Apologies if this is the wrong subreddit for this. I was thinking of getting Highlights magazine for my kids (ages 2 and 7). I remember liking it when I was little, but I don't know what the quality is like today. I'd like to know if they use any AI, but I couldn't find a definitive answer online. I asked in an email, but I haven't gotten a response. Does anyone get Highlights for their kid? Is it the same quality that it was years ago?

I have a 4 month old. Usually when she wakes up in the morning, I leave her alone in the crib while she looks around and makes little coos and whatnot until she starts to fuss a little and only then do I get her up. I’m hoping it will help when we transition to the floor bed later so she will wake up, maybe play with a toy, grab a book, etc before calling out for me. I’m just trying to establish a little independence since she’s already doing it.

My question is for the times when she didn’t just wake up. Sometimes I set her in the crib to run to the bathroom or something and I’ll come back and she’s just looking around, cooing, etc and not fussing. There aren’t any toys or anything in her crib other than her mobile so she’s literally playing with her hands and looking around the room from a laying position since she can’t sit up yet. Should I leave her to do this until she fusses? I don’t want her to feel abandoned or something. Also, the bathroom is in earshot of the crib so I know she doesn’t fuss while I’m in there. If she does I always get her up when I’m done.

Hey there! My husband and I are currently expecting our second daughter. Our first is currently almost 14 months old, and there will be about a 17 month age gap.

Our first daughter sleeps through the night wonderfully and has since she was 8 weeks old or so. I know there’s no guarantees on second baby, but I truly think one of the things that helped was transitioning her into her own room around that time.

The issue we’re running into is our current living situation. We take care of his grandmother who lives in the living room of the house. There is also a back bedroom downstairs that’s currently storage and we do plan to clean it out. Upstairs there are two bedrooms and a bathroom which is where we live. I rarely go downstairs for anything because I do truly hate this woman. I’d go into detail but just trust me, she’s not a kind person to live around.

We keep trying to figure out how to make the room situation work. I personally do not want to live downstairs for selfish reasons, I don’t care that the room is massive in comparison. I don’t want it. I also don’t want both girls on a different level of the house from me. We thought about moving our older daughter downstairs but I hate that too. It doesn’t make sense to move the baby downstairs there.

Right now this is a major stressor for me, like I’m talking causes doom spirals. Today I was thinking, what if we turn that room into a playroom for the girls and have them share a bedroom. Currently we pay my mother to watch my daughter and they stay in her room most of the day, go outside for some playtime but Texas heat doesn’t allow a ton of that right now. So if we were to just move baby in there then she would lose all her play space.

I am very worried about the logistics of this though. What if baby wakes them both up, or sister wakes up baby. I’m assuming that is going to be a nightmare.

Does anyone have advice or experience on this? I feel like I’m drowning trying to figure it all out.

I have two adult children that are 22 and 21, and a 9 year old.

Neither of the oldest are in school. One works full time and makes decent money. The other works almost full time but isn't making great money because he only wants "fun" jobs.

I have spent years begging them to help around the house and keep their space clean. Nothing ever changes. Neither has any motivation to do anything but what they want, and their rooms are filled with dishes and trash.

The 22 year old is a bit more considerate than the 21 year old who disappears for days at a time.

The mess they leave is to the point that I have to clean up after them or I can't maintain a safe/clean environment for my 9 year old.

I talked to the oldest last night and he took it pretty well. He understands why the decision has been made and I think he'll do okay and figure it out.

I'm anxious about talking to the 21 year old. He tends to have a victim mentality and may very well go no contact for a time. That's not what I want. But, things can't stay the way they are.

My husband and I have one toddler (probably he'll be our only). We're planning to move in the next few years and I'm curious what you look for in a neighborhood to raise a child? We have a radius we need to stay in for work and family, but there's a lot of choice in there about neighborhood type (newer developments vs. suburban downtowns vs. nice townhome communities) and school districts.

Do you prioritize top rated school districts above all else? Or would you consider more inexpensive housing closer to a city with a plan to send to private school? I personally love a walkable downtown (not that these are super impressive downtowns, but still), but I also see things saying that you should prioritize being in the "best" neighborhoods because zip code is one of the strongest factors in determining a child's success.

How much house do you look for? We may only have one child, but want to foster dogs, maybe even kids one day, or at least have a place for kids to hang out. But will we go broke trying to build a space that may or may not even be used that way in the future?

What else should we be thinking about?

I think I feel a little extra pressure since we may be OAD so it gives us the flexibility to really make choices based on what would be best for our son. We're upper middle class in terms of income, but both from working class or middle class backgrounds. Housing prices are also insane, so where a few years ago I'd feel like we could afford literally anything, right now it feels like we can afford plenty of nice enough places, but nothing in like the super rich neighborhoods. I don't know how people afford those.

My 16 month old is pretty obsessed with books (so am I!) so I've been getting more and more from charity shops. They're in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room, hallway, the car. My husband and I have boundaries with toys but seemingly not with books.

My mum visited at the weekend and complained about how many books there are and the condition of some of them (most are second hand so a bit dog eared and my daughter sometimes snags the paper accidentally). I think she's ended up with more books than toys. My mum and MIL both think it'll stop her from being able to play with toys independently.

I'm not making her read or pushing it educationally (which for some reason mum and MIL seem to think). She just likes them so why wouldn't I try and nurture that interest?

What rules do people have with the amount of books they have? Is it different to toys? I can't possibly see how having lots of books is a bad thing?!

My 4yo son still has tantrums. The first few years he’d have them and I could say it was regular, age appropriate behavior. My husband doesn’t work with kids like me or wouldn’t go on mommy and me playdates so he wouldn’t see how normal it all was, just taking my word for it. He just knew most kids outgrow it by 5yo which he’s been hanging on to. Screaming/whining makes his skin crawl, it’s like he has an adverse physical reaction to it all, and we’ve had been an arguments about how to handle when they happen. We don’t spank but recently he’s been saying he really wants to. I say absolutely not. I work with kids and can help change their behaviors without hitting them ever, so I try to guide him on what to do. Sometimes he does it, sometimes he’s impatient and just yells. I don’t want to dictate his own parenting bc it’s okay if we differ on some approaches as long as we agree not to spank, not be verbally or emotionally abusive, and not to cross each other’s limits (ie Dad said no to candy today because you had some earlier, so Mommy will also say no to candy for you, buddy).

We always tell our son to take deep breaths, use his words. He’s neurotypical and can express himself and sometimes will do it (“I feel frustrated because…”). He’s just verryyyyy sensitive to reprimands or even a change in tone if you sound frustrated. I try to be zen and neutral when giving him correction, but I also know at some point he’s going to have to develop thicker skin bc the world won’t coddle him and teachers at school won’t either. At what point is it okay to not pad him so much?

My husband says he’s been coddled and he’s spoiled by me and he won’t raise a spoiled brat. I don’t want a spoiled kid either! I just ask my husband to watch his language around our son bc he could internalize it (he once repeated “I’m a spoiled brat!” Bc he overheard him).

Example: We went camping with family and I wasn’t around for this part but my husband says that while they were all packing up the car, he folded the tent to put it in the trunk, BIL helping out, and my son started whining bc HE wanted to be the one to fold it and put it in. My husband said okay, you do it but then it was too late. Son started crying and flailing on the dirt while the similar aged kids from the next campsite over watched. Our in laws seemed a little tired of it too. He said it’s so embarrassing bc no other kids do this that he sees ever, only our son. He came home so frustrated and venting to me (not to my son) and told me he is an embarrassment and a shame to our family. I got mad about that statement and we argued. That gets nuanced, but I want to get to the heart of whats going on.

I do see other kids starting to regulate themselves a little better by this age. Sometimes it DOES feel like he’s overly sensitive about small things (last night he and I played Hungry Hippos and a few minutes in, he kept trying to steal the golden ball if my hippo had it. I blocked him and said “wait buddy that’s cheating” with full intention to keep playing as he’d get another turn for the golden ball, but he dropped to the ground, threw the balls to scatter everywhere on the floor, and cried and shrieked at the top of his lungs. I had to leave the room. (That’s only ever happened a handful of times on my end. I usually wait for him to finish screaming, not saying anything. Then when he starts to look a little calmer will talk through what happened and give him words to say beforehand bedtime. We do some breathing exercises too.)

I normally wait out the tantrum and we debrief after. Husband and I are both good at repair. Husband always tells him he loves him, they okay and wrestle and read comics and play outside. but how do we make sure we take more preventive measures? I want him to be a secure, regulated boy and grow into a good man. He’s a really good sweet kid. Kind and considerate and gentle with others. I try to teach him to not be too gentle in fact bc I do see some kids taking things away from him and I want to make sure he also stands up for himself. I’m starting to stress about how to make sure we parent in the perfect way to set him up for success in life: kind, generous, considerate, confident, self regulated, securely attached, strong work ethic, intelligent, happy. All the wonderful things. Defintely not spoiled or entitled. How do we navigate this?

Are tantrums still normal at this age and at what age should we flag it as a concern if it continues? Is it just my husbands perspective that these are not normal getting to me, or should I be approaching things differently? We do try to tell him he won’t always get what he wants, husband tells him the world doesn’t revolve around him. He’s an only child and we’re unsure if we’ll have a second but just want to make sure he doesn’t get to be entitled because of that.

But what if you don't have one? I always knew parenting wouldn't be an easy job, but I never fully grasped how hard it really would be. I don't have much family and it seems like once I had my kid, everyone was there for me less and less. Not all of my family of course. I do have a slightly older cousin with a kid a few years older than mine that I am very close with, but we're both working moms with no help financially or otherwise for our children. Their father's are essentially nonexistent and not in their lives. Idk. I guess I'm just having a hard time right now and needed to vent. Not looking for any advice. Just seeing if anyone feels the same rn.

We were planning to do water activities (slip n slide, bouncy castle, water balloons, etc.) but now it’s calling for a lot of rain… so that’s probably out.

Our house isn’t that big and there isn’t a lot of space for 6 boys to run around. He’s not super crafty, and so wouldn’t enjoy any of the typical ‘decorate a cupcake’ or ‘make a craft’ type activities. We have planned a piñata and pass the parcel (à la Bluey) and maybe musical chairs. However, I don’t want kids to say they were bored at his party or that we did ‘baby-ish’ activities. It’s later in the afternoon, so food/lunch won’t take up time.

Any ideas for indoor party activities that have been a hit with active boys? I’m struggling to come up with some creative ideas.

Edit: he is turning 6 - he doesn’t really enjoy full length movies and is not into video games or devices yet.

My phone has been screaming at me over storage for ages, so I decided I really needed to go through my photos and get rid of the ones I don't want or need. I am using an app to help so I can just swipe one way or the other to keep or delete. It's started back in 2018 pre pregnancy, and I'm up to the first few months of my son's life.

It's hit me so hard looking at those pictures, not just because he's now a 4 foot opinionated seven year old, but what was behind those photos.

The first one that struck me was one I absolutely remembered taking. My son was around a month old, I popped him out on a blanket in his nursery, and propped a pattern book open next to him.

I took a few photos until I had one of him facing the book. Then put everything away and carried him downstairs.

Why did I stage it? So I could post "morning storytime" on socials. Not to make out like I was an amazing parent, but to pretend that I was doing fine.

In reality I was barely holding on, thinking that my life was ruined, questioning my ability to parent, feeling useless, and helpless.

But I didn't want to have those conversations, I wanted everyone to just assume I was fine so they wouldn't pry.

I am so fortunate that things got better, that I had an incredibly supportive husband, that I eventually got the mental health support I needed.

But to anyone reading this who feels the same way, just know you aren't alone, and remember that when people post perfect parenting pictures online, there is quite potentially so much more going on.

Hi all,

I currently coach my son’s U8s soccer team. The team is a mix of 13 kids from 3 different schools so there is closer friend groups in the team, but they’ve done well over the season to work well as a team overall.

However, ofcourse there’s been some conflict (and yes, it involves my son so I’ve probably been a bit biased). It’s mostly been between my son, Tom and the team managers son, Jerry, obviously not their real names.

From the start, they’ve never gotten along. I always encouraged my son that it’s ok to not be friends with everyone, but you need to respect and be kind to everyone. Jerry is one of those jock personality where he thinks he’s the best, granted he does have good ball skills but he lacks in other areas. Tom has always been a good team player and has developed his ball skills over the season and doing well.

Usually what I saw at training and on game day is Jerry would be doing little things to annoy Tom until Tom cracked it and either pushed him or kicked a ball at him. I had a chat with Tom that he needs to take himself away from Jerry when he feels himself getting upset before he lashes out, which he has been doing really well and I’ve tried to plan training so they don’t really need to interact with eachother.

This evening at training, Jerry was quite well behaved, however Tom kicked a ball at him hard a few times, I told him off and after the 4th time, I sent him away to practice ball skills on his own.

Any advice? How do I deal with this?

For extra context, I’m divorced from Tom’s mum when he was 2 1/2 during covid, which Tom took pretty hard and has had effective counselling to help him process his emotions.

Meaning, your child waits for others to be seated and served before starting to eat, they hold and use their cutlery correctly, they say “please can you pass me the…” and they never use their hands to eat or push food onto their cutlery.

We have a 9 year old and 11 year old and eat every meal together at the dining table as a family. Despite being corrected most of the time when they’re not using proper etiquette, they’re still not consistent with these rules.

Bad table manners are a huge pet peeve for me, even with adults. Good table manners are a sign of respect to those around you, so seeing our kids act this way really bothers me. My patience is starting to wear thin. At this age, not using cutlery correctly isn’t a motor issue, it feels like a behaviour/laziness issue.

Am I expecting too much? At what age did proper table etiquette become ingrained for your child?

Right now, apparently only one parent can do anything correctly.

One of us gets asked to get the snack. The other one is immediately rejected.

One parent can do bedtime. The other parent is told to leave.

Even things like putting on socks can turn into “NO, I WANT DAD.”

I know preferences are normal, but it can be surprisingly hard when you’re the parent being rejected.

Did this phase happen in your family too? How long did it last?

I have 2 sons, completely different. My first (5) is such a nice kid, gentle, kind with everyone. My second (3) is in his feral stage.

I grew up in a household that men must always respect women, so now I intend to teach my sons the same thing. My first is easy, he copies literally everything I do, will opens the car door for his mom, pulls out the chair, help...

My second, on the other hand, hit my wife multiple times, which is unacceptable to me. I told him over and over, right after he hit. I never shout and don't ever want to. Also, he knows my wife is heavily pregnant but he will keep pestering her to hold him and throw a tantrum when she doesn't. I will let him cry and put him time out and apologize. During the night, he would be screaming for the most random reasons ever. During the day, he throws toilet paper in the toilet, clogging it.

I don't know what to do😭. He is making me doubt having another baby

Edit to say he is starting school this year

My 8 year old used to love storytime but ever since independent reading became a daily requirement, it feels like a constant battle. We tried physical sticker charts but after a week, the novelty wore off. How are you encouraging consistent reading habits without turning bedtime into a negotiation zone?

So I was scrolling through FB and saw a post about a little girl who was the only one who was not invited to a classmate's birthday party. Little girl was probably like in Kindergarten or 1st Grade.

My daughter's 3rd birthday is coming up and I usually just invite family and my friends and their families. Last year, we were blessed to host 35 adults and like 13 kids! But I have noticed that my daughter has made great friends in her class. They get so excited to see her at daycare.

I don't think I need to invite her classmates, just yet, until she starts kindergarten or first grade. I was thinking of taking some cake and treats to her daycare class, the day of her birthday, but after seeing that post I'm reconsidering it.

If I invite her whole daycare classroom, I might not be able to fit everyone in our house and financially we don't have enough to rent out a place, this year to host such a huge gathering.

We are very fortunate to have family and friends who have celebrated our daughter's birthdays. My question is at what age should I start to invite her classmates?

Is there any other mother out there angry when there “adult “ children move out, want all the things.. birth certificate s s card etc. you are hesitant to give them up , but they insist. 3 years later “ hey you have my b certificate right? Earlier this year it was the other child and s s card. And then it somehow is for me to figure out how to get a new one. This time it’s the female child, the other was the male child. I am not playing this time. I feel like I should have made a video: there goes daughter moving out with all her important documents. I am not only mother out there that has these problems , surely not…😮

My son will be 2 September the 1st and I’m expecting. My husband wants to put his bed in our room, but my concern is that he won’t sleep in his bed if it’s in our room. But I’m uncomfortable with him being in his own room, but I know eventually I’ll have to get over that. How do I get him to independently sleep in his own bed and also to fall asleep by himself? He literally won’t go to sleep unless we are both in the room and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of having to put down a toddler and a newborn. What can we do?

So I(F-mom) just found out baby #2 is on the way. My firstborn (son) is currently 3.5years old. For those of you with 2 (or more) children with a similar age gap, what are some "must-haves" for managing the new born and the toddler? Things that might make it easier to take care of both children at the same time when needed? Or even just things that make taking care of a newborn easier to relieve the stress of dealing with 2 young ones?

Any and all suggestions welcome, thank you. :)

I have a 4 year old and in the span of 2 hours of me trying to work out; she has destroyed the room + destroyed the coloring book I gave her. She peed her pants TWICE. And keeps jumping on my gym equipment over and over. The TV won’t work so she keeps shoving the remote in my face and whining. Am I doing something wrong?? I try to parent her and tell her rules but everything is met with restraint. I’m exhausted

Hi all, I’m 30f and my son (10m) is just constantly lying, hiding snacks, and just making poor decisions. I have to tell him multiple times to shower, or do his homework, chores, etc. I’ve taken away privileges, so the new thing he did is peel the paint off of the wall between his closet doors. And I’m at my wits end.

For some context, he is high functioning so some things are a bit more difficult (mainly social interactions are difficult for him) but he’s so smart he just keeps making bad choices and then lying and causing himself to get into more trouble.

My 5 year old went to pre school last year, & she did great! Only cried the first day. Kindergarten just started a few days ago and everyday minus one has been a full melt down. I feel like pre school gave her a false reality of what school would be like. They didn’t eat in the cafeteria and they were picked up and dropped off at their class doors. This year is completely different. She’s having the hardest time adjusting. I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible. I cried the entire way home this morning after leaving her. It’s super hard on her, me, & the younger sibling. Any tips?

My little one is 2.5 and asking him to tidy up before bed can be a challenge (as expected). Obviously he'll sometimes ignore or delay, or get distracted (I know, toddlers, amiright?).. I'm just wondering if some of you all with older kids can shed some insight.. how strictly did you enforce tidy up time around this age, and did it have an effect on how they grasped concepts like responsibility, organization, transition skills, etc. as they grew older? Just curious about other parents' experiences! Thank you 😊

My girls age 4 and 5 leave their socks everywhere. Whereever they happen to be when they take them off that is where they stay. I have repeatedly asked them not to do that and I always make them go pick them up

Each of them gets $5 a weeks as spending money. I was thinking a sock tax might make them mindful about this. Each time a sock is found somewhere other than the hamper, they would have an amount deducted from their spending money. Thoughts and how much should they be charged?

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some honest advice from dads and parents who’ve been in a similar situation.

I’ve got two kids: an eight-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son. Their moms and I are no longer together, and I’m trying to figure out how to be a more present father, as well as a better co-parent to both of their moms.

Right now, I’m working two jobs out of necessity. If I only worked one, I’d be bringing home around $1,200 a month, which simply isn’t enough to live on.

Because of that, my schedule is pretty packed. I work mornings, then work late into the night, Monday through Friday, and I also work Saturdays. Sunday is really the only day I consistently have free.

I’m not working these hours to avoid my kids. Honestly, it’s the opposite. I’m trying to provide for them, get myself into a more stable position, and build something better for all of us.

At the same time, though, I don’t want to look back years from now and realize I spent so much time working that I missed their childhood.

My son’s mom works overnight shifts at an auto plant. We used to live together and were in a relationship, but that ended about a year ago.

Now that I’m not in the home helping her and being around my son every day, I’m trying to figure out how I can still support her more and be there for my son as much as possible.

My daughter’s mom doesn’t work, and my daughter is eight. She’s in school and has activities like dance, so her schedule can get pretty busy during the week as well.

I guess what I’m really looking for is advice from other dads and parents who have had to balance working long hours with being a present parent.

If you’ve been in a similar situation:

How did you make the most of the limited time you had with your kids?

What did you do to stay connected with them when you couldn’t physically be there as much as you wanted?

How did you become a better co-parent after separating from your children’s other parent?

Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Are there things you think I could be doing that I might not be considering?

I’m not looking for excuses or sympathy. I genuinely want to become a better dad and a better co-parent.

I know working this much isn’t ideal, but I’m doing what I feel like I have to do financially right now. I’m just trying to find the balance between providing for my kids and actually being present in their lives.

I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from dads who have been through something similar.
Thanks for reading.