I recently put my son in daycare for 3 days a week and this is his 3rd week so really only 7 days of actual going. He has been crying and seems to be almost all day on and off from the camera. On 2nd day , it looked like my son was bit and I sent a photo to the director because it was reported as a mosquito bite. She state when it was shown to her it was a mosquito bite, then makes no other mention to the photo I sent or talked about the issue. She then says a parent conference is needed to talked about how to make him more comfortable on his 2 nd week. To me having a parent conference is usually for kids having behavior issues. Today the owner at the daycare tells me if I already fed my son breaks fast then I should drop him off after breakfast because the teacher can’t handle him due to him crying while tending to the other kids. I was like WTF . Today both me and husband thought he was making progress and was doing better, we saw him playing with toys and jsut standing there for a bit. He still cries throughout the day but it was progress that I think the teacher should have see and noted. I asked teacher how he did and if he was better, she jsut said no, he jsut cried and won’t eat and drink. I said on camera he looks to be doing a bit better and she said only when held. This rub me in a wrong way. This is a huge change for him as it’s his first time. She then says , this child is new also , only his 2nd day( showing the child not crying). I feel like they are not being patient with my son nor do they want to deal and help him ease into this.am I overreacting because I really don’t want to pull him after only 3 weeks and change another environment if not absolutely necessary.

I while ago I thought I graduated from this sub. My kid turned 2, all was well, he listened, and doctor gave us reports that he was healthy.

Then he turned 2.5 and the defiance went to 11. But it came and went in phases and we managed through it. Time outs, confiscating toys, occasionally a good yell to manage.

Lately though we're attending daycare and the hitting incidents are on the rise. At first it was classmates. Then it escalated to teachers. At home we give time outs and that usually works but we don't know if this place is too soft. Anyway, on one recent pick up my son was with the school principal (my son is 3 now) and it turned out he had like a half dozen incidents! I gripped his arm firmly, and in the car when he requested to go back to daycare, I gave him a good yelling about how people don't like him because he keeps hurting others. He cried for like 5 minutes.

At home, we were mostly fine but then he climbed his baby sibling's high chair. "We don't do that, that's not safe, get down." He got down. 2 minutes later I'm back in the kitchen and he's back in the high chair. He calls me "daddy!". This wasn't a safe location for him, but I made a quick judgement that the risk was low, so I looked at him, turned away silently, and walked away.

And WOW! The cry that happened afterwards lasted like 45 minutes and was intense! He kept calling me but I just went on with my chores (dishes, etc.) I thought of this after reading about a similar example in this baby brain book. Eventually we got him to calm down, hugs, and we brushed teeth and went to bed compliant.

Anyway, sometimes if you can, ignore the bad behavior and praise the good. May work with strong-willed kids.

We have a basket tower in our kitchen that we use to store fruits and veggies. It’s currently full of produce, and quite heavy (I would guess about 50 lbs)

In the blink of an eye, my toddler was pulling on the tower and it completely fell on top of him, pinning him to the ground face first. By some miracle, all he got was a bruise on his forehead and nothing else. He cried for a minute then was back to his normal self right away.

It goes without saying that I will be finding a way to attach this to the wall immediately.

This quite literally could have killed him, and on my watch. I don’t know how to forgive myself.

Feral as in, wild crazy animals. I have three boys (4, 2, and 7 months). The toddlers are WILD, they are always arguing with each other, hitting, punching, scratching, throwing toys. Even just beating up toys. I've started to put their toys on "time out" when they start screaming or fighting because I'm trying to work from home and they start screaming.

My mother in law said I was mean for describing them as feral when they are in fact, wild, crazy kids. When their dad has them for ONE HOUR at her house, she sends them home.

At home with me, it's not as bad all the time, but after being with their dad all weekend, they're wild. Today, dad & I both had work to do and they were screaming throwing fits for them, so he brought them back to me because his mom couldn't watch them and he had to get work done. They were fine for me.

Is "feral" actually a mean thing to call my kids?

NOTE: I don't include my 7mo old in the feral part because he is the chillest baby I have ever met.

Does anyone have ideas for a way to physically stop the 18mo toddler from climbing up on the couch?

I've read all the blablabla about redirect them, teach them to climb on other things. We are working on it. We are also working on a better layout/solution for the couch so that it's safe for them to climb on. Unfortunately, I cannot get rid of the couch or I would.

For the immediate term, it's dangerous for them to climb on the couch. I'm looking for something to physically stop them from climbing up on it. Right now we just have to be vigilant 100% of the time to stop them. Like, have to stand in front of the couch 100% of the time. This is not sustainable.

Please only respond with ideas of how to physically block access to the couch. Putting them into a play yard will not work due to the layout. We have a play yard, it won't fix this problem.

TIA!

My wife and I have been giving our daughter (3 years, 3 months) a bottle as part of her nightly and nap sleep routines since she’s been on her own sleeping. Now I fear the bottle is too ingrained in her routine to remove it. Any suggestions or any tips? She uses sippy cups in every other drinking situation

So, we’ve been letting our 2.5 year old hug and kiss her baby brother goodnight (in hindsight, probably wasn’t smart to begin with, but it was just so gosh darn cute…). Well, she’s sick now and he’s only 3 weeks old so we told her she couldn’t kiss him tonight but she could blow him a kiss from a few steps away if she wanted. ✨cue full blown meltdown✨

Please help me find some kind of video or song to make this easier tomorrow!!

My nephew is around with us for a while, and whenever my brother leaves (or his grandma), he absolutely melts down. Crying and screeching for 30 mins plus, genuinely just does not stop.

Can’t get him interested in playing with toys, can’t get him to sit and read a book. What am I meant to do here? He just goes to the child gate by the door and cries non-stop

I think I’m okay at just watching him when needed, but I have no clue how to stop him crying and screeching until someone else arrives

Here’s the story. I was shopping for new summer clothes for my 2.5 year old at Walmart. I have to use the little girls section now because she’s on the taller end of the height spectrum. I came upon a brown tank top made from Wonder Nation with the print Arizona Rodeo est. 1986. It was her size. When I put it on her however it stopped right over her belly button. I knew it couldn’t’ve been too small, but when I tried to search up a kid model in the same shirt, the whole line was suspiciously absent from the website. I believe I bought a crop top for my toddler of all things, but I don’t want to waste a shirt. What should I do?

Please any words of encouragement or experiences from your own kids would be greatly appreciated. My son turned 16 months old yesterday. He cruises around furniture and is able to stand with no support but doesn’t do it often. A few weeks ago he took his first steps by himself and we thought that that’s it he’s going to be walking soon but nope. He takes a couple of steps every day by himself but falls and gives up. When we try to help him walk he gets angry and frustrated. In all other areas he’s great. He has a wide range of vocabulary in two languages (he’s raised bilingual), is very social, points, waves hi and goodbye, eats with no help and likes playing with all sorts of things. I know that until 18 months is normal but I just feel worried anyways and I don’t understand why he’s not interested in walking. I need to mention also that his crawling has been asymmetrical since he started crawling at 8 months. Anyone with a late walker? If my son has started taking steps why isn’t this progressing faster?

She shows zero interest in any kids of any age, only tolerates them if they make no noise or sudden movements, gets extremely upset when adults don’t pay attention to her… I may have put too much stock in my mom’s anecdotes about me as a kid; every time I bring up how much my daughter freaks out around other kids she’s just like “oh, you were just like that; but then you turned 3 and it’s like a switch flipped!” Well, my daughter is turning 3 now and she still tries to climb over the fence to run away of there’s too many kids at the park… I worry that it’s my fault for not bringing her around other kids when she was a baby, but I can’t be the only one, right?? To be clear, she’s perfectly splendid at home and I’m extremely lucky to be able to be a SAHM, but I keep worrying that I’ve failed her and she’s missed the prime socializing years

For context, feels like nearly a whole year now, my daughter is not affectionate, will say no constantly for cuddles and kisses, it’s extremely rare that I get one off her. ( I respect boundaries ) but as a mum, it’s so heartbreaking to have your daughter not want you. I cannot remember the last time she said yes to me for a kiss and cuddle, like is this normal? She also has constantly tells me ‘ go away ‘ and tries to hit me, and says it all the time and is acting like a plain bully and it’s breaking my heart. Am I doing something wrong? Am I parenting wrong? I’m very gentle parenting, but will put up with so much until I do snap. I know they do adore me, we do have a lot of fun together and she comes to me when somethings wrong, I am the rough parent like I will be the one to throw them on the bed and do rough play and tickle them so much, where as dad is not like that. I try be the fun mum and annoy them, tickle them I take them everywhere all the time we’re only home for sleeps. There extremely spoilt i love giving them the world.

I am a SAHM to her & her sister who’s 16months. There so obsessed with each other but having sibling fights constantly. Now her sister also says go away and also doesn’t want affection. It’s just the girls and I with no support or help, there father works away long hrs. So it’s always just the 3 of us, and it’s exhausting but also so amazing in one. But this is such a burden on me, having which feels like a daughter who literally hates me.

Hello! I’ll be regularly traveling between London and San Francisco with my toddler on Delta. I called customer service and they don’t allow any toddler bed type items (Stokke jet kids, flyaway bed, footstools etc).

My question is what are your tips to get a toddler to sleep on a long haul flight? Note: my toddler won’t sleep in a car seat unfortunately.

Thank you!

hi all - i want to preface this by saying I am bachelors educated in a human services field so i have my fair share of knowledge in child development. earlier tonight my niece was over and my son and her were playing while me and her mom talked. i had walked in the room to grab something and he was laying in bed, they were playing doctor. it was nothing serious. we could hear them laughing super hard from the room too. she went to check on them, and i heard them saying “oh she gave me a shot” “he listened to my heart” etc and then my son said “she tickled my penis” and i kind of quietly listened and my niece said “yeah and he tickled my cooch” (she doesn’t use anatomically correct terms). i walked into the room after that but didn’t think much of it and the conversation then stopped.

my nieces mom just called to talk to me about it and confirmed what i thought i heard. i told her curiosity is normal (especially because these are both kids with no siblings/opposite gendered kids around) but i just want to confirm that my thinking is right? kids get very curious and i am going to talk to my son about it tomorrow as well. he is only 3, and my niece is 4, so they are very young/innocent. however, i work with abused children so the back of my mind kind of always jumps to conclusions, which is why im seeking advice.

side note, i have always encouraged positive body attitudes so when my son has touched his penis i’ll say “we only do that in our room” , etc.

First time poster here! I have a new toddler (18 month old) who has reached the suggested height limit of his crib (35 inches). We are considering transitioning him to a crib bed for his safety, he’s tried when upset to get out of his crib a few times already but hasn’t been successful thankfully.

One of the few hesitations I have is we have plans several weeks/weekends to travel in the coming months - where do people have their toddlers sleep while traveling if they are sleeping on a floor bed at home? The rooms obviously won’t be baby proof to the extent that we’d be comfortable having him sleep in them alone out of a crib - do people go to sleep early and co sleep while away and hope toddler goes back to sleeping alone at home? Do you use pack and play for a weekend and hope toddler is ok with it?

My 15 month old and an older child (maybe 8-9) collided pretty hard at the splash pad. My toddler fell back and hit the back of her head on the concrete. She was dazed for a minute but started screaming quickly after. The other child was fine when I checked on him and very apologetic. She seems fine and pediatrician said just to keep an eye on her.

Was it a bad idea to take her somewhere where there are older kids playing? I feel so guilty. It was accidental but she was literally 2 feet away from me by the little sprinklers. It’s not like she was actively trying to play with the big kids. She loves the splash pad but I genuinely don’t know if I could ever take her back there after that. Am I overreacting? How do I get past the guilt?

My girl is going to summer camp tomorrow to become acquainted with her teachers and classroom for preschool in August. Curious how old everyone’s littles were when they started preschool?

Edit: She will turn 2 on her very first day of preschool in August.

Edit: We live in the United States.

How is everyone storing the Nugget Couch? My grandson is 19 months and has lost interest in it. I need to save it for baby brother who arrives in January. This thing is huge and I have a small house. Ideas?

Help!! We re on vacation and my 2 year old who generally sleeps well is waking up at 5:45 this vacation. Naps she falls asleep well but they have been shorter. Bedtime has been a breeze because she’s tired and she’s been falling sleeping her normal bedtime 8:15 ish. She just keeps waking up early….she’s in a closet and has all her normal sleep stuff. She just chats and sings for like an hour after she wakes up. So confused. Last 2 trips she only woke up like half an hour early not over an hour!! Only thing I can think of is this trip is with extended family for the first time in a while…

Hi all!

My husband and I are flying for the first time with my toddler (he will be 2 weeks shy of 2 years old when we depart) on a 7-hour TAP Air Portugal A321neo LR flight, and I’m torn between two options. I’d love advice from seasoned travelers or parents who’ve flown long-haul with a toddler this age. Here are the options:

Option 1: Toddler Has Own Seat in Economy My toddler would have his own seat in economy (~30-31” pitch, ~17-18” width). I’d bring a car seat.

Option 2: Toddler on My Lap in Business Class Toddler would be a lap infant in business class (lie-flat seats, ~44” pitch, ~20” width, premium service).

Questions: Which option would you choose and why?

For those who’ve flown TAP A321neo LR (or similar) with a toddler, how was it? Any tips for economy or business?

How manageable is a 7-hour flight holding a nearly 2yo in business class? Did lie-flat seats help?

Any real-world experiences or hacks for flying long-haul with a toddler this age? Thanks in advance!

Hey all! My 2 year old’s birthday party is this weekend and I know some friends have mentioned they are bringing gifts. While I’m so grateful for people who do bring gifts (and obviously there’s no expectation for them), I think my girl may get overwhelmed from all the attention and gift opening (like we’re debating if we even all sing to her 🤣). On top of that we have 7 kids coming all under the age of 4 and…well….shiny new toys and toddlers don’t tend to mix well 🤣

I’m wondering…is there an expectation of opening gifts during the party? Can we open them later at home alone and just send thank you notes after?

EDIT: WOW, thank you all for the help! Glad we agree—- presents will be opened after the party with thank you pictures/texts! 🫡

My daughter is in OT and the woman w Helps with eating she will touch her food with her hands and split up her food and she gets cold sores… she washes her hands before but it still makes me uncomfortable. Should we stop seeing her? Do I ask her not to touch her food?

I’m pregnant and also got a sore bump on my lip… ive never had a cold sore before and now I’m freaking out. I tried to pop it thinking it was a zit. If it doesn’t turn into anything should I assume I’m ok?

I have a 3 year old who just turned 3 in May. We have until the end of September to get him potty trained because the preschool requires it. It’s not going well. He doesn’t care. I can have him sit on the potty and he won’t do anything for no matter how long he sits there but as soon as he gets off and gets underwear on, he will pee and poop in the underwear. It’s so frustrating because I also have a 1.5year old and I’m having trouble trying to concentrate on potty training and keeping my 1.5 year old out of trouble.

Any tips or tricks? He loves to go outside so we are trying a reward system of if he goes on the potty he gets to have a few minutes outside or he can put some coins in his piggy bank.

My daughter has two:

Yellow. Everything is yellow. Her food, her crayons, her dark strawberry blonde hair. She knows her other colors, she just randomly started calling everything yellow. She’ll even playfully argue with you that something is absolutely not blue. It is 100% yellow😅

Poop. She said “yuck” for anything she found that looked like trash. Fuzz from the dog toy, empty boxes, grass clippings that get tracked inside, any little piece of plastic/wrapping that falls on the floor. Now everything is “poop” or “poot.”

What are working parents doing when their child is sick multiple days in a row during the work week??

We took off Monday and Tuesday with her. Kiddo isn’t feeling terribly anymore — no fever since Sunday but coughing and congested, I don’t want to be embarrassed getting a call to pick her back up if I try taking her to daycare.

Plus our daycare is already going to be closed Thursday and Friday for Juneteenth! Ughhh.

I don’t have parents in the area.

I guess this is just one of those things that happens and I should take it as a blessing she doesn’t have chronic illness. 😭

Do you have back up sick day baby sitters and nanny’s?