Earlier this year, I realized that dinnertime had gotten out of hand at my house. It seemed like each of my five family members spent half of our mealtime together complaining about each other's poor manners. My teens often didn't love that their younger siblings would interrupt during conversations or chew with their mouths open. Everyone made their feelings known.
Being a parent is hard. No one wants to be that person with a screaming baby at dinner, and the last thing anyone wants to think about while their kid is crying is the death stares they're receiving from a crowd. But there are just some situations where you have no choice but to pack up the stroller. Hopefully, people will understand, but if you do end up bringing your baby to a restaurant, there are things you can do to help the staff out.
Between us, we have three children, ages 8, 6, and 2. We've done a lot of math with an accountant and determined that it would be best for the household finances if Kevin divorced me and married Monica (with a bunch of other paperwork filed to make sure we stick as a group when it comes to parental authority, medical proxies, power of attorney, etc.).
When our child was born, we went from fairly evenly split chores to me doing most of them. I had FMLA and my husband "Josh" didn't, daycare always called me instead of him, and then it became a habit. It left me miserable and cranky, at home and at work. This past summer, we sat down and talked it out. It wasn't fun, but we agreed to try to rebalance the work.
Of course, it's never acceptable to lie...unless you have children, in which case it is one thousand percent necessary to have a few "fibs" in your arsenal. These are just harmless parenting tricks that are necessary for survival. So redditor u/TopRun8728 asked, "What's the most unethical parenting hack you know?" Here's what people said (including a white lie my dad used often when I was a kid that I still remember to this day).
When children visit someone's house, it's a really good time to instill that they need to be polite and respect the rules of others. When you're at home it's totally different and you can expect to be much more relaxed, but when going to Grandma's, or a restaurant, or the grocery store, it's a great time to reel it in and practice our social skills.
It's our job to ensure that those around us, including immediate and extended family and friends, understand ADHD because it will impact our entire circle in some way, shape, or form. It may feel odd, or even stressful at times, to take on the burden of driving awareness and educating loved ones about our child's neurodivergent diagnosis; however, it's a must-do activity because your child and you need and deserve support.
"I feel like every birthday party invitation I'm receiving now has a registry/gift list," she continued. "It kind of makes the whole thing feel shallow. Registries were for bridal and baby showers to give couples and parents the things they needed for a huge life change, and now I'm getting invitations with registries filled with toys, some being $50+, for a 1 year old's birthday party."
No father or mother prays to have a rebellious child who talks back, disobeys instructions, or lives carelessly. Yet, many good children gradually become rebels, not because they were born bad, but because of avoidable mistakes made in parenting. Raising children is like building a house. If the foundation is faulty, no matter how beautiful the walls look, cracks will eventually appear. The truth is this: rebellion in children is not sudden, it is often a silent cry from wounds caused in the home.
I get both of your perspectives here. Your wife is likely frustrated by having to now deal with your younger son's fears from something he didn't have to be exposed to in the first place. And you, knowing your brother, understand that he was just in fun uncle mode: taking his nephews to do something he thought was entertaining-maybe even something he loved when he was a kid himself. The key here, and what was missing, is communication.
After returning home from a full day of working as a project manager at an event management company, I cooked dinner, got the kids bathed, folded laundry, and prepared for the next day. The night was punctuated with raised voices and tears from the kids and from me. Mine were shed after I escaped to the bathroom for two minutes of alone time.
I rented out a local neighborhood restaurant for her first birthday. We had an open bar, matching outfits for the whole family, a photographer, a face painter, a balloon artist, and even glitter tattoos. Her birthday cake was two layers tall. We had a ton of desserts, pizza, pasta, and quesadillas. We even had a Build-a-Bear instead of traditional goodie bags for each child to take home.
Joy and enthusiasm provide essential components to build the motivation and perseverance needed to understand and succeed in math. Neuroimaging and cognitive neuroscience research show correlations demonstrating children's math negativity adversely impacts their dedication and successful learning. Here, we'll suggest interventions to promote children's positive attitudes about math. Reduce Math Mistake Fear For most children, the biggest school fear is making a mistake in front of classmates. Help reduce mistake fear and increase your children's participation with activities where errors are part of the process.
The internet has my children obsessed with US fries and square burgers when the best chips in the world are right on their doorstep I have a relaxed approach to nutrition. Like many dads, I figure that if the kids are eating, then all is well. It doesn't really matter if they are having a Nutella sandwich for dinner or
"I am a big Blue Jays fan and turning my kids into them, too, is my mission," said Jangda, who was anticipating another late school night for Thursday's game, and a more manageable Friday night game as the series continued from Seattle's T-Mobile Park.
With more than a decade of experience working as a design and tech analyst, Andrew Hogan is all in on the efficiency and ease that tech brings to our lives. But lately at home with his daughters (ages 4 and 18 months), Hogan is grappling with something unwieldy and undefined: how parents, kids, and technology interact, from smartphones to screen time to AI.
Manage your expectations: A child agreeing to a limit in theory but protesting in practice is to be expected. They aren't "tricking" you, they're just having a hard time accepting it once it's a reality. Getting frustrated and angry almost always escalates the situation and doesn't result in any lessons learned. Be prepared for this curveball so you can respond in a way that's supportive while holding the limit.
Let me preface this response by apologizing in advance for what I'm about to advise because I know it will most likely be something you do not want to hear. But right off the bat-yeah, George made a selfish, impulsive, fucking dumb decision. It is honestly one of the most insane things I've ever heard but...I kind of love it? I know, I know-Crazy George doing his Crazy George stuff is a burden to you and your household. But let's look at the plus side h
Something has got to give with you taking the time to run, work out, whatever it is that you need to do for yourself. I am sacrificing a clean house most of the time. I will look at the mess, and I'm like, I'm going for a run. It's eventually going to get cleaned. No, I don't live like a slob, but right now my health is a priority over cleaning up a mess or my house looking aesthetically pleasing for, like, an hour.
Somewhere in the process of parenting, you begin to see your younger self in your child-and you are forced to face the parts of yourself you have either buried or never fully understood. I started noticing this mirror effect when my daughter became a teenager. Suddenly, her behavior-makeup, boyfriend, confidence -was triggering emotions I did not expect.
Writing a picture book isn't easy. Some people might think it is-especially if they've read enough bad ones-but writing a true gem of children's literature is exceptionally hard work. Great children's books make kids laugh and adults cry, have rhythm, meter, and great pictures, and somehow speak to something deep in a child's soul, making them want to return to the pages again and again.
One day recently, my son had two long, back-to-back doctor appointments, which meant he was in the car and in waiting rooms for much of the afternoon. His lunch and snack would not have earned me a healthy-mom award: peanut-butter puffs, a grape-jelly Uncrustables sandwich, and a package of mixed-berry oat bites. All ultra-processed foods, the new boogeyman of public health.
Frantically, I called my husband and asked him to come down to the supermarket with his bank card and pay, as it didn't seem that I was going to be able to. While I was on the phone to him, a lady in the line paid for her groceries then told the checkout guy, I'll pay for hers, too. I tried to protest, but she wouldn't hear of it. All she said was: Just pay it back in the community somehow.
One thing was clear to me from the start: I didn't want to return to a traditional job. The thought of leaving my babies in day care and commuting to an office felt impossible. I wanted to be there for every milestone: their first smiles, first steps, and the little everyday moments that can so easily slip by. But while my heart was set on staying home, reality raised its hand.
Hilarie and Jeffrey initially lived between LA and NYC. However, they both always wanted to live on a farm - a shared dream they discussed on their second date. So, after welcoming Gus, they relocated. Their family has expanded to include animals like alpacas, Highland cows, ducks, chickens, donkeys, and an emu. Hilarie wrote a memoir, The Rural Diaries, about her life on Mischief Farm. They also ended up co-owning the local candy store, Samuel's Sweet Shop, with Paul Rudd and Julie Yaeger.
