bedroom so he doesn’t wake us up.
I'm not having a second child because my baby's gas pains are driving me nuts
The majority of the time, my 7 month old son is as happy as can be. We laugh and play and have the best time; I love being a mom! But when it’s time to sleep, whether it’s nap time or bedtime, everything goes to shit. My son will be sleeping, and sometimes I can literally hear a gas bubble move in his belly. He instantly scrunches up and starts whining/crying.
The Day After Mother’s Day
Yesterday millions of Americans gave the women who do just about everything in their lives — feeding them, cleaning up after them, paying the bills, while also earning money to pay those bills — an extra hour of sleep, or flowers, or perhaps even breakfast in bed.
Dad-Reflexes or How the Clumsy One Is Now Agile like a Striking Cobra
I bet most of you have seen one or another video where a male saves a kid from a potentially harmful situation. In case you didn’t, I found this compilation on Youtube. Feel free to check it out to get a grasp of what this piece is all about:
An African Genesis Story Revisited
There is an African story of Genesis where the first humans were offered 2 choices. The first choice was they could live forever, to be immortal, but have no children. The second choice was that they could have children, but they would die. While living forever sounded like such a good thing, the prospect of never hearing children’s laughter or being around children took away whatever joy there would be and the world would be a sadder place. The first humans then made the decision to be mortal so that they could have children.
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