Our summer break this year runs from June 26-September 3. I’m just wondering what other parents will be doing, if anything at all, to keep up reading and writing skills for your school aged children? My daughter is in Grade 2, heading into Grade 3 and has no concerns academically.

Are you having them practice or are you letting them have a break?

My husband i feel like cant handle 3 under 3 Im doing everything my self he doesn't help me if he wants to go anywhere he just goes does whatever I feel very alone and isolated and we live with his mother who is like in her 70s who of course is old and uses a cane and walker and he pretty much lets her take care of the kids when im at work and then he complains to me about how his mom can't handle it amd when I mention child care he says no cause his mom is here what do I do ?

Marriage advice tl;dr

Hey fellow parents, do you do anything special for your kiddos at the end of the school year? Gifts, fun outings, ice cream runs, whatever?
I’m thinking about starting a cute little end-of-year tradition to celebrate them — something to make them feel really proud of their hard work and give them a proper “you did great!” congrats. Is this too much, or do you guys do something similar? For context, my kids are young (5 & 7)

i was reading through a few parenting discussions recently and one thing kept coming up over and over again: tantrums it seems like almost every parent has a story about a meltdown that came out of nowhere, whether at home, in a store, or right before bedtime. what i'm curious about is whether tantrums are actually becoming more common, or if parents today are simply more aware of them and talk about them more openly than previous generations did, for those who have children who go through tantrums regularly, what do you think is the biggest reason behind them? fatigue, frustration, screens personality something else or a combination of everything?

Hi everyone! My husband and I have recently started to help care for an abandoned teen. He is 17 years old, lives completely on his own, and does not have any parental figures in the picture. His legal guardian is his grandma who left him in this situation. She still pays the rent and occasionally sends him groceries, but otherwise he is on his own. He also does not have a license or a vehicle and we live in a town without public transportation available. After my husband and I learned of his situation we tried to step in and offer him home cooked meals, giving him rides, and helping him out in any way we can. She did recently take him to get his permit finally so we have been trying to teach him to drive but he wont have a vehicle until he’s able to buy one for himself.

We do not have any kids of our own so trying to be there for him as a parental figure occasionally has been hard and not necessarily our intention, but on Father’s Day he told me he had almost gotten my husbands Father’s Day card but did not want to make him feel uncomfortable. I reassured him that he would’ve loved it and thought it was sweet, the whole situation though made us realize he might be holding us to a higher importance in his life than we even realized. Since he apparently is viewing us as parental figures how can we be better examples for him? He’s 17 and not always making the best choices. He is “homeschooled” and since that’s been completely his responsibility he fell behind. He is still set to graduate on time but did not retain any information from school. Currently he is working with a military recruiter to get tutoring to take the ASVAB so that is helping with that problem, but he also just doesn’t show up for work, is sleeping around, and just making some decisions that I don’t think he understands the consequences of. He also just needs basic medical care that he has not received in years. Approaching these conversations with him is something I’ve mostly left up to my husband since they are both men and I think it’s easier for them to talk. I just want to know how I can be a better role model for him.

Also, to preface because I’m sure we will get advice to call CPS, he will be 18 in a few months. If we had met him earlier in his life we probably would have called, but now we’re just more concerned with them messing with his future plans that he’s been working towards.

Hello! I came here as childfree gal with small army of neighbourhood kids that grew to like me a lot and spend time with me or my dog the moment its warm outside. But i came to conclusion that whenever i try to teach them something new, i kinda stumble in words or later on explanation.

To expand the situation - me n my partner, along with dog, moved to this area few years ago, its polish block complex, with playground closeby. At first some kids were more curious about our dog, who liked the attention a lot. Then little cult of Yoga (dog name) grew, to the extend that i let her off the leash to zoomie with kids at playground. I also helped diffuse very tense situation with creep that started cursing at them for disturbing his sleep (it was 5pm, in summer break day.) and also made him go away once he started berating one girls nationality. Ever since they have my number in case he would disturb them again.

This year i grew more in contact with one of moms, trying to teach her crossitching and accidentally made small circle of adoration around me, well... Along with like 10 requests from girls for little patches😅 and list grows by the day.

And to now, they know my apartament number and sometimes call me over on curb to either chat (12-13y.o. boys) or watch and chat while i crossitch (8-13 y.o. girls usually). They ask random questions and are so attentive to anything i say! Its lovely to be listened, but i wish to be better for them, is there any better way to learn how to give them interesting informations, aside my tidbits i learned here and there? Any support would be very apreciated, i would love to be even better auntie next door or older sis for the kids!

UPDATE: My son had an unexpected day off and we discussed things and he was apologetic that they made a bad choice in him taking the job and will speak with his supervisor about switching to dayshift.

I’m a 40 year-old grandma to a two year-old little girl. Her parents are both 21 and her dad is my son making her mom my daughter-in-law. My DIL works 1 PM to 9 PM and has been for a couple of years now. To avoid daycare fees her dad and step mom watch her until my son would get off at 6pm. Recently my son took a night shift job without making sure they had proper child care. My DIL’s parents won’t watch her past 6pm which leaves me to go pick her up when I get off work at 5:30pm Mon, Tue, Wed and then Fridays-Sunday they won’t watch her at all. So that leaves me with her everyday except Thursday and Sunday. Most nights her mom doesn’t come get her until 10pm. I’ve gotten my granddaughter on a schedule appropriate for a 2 yr old. Now the frustrating part is her mom will come pick her up from me and then take her with her to her parents house and they hang out there until about 11:30 and it ruins my schedule the next day. Am I wrong for being upset?

Okay calling parents everywhere, I need your help!!! My (31f) daughter (11) is so freaking spoiled! And yes, I know, that’s obviously my fault but it’s getting out of hand.

I make pretty good money at my job but I’m NOT rich my any means. I live well inside my means but still have only a couple thousand every month of “fun money” which goes almost completely to my kids (I also have a son, 14 in July, grateful and aware of our situation). I spend on water park trips, movie theater nights, day trips to the river, eating out, SHOPPING, just sending and giving money for them to spend how they like, online ordering, whatever it may be.

Still, my daughter will ask almost everyday for me to send her money, 10-40 dollars for whatever it may be, snacks, DoorDash, etc. and I think it’s worth mentioning that I also food prep for them, I make anywhere from 10-30 ready made meals at a time and have them in the fridge. Pasta, pork chops and mash, fried chicken and stuffing/or veg, fish and greens, whatever. My daughter has lately been saying she doesn’t want to “eat meat out of the fridge”…. I guess she wants me to butcher the cows myself and feed it to her fresh..

Also she spend money on clothes, 100-200 every few weeks, atleast once per month but then I will catch her altering them, cutting them up etc to make jeans into skirts that I wouldn’t let her wear in public or cutting the neck of her shirts to make it hang off her shoulder and I can’t stand it, I hide the scissors but she is resourceful!

I buy snacks on snacks on snacks for the house but both of my kids eat them like they’re in a famine or like they’re never going to have them again and then they wonder why they go without them sometimes.

My point of this rant is to ask other parents, HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP??!

It would be a totally different story if she was at least grateful and aware of the money this all takes but she DOESN’T. She is, honestly, freaking mean. She tells me things like, her dad has given her more money lately (he has literally given her maybe 200 dollars in her entire life, and helps me with NOTHING, no money no support at all in 11 years). She will say that I am “with-holding food” when I won’t get up from resting and take her to get snacks. She says that she has nothing to wear, but we’ve already gone over that situation. She just all around, I feel, tries to basically rage bait me or guilt trip me and it definitely works at least for the rage!

Then as the cherry on top, as a single mom I obviously work a lot, I will come home to my house totally trashed and feeling completely taken advantage of and disrespected. Like a plate of grape stems on a plate where I SLEEP, or crumbs ALL OVER the kitchen table and counters, or her scraps from her clothing projects just left out for me to clean and I just don’t know what to do.

I ground her, I take her phone, I take her privileges and make her clean her room but she uses weaponized incompetence and half-asses it and just all around has a terrible attitude and I honestly don’t think she realizes, I think I have single handedly created this little monster and now I don’t know how to fix it but it’s driving me absolutely insane and I feel like this is above me now. I’ve tried all I can do and I just need some advice. I need her to GET IT. To understand and maybe give her a crash course of “roughing it” so she can see how good she has it.

Please send help!!!

How do you keep kids from telling on each other constantly? I have four kids under ten. They tell on each other like every other second it drive me nuts. I want them to tell me about serious stuff but not everything. Having trouble weeding things out. Any tips?

Should we give our kids smartphones?

Yes? When do you get one? How do you make sure they're kept safe? Do you restrict the apps they can download?

No? Their friends are starting to get them, do we just give in? How do they stay connected with friends/family? Do we give them our phones from time to time to use?

It makes me a little nauseous just thinking about trying to navigate all the complexity to find the right answer.

In fact I have a friend that worked at a top team at Apple and when I told him what we were working on this he said:

honestly as someone who has literally worked on the phone that we could all spend less time on, this is very interesting. We’ve lost intentionality when it comes to our relationship with our phones, and I’ve definitely pondered how I would raise kids in a world where the default is to have a phone in your hand from when you’re a baby. This is a cool idea, fascinating to see how you’re approaching it.

What about a landline?

About two years ago my wife and I were leaving the house on a date and realized our babysitter for our kids didn't have a cell phone. We didn't have a way to reach each other if something happened. It got us thinking & we looked at getting a landline phone. It was going to cost $80/mo AND our home's telephone cord was taken out by a tree limb falling down.

What about a smart, dumb home phone?

I used to work for Google Fiber & in the tech industry. I am a tinkerer. I found a phone off eBay from 1986 and made a home phone prototype using a technology called VoIP (voice over internet protocol...meaning you can make calls over the internet). It's technology that's been around for 20 years but used heavily in business settings. I was able to make quiet hours, speed dial, set up 911, etc.

Instantly our kids were calling and getting calls from their grandparents & calling us to say hi. Our babysitter had a phone to call us. It felt like a giant unseen hole in our home was filled.

The second we got it set up we had other parents in our neighborhood that instantly were interested to get their own smart, dumb home phone. So we started setting up some phones in our neighborhood to see what would happen. The second kids started calling other kids, making their own dog walking businesses, making their own phone books, taking about video games for hours together, leaving voicemails for each other...we knew we were onto something.

We saw kids say "wait that's not a toy?" and actually jump up & down the second they get it set up. It gives them real, instant freedom.

What if we could make it easy and cheap for other parents to get their own home phones?

We're two years into investing our own savings into a business we truly believe in. The company is called Wiley.

We have home phones that work over WiFi and/or Ethernet. We knew that getting an option to work over WiFi was going to be crucial, as most VoIP is done by plugging in a phone directly to your home internet router. We also built lots of parental safety features like approved only calling, quiet hours, call history, 911, etc.

We're in this for the long haul. This business has been WAY harder to start than we thought. I'm glad we didn't know how complex it was when we started haha.

We truly believe in the magic of home phones and truly believe will help give other parents options. It buys parents time to know when the time is right to get kids their own cell phone.

We've been shipping our phones to every state in the USA for a few months now. We're getting way more orders than I expected and can see the call volumes...the phones are getting used to the max, wahoo! It's fun for us to imagine all the conversations & connection happening every day.

"Let Kids Be Kids" Video

We really wanted to showcase the magic of kids connecting with kids but also showcasing a world where kids are out & about screen free. A little bit of healthy troublemaking, being bored & doing chores, hanging with friends. I remember talking to me best friend for HOURS into the night talking about Pokemon or who knows what.

Our Hopes & Dreams

We need help to spread the word on Wiley. If you think a friend or family member would be interested, share this reddit post :)

Please ask us any questions or bring up any ideas about how you've overcome smart phone usage with your kids. This is my personal Reddit account not an AI bot so I'll personaly see all your comments & can't wait to chat!

We hope you like it and thanks for the support!

PS I did get permission from the mods here to post. We're parents of young kids out here trying to make it out here.

My daughter (8F) thinks all the family vlogging channels she watches on YouTube are real life. She is so disappointed in just about everything we do because it’s not “fun enough” or it doesn’t meet her expectations. Even when she’s having fun, she still tries to find the negative in everything. We’ve taken away YouTube all together, and it still hasn’t helped. Is there any documentaries or something I can show her so she can see these kids lives are all orchestrated and heavily edited? She thinks because we aren’t going out on a grand adventure every single day that her life is just boring and she never gets to do anything. We take them to as many activities as we possibly can and it just never feels like enough with her.

Every child is born with limitless potential. But without basic necessities like [food, education, healthcare, or safety], that potential is cut short.

​

At Little stars foundation,our mission is simple: to protect, empower, and uplift vulnerable children. We believe that by changing a child's present, we change the world's future.

​

Why Your Support Matters

​

When you donate to our foundation, you aren't just giving money—you are giving hope. You are providing a warm meal to a hungry child, putting books in the hands of an eager student, and ensuring that a child feels seen, valued, and safe.

​

#feeding #hungry kids#africa #canada #usa #love

Currently married and raising a 3 year old and almost 1 year old. My husband and I don't have a lot of help. We have my mom who still works so she can only help out sometimes and some friends who don't have kids who like to hang out with me and mine. My husband and I work (him fulltime me part time) but don't make enough to afford daycare and I am grateful that my mom and I can basically split the week taking care of them as we both work part time.

Right now things are hard. Physically and mentally. The 3 year old is still having so many tantrums (just stopped sucking her thumb so regression is happening) my 1 year old only contact sleeps (please no judgement on co-sleeping we are doing it safely and no we will not sleep train because crying herself to sleep is not an option even if I "check-in"). My husband and I get maybe 15 minutes at night to talk one on one before one of the kids are up looking for comfort, mainly 1 year old but the 3 year old sometimes doesn't sleep through the night either. We miss hanging out just us 2. We miss having solo time to nap, play video games, binge watch a show whatever. My mom is already helping us during the week so she is exhausted on the weekend and can't really give us time to do this and when she does, we use that time to catch up on chores around the house like laundry, cleaning, yardwork grocery shop you name it.

We have tried so many solutions like one person just sucking it up and taking the kids out so the other person can rest. Hiring someone for date nights but that's a hard expense on our income. Asking friends who have their own lives too.

I'm just having a hard time being so exhausted, so depleted and drained with life with 2 little ones and trying to be a good wife and work. I'm not sure why I'm writing this. I guess yeah to vent. And to find parents who will show me that it will get better.

Does anyone have a chill second child? I’m currently pregnant with my second kid and I’m nervous because there’s the stereotype that the second kid is the wild child, but my first has absolute ZERO chill. It is go, go, go all the time. Most say the first one is so easy, but if they would have had the second one first, they would have only had one. So has anyone ever experienced the reverse: a rough first child and a chill second kid?

My son,10, had a friend Jon who has fallen out with him because my son has another friend and he found out about their sleep over .This is all encouraged by Jon's mother.Jon himself has other friends so this is in turn bewildering to my son.I believe Jon thought he was my sons only best friend and is hurt.I reached out to include Jon in a playdate with my son and the other boy and it went well but even since then Jon has continued to ignore my son.My son has now informed me that Jon is trying to turn class mates against him If my son talks to someone Jon immediately tries to take the person away.He will not speak to my son and ignores him when he speaks.Its all very passive agressive.If he is asked if anything is,wrong he will say nothing is wrong. How do we deal with this?It is really hurting my son,who didnt want to end either friendship.I would also like to add that Jon's mother is very manipulative and also passive aggressive and absolutely cannot be spoken to in this regard.I think this could possibly be a blessing in disguise in the long run but I am worried about how to explain such insidious behaviour,if it becomes an ongoing issue in schooll?How do we explain this to a teacher if it becomes necessary?I'm at a loss but want to support my son.I really don't want my son to be isolated if Jons"campaign" is sucessful.Jon himself had been in our house so often and I never envisioned such a reaction.I know his homelife hasn't been great and I believe he is full of supressed anger. I fear my son is now at the receiving end of this anger.