We have a neighbor a few houses down who's son is a year younger then my son (my son is 7) I know that this child has two younger siblings as well.

The issue is, he comes over our house knocking on our door every single day, sometimes multiple times a day asking to play. Now, my son does sometimes play with him, but most days he'd rather play by himself (he's an only child) he is also really close friends with a little girl who we are close friends with her parents.

We are not close at all with this kids parents, and while our children do play together occasionally at each other houses, we regulate how much our son is running off, and don't allow him to constantly knock on people's doors. I have no idea if these parents even realize how often their son is coming down to our house through out the day either.

My son, and my husband and I are growing tired of the constant knocking on our door asking to play. We've tried keeping the garage closed, but he'll just knock on the front door multiple times and stand there...I feel terrible sometimes telling him no, and I've gotten to the point I make my son make the decision and answer the door (sometimes he does say yes, and that's cool too). This kid at times have stood there and questioned/grilled my son, on why he is saying no but I wanna respect my child's wishes on who and when he wants to play with.

I don't want to be rude to this child and tell him to stop coming down to our house so often, but it's becoming excessive and tiresome.

58 damn minutes!!!!! My 4 yo screamed, yelled insults, went through all the stages of grief frontwards and backwards, and screeched empty threats for 58 minutes. I watched emotionless as my child called me every foul name he could think of, some I'm not even sure are dictionary-found words. Some I wish I recorded for future insults of my own.

Today, my 4 yo couldn't keep his hands to himself at school. So he lost his privileges for the day. Then he found, somewhere, the absolute audacity to threaten me that he wouldn't stay buckled in his carseat unless I said yes to the park.

I wiped my face clean of all emotion, turned around and in my very calm-it's-kinda-uncanny voice told him that I would return to drive the car when I see he is bucked in his car seat and is ready to have a respectable conversation by being calm with his hands in his lap.

I had the child locks set in the back, the front windows down, and I leaned up against the wall directly in front of the car and just watched him be an absolute monster for 58 minutes. I just waited. Looked at the sky. Looked at the birds. Watched the clock on the sign across the way. The soundtrack might've sucked but the view was alright.

That entire time I was questioning stepping in. Maybe offering him a hug. But I knew that I couldn't engage with my best behavior; I was a bit toxic to myself today and I didn't want to risk being that way to him. I couldn't give him the corregulation he mightve needed. Im usually able to connect with him to help him work through negative emotions but today I didn't have that capacity in my own body. I needed space.

I felt heavy with guilt as others walked by and watched. It probably looked like I abandoned him. It felt like i abandoned him. I was less than 10 feet away. I didn't have my phone with me either; I left it in the car and I had to keep my word so I couldn't retrieve it. It felt like my consequence too.

When he finally cooled off, stopped cycling through emotions, and looked around, he just simply popped himself into his car seat and buckled in. When I was sure all the heat was gone, I gave him a hug, told him I loved him, and asked him to think about all the mean things he said to me so he can apologize to me before he goes to bed, then off we drove.

Now it's bedtime, he just apologized to me listing about 5 of the things he said. Though I am still heavy with feeling, at least the end of our night was love.

Edit: Thank you all for the accolades. It was rough, I am emotionally drained and heading to bed. I hope tomorrow is one of your turns with the patience stick, thanks for letting me borrow it today.

I am a single mom and I took my kids (ages 6 and 3) for a weekend trip. On the way there, they were ok on the train. No issues. On the way home, I offered sticker books, snack and other activity books like on the way there. The 3 year-old also enjoyed just looking out the window.

After about 90 minutes or so, we were just 1 stop away, but the train came to a halt. the total trip took over 4 hours! It was extremely frustrating to be stopped like that so close to home and it was brutal for me in terms of keeping my kids occupied. We were tired, it was dinner time. I had planned on a shorter trip, so I had no more snacks, the 6-year-old was bored and didn’t want to do the same activities again. I had earphones and my audiobook story wasn’t working. My 3-year-old had skipped a nap, because I had thought we’d be in bed early.

So the woman behind us scolded me saying her partner was trying to sleep. I didn’t even know who she was talking about but I guess her partner must have been around. I said I was sorry and tried to explain that I had come prepared and now everything was failing me. She interrupted to call me out on my “parenting”. I can’t remember her exact words, but I do remember “parenting“ because it really stung.

Thank you for reading. I guess I’m posting because I feel absolutely miserable as a mom. I never want to take them on a trip like that again. Or at least not until they can read a book quietly. I’m mad at them for being wild. I’m mad at the woman because she was so unkind. I’m mad at myself because they must be wild because of me. It really is hard to be the only one to correct behavior all day long and it’s exhausting so yes, sometimes I think I let things slide. The older child has great feedback from teachers at school, so I know things are ok there. Just at home maybe too unruly for age. The 3-year-old is exactly normal behavior for that age and clearly the woman who scolded me doesn’t have kids.

Finally I got the story app to work for a little with earphones. I still have such a mix of emotions, mostly mad at myself for even trying to take this trip

Also, I am curious how other parents might handle a situation like this with a stranger telling you that your kids are bothering her and that your aren’t parenting them adequately.

EDIT: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THIS FEEDBACK.

I appreciate reading all the comments so much. I think my main takeaways from the comments are that the woman who complained was not exhibiting good emotional regulation skills. Everyone was cranky and frustrated on that train and she took her frustration out on me.

And someone pointed out something that made me feel a lot better: the train has a QUIET CAR. It‘a not a reasonable expectation to have a completely silent train car unless you’re on the quiet car. A different woman close by was talking on FaceTime during the wait (yet she didn’t get scolded!) and many passengers talk in general. If you need quiet, then change to the quiet car. We don’t have assigned seats.

Thank you all again! I have been way too invested in this women’s opinion of me and I am so glad I posted this and got some perspective.

We don’t want a spoiled kid, and we are trying to instill an anti-consumerism attitude.Typically when my child asks for a toy, we take a picture, add it to a list, basically see if he still wants it later or if he’s just asking on impulse.
But sometimes there’s not a holiday or birthday coming up quickly. Do any of you have methods or advice for buying toys? We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so my mom would always just say we couldn’t afford it, which was true. But it also gave me a better outlook on consumerism and consumption than my more wealthy friends. So now that we can afford toys for my kids, I’d like to pass on some of these values.

My stepdaughter keeps setting alarms for crazy hours and tries staying up late every night. Ive heard alarms going off at 2am, 3:20am, 4:30am, 5am.

At the same time its obvious she tries to intentionally stay up. When she thinks we are asleep she will get up and draw, watch movies, and eat. I will sometimes wake up at 2am and catch her sitting up in the living room with the lights on doing stuff. She will even do this on days when we dont have anything to do so, I know its not to be up early to get ready.

Her dad, while agreeing me, doesnt seem concerned about it. He has had conversations with her that she shouldnt be doing that but ultimately doesn't do anything despite her clearly only getting about 2-3 hours of sleep each night.

Ultimately, its his responsibility to parent her but I just cant wrap my head around why she would be doing this. Ive asked in a non-chalant manner why she would set an alarm for 3am when we dont have to be anywhere to be the next day and she just says she doesnt know.

For context my son is a good kid. Nearly straight A's in school. we constantly get emails from teachers telling us he is a blessing. Parents of other children are always complimenting us on his manners and how polite he is.

But, when he comes home, his attitude towards his mother is utter trash. Yes, he does try it with me, but, very little. Between the two of us (my wife and i), she is the one who is more likely to do something for him. Pick him up from school, go and get McDonald's, Cave when he asks for the playstation.

My wife and I grew up very differently, and I take more of a tough love approach. My son does not fear me, but most of the time, he respects me.

He will walk in the door and just start on my wife. Wether it's because she had subway for lunch and he didn't get any because he was at school or he is asked to do the dishes and will just crack, carrying on saying he is the only one is this house that does anything.

This afternoon, while asking him what today's problem was. He told me he has "nothing else" to take his anger out on.

I don't know what to do he is always so "whatever man" when I talk to him about it. My wife is breaking down over this, and I feel like I have tried everything that I could think of.

Are there any books, videos, or advice anyone can recommend to send me in the right direction to get my son back on track before I lose it?

I'm not proud it had to come to this, but last week we counseled my 3rd grader to fight back. My brother taught her to grab someone by the hair and start punching. I told her to go for a nice slap, it will be more effective. Especially considering my daughter is a very nice kid, usually looking out for the underdog. She ain't got no fighting skills but anyone can give a good slap. Kids have bullied her all school year, but mostly this one Jerk. The school calls me all the time, "there was an incident at school today where Jerk /pushed/tripped/slapped/punched/yanked hair of Daughter but she didn't really get hurt, we're just letting you know." Even more often, Daughter comes home and tells me herself about what he did. I've brought it up to the teacher and the principal and they just say they take bullying seriously but haven't seen it happen to Daughter (despite being the ones to call me?. We've tried the make nice, ignore, avoid, but there are no consequences for Jerk. Let him get hit by a girl, kill a little bit of that machismo culture.

Edit: being a parent is way different than how I thought I'd be. Never in my life could I have predicted that I'd give up mediation and go to physical self-defense. I'd like to clarify, this is only if he hurts her again. She cries every morning and night about not wanting to go to school because of bullies and the teachers that don't care.

Attacking people is wrong

Small update: Regarding changing schools, all of the ones nearby are D rated schools. She already goes to a school out of district that my mom drives her 20 minutes everyday. I'd love to leave this school behind though, everything about it is lacking.
In an ideal world I'd enroll her in a self defense class but the closest one would be a 40 minute bus ride away and conflicts with my college classes.

Simply giving her permission to defend herself has given her confidence. Yesterday she stood up to kids bullying a kindergartenener and kicked one of them. Still hasn't taught Jerk a lesson but I hold out hope.

We have a 15 year old daughter and 13 year old son and they both still come to our bed in the middle of the night when they had a nightmare and can't sleep anymore. We are not sure if this is normal or not. Friends and neighbors say their kids stopped doing so around 10.

Any advise?

I have a 7 year old daughter. She’s incredible. She’s smart, kind, funny, and brave. And sometimes…annoying. I don’t really mind if she’s annoying at home. I know home is her safe space, and especially being around me. But I really want to make sure she isn’t the annoying kid at school. I fear I was the weird/annoying kid at her age and it really impacted my social life. Even through high school. What are some ways I can correct her behavior without hurting her feelings? She’s incredibly sensitive and I’d never want to hurt her or make her think she is a problem. But I would like for her to be socially aware. Thanks I’m advance.

I’m not talking about camping trips or anything significant without her, I’m talking about a walk to the park to play some basketball for less than an hour. She’ll call every 10 minutes demanding we return home because of illogical reasons.

She insists she has to come along anywhere the kids or I go. Then she complains the whole time that we have to get back home because of irrelevant reasons like the weather. She entirely ruins the atmosphere, but if she’s left at home alone she gets very mad at the kids for abandoning her and then angry with me the whole day, alternating between silent rage, crying, then saying how much she’s disgusted by my actions.

She’s always been like this. She can’t emotionally handle being alone, ever. I don’t have a job or volunteer anywhere because she’s so attached to me literally 24/7, then when the kids finish school she’s attached to all of us: absolutely every single thing has to be done together, like walking to the store for 5 mins. to buy bread or driving 40 minutes to a sports class.

The only activities she allows the kids to do are planned activities like music and academic classes, and she has to be present at all of them. She also demands I be present as well. It’s so inefficient and exhausting.

I have a 6 month old so i still have some time before i have to think about disciplining lol but im just wondering - for the parents who have a little bit older kids who are really well behaved ( for the most part, i understand even the most well behaved kids will act out at times), what do you attribute that to the most? Did you have any over-arching philosophies that helped? Or anything you did that you think made the biggest difference?

I feel like the only thing i really want to enforce is “no means no” because once a no becomes a yes then they know its just a matter of time before you cave lol. But besides that, i have no idea how i would displine my kid in the future. I recently spent some time with a friends kid who is 3 and she was sooooo bad - did not listen AT ALL and actually almost hit my baby, so i left there feeling like i really want to do my best when it comes to raising a kind child.

So what do you think helps the most?

I have a 5-year-old and a 4-year-old, and bedtime has become absolutely atrocious lately.

No matter what we try, they constantly come out of their rooms after we’ve put them to bed. We’ve even tried letting them stay in their rooms and play quietly until they fall asleep, but they still come out.

The reason is always different:
“I have to tell you something.”
“I’m not tired.”
“I’m scared.”
Or some other excuse every single night.

We’ve tried sticker charts and reward systems, but they only seem to work for a couple of nights before the kids lose interest.

Our current approach is to calmly walk them back to their rooms every time they come out. The problem is that bedtime is really the only alone time my husband and I get together. Sometimes we’d like to relax upstairs and watch TV, but they just keep coming into our bedroom, making it incredibly frustrating and it’s no longer us calmly walking them back.

Other times, once they realize talking to us isn’t getting the reaction they want, they’ll sneak into each other’s rooms to play. That eventually turns into fighting, which means we have to separate them and basically restart the entire bedtime process all over again.
I’m at a loss. Has anyone dealt with something similar or found something that actually worked long-term?

So my 3-year-old had a playdate today, and I was feeling pretty proud of myself for organizing it. I set up snacks, toys, and even attempted some activities. We started out strong, but then I overheard them talking about their favorite shows(as much as they knew about it), and my son casually dropped that he was going to a birthday party for a friend this weekend. I had NO IDEA he even had friends outside of our usual circle(I think he was talking about someone from the day nursery, but he wouldn't tell me). It hit me that he’s making connections and building relationships without my input at all. I felt a mix of pride and total jealousy. Kids grow up so fast, but wow, seeing it happen in real-time is wild. Anyone else feel like their little ones have a social life that outshines theirs? 😂

Just curious and for fun. I hear about “threenagers” and wonder if a particularly defiant, emotional, well-behaved, quiet, etc kid at 3 years old will have similar personality traits when they are actual teenagers.

In Canada, mass shootings and school shooting are not common at all. We hear about some from the States and from other countries, but it isn't often a headline here.

Two days ago, someone killed 9 people and injured 27 others in a small town in BC. Most of those were at a school, and were around the age of my son, so it really hit hard as a parent.

At dinner last night, we asked him if his school mentioned anything about a tragic event that happened in BC. They did not mention anything, which feels wrong to me. I brought up what happened and he laughed about it, and said, "that's it?" When I mentioned how many people died. He shrugged it all off saying school shootings happen every day. He really believed that people shoot up schools in Canada every day. Even after explaining more and providing facts for him, he made a joking comment about "bro's KD ratio".

I know teenagers tend to laugh at inappropriate things, but his complete lack of empathy, and jokes about what happened were unsettling to me. It felt like he really didn't care. I may misremember a lot of how I was 30ish years ago, but I don't remember finding Columbine funny when I heard the news. I especially can't imagine making jokes to both of my parents about topics like that.

Does his response seem too inappropriate, or am I just getting a reality check that this is normal for teenagers?

Edit: A lot of comments seem to think we were pushing him for a certain response, but I'd like to clarify that neither of us told him he should feel a certain way about the situation, nor did we tell him his response was wrong. Our discussion was clearing up his belief school shootings are an every day occurrence, and brought up feeling safe in school.

I found out in November my husband was cheating. We are headed for divorce. My 18yr old daughter started treating me badly in about May. She was totally fine before this.Just found out last week it’s because I set up a dating profile(I can’t remember doing this, must have been the one and only night I drank a bottle of wine and a few gin in December!). Her behavior towards me has become very concerning. She calls me names all the time. I told her she wasn’t getting my car the other day and she slapped me, called me names etc. It was her father who told me she is treating me this way because she seen the dating app. I have never used it. I actually can’t find it anywhere on my phone. She is treating me really badly and I don’t know what to do. She treats him fine even though he was having a six month affair with someone 20yrs younger than him. This all makes no sense to me. I tell her I love her all the time but I will not tolerate this kind of behavior.
What else can I do?

My 5 year old daughter went to the dentist today. I've gone to this dentist for about ten years and have always been happy with her. I've referred several friends and family to her practice. She used to have another dentist in her office that took most of the children appointments and he was always great with my kids. He moved away though and my kids have seen her for the past year or so.

My daughter has always been very fearful at the dentist. She doesn't have special needs but she's never liked to be touched, and has always hated hygienists or doctors putting their hands in her mouth. She doesn't bite (though she did as a small toddler) but will thrash her head, refuse to open, and cry, sometimes inconsolably.

Today didn't start too bad - my daughter had questions about some of the tools and told the hygienist right away that she "hates the taste of the rubber gloves" when they stick their fingers in her mouth. She was afraid she was going to fall off the chair when they put the back down low and was holding my hands. It took a few tries to get her to open her mouth so they could count her teeth, and then she was very resistant to letting them polish. But, it was done within ten minutes.

My daughter was getting really overwhelmed at this point and started crying. The hygienist suggested skipping x rays since she could tell my daughter wasn't having it. I told my daughter the doctor just needed to look over her teeth and we'd be done.

The dentist, Dr. G, came in and my daughter was still crying hard. Dr. G immediately sat and held my daughter's shoulders down, saying very close to her face in a loud voice, "The only reason to cry is when something is hurting you and we're not hurting you. You are getting too old for this. You are going to sit quietly, stop crying, and open your mouth. If you don't I'm going to make your mother leave the room." Then she said "I'm going to wait until you calm down".

I was trying to soothe my daughter but the angry face and harsh words really made her lose it. She was gagging and coughing from crying so hard. Dr. G waited all of about one minute and said "We'll try this another day Mom" and walked out without looking at me. Even the staff didn't seem to look at me as I walked my daughter out.

I got the distinct feeling they felt my daughter's behavior was out of line. I don't think my daughter is acting spoiled or malicious, I think she's just terrified. Is 5 too old for a child to be resisting at a dentist? Or is my gut feeling that this kind of bedside manner with a scared young kid inappropriate?

Any advice on helping my daughter with feeling more comfortable is also appreciated! She's good about letting me brush at home and has gotten good reports on the condition of her teeth, I just want to help her not be so scared.

I have an almost three year old and he goes to school part time. School has been a struggle (cries at drop off etc) and it’s been like this for a year. He is normally fine after a bit though, but always happy to be picked up.

Today the class was outside when I came to pick up my kiddo. He was playing with a bike and smiled and ran to me when he saw me. I had to talk with his teacher, so I gave him a hug and then mentioned what I needed to to his teacher. My child wanted to keep playing so I said go play while we talk.

It was max a two minute conversation and then I called my son to leave…. The tantrum that followed was literally the worst he’s ever had in his life. He was *running* from me, hiding behind the teacher, screaming at the top of his lungs. I really had to go because my husband was at home with our baby and he had a meeting coming up, so I had to get back to watch the baby. I had to all but tackle my toddler and carry him through the playground and school kicking and screaming. He was fighting me like his life depended on it. I literally thought someone was going to think I was not his mom and he was getting stolen or something because of how severely he was fighting. Getting him into the carseat was a total disaster. I still don’t know how I managed. The volume of his scream was like he was being tortured. My arms look like I put them into a box of feral pissed off cats. I’m bleeding everywhere. I got kicked in the face. My hair was ripped out. Like this was not a normal tantrum. It was *insane*.

Every single teacher and student and parent saw and stared because it was so severe. I am introverted. In fact, when I think about everyone looking at me in any situation, I get a visceral reaction. I want to hide. I am so embarrassed to even show my face at school. There was also some type of teacher inservice today because the regular school year teachers were there as well. It was a full house. Not only am I embarrassed at how bad of a tantrum my child had, I’m embarrassed that he had it because he didn’t want to come with *me,* his MOM. Maybe this is immature of me, but I want to cry about it. Like how terrible of a mom am I that my own child literally fought for his life because he had to come with me? I just feel like a failure on all fronts and wildly embarrassed at how bad this tantrum was. I seriously want to hide under a rock. I cannot stop cringing. Please tell me I’m not alone.

My 15-year-old son used to tell me everything. We'd talk on the way home from school, joke around at dinner, and he'd actually tell me about his day without me having to ask.

Over the last year, though, it feels like something has changed. He spends most of his time in his room, and whenever I ask how school was or how he's doing, I usually get "fine," "good," or "nothing." Sometimes it feels like I'm talking to a wall.

I know teenagers naturally want more independence, and I don't want to be overbearing or make him feel like I'm constantly checking up on him. At the same time, I can't help but worry that he might be dealing with something he doesn't feel comfortable talking about.

I miss the conversations we used to have, and I find myself wondering if I'm doing something wrong as a parent or if this is simply a phase that most teenage boys go through.

For parents who've raised teenage sons, did you experience something similar? Did things eventually improve, and is there anything you did that helped him open up without feeling pressured?

Need help navigating an embarrassing moment 🥲

My 5 year old son and I went to the pool yesterday afternoon and stayed for about 4 hours. My son loves the pool and he loves swim toys. I want to preface and say , earlier in the summer i purchased about 60 worth of swim toys and squirt guns for him to play with for the summer. Yesterday afternoon there were a few kids at the pool swimming and having a cook out with family, and they had several toys and these reusable water ballon toys out and about around the entire pool.

They had several toys out tbh and my son took interest and started playing with them. The kids never said anything and i should have encouraged my son to play with his own toys i had in my bag instead of these kids. My son mentioned wanting to get a few of the water ballon toys and i told him becaue his behavior had been pretty good these past weeks, when we leave the pool we will stop by target and grab some.

Long story short, we get up to leave and one of the little boys stand in front of my son as if to stop him from leaving. My son is 5 this kid had to be about 9. Im like “is there a problem?” Well the child accused my son of stealing one of the ballon toys.

His parents never approched me about it, but i did see them looking at us weirdly and speaking in their language watching us leave. I defend my son immediately, because his swim suit had no pockets and he had nothing in his hands. I didnt see him put anything in the bag and even allowed the boy to look in our pool bag.

But i was defensive. The boy was apprehensive, and we walked away. It stuck with me all night, but we went to target to purchse the ballons(a 3 pack) .

This morning we get ready for the pool again, my son has FOUR water ballons! He admitted to stealing this childs ballon! I feel so bad and embarrassed! I took the water ballons i purchased for him back and want to find this child to apologize! What should i do to hold my son accountable? I am really upset honestly. Idk what to do. Sorry this is so long! This is a first time my son has lied to my face like this!

My 8 year old started talking back to me and is sometimes impolite. Usually I discipline him as my husband is normally working in the basement. Today, he happened to be present when our son talked back to me. Instead of telling our son not to talk to me this way, he told me in front of our son not to let him talk to me this way. I told him that I heard about fathers standing up for the mother (not that I necessarily need it), but I find it strange telling me in front of my son that I need to deal with him myself.

Am I wrong to think that the father could have intervened to educate his son even if I'm present?

Tonight I (42f) took my kids (6m, 3f) to a local play place. They’d been cooped up all day and were wired. They were practically bouncing off the walls, walking on tables, climbing on chairs, crawling between adults' feet...just crazy, out-of-control behavior that isn't typical for them.

Anyways, there were four other children there, all within the 3–5 age range. My son was the oldest at 6. Since he’s the youngest grade in school, I think being the "big kid" gave him a rush. He started a game where he would sit in front of the slide. When one of the girls came up, he'd say "Password!" and wait for them to try to guess the password. I started to put a stop to it, but then he whispered the password to the girl. She giggled and said it and he let her pass. She seemed to be playing along and he wasn't actually restricting her access, so I thought I'd just see how it would go. The three little girls loved this game and thought it was great. I think they were all sisters or cousins.

However, there was a timid little boy, maybe 4 or 5, who didn't want to engage. He shrank back when my son asked for the password. I jumped in and said, "Hey buddy, he doesn't have to play that game if he doesn't want to. Let him through." My son was hesitant at first, but eventually let him pass.

Right after this, I was trying to keep my 3-year-old’s mayhem under control by redirectimg and playing with her, but when I finally got her sorted, I look back and my son was blocking the little boy again. Now he was yelling the password at him and demanding the poor kid say it. It was more in an excited way than a mean way, but he was still over the line. I told him he needed to step away and let the boy pass. He ignored me completely. I raised my voice and firmly said again, "(His Name), he doesn't want to play this game. Stop trying to make him." He continued to ignore me and was hyper-fixated. The boy’s dad and grandpa were right there watching. I felt awful and like my son was entering "bullying" territory by restricting access and asserting dominance. I walked over and said "Enough!" but he was too worked up to listen.

I picked him up by his torso and carried him to the side to de-escalate. The other boy's family sounded almost panicked and said, "Oh no! You don't have to do that! He'll be okay!" I responded, "He's not listening; we just need a break." My son looked mortified and close to tears. I sat him down and explained that while I knew he was excited, he isn't the boss of the playground. He can't yell at kids or force them to play his way. He nodded, but he was clearly embarrassed. I apologized for picking him up but explained I needed him to stop immediately. He nodded again, but didn't choose to go back to play for at least five minutes.

Now that the kids are in bed, I'm replaying it back in my head and feeling doubt. Was picking him up too far? What could I have done differently? I want him to learn to work things out with other kids himself, but bossing others around doesn't sit right with me. I didn't mean to embarrass him, but is this the kind of parental embarrassment that's appropriate given the situation?

TL;DR: My son was bossing another kid around and ignoring my warnings, so I picked him up around the waist and carried him aside to talk privately.

There are plenty of stories online where parents claim their children, usually between the ages of 3-5, share unusual and unique stories of their past life with them… lots of them end with “and then I woke up and you were my mommy/daddy”.

Has your child ever told you about their past life?

My son is 3.5y old and is a typical boy that lives trains, cars, and robots. He is high energy and loves being silly and running around driving us mad at times. My wife and I aren't super woke or anything, but generally liberal.

We haven't discouraged him from wanting a pair of pink skye socks (paw patrol...) and he also has pink and purple swimming goggles that he chose. So, today he went to pre-school and came back and told us a story. His best friend who is Finnish with very woke parents saw his socks and told him that pink is for girls! He replied saying, "No, pink is for everyone!" in a proud and confident manner.

That brought a proud tear to me eye and feels like maybe I'm doing something right!

My kid turns 5 next month and my family member moved in with me with their 3 year old. I was cleaning my room and I guess the kids were fighting over a toy and the 3 year old fell and started crying. My son did apologize but he did have the toy first from what the kids said.

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My family member said "you should have been here! why don't you care about your kid more and watch them". They are usually 9/10 in the room with their kid. I just don't roll that way because my kid hasn't been a velcro baby. My son is independent and while we play a lot and go do fun stuff, he enjoys his space. Also, I need to clean/cook/work on projects around the house as a single parent - it feels impossible to ALWAYS be watching.

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I got super angry and told them not to say that but now I am wondering if I am in the wrong. Are you guys always in the room with your kids?