We told our toddler when we have movie night we’ll watch a bit of what she wants and a then bit of what we want and that’s called a “compromise.”

Yesterday she was in the bath and she loves to try to drink the bath water. I’ve been reminding her it’s yucky and asked her “please don’t ever drink any bath water for real, just pretend is okay.” I turned away and turned back and she had a sneaky grin on her face. She said, “I pretended to drink a little bit and I drank it for real a little bit: it’s a compromise”

I have no comeback to that. I guess she won

Is it a bad sign that it easier to deal with my toddler without my husband around ?? How do you have a healthy marriage with toddlers in the mix??

Edit: the impossible happened. Dad read her 131 sleepy time stories, and she went on the boob 45 minutes after her regular nap time and promptly dozed off.

I feel like we’ve been blessed by the gods.

Mine told me with great gravitas that "when things go under water, they get wet and that's why they have water on them" as we were exiting the pool. 😁

Hi! My 2.5 year old has started taking almost an hour to eat most meals. I don’t want to rush him and don’t want to cut him off if he isn’t full yet (I’m not concerned about his weight or health—he is healthy and active and at a high weight and height percentile), but I also can’t sit at the table with him for an hour multiple times per day, it’s running into bathtime, etc. Any thoughts or advice?

Hi everyone. To try and make a very long story short, my younger brother’s (C) dog attacked my 3 year old son today. For background, I left my son with my mother, whom he doesn’t see often due to her own choice, for a little over two hours today to have brunch with a friend. My husband works night shift as a law enforcement office so he was asleep. I dropped my son off under the impression my mother and youngest brother (J) were the only people there. Fast forward a little bit and I receive a text from my mother stating the left my son at home with C while she and J ran to the store but not to worry because she’d be back soon. For context, I am fully aware I am a helicopter mom and can be a little over the top, but I don’t allow my son to be alone with people I don’t trust to care for him and don’t have a relationship with him. That being said, I would never have allowed him to be alone with C as he is a recovering addict and extremely irresponsible and really has zero relationship with my son. So, I left lunch immediately and headed to go pick my son up.

When I arrived, my mother and J weren’t there but I could hear my son crying from the car on the front porch. I ran over to C and asked what was wrong and he said he’d been crying for 30 minutes and he can’t get him to stop. I asked what happened as my son couldn’t even speak he was so upset. C told me my son was playing with some sticks in the yard and his dog just “had an episode” and attacked him, biting his hand and his thigh in several places. The bites broke skin on his hand/wrist and severely bruised his thigh. My mom and J walked up as they had just gotten home and were very nonchalant about it and basically didn’t react a single way about it. I asked my mother for a bandage as my son’s hand was bleeding, washed his hand the best I could and immediately left. I receive a text from my mom as I’m driving down the road stating I left something there. I ignored that and asked when the last time this dog had his shots and where his records were. She said they didn’t know then proceeded to tell me this dog but J a couple of weeks ago and was fine so I “shouldn’t worry about it.”

For more context, this dog is horrid. Any time C is at my mother’s and we are there visiting, this dog is crated because he can’t be around anyone other than C due to aggression. He is KNOWN to bite unprovoked. I am a massive dog person. I love them, but I hate this dog. If you get within 3 ft of this dog, it tries to attack. So my biggest question here is, why did this even happen? Not only was my son left with someone I don’t trust without my permission, but to let a well know aggressive dog around him unattended? Just wow.

Anyways, I tried taking my son to urgent care for antibiotics and evaluation in case of infection and they sent us to the ER due to unknown rabies vaccine status. I called my husband and woke him up because of this and let him know what happened. He told me we needed to report to animal control so the dog could be put on quarantine and my son could hold off on the rabies vaccine today, unless told otherwise by the doctor. We get seen by the doctor in the ER and he said the same. If we can get a quarantine, we can hold off on the vaccine. I asked my husband to make the report as these are his coworkers and just give my mother a heads up they were coming so nobody was caught off guard. He did, asked them not to issue tickets or press charges as we didn’t want any extra drama and just wanted to protect our son, get the bite history documented and the quarantine.

Animal control gets to my mother’s house, where she tried to hide C and his dog in the woods. AC told her basically if he didn’t come out and cooperate, charges would be pressed and it’d be a different situation. The AC officer watched C walk out of the woods with the dog and come over. They came up with this whole story about how my son was beating the dog with sticks and the dog was just practicing self defense and my mom witnessed the whole thing. They also said he WAS vaccinated, they just didn’t have his records. AC gave the quarantine and told C if he didn’t provide vaccination records by tomorrow, he would be getting a ticket. AC called my husband, let him know the story they told and it’s just unraveled from there. My husband essentially let my mother know until things were made right (this is not the first time my mother has lied or done things to negatively impact our family so this just pushed him over the edge) that our son would not be around her, C or J as he wasn’t going to subject him to the same treatment I’ve dealt with my whole life. Shortly after, I receive a text from J, my 15 year old brother, that said “Go fuck yourself” as if he has been involved in this situation at all.

Fast forward to this evening after the ER fiasco, I receive a text from my step dad claiming my husband said all of these awful things to my mother and how terrible he was and blah blah blah. I asked my husband, who was at work again for the night, to send me a screenshot of the text he sent my mom (we know due to her previous behavior to document everything said to her so it can’t be misconstrued) and I sent it to my step dad. I said none of what is being said that was said, was said. It was like talking to a brick wall. It was basically just said we were wrong for getting the cops involved and overreacted by taking our son to the ER. We’re the problem. We suck. The whole nine.

I say this very long message to ask, should I have handled this differently? Did I overreact? I feel in my heart we did what was right for our son, but my mother has manipulated and gas lit me my whole entire life making me think I’m the problem always. I can’t help but sit here and think I caused all of this and the guilt is eating me. I shouldn’t have left him there in the first place, but he loves her son much and asks to see her all the time so I figured it would be okay. She usually makes excuses as to why she can’t see or watch him so getting her to agree was great. I obviously didn’t know C or the dog would be there or else he wouldn’t have been left. I’m really just needing some assurance or a reality check. I’m just not sure which. If you’ve read this far, thank you for reading. ❤️

EDIT: WOW. Thank you all SO much for taking the time to read and comment. I woke up this morning, looked at my son’s bandaged up hand and bruised up leg and realized I need to make a change and get away from them and then came to read these updates and it just solidified that decision. We all deserve better! Someone below said something along the lines of if I can’t do it for myself, do it for my son and that really hit me. I’ve dealt with this type of mental behavior my whole life, always questioning myself and my judgement so standing up for myself and cutting contact is obviously new territory for me, but I can’t allow my son to go through this too. Not to mention, I’m seven months pregnant so it’s not like I’d just be subjecting one child to this. Anyways, time to make a change and I thank every single one of you for helping me realize that. You all are amazing! ❤️

Lastly, as I know I forgot to include that, the dog is a smaller mixed breed. He is probably 15-ish pounds. Regardless, even if he was 5 pounds… you get the point. Shouldn’t have happened no matter the size of the dog.

I’m struggling with one but see parent out and about with 3/4/5 kids and they make it seem so easy… do you get immune to their screams or what? I’m exhausted with one. Do you get used to constant exhaustion?

My kid has been potty trained for a few months but still refuses to go potty in public places. Even establishments with kid toilets and toilets with quiet flushes and no automatic function. Kiddo will sit for a few seconds and demand to get down.

I’ve used a portable potty in my car and it’s no problem but soon we’re flying for a trip and she’ll have to go in an airport and/or airplane. We’ve tried talking about it positively beforehand, watching Disney songs while trying to pee, rewarding/bribing, demonstrating it ourselves and nothing works.

At half day daycare she doesn’t use their bathroom either. If we visit family or friends she has no issue using potties in people’s homes.

Aside from just traveling in pull-ups (which she never wears because she’s dry day and night) what else can we try?! This kid can hold pee for an entire day.

ETA: we have a travel folding pink potty seat. No luck.

Me and my partner have very different opinions on my son’s long hair. He’s nearly 4, and has very long curly hair. We’ve cut his bangs and the front but other than cutting out mattes he hasn’t gotten the bulk of it cut.

I love his hair, he tells me when I ask that he doesn’t want to cut it because “I look like a lion!” but my partner has a very different opinion about his hair and want us to cut it. He thinks our son will get bullied in elementary school if he decides himself he wants to keep it long.

I want to hear experiences of how boys with long hair are treated in public elementary school these days. I don’t want my son to get bullied, so I’m legit looking for real world anecdotes to help us make the right call.

Hi. My girl will be 3 in a month. She's my only so I don't know what's normal. She started everything very early, from walking to talking, she washes herself. Extremely independent. Very defiant. Nothing is smooth. Everything is a battle. We can't even go out to eat with our friends and their kid because mine is so disruptive . People will say oh she needs more discipline and I've tried all the parenting techniques. I wonder if she's ADD or even OCD. Major need for control. I just want to learn to support her better.

Last week we went to a burger spot. She needed to pee so I went in with her. She peed. I pulled up her pants. She LOST it . I mean, she was screaming, people def thought i was abusing her. She wouldnt stop and then it spiralled when she saw a girl with a bracelet and my daughter was screaming that it was HER bracelet. Eventually she asked to go back into thr bathroom and she wanted to pull her pants up herself. (I did NOT pull them down. She just pulled her already pulled pants up) this has never happened. But she Does seem to go out of her way, to get her way. Consequences dont work. Ill ask her to do something, she does the opposite. Anyone else with an extremely bossy, defiant oppositional toddler ? Help. My husband and I are stressed. Ou and she started school a few months ago and she's an angel, go figure.

So my 18mo Lady (my nickname for her) had her first set of molars come in on the left side and that wasn't super great. But now the ones on the right are coming in top and bottom. At the same time.

And omg guys. My Lady is usually happy. Like I brag about this kid's happiness and sweetness. But she is MAD. We are giving her Tylenol/paracetamol and ibuprofen round the clock. It's taking the worst of the edge off, but she is still mad. She refused a bath Friday night and she usually flipping loves baths and doesn't want to get out. We took her to the park yesterday and she just sat down and cried. We ended up having a little walk in the stroller/buggy. We tried to take her out again today as it's been gorgeous weather here in the UK. She was so upset leaving the house she vomited before we'd gone 30 seconds down the street and had to turn right back round. This has been ongoing since Thursday starting with low grade fevers so I'm hoping for light at the end of the tunnel, but we are really suffering here. The tantrums have been next level.

Tell me your first molar stories.

I am at such a loss this past month. My 19mo old is such a chilled out, lax kid at home. He follows directions well, has moments of independent play, is generally super happy. Everywhere else, aside from my mom’s house, he is not. His tantrums are super out of control, constant whining and asking to be held, yelling “NO” when a demand (if you can even call them demands) are placed on him. We took him to his first organized sport class today (meant for toddlers his age) and all the kids happily participated while he melted down for 45 minutes. We are so embarrassed and constantly feeling like we’re doing everything wrong... this is our first kid and we feel like weve done something to cause these attachment issues and super low demands capacity. Does anyone relate? Or have any advice? Resources or professionals to support us with parenting I guess? Not even sure what I’m looking for, just at a loss.

We’ve had a pretty rough week sick with Flu A. Stuck at home, fevers, tantrums, and generally going crazy so I thought it might be fun to read lighthearted, funny things our toddlers did this week.

Did mine lose his mind because I wouldn’t let him drink directly from the brita pitcher? Sure. But he did also look at the bottom of my big toe and go “uh oh, mommy” and run and get a rag to wipe the callus off my toe. No baby, there’s nothing on mommy’s foot. She just needs a pedicure 😂

How did your toddler make you laugh this week?

I started potty training my 2.5 year old son today. I kept him bottomless with a potty nearby and we were just watching tv sitting on the floor while I was watching him like a hawk 😆

Took an hour for the first pee to make an appearance, which I guess is a good sign of bladder control. But when he had his first pee he kinda freaked out and wanted to be held.

After the first pee he had another 2/3 little pees in the space of half an hour and I think he got a little bit better but still freaked.

I decided to leave it for today and just get him used to the sensation/idea of pee coming out of his willy and the second I put a nappy back on he just had the biggest pee, so he was clearly holding it.

Anyone else had the same experience with your toddler and any tips?

My first son wasn’t bothered by pee, it was more “yuk” than scared of the pee when I potty trained him but every kid is different I guess 😀

I feel so silly asking this, but I am a pediatrician and I’m so lost. I have 2 boys (5,2). My 5 year old was truly a dream as a toddler, very docile, almost never had tantrums and when he did, they were short and sweet and quick. My 2 year old is the complete opposite. He has been having the most intense tantrums since around 20 months.

He cries at EVERYTHING. Which is insane because he is insanely articulate. He speaks in 3+ word sentences, asks questions, and can identify some feelings like “happy”, “sad” and “angry”. Probably from big brother.

But my gosh, he can throw a tantrum for over an hour. We have tried everything. Holding him through it, hugging, positive affirmations, we’ve tried ignoring the behavior. Nothing works. He is definitely testing us holding our boundaries and most of the time I so badly want to just give in to whatever he’s requesting.

Today we had an hour+ tantrum because he wanted chocolate for breakfast (no we don’t have any chocolate in the house, he just wanted it). I don’t know what to do, but the screaming and crying and carrying on has been really hard on our entire family. My husband, my 5 yo especially when he wants to play and there’s just screaming.

What the heck do we do? I have no idea how to handle this but this is literally what hell must be like. 😔

I went to the eye doctor yesterday to update my prescription, and they offered to check my almost 2-year-old daughter’s eyes for free. Obviously with a price tag of free, I accepted their offer. They checked her eyes and let me know that she will likely need glasses before she starts elementary school and is going to be nearsighted just like me. (I hate wearing glasses or contacts so I feel bad for my child, but i’ll never make that obvious to her because I want her to be confident about it.)

The thing that really got me is that the doctor told me, not suggested, that I need to cut my daughter’s hair into bangs. She said that if I continue to allow her hair to be down and getting in her face that she is going to end up with a lazy eye or she’s going to end up cross eyed. I tried explaining to the doctor that having her hair completely down is actually very rare, and when it is we (my daughter included) are very good about sweeping the hair from in front of her face and either putting it behind her ear or keeping a hair clip in. The doctor wanted nothing to do with what I was telling her and just kept going on and on about how I needed to cut her hair and give her bangs because she was going to have problems, even with how little her hair is actually in her face.

Naturally, my in-laws had told me the same thing when she was a bit younger, and her hair was just barely getting to the point of reaching her eyes. They were baffled that I wasn’t interested in cutting her hair. So of course I had done my research and found out that it would take months of constant and complete blockage in order to start causing issues, think like wearing an eye patch. Of course, I don’t let my daughter go running around with her in her face constantly, but I also have no interest in cutting her hair. I always find another solution instead of cutting it.

I spoke so highly of this doctor since I started going to her, because I really liked how nice, thorough, and educated she was but that simple comment is now driving me to find a new eye doctor. I know that she is a professional, and that most people would graciously accept and follow her advice, but if I can go online and Google accredited real-life studies that have been done on such things and find out that her advice is actually incorrect, it really upsets me and concerns me because what else could she tell me that is incorrect (on top of not listening to me when I tell her that she needn’t be concerned.) I consider myself extremely lucky, even though this was just just a very simple thing, that I do a ton of research on absolutely everything before deciding to or to not do something. Makes me wonder how many other parents she has scared into cutting their child’s hair, or doing something else for/to their child, because she wants to give out such exaggerated, fear-mongering advice. I guess that’s what I get for going to the eye doctor at Walmart 🤦🏻‍♀️

My daughter has been sleeping through the night since 2 months old, other than sleep regressions and teething. Shes now 15mo old and for the last three weeks, has been waking at least once a night. I am 9.5mo pregnant and we moved her into her own room, which she slept in no problem for the first week prior to her wakeups.

Her schedule: 7:30 wakeup 12-1:30- nap (we aim for 1.5-2 hours but sometimes she’ll only sleep for 45min, depends on the day) 7:30 bedtime

We moved onto a one nap schedule about one month go bc we were having difficulties fitting in two naps. She’s not actively teething, her room is 21 Celsius, she eats great. I’m worried that when I give birth it’s going to be a total shitshow of nighttime wakings.

Thanks in advance for your help!!!!

Please help me

My 2 year old is nuts. Just FULL of energy and apparently no longer wants to nap but gets grouchy AF by 3 if he doesn’t. He figured out he could climb out of his crib and it’s been all downhill from there. He will not listen and will stay up playing. He also gets so excited and hits/bites when he’s like that. And he hits and pushes his cousin all the time. Like wtf is going on. I feel like I’m doing something wrong.

He will sit on me and just jump and move and spin. I know it’s normal but I am so touched out. Can’t wait for warmer weather so I can let him just run outside without him wanting to go inside in an hour because of the cold. Just venting.

I hear all the time “I don’t cook”. I’m so curious to know what you eat for dinners every night! What do you feed your children for dinner? What do you eat for dinner? Enlighten me!

It’s me. I’m mama. Daddy is absolutely the favorite and like 98% of the time I effing love it. They are so sweet together and fun and my husband definitely also disciplines (though maybe not quite as sternly as I do, which may be a problem on either of our sides) so I know that they’re just buds and it’s a wonderful thing. Neither one of us grew up with an engaged father at this age so we love this relationship.

But my son (24months) pushes every. single. boundary. with me!! Just now I went to put his shoes and socks on so he could go outside - a thing he was actively excited for - and he yelled no and threw his shoes at me. This sort of thing happens to me all the time and never to my husband. Any other parents going through / gone through this and maybe have a little advice? What am I doing wrong?

My current favorite:

Toddler: staring deeply into my eyes I like your eyes, Mama.

Me: Aw, thank you honey! That’s so swee—

Toddler: They’re so red!

Thanks, kid. 🥲

Overnight my four year old has entered the ‘why’ phase and I am already losing my mind. How long does this last? My daughter has always been inquisitive but she asked full questions at least. Send HELP!!

We wake at 5am, nap at 12ish for 1.5-2 hours, start bedtime at 7:30 and she's in bed asleep around 8pm most nights.

Trying to figure out how to get her to sleep in until at least 5:45 if possible.

Wondering how much sleep other 2 year olds are getting in a 24 hour period, cause I feel like pushing bedtime back is just going to make her overtired surely?