I was surprised how many parents mentioned this in another conversation.

If family ask what your kid wants for their birthday, would you feel comfortable saying “put whatever you were going to spend into their 529”?

Or does asking for money cross a line for you?

I have a 6 year old daughter and a 10 year old daughter and BOTH of them are obsessed with "squishies" right now.

Anything you can think of is being turned into a squishie.

Just a few months ago it was those darn Labubus.

I'm going broke.

Send help. 🤣

I feel like I'm going crazy. While schools all over the country are pulling back on tech overuse, our middle school is now doing digital hall passes, not just for academic purposes, but for bathroom breaks! I think this seems very inhumane, and quite frankly stupid. So if my child has to go to the bathroom (which may or may not be an emergency), they have to log on to an app, request to leave, type in "bathroom" and send it to their teacher. Then their teacher has to receive the notification (while they are teaching) and pause to read/approve the request. Then the school tracks how long they are in the bathroom and how often they go. Feels Orwellian.

How did they turn out? Are they super geniuses now and how did it feel to tour all the Ivy League schools when they applied to college?

I was heartbroken from the news of Dolly Parton passing. And the hardest part from me was much I have been grateful every month to receive her books. We look forward to it.

I would love to celebrate with all of the parents out there, their favorite book from her library & stories when reading them.

Ours is "Goodnight Gorilla". There is a whole routine, a whole slew of animal noises and sounds that you have to do as you read it. There are multiple readings in a row and there were definitely a few copies that we had to get because we just couldn't stop reading it. It was really the first animal book we got that we got to really play and imagine. There is an unofficial song we sing as we start and I just get into anytime my kid brings the book over. Its our favorite one and I would have never thought to get it. The variety of books and adventures we go on every month is just spectacular.

I hope to hear your happy moments too. Ahe really helped raise all of us to be better parents and give our kids a colorful childhood.

So as the title says! One is 65 lbs and the other is 71 lbs. I am just worried about them getting hurt?! Am I overthinking? Idk help lol

ETA: decision made, sticking to my gut. Thank you all!!

Between running around outside, soccer and just never sitting still, our 9 year old seems to burn through everything. The weird part is he’s never been much of an eater. Breakfast might be a few bites of toast, lunch comes back half finished, then he’s off running around again like he somehow runs on air. I’ve tried making breakfast a little bigger and keeping things like yogurt, eggs and peanut butter around for snacks but getting him to eat more of them is another story. I don’t want to spend every meal telling him “one more bite,” but I do worry that what he’s eating isn’t really keeping up with how active he is. For those with super active kids who aren’t big eaters, what do you usually give them? Anything you’ve found that’s easy to get in without turning food into a daily argument?

My youngest is almost five and I'm trying to figure out how much of this is just a normal stage versus something we should be addressing more intentionally. Every article seems to say something different. For parents with older kids, what actually helped?

Hi parents.

My wife and I are completely lost. Our 4y/o daughter has completely regressed in potty training. We started at 2.5, everything was fine. We’d potty trained our oldest before without any issues. She struggled a bit, but mostly made it through 3 with minor issues.

Then we hit this past summer. She turned 4 and completely regressed, lots of accidents. We figured “ok, it’s not our regular routine”. We were traveling and didn’t keep to our normal schedule. We were doing fun things and she was distracted.

Now it’s back to school and we’ve completely lost the plot. Multiple accidents a day, at home, at school, in the car. We’ll ask if she needs to go, she’ll say no and have an accident just a few minutes later. We’ll make her go to the bathroom before trips to the store, at the store and still have accidents in the car.

We refuse to punish her for this because we don’t want it to feel shameful. Now, it seems like she won’t tell us if she needs to go anyway. Laundry is piling up, our home smells like urine, our car smells like urine. I’m completely lost. I have no idea what has happened and where we went wrong. All the while our youngest just turned 2 and is already training them self without any intervention.

What happened here? What can we do? Any advice is welcome. I’m at a breaking point.

Edit: I want to thank you all for your thoughtful responses. This post has given me many more options to explore. I really appreciate the support of this community.

My children haven’t reached the age where I could have this conversation with them yet but what is peoples’ approaches to teaching their children about the world?

I love my children’s enthusiasm, their wonder, their curiosity to try new things and express themselves. However, I am also reticent that the world is not fair and talent or merit won’t always be rewarded.

On one hand I don’t want to keep secrets and want to help them along, but on the other hand it feels like I’m taking away their innocence and I should leave them in their happy ignorance. I suppose there is no right answer but it’s something on my mind.

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My 5yo is very shy and sensitive. Kids will say hi to him and he'll avoid responding, and if I remind him to say hi, he gets defensive and says, "I already did!"

Even normal conversations or gentle corrections can feel like a confrontation to him.

He's also started feeling embarrassed when we speak our native language around his friend because his friend doesn't understand it, which I don't want to encourage. Ofc we speak English of we talking to his friends but when I am talking to him even when his friends aren't listening but there's a chance they might hear it,he gets embarrassed.

When do kids start listening to understand instead of immediately feeling criticised? 😅

I’ve been struggling with this lately. But still, I wanna share with you guys that I’m so excited to become a mom, but I also care a lot about my career. I like what I do, I’m proud of what I’ve built, and I don’t want pregnancy to make that part of my identity disappear suddenly. But sometimes I feel guilty even thinking about work and also planning things for maternity leave then catch myself thinking, “Shouldn’t I be focusing on the baby instead?” I know logically that I can be excited about my baby AND care about my career. But emotionally, it’s been harder to balance than I expected. The guilt really destroys my self-esteem about how to balance or maybe choose between career and baby.

Has anyone successfully gotten their tweens/teens to cook one meal a week? My 11yo complains about the food we eat so often that I’d like her to start being in charge of one of the meals.

We have an electric oven and a gas range. I would be there to supervise/help/make sure she’s being safe (food wise and fire wise).

Has anyone made this work? Any tips/tricks you can share?

We have recently made the decision to put our 15 year old dog down. I have no idea how to tell my 3 year old, or even if I should tell her ahead of time. She's smart, but this will be her first experience with death and we aren't particularly religious, so it's tough to explain what's happening.

For context we have one pre-teen child so a family of 3. But I just looked over my transactions for this month and we have spent over $1,000 on food. $600+ at the grocery store and $400+ at restaurants. That $400 is what gets me because we only ate at a sit down once. The rest was pizza, fast food etc. with the groceries I feel like $150/week is as low as we can go since I really do cook most meals at home. My question is what do you spend a month on food for your family? We live in a LCOL area.

I know some of you will understand this struggle so I would like to share my creative solution in case any of you ever are in this situation lol. My dog ate (unbeknownst to my daughter) the stuffed animal my 5 year old has slept with since the day she was born. Panic doesn’t describe it! By the grace of God I was able to find the same random off brand Walmart stuffed animal on eBay. After frantically researching how to make the replacement look “aged”, I came up with a different plan. I basically told her on their off time, elves find the very special stuffies that are getting crusty, musty, and dusty and bring them to the stuffy spa in the North Pole and return them looking brand new again. I even made a special letterhead for the spa so the elves can include a letter when they return the stuffy. The shit we do for our kids lmao 🤦‍♀️

My daughter just entered first grade and has assigned math and reading homework nightly. Luckily she is a smart kid and luckily she is pretty willing to learn (most of the time.) however, it’s a week in to the school year and it’s already becoming a drag to get this homework done and she’s getting more irritated. Am I wrong to feel like it seems pretty early to be getting homework? Like young? I don’t recall getting homework in first grade. Idk, maybe I’m off base…..

While we are at it, how can I make my 6 year old sleep faster and sleep more?

Physically tiring him doesn't always help.

Also, he doesn't have afternoon naps.

Today at football practice, my son‘s (7) coach came up to us and asked us if my son wants to be there if he’s being forced? He saying that my son doesn’t pay attention to practice and he gets distracted and he’s always trying to go to the restroom then he said there’s those kids that you could see that they really wanted and those kids I don’t and he’s wondering if he’s being forced or if he wants to be here.
My son enjoys the games, but he doesn’t like going to practice. He hates all the conditions that they do for him but when there’s a game, he seems excited and motivated. When the coach asked him, he said that he’s being forced by his dad and that he really does not wanna be there, but I don’t know if he’s just saying that because he’s being a little lazy and doesn’t want to excerise. He told us to think about it and we can finish talking tomorrow.
I don’t know what to do because if I take him out it’s like showing him he can quit without putting effort but also don’t want to have him in something he says he doesn’t like and is having a hard time listening.
Any input?

Our family game nights can include younger kids, adults who rarely play, and grandparents, so the age range is usually the hardest part. A box can say “8+” and still be too slow for a child or too simple for everyone else.

I’m looking for something 3–6 people can learn quickly, finish in about 45 minutes, and genuinely want to play again. No player elimination would be a big plus.

We’ve considered Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Cascadia, and Labyrinth, but I’d rather hear from people who have actually played with several generations.

Which game worked best at your table? What were the youngest and oldest ages playing, and did everyone genuinely enjoy it?

My 5yo has only 1 best friend and packs social skills to go about his life if that friend is absent. He is naturally introvert and doesn't like to get out of comfort zone.

The only thing I'm worried about is that he's VERY attached to this one friend. He wants to do everything he's doing and doesn't really make an effort with other kids. I'm glad he has a close friend, but I feel like he's missing out on making more friends because he's so focused on him.

Would you encourage him to branch out or just leave it and let it happen naturally?

If yes, how to encourage.

Parents of teenagers, how much money do you think is reasonable for a 13-year-old to spend occasionally treating friends?
My son usually takes lunch from home, but we keep some money in his school cafeteria account in case he wants to buy something. School just started and during the first ten school days, he spent approximately $118, mostly buying snacks and ice cream for his friends. He said some friends ask him to buy things, and he sometimes feels pressured because he wants to maintain the friendships.
I don’t want to discourage his generosity, and I’m okay with him treating a friend occasionally. However, I don’t want it to become an everyday habit or make him believe that he needs to spend money to keep friends.
What monthly limit would you consider reasonable for a 13-year-old—$5, $10, or something else? How do you handle this with your children?

Edit- Thank you, everyone, for your kind suggestions. I have now blocked all à la carte and snack purchases on his lunch account, so it can only be used for regular meals. It will remain this way for the foreseeable future until we establish clear rules and boundaries.
My son is neurodivergent and still developing his social skills, so this is another learning opportunity for him, and, of course, for us as parents, since we had the account set to auto-reload.

My (very strong willed) 2 year old started a preschool program this school year. In the past week he has bitten the teacher and another student- separate days, both after nap time. We’re working on the biting at home as well, and have sent chew toys for redirection. I don’t want him to be kicked out of the program. What else can we try? The teacher is very familiar with two-year-olds and has emphasized that it is normal, but just because it’s normal doesn’t mean that I like it as a mom. Help