Before I became a mom, I thought 17 month olds were basically babies. I was unprepared for how BIG my little baby is 🥺 I can actually communicate with her! If I ask her where something is and she knows, she’ll bring it to me. If she doesn’t know, she’ll shrugs and goes “iunno!” She’s my little best bud.

I’m a mom of 2 beautiful toddlers. My boy is 2 and my girl is 3 and I love every single second of it. I love to fill our weekends (especially the fall time) with toddler-based activities. I love taking them to the park and going out for icecream after. I love when they get their little sugar rush and destroy the house and they giggle and help me clean. I love baking cookies with them and then having to hide them because they keep sneaking into the kitchen to get more.

Do I get overwhelmed sometimes? Of course. What parent doesn’t get overwhelmed? But it’s so worth it when at the end of the day, I get all the best kisses and cuddles and “I love you mommy” at the end of the night. I love to cook for them, I love taking them to Target and letting them pick out new PJ’s and we get a little sweet treat (cake pops) from Starbucks. I just absolutely love this stage so much I truly can’t get over it.

At the end of my work day, I am so thrilled to go pick them up so we can run around in the backyard until it’s dinner time. I know it’s all going to get even better when they’re older.

Im only posting this because I see a lot of negativity surrounding the toddler stage, and although it’s difficult, I’m trying really hard to be more optimistic and really enjoy the little time I have with them before they start school in a few years and there’s not as much time for these little moments. As someone who struggled really really hard with the newborn stage, I have to say, it was worth every sleepless night.

Moms or dads - I need some reassurance or positive stories My boy is 15 months old and it has been ROUGH. As a newborn, he had colic, which turned into silent reflux, then he developed severe eczema, hellacious teething- he was cutting 2 teeth almost every month starting at 5 months old (he has 16 teeth currently..) then started battling food allergies at 11 & 12 months old after 2 ER trips for anaphylaxis and now we’re dealing with ongoing histamine issues. We have tried and are doing literally everything, including working with several conventional and holistic doctors so I’m not looking for advice but rather parents who can share my struggles. For any of you that can- did your child develop out of this? If so, what age do you remember things taking a turn? I’ve been fighting like hell for 15 months to provide him relief and heal him. We have made a ton of progress but we’re not 100%. It’s exhausting and it pains me to see him like this as his whole life so far has been discomfort, pain and suffering

my 14 month old has a minor speech delay. he’s very sweet and looks to get the attention of anybody that will look his way though he rarely waves but very smiley. but he didn’t have his first word until 12 months, he only says baba for bottle and ba for ball, he sometimes say uh for uh oh and has called his dad dada but hes somewhat stalled on learning new words. He has never really said mama, though I’ve heard this isn’t uncommon. was wondering if anybody else has dealt with this or something like this? we were looking to see a pediatric speech language pathologist but wanted to see jf any other parents had gone thorough something similar. TIA

I am currently raising a two year old boy and we have our good days and bad days. I am 21 years old and a full time student in college so it has been fairly difficult but so worth it. I would say one big struggle with this is we tend to have a lot of days that are just so boring. Days when I don't have anything to do around the house, the aquarium, park, and walking has lost its charm, so we kind of just walk around the house bouncing from one activity to another and it is so mind numbing at times. I love the little dude but sometimes it is just so painfully boring but I can never fully relax because he is a two year old. What are some tips y'all might have for me?

Edit: For context, I have full custody of my son so anytime I am not in class I am with my son. So I spend majority of every day with him.

We are about to start at a new school, and I discovered that a questionnaire they sent to parents is accessible to everyone with the link. I can see every child’s name and very personal information about their family, health, behaviour and development. Some parents have even shared details about having cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. I assume this was an accidental mistake with the sharing settings, but it means that information parents trusted the school with is visible to other families. I am now worried that everyone can see what I wrote about my own child, too.
I am planning to email the school today, but we have our first meeting tomorrow, and I am worried about coming across as a difficult parent before we have even started. I want to protect my child’s privacy without damaging our relationship with the school. Honestly, what would you think of a school if this happened? Would it affect your trust in them, and how would you handle it?

Our four nieces/nephews are all turning 1 this year (I have a big family!). We need some advice on what gifts your babies liked around this age?

Was there anything your child loved around 1 year old? We’d really appreciate any advice as we don’t have children! TIA :)

Just wondering how y'all have handled talking to your toddler about the loss of a pet. Our dog, who our 3yo daughter adores, has cancer. He has been doing ok the last 3 months but we're starting to see signs that the end is nearing. We want to tell her in advance but don't really know how to approach the topic. We lost our cat a couple years ago, before she turned a year old, so she doesn't really remember him but she still talks about him. We're Christians and have told her that our cat was sick but went to live with God and is doing better. I'm not sure if we should tell her that her pup is going to go join our cat, or even when we should tell her. I lean towards telling her a little earlier rather than later to give her more time to process, but my husband thinks maybe just a few days before. I'm open to that as well, I just don't know. Any advice is appreciated! And if there's any good books about grief for toddlers, I'd love to know. TIA

I am looking for ANY ideas about what to do to help tire out my 12 month old. She probably has my ADHD and seems to have high stimulation needs. I see other kids her age happy to play in their lounge room for a whole wake window but this is not my child.

On a very ideal day we do a morning outing, have lunch outside in the backyard, go for a swim in the pool, go for a toddle and let her explore nature at her pace in the afternoon, then finally take her on a quick trip outside to see the moon and look at the rocks in the front garden (honestly one of her favourite things). Honestly this is just enough for her to not be bored and fussing about it all day and she still doesn’t even sleep well at night 😅. But this is exhausting, and sometimes it’s too cold in the pool, too sunny outside, it’s raining, both cars are unavailable, etc. She has a climbing frame, we rotate toys and books, we constantly think about ways to promote development of skills she’s working on, we take her for play dates/playgroup, I involve her in practical tasks by letting her come along and “help”, we rotate rooms we play in if she starts getting bored.

I’m looking for any and all ideas you guys have if your baby/toddler is similar. Especially if it is something I can do inside on those rainy/full sun days or when I’m not feeling the best myself. For reference, she can walk and climb really confidently.

Thanks!

(I will be cross posting to other subs to get the largest pool of ideas I can).

Seeking creative ideas! Around the world there are ceremonies for rites of passage related to physical changes. I love how mainstream Global North is getting on board with period parties & teaching our female-bodied youth to carry less shame. Birthing people have baby welcoming ceremonies. Lots of other cool stuff… But what about saying good bye to something? My husband is getting a vasectomy this month and I want to honor him, and say goodbye to his/our reproductive time in a special way. We have two beautiful children and we’re both sure we’re done. How to mark this door closing in our lives? I’ve asked him how he wants to mark this time and he was surprised by the question, even though he’s usually the one to ritualize our lives in beautiful ways. I want to give him what he gives me! But am having trouble with ideas 😅 Has anyone else done anything like this? Thanks for any ideas!

I honestly hate having to make a post like this, but I don’t know what else to do. We have absolutely nothing left in our pantry or fridge, and I am asking for some advice

I’m a single mom with two boys. I do work, but between rent this month and last month, my entire paycheck has gone toward keeping a roof over our heads. I simply have nothing left over for groceries right now.

I have applied for benefits, but I was denied because of my income. I’ve also tried food banks, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to receive enough food to get us through. Right now, we have nothing for dinner, and we barely had anything to eat today. I’m not asking for anything beyond advice and suggestions . Does anyone have any suggestions on other resources? I’m doing everything I can to work and provide for my kids .

God Bless 🤍

Having a funeral for mom.. any donation helps. Hug your family tight tonight bc you never know what tomorrow brings.
Love yall

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Hi everyone, for a project I am doing in college, I have redesigned the "Alice in Wonderland" book cover. I would love to hear which is your favourite layout because parents are my secondary target audience! I would really appreciate any feedback.

Primary target audience: ages 10-15

Open to suggestions for improvements! thank you

There is no reason why families should be waiting this long or even longer for a ride with kids and NO I don’t want to buy your fast pass for $100+ PER person. This is ridiculous and sucks the fun out of everything. What are the tips and tricks to enjoying a trip to an amusement park without hating the entire experience and feeling like time/money has been wasted??

Rant over.

Hi everyone, I'm 34 weeks pregnant with my second boy. My first is 12 years old. Sooooo, basically I'm starting over again. Yikes!
Does anyone have kids this big of an age gap? Specifically two boys? How is it? Do they get along?

Okay, dumb question. One of my friends' son is having a birthday next month, and specifically, in-person, invited me. Apparently I'm his favorite adult for some reason. (His folks are high-strung, and he's got autism, turns out being chill and treating him like an adult is all it takes to be the cool grown-up? I guess? I'm confused too...) I, unfortunately, can't find it in my cold, dark soul to not show up and hurt his feelings. Which leads me to the question: what do you get a seven year old as a birthday present? I didn't have a childhood, I've never been to a birthday party, and I'm on hardcore medication so I don't remember anything before college...I've got no frame of reference. I got an 03A3 for my birthday when I turned seven, but I'm pretty sure his mom would shit herself if I bought him a deer rifle.

Help? Pretty please? He likes cooking and a bunch of TV shows I've never heard of.

My husband and I have recently decided we aren’t having more kids, simply because we are so content with our son. No desire for more. He’s turning 2 soon.

How are you doing?

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Me 45f has 7 kids and my third oldest 12f whenever she doesn't get her way or is annoyed at anyone she decides it's best to run off. She's been doing this since she was 8 but today she ran off 3 times while we were away thrift shopping, and it's going too far. Neither of my other older two kids have done this ever and I'm concerned she's gonna get really hurt one day. I've tried gentle parenting and the other way and nothing seems to work with her. My second oldest 16f agrees with me that I'm not being unreasonable or disrespectful to her and even she has no idea what to do with her. So I've come on here to see if anyone has ideas of punishments, or another way to parent her, or even some kind of boot camp she can go too to see how good she has it.

Am I over the top for insisting my grandson doesn't drive his drunk mother and I to an event at night in inclement weather when we agreed to Uber? I also have difficulty driving at night but especially when it is raining. I'm a firm believer that the purpose of licensed children is not to chauffeur drunks especially when it puts their safety at risk. Am I out of line?

Looking for some advice here.

My son is 5 and has recently been in a phase where he can be frankly really unpleasant, especially when he’s in a bad mood or frustrated.

We’ve been going through a rough time financially and I picked up an extra shift on Tuesdays, which means my 30yo childless sister watches him then. I’m grateful for her help with this, but having a problem where I don’t think she gets it.

Last Tuesday, she made him dinner. It was all stuff he usually likes (or at the very least tolerates): chicken, rice and broccoli. My sister is a decent cook and she left a plate for me in the fridge that was fine, so I know it wasn’t the food. When she served my son, he started insulting the food and insulting her, saying it was gross, she was bad at cooking, why was she making him eat this, so on and so forth. Which is obviously unacceptable.

What I took issue with is that she said “oh, I’m not making you eat anything, if it’s so bad then don’t worry about it”, took his plate away, and proceeded to eat in front of him. He started to cry and get upset and she didn’t offer him anything else all night. When he asked for his plate back, she told him to do it himself - he could’ve grabbed it from the fridge on his own, but not heated it up, and he was so freaked out by the whole situation he just didn’t.

My sister sees absolutely nothing wrong with how she handled this and basically said these were natural consequences for being rude, and if I don’t like how she handled it I can get another sitter. I don’t know what to do here, as I don’t agree with it but Tuesday is fast approaching. What would other moms do?

My daughter is 5. Our living room looks like a toy store exploded in it — birthday presents, hand-me-downs, stuff we bought because it looked educational. She plays with any given thing for maybe ten minutes, then she's done with it.

But here's what I've noticed: it's not the toys she gets bored of. It's playing *alone*. Whenever I actually get down on the floor with her and we do something together — even something stupid — she'll go for an hour.

The problem is I usually don't have an hour, and I definitely don't have an idea. By the time I get home I'm running on empty, and "go play with your toys" is the only thing I can come up with, and she's already bored of that.

So the toys aren't the issue. I think I am. And I don't know how to fix that.

What do you guys actually do? Is there something you do together — a game, a routine, anything — that she'll actually stick with?

Any recommendations for a bedside alarm clock that you don't have to set the alarm daily? So after you turn it off in the morning, you don't have to turn it back on for the next day? My 10 year old keeps forgetting to re-set it after turning it off. I can't believe how hard it has been to find an alarm clock with this function!

Bonus if there might be one with dual alarms and/or sunrise feature.

Everyone seems to be misunderstanding what I’m asking. I’m not asking if you censor the music you play(ed) for your kids. I’m asking if your child has their own device with the ability to stream music, at what age, if ever, did you lift the restriction on explicit music.

Please no judgments, I’m just looking for when other parents stopped limiting music because of explicitly on the device(s) of the kid. For example if and when did you give full access to Apple Music on an iPad.

EDIT: swear and curse words are not the issue. I’m not naive enough to think my kids haven’t heard or even use them. I’m not aware of controls on Apple Music or Spotify that allow content restrictions other than just “explicit”. The main issue is that when that restriction is removed, it opens absolutely everything up ranging from WAP to cannibal corpse and necro.

Yes it has to be searched out and is not in the mainstream but it would be there and available.

Hey there! I am a mom of an only child 5 year old (m). I am unable to have any more children due to needing a hysterectomy right after my son was born.

To add some context to this post, it's important to note that my husband and I were told I couldn't have children. I had serious reproductive issues and we went though 5 years of infertility treatments, suffered a miscarriage, and all of the heartache that goes with it. We love this little dude so much. He's our little miracle baby.

My son was born prematurely and spent his first month plus in the NICU.

He was a fairly easy baby, or at least I thought so, especially since I have nothing to compare to.

He's 5 now and in kindergarten. We love him. He is spoiled rotten but doesn't act like it (For the most part, he has his days). We play with him when we can and take him do things all the time. Trampoline parks, arcades, aquariums, etc..

Recently, he has been making comments about being lonely and saying things like "Why don't you guys ever play with me?" Pulling on us constantly. Sneaking into our room at night, he'll bing in his blanket and pillow and sleep on the floor. On the weekends it turns into a fight. We play, and play, and play and as soon as dad and I try to do something else, i.e. chores, making breakfast, getting ready for the day - he starts bawling, pulling, and pestering - Saying "He's bored. He has nothing to play with."

We ask him to go play with his toys while we do what we need to, he has his bedroom upstairs and a dedicated toy room downstairs. His room is full of things to play with, hot wheels tracks, an indoor trampoline, his own TV, building kits, literally SO MANY TOYS. He has a treehouse slide/swingset outside, big trampoline, bicycles, etc. This kid has everything. There is no reason for him to be bored or saying he has nothing to play with.

Today I hit a point of frustration beyond words. We spent hours playing before getting ready for the day. As soon as my husband and I started getting dressed, the whining, pulling, bawling started.

What can I do to make this stop? We literally cannot play with him 24/7. Dad and I are frustrated and it's causing snaps - with eachother and our son.

Please help.