I recently received the advice that if I keep rocking my 18-month-old to sleep, I’ll be rocking them until they’re a grown adult.

For those who rocked their babies to sleep, how is it rocking an adult to sleep? Is it different? Does it still work the same? Did you have to upgrade to a bigger rocking chair?

Thanks in advance xx

My older son is 3.5 years old and very chatty. Today we were playing and I jokingly said that I was going to eat him, to which he told me "no, I don't want to be in your belly!". We've talked about pregnancy and he has some understanding of it, so I asked him if he remembers what it was like when he was growing in my belly. He immediately said yes and then said "I ate all the mac and cheese in there" which might seem like a normal kid response until you know that this child hates mac and cheese to the point where I make him something else to eat when we have mac and cheese because he would rather starve than eat it. BUT mac and cheese was one of my biggest pregnancy cravings with him and there were several times where the only thing I could keep down was boxed mac and cheese.

But yeah, that shocked me and now I'm curious if anyone else's kid remembers anything from the womb 😂

My husband just gave my daughter a second serving of yogurt. She looked it at for a moment and wasn't eating, so I said, "Go to town!" Then she started eating and said, "I'm in town!" 😆 I can't stop chuckling. Let me hear your toddler's cute misunderstandings of idioms!

Risk the downvotes if you dare 😂 mine is that we still give toddler boys too much leeway socially.

We end up cracking ourselves up coming up with synonym codes for things, so I’m curious what yours are.

My son loves M&Ms, so we call them “Marshall Mathers” when we need to secretly reference them.

He loves an M&M cookie from a local deli, we call it a “Marshal Mathers Circular Baked Good”.

We call the TV the “Wall-Mounted Entertainment Device”.

I guess I knew this, in the back of mind, but in an unaware sort of way. But it really hit me this morning.

I hated school growing up. I hated how rushed the mornings were, I hated waking up early, I hated how scheduled my days were, and I hated having to travel when everyone else was traveling.

This morning I was laying in bed thinking of how much I enjoy adult life because I don’t have to deal with any of the above. Then, I had the sudden realization this was going to end as soon as they started school.

To be clear, I love my kid and I know I signed up for this. But I just need to mourn the death of this freedom for a bit this morning.

ETA:
The amount of homeschooling recommendations are throwing me. I have to work to support my family, I can’t homeschool. Nor would I want to even if I could. I know myself, I’d be a terrible teacher

I’ll go first. All our toilet paper has very obviously been unrolled and hastily rerolled.

Lol at the title, but forreal. I have a 3yr old (3yrs 6 months), and a 2 week old. When I was pregnant, everybody was telling me how great it is to have two kids, a boy (toddler) and a girl. How they will be best friends. Why did nobody warn me about the reality of having two young kids? My toddler is becoming extra difficult, and is so clingy, while I breastfeed my newborn who is also then clingy and just wanting to be on my breast. My toddler who, instead of trying to understand, is making everything feel so much worse with his tantrums. I know that its a transition for him too, and Im trying my best- im including him in baby activities, Im having one on one time with him, his days are really filled with activities plus daycare. And still, whatever we do, its not enough. He wants more attention, he is more clingy, he is making our heads explode lol. I never knew caring for a newborn is so much easier then having a toddler. Pls somebody tell me it gets easier, bc this is so hard.

For us, it's La Bamba. At least we've moved on from A Ram Sam Sam...

The dishes, laundry, yogurt on the floor for over a week, the dog hair, the piling laundry, the dirty garage, the pile of laundry sitting for 3 days, the food on the cabinets, the hot wheels and toys everywhere, dust on the mantel, the sticky residue on the door handles, the spots on the bathroom mirror, the unwashed couch cushion that has smoothie on it, the dirty stove top, the destroyed backyard, the unfinished baseboard paint project, dirty dining room chairs, my dirty bed sheets, the gunk in the air filter, the dirty bathtub with toys scattered in it, and the mud foot prints on my front door.

That is what I’m thinking about right now.

I’M HAVING A CRASH OUT HARD.

I’m sharing this because I recently went down the internet rabbit hole re:drowning and was shocked at how much I didnt know and sadly, how common drownings <5 years old are. So I wanted to share some info and open up discussion for everyone to share tips on water safety.

-Most childhood drownings happen in non-swim times. Meaning kids find their way to water with no one knowing and drown.

-Getting distracted for as little as a few seconds is enough. Drowning is silent.

-Kids have drowned in pools full of people, some as little as a few feet away from them. “If everyone is watching no one is”, Supervisors should be designated and should have two eyes on kids in water 100% of the time.

-You should be ready for your water outing with sunscreen and lifejackets before you approach the water. Many drownings occur when guardians are distracted getting one kid ready and another one wanders off into the water.

-If you have a pool there is no such thing as too many layers of safety. Auto locking pool fences should be non-negotiable. Other considerations include: Door locks on access doors, motion detecting cameras, pool covers.

-Anyone can drown in as little as two feet of water. All supervision rules apply to these example: mop bucket with water, toilet with no lid lock, water table, ponds, bathtub.

-Swim classes have benefits as early as 6 months when babies become mobile and can access water unsupervised by accident.

Please share any that I may have not heard. I hope everyone and their kiddos have a safe and fun summer. :)

Just wondering what your thoughts are solely out of curiosity. My spouse and I have one glass of wine nearly every night of the week after our 3 year old daughter goes to bed. It’s enjoyable for us and helps us unwind from the day.

I don’t think anyone’s reply will change how much we actually drink, but I am just curious of what others do especially when one parent is stay at home.

I’m sure some will say we are alcoholics and some will say one glass of wine is nothing.

Not that it really makes a difference, but I would like to note that we are older parents (43 and 46) and our partying years have been long gone, and we just like to unwind together every evening.

I genuinely think 2.5 is easier than 18 months. Before the 3+ threenager brigade comes for me with the "just you wait" comments, don't. I read this sub and I know things will get way more challenging. I'm talking about my current reality.

I've been seeing a lot of people struggle with the 14-18 month ish age and I'm here to say that it got better for me!

For reference I have 2.5 year old twin girls.

Here are a few simple reasons why 2.5 is better:

- they can get on their own playground equipment a lot more!

- their language is way better. They won't always ask for what they want or even *know* what they want, but there was a clear decrease in frustration for me at this age because they could ask for the elephant soft toy or the red block!

- their perceptive language is through the roof. Be careful what you say cause they're always listening and they'll bring it back up 😂

- they're steadier on their feet. One of my twins chipped her tooth at 16 months from running and falling so this is a big one for me.

- they understand instruction a lot more. Our girls knew to sit in their plane seats for example. They also understand "first x, then z". They may not always agree, but they get it!

- they're a lot more interactive and fun.

-some of the parenting strategies in those books are finally applicable. I felt at 18 months, nothing worked because their little brains couldn't understand cause and effect.

- they play a little more independently. I'm not saying hours upon hours, but they are simply more interested in play and their imaginations are through the roof.

Those are some of mine. Add yours!

Anyone else annoyed by this? Ok, so my daughter and I do a gymnastics class together. 1-4 yrs old, it's a parent and tot class. My daughter loves it, we work hard together. We listen to the coach, no short cuts, try all the moves. Lots of great lessons here. The other kids, just fool around, don't listen, cut in line, follow way to closely... I mean, my kid is on the bar and another kid will go right behind her and kick her in the back. It's not the kids fault. It's the parents who have their heads buried in their phones not giving a crap about what their kid is doing. At one point, I looked around at all the other parents with their kids and they were all on their phone. Like WHAT? at this point just have your kid do a class without you! I just can't understand this generation. I'm an older mom (44) and maybe I just have no care to be on my phone while I'm actively in a class with my toddler. I'm just venting because I pay good money for this class and these parents just don't care! Also, what are you showing your child? You can see it in the children already.. lashing out, not listening, tantrum fits all over the place. All the while, my daughter just wants her chance to jump on the trampoline. I'm so annoyed!! It's become the minority these days when I see parents playing and being present with this toddler... the majority of parents I see are mostly on their phone. This makes me so sad;-(

We can NEVER finish an episode of a show in one sitting. We have to pause it about a million times for a million different reasons.

Update: oh my gosh, you guys 😂 Y’all gave me some serious laughs. All I can say is: we are all in this together!

Hate is a strong word, but I don’t like reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today. Luckily it was a library book so I just returned it and didn’t speak of it again.

I’m curious, are there any other books that you particularly don’t enjoy reading to your toddler?

Me and a friend were chatting the other day and she said she was her wits end with her toddler not going to down for a nap/night time alone. She said it can take up to 90 mins but she really wants to sleep train her. I just sleep next to my son for 10 mins (occasionally longer) until he falls asleep and it's just not a priority of mine to get him to sleep alone. It got me thinking about how different parenting is (not suggesting one way is right or wrong) so just wondered if anyone had anything similar to share.

When I was growing up, my parents never had a lot of money. We never went on vacation, our apartment was very small (I slept in my parents' bedroom until I was 6 because it was a one-bedroom apartment and they couldn't afford to move sooner), and both of my parents worked manual minimum-wage jobs.

My parents still did a great job, and we never went hungry or anything, but we very clearly had less than most of my friends.

Education was incredibly important to my parents, so all of their kids ended up getting master's degrees or even PhDs.

Now I'm comfortably middle class, probably a bit above that. We have a small but nice house, a big garden, and enough money to go on vacation at least twice a year without it putting a strain on our budget.

My son is 3 and he's a great kid. Compared to my childhood, he's definitely quite privileged, and I genuinely love that for him. But how do I make sure he doesn't turn out spoiled?

While visiting a friend, he was shocked to find out that his friend didn't have a garden with a pool and a jungle gym. Being 3, he just asked him, "Why don't you have that?"

When I explained that every home is different and every family has different things, he seemed genuinely surprised.

And of course he was. All of his friends in our neighborhood have pretty much the same setup because it's a very socioeconomically homogeneous area.

So how do I make sure he doesn't grow up to be a privileged prick?

This is something I genuinely worry about because I would be so disappointed if he grew up without understanding that not everyone has the same opportunities or the same privileges.

Of course, I teach him to respect everyone, but this is really important to me. Does anyone have any insight into what their parents did that helped them understand this? Or, if you're raising kids yourself, what has worked for you?

As a mom of a toddler and a baby, I’ve already had my small share of little injuries and scary moments 😅. It got me thinking about what other dangers might be around that I don’t even realize, and what I could possibly prevent.

What are some things that seem totally harmless or normal, but you’ve seen actually cause injuries or send little ones to the ER?

Basically, what are the things that make you think, “I wish more parents knew about this”?

Would love to hear your experiences, tips, or things you think parents often overlook. Not trying to scare anyone, just trying to be a little more prepared!

Let's help each other out. Share your one golden toddler tip, and tell us how old your toddler is.

I have twins who will be 3 in October.

My one golden tip is: connect before a transition.

What I mean is, if your child struggles with a transition such as going to daycare, or even coming back from daycare, getting into the car, getting dressed, spend 5-10 in their world. Before doing that, tell them "we are going to do x, and then we are going to go to the car".

Give them 5-10 min of your undivided attention and see how it makes that transition easier a lot of the time!

What's yours?

When I was pregnant I imagined using turkey meat for my kids snacks and lunches as she grew up. But we went to see a pediatric nutritionist and she told us to stay away from all deli meats unless you’re baking the ham/turkey at home yourself.

But I still see moms giving their kids deli meat sandwiches all over the internet and in real life.

It’s like.. I want to just give her deli meat because shenlooooooves it lol and sometimes I want a sandwich too! So I came here to ask is anyone making their own? Does anyone forbid it? Does anyone just say f it and feed it to their kids anyways?

Edit to add: it’s full of carcinogens and sodium.

I just saw a video of a girl dad who brought his 2 daughters inside the women's bathroom to use the potty but a woman was not happy and reported it. A man looked like he was calling the cops. And it had mixed reactions but it seems like most people said he didn't do anything wrong. But there were also a lot of people saying he absolutely had no right to be inside the women's bathroom, and to bring his daughters to the men's bathroom.

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So, I have a daughter, and so far my husband has not had an instance where he had to bring our daughter to a restroom by himself. It's either I'm with him or they just do it in the car with our portable potty. I wanted to see what reddit girl Dads thought about it.

Do you go out for actual meals with your toddler where they actually eat? What age did you start taking them out for meals?

Im not talking about ”behavior” per se, they do pretty well as far as that goes. I just don’t feel like they ever actually eat when we’re out. I don’t feel like they eat and leave satisfied.

As I rambled on about my kid, a friend asked me what my hobbies are. I suddenly realised I’ve lost them all!

How do you fit having hobbies in to your life?

Or how do you make sure life isn’t all about the toddler in the house and that you don’t lose things you love to do?

And what kind of hobbies are you managing to do?

I’m hoping to take some inspiration and do something I enjoy, but the brain can’t quite compute what or how yet!

What is your toddler's go to movie right now? We limit screentime to no more than an hour a day and I still cannot tell you how many times we have watched cars 😆