Does anyone have recommendations for multivitamins for an incredibly picky 2 year old? My son won't eat fruits or veggies. I've tried adding them to his plates along with trusted foods but he usually just squishes or destroy them in some manner without ever eating them. He won't even drink juice of any type. I'm worried my dude is going to get scurvy at this point.

He won't eat gummies so gummy vitamins haven't worked. I've found some liquid multivitamins but they're fruit flavored and historically speaking, that's not gonna work, but I'm willing to give it a try if necessary. I was hoping for something flavorless I could just add to his water or milk.

Any tips/recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

I get my son every Thursday and every other weekend (not court ordered) he came over this weekend and started crying. I asked why he said he was sad because something happened. All he said was he didn’t wanna talk about it. I kept asking finally he said someone hit him and touched him but wouldn’t say who it was. He did say it’s someone I didn’t know. I told his mom and she was slightly concerned but the first thing she said was “I’ll tell you what I do know is it’s not sexual” I thought that was a bit odd considering I never said anything about it being sexual.

She then squinted her eyes and kept asking how this came up and I told her he said he was sad. Anyway I didn’t say much else but I told my sons grandmother an her first reaction was oh he’s sensitive he’s just saying it for attention. I messaged my ex about it further she said it’s fine and figured out an said he pushed his friend on accident an felt bad for hurting this kid but it makes no sense cause my son said someone hit him. I continued to tell my ex im concerned a she said well if your going to come at me then he doesn’t need to come over anymore and blocked me.

Am I just being paranoid or overreacting? I feel very worried but my ex and her mom say I’m just fishing for him to say something. I don’t really know what to do any suggestions?

Husband and I were gifted tickets to our favorite football team’s game this weekend. Yay! For us and the kids too. However… i’m starting to get nervous about it. Excited for this core memory but also… it’s an 8 month old, 2 year old, and 5 year old.

Has anyone taken this on?! Are we gonna regret it?! Tips for young kids at an NFL game would be much appreciated if anyone has any. Thank you!!!

ETA: we already have noise cancelling earphones for all 3!

Ok so my baby is crying constipated. I wanted to give prune juice, but i just read the bottle i bought is prune nectar… what’s the difference and can i give this?

Baby is 7 months. Tried purees or pear and prune but nothing!

Thank you!!!

I don’t know what to do about my middle child. I can count on 1 hand how many times he’s been spanked. And please no negative comments saying well maybe it’s because you don’t spank him enough etc. I legit need some guidance. We spend time with him because we know he’s still adjusting to his little sister. We are patient and then he will try us and the patience wears thin. He’s never been one to get in trouble at school but the past few weeks he’s been being loud and disruptive. Anything we ask of him, example, to brush his teeth, take a bath, finish his homework he will throw himself in the floor and whine. When he has constantly tested our patience and we get close to him so we know he makes eye contact he starts shaking and acting like we hurt him when we don’t. We’ve tried time out, writing sentences etc. He’s a very smart, talented, tender hearted child. All of this didn’t start until 6-7 months after his sister was born. Please help. 🥺

Did any of you get these random awful thoughts like omg i want to throw you out a window . Obviously I would never hurt my baby and i love her to bits but she’s a colic baby and mentally and physically I’m so exhausted and i’m mourning my old life before baby. I dont know how to stop thinking these awful thoughts and i hate whenever one pops in my head. Help. Please tell me I’m not the only one who has had thoughts like these and that they’ll go away soon.

What would you do? If you've read a prior post of mine, you'll know my 13 year old has begun to explore sexually. We've known for a while that he has been masturbating and watching some porn online. We've already had the talk with him and really tried to convey the message that porn isn't real and that isn't really how sex is for the majority of the world, etc etc. He had a girlfriend who he begun "sexting" (no nude photos were sent) only talking about touching each other, kissing, etc. We had a talk with him, let him know he wasn't wrong to feel those things, but that he's still pretty young and has loads of time to explore things like that when he's a bit older.

His girlfriend, however, got in trouble. She was grounded, phone taken, the whole nine. She got her phone back later, tried to sneak around and call/facetime my son (even when mom told her not to) and she got in trouble again. Well that was about 4 weeks ago. In my opinion, her mom has blown it way out of proportion. My husband and I were thinking her mom was going to keep her phone until she caved and broke up with our son. We were right. Last week, she broke up with him at school, and got her phone back that same afternoon. He was devastated. He was crying, everything. I felt so bad.

Literally a day later, he is facetiming another girl he knows and has previously "dated" before. Using that term loosely obviously. His ex-girlfriend really was the first "serious" girlfriend he's ever had. Last night, he was talking to another girl he has known for a while and is apparently already dating her and telling her "I love you" and literally the same day he was talking to his ex-girlfriend about getting back together and how much he missed her and loved her etc.

I know he's only 13 but he's acting like such a f*ck boy. We also have an 8 year old daughter and he's literally acting like a boy that I'd never want our daughter to mess with. He's playing with these girls emotions and being a complete douche bag. I have tried to tell him to just not date anyone. Play the field, be single, and then you won't have to worry about girls getting mad at who you talk to because you would be single but it's like he HAS to be in a relationship. I don’t understand his need to be “dating” someone.

Has anyone else went through something similar and will he grow out of this? I'm trying so hard to raise a decent boy but he's literally disgusting me with his behavior towards girls and I am so sad about it! I don’t think punishing him is the right thing to do or is it? Ugh😐😐😐😐

My child is showing signs of schizophrenia. We have a genetic history of it. Doctor says it can be very very normal in childhood development for children to have auditory hallucinations, but it could also be a period of time before full onset.

So I am just curious, how many of you have had a child who had auditory hallucinations periodically throughout childhood, and what has the outcome currently been (as some may not be grown yet)?

I have owned a daycare, worked with kids my entire adult life, and have never actually seen a child have this, so reaching out to the good old Reddit to hear experiences. Yes, I’m worried, but I am also confused. Good and bad experiences welcome, I’d rather bluntness as if something does occur, it will help mentally prepare me for it being my child rather than a family member. Just gauging… because now I feel crazy.

My daughter is 15 and I've never had an ounce of trouble out of her. She is responsible, respectful, intelligent, has amazing friends with no drama and we've always gotten along very well. I support her in everything she does and always help her dive in to any interests she has. Lately I can tell that she becomes annoyed with me easily and thinks most of my statements are wrong or annoying. I REMEMBER feeling that way about my mom. I remember thinking my mom was so dense and that I had everything figured out. She has everything she needs and most everything she wants. Our house is the hangout spot for her friends and she says things to me about some of her friends parents being unreasonable or treating their kids like property and not individuals, so I know she appreciates her home life and feels heard and respected. I can just tell that things are shifting in our relationship and everyone at home is annoying, lame or wrong. She doesn't express it in ways that are disrespectful but I can see the facial expression change when her brother and I are being silly (things she used to do with us) or when her Dad makes a comment about one of her cats misbehaving and mostly everything I do. The energy in the room just shifts when she walks in. I've found myself becoming frustrated and trying to avoid her or not speaking around her as much as to not provoke a reaction that's gonna piss me off. Some days I just want to say "I KNOW YOU THINK IM SO DUMB BUT IM NOT AND ONE DAY YOU'LL LOOK BACK AND LAUGH AT HOW SMART YOU THINK YOU ARE RIGHT NOW. SO GET YOUR ASS OFF YOUR SHOULDERS AND COME BACK DOWN TO EARTH."... I guess this is just part of the natural transition into being more independent... but idk how to break the tension without breaking her spirit. Any advice appreciated.

My partner and I are going on a two week cruise next month, we’re expecting another baby so we thought it would be good to leave our 17 month old with grandparents so we can enjoy the cruise to the fullest. We weighed the pros and cons and she’s too young to even go in adult pools and we really want some relaxing time together to be honest. Anyway I have already agreed with his parents to keep our daughter as they only see her once a month as they live two hours away from me. I was happy with this as I know they’re quite good with her routine as I’m very strict with bedtimes etc and I thought it would be nice for them to spend more time with her BUT now I’m starting to regret it. My mum sees my daughter all the time and my LO is so used to her and she LOVES her and my sisters. She’s not bothered about me when they’re around and that makes me confident and not worried to leave her with my mum and have some alone time. She’s always so happy with my family and not looking for me where with his family I feel like she will wonder where we are and be more sad but I don’t know. My mum isn’t as great at routine keeping but at this point I’d rather my daughter be happier than be in a strict routine. Some other things that concern me about leaving her with his parents are that they do things that I don’t like, for example kissing her on the lips, putting her bottle in their mouth etc I feel like even if we tell them not to they will still do those things while we’re not there. I really don’t know what to do and how to potentially tell them that I want my LO to stay with my mum… I mention not long ago that I was thinking of taking her with us on the cruise and she was like I’ve told everyone how excited I am to have her for two weeks and started cuddling her. I really don’t know what to do😭

I spent the morning helping my wife get the kids out of the house, and for the next 6-7 I’ve just laid around and done pretty much nothing. I still feel drained as hell. I took a vacation day for this and it barely helped… All day I feel like I am in an unmotivated haze with immense brain fog.

My 3 year old daughter is and absolutely terrorist. She breaks things every single day. She rips up books, tears stickers off of EVERY FUCKING THING like the carseat, the microwave. Anything she has access too She will tear up or dump out. I got my son and expensive globe toy with stickers where the buttons go, She destroyed it in 10 minutes.
I have child locks on every cabinet and door in the house but she just rips them off. She's constantly in time out but it doesn't phase her.

She has colors and playhouse and all sorts of fun things to do but she's just destructive as HELL.

I am so tired of her. I feel like a bad parent saying it but she is THE WORST of my children and quite honestly the worst behave child I've ever seen. I have no idea what to do.

Please help me .

My kid is year old, there is been lot of fights arguments happening between me and my husband for more than a year now. The intensity of the fights are worse now. I don’t see myself being happy with him in future. But I am afraid that if I go for separation, my kid will not be having a family. And not sure who gets to take care of kid after separation. My kid is my everything, I cant live without him.

Hello everyone,

I am wondering what you guys give your children at this age for chores and responsibilities. I sometimes wonder if I place too much responsibility on my daughter but I’ve read over and over that doing chores and having responsibilities is good for them. I will list below what chores I have in place for my daughter as well as responsibilities.

I have her put her own laundry away and have most recently been showing her how to load and unload the washer and dryer

She is to make her school lunches every night.

I make her strip her own bed and have also showed her how to make her bed. I don’t have her make her bed daily just after it’s been washed.

She has a pet rat she is 100% responsible for.

I make her clean her room weekly.

Would you guys agree this is an acceptable amount of chores? Would you add to this list or take some away?

I don’t have any other friends with children so I don’t really have much to go off of besides my own childhood.

Thanks guys 😊

This has no particular point, it’s just a wholesome, though somewhat bittersweet, thing that happened today that made me very emotional. I have a 22 y.o. daughter who is very peculiar. She is a just graduate historian who has a bunch of interests that are not that common in people her age, and she’s great at talking to older (as in, a lot older) folk. There is one thing though. She’s also asexual and aromantic. She is very adamant she does not want to get married or have children, or any kind of sexual and romantic relationship. I believe her fully. It took me a long while to come to terms with that, but I’m getting better at it now. I see that she truly doesn’t see herself happy with anyone by her side in that way. I and her father do worry for her, though, because we imagine she will have a very lonely old age unless she’s very lucky. It’s something very scary for us. The fact that she has a tendency to befriend people who are older then her makes that even worse, as she herself admits that the vast majority of her closest relations will be dead when she is middle aged. I think we can all agree this is very frightening.

Anyways. My daughter has a very close friend, who is actually her father’s friend whom she “stole”. Let’s call him Michael (63 y.o.). Michael and my husband knew each other since childhood, and they both went to the same university (though Michael is a couple of years older, so they were never classmates) and ended up working in the same place for 40+ years. Easy to say they have been great friends for a while now. It’s a strange friendship, they don’t have a lot in common - my husband is a very stern and introspective guy, Michael is a very, very bubbly and flamboyant gay man with a couple obsessions he cannot shut up about at any given moment. (For the record, I love him, ok? That’s just a very accurate description of him lol.) - but they like each other very much and have been through a lot.

My daughter has known Michael since she was born, but from 14-15 onwards she started becoming closer to him on a more adult level - as in, not just a kid he was fond of, but someone he actually has conversations with. To summarise, he has become one of her best friends. She adores him, he adores her, they have a really beautiful relationship. She has a lot of interest in his special obsessions, even though she doesn’t know as much as him by a long shot, and she just lets him talk about it as much as he wants, which I think is something he doesn’t get a lot. He is one to talk a lot, and everyone knows it’s very hard to end a conversation with him once you start it, so whenever she is going to call him, she gives us “notice” that she will likely be unavailable for the next two hours. She hates speaking on the phone. She calls him anyways. She goes visit him and they speak for hours, and then she comes back and retells everything to us like it’s the most interesting thing ever. When he gets sick she brings him flowers and food. He brings her rivers of gifts from every trip he makes and talks incredibly highly of her to anyone who will listen (we’ve had a bunch of people come to us and say “oh, Michael talks about her a lot” when we mention her to someone he also knows). He always says that they are more then friends, they are “a meeting of souls”. No need to say she stole the spot of “Michael’s favourite person in our family” from my husband. We all find it very sweet, how much they like each other.

She has a level of patience for him that I have yet to see her have for almost anyone else. He’s lovely, but can be very tiring sometimes, and yet she never seems to try to escape him at all, even when he’s been on the phone talking for 2+ hours. So once I asked her why. And she told me, paraphrasing, a story about how once she was in his room and he had to take a call, and while he was on the phone, she started looking at his bookshelf that had a ton of little trinkets. She told me that when he finished the call, he immediately started to tell her the stories of every single trinket, unprompted. She told me that things like this make her see herself in him (she does this exact same thing every single time she reorganizes her bookshelves: she calls everyone in the house and starts explaining why she put the statue of Leonardo da Vinci in shelf E, and the Sherlock Holmes teddy bears on shelf A, etc). And that she does for him what she hopes someone would be willing to do for her when she is the one who is old, lonely and with a lot of knowledge to share but very few people to listen. No need to say that made me quite emotional, both because I’m proud of her and terrified for her.

So, today I was talking to Michael, whom I was visiting, and he started telling me (without any relation to my daughter) about how when he was young he was friends with a lonely old lady, Ella. How her son was aggressive when he got drunk and he would go there to keep her company on those occasions, just to make sure everything was all right. How he absolutely adored her and they were a “meeting of souls”. The same words he uses about my daughter.

I was so incredibly emotional then, because it occurred to me that he did for Ella roughly what my daughter does for him. I don’t think he even realizes that. I don’t think he notices the similarities at all. But it occurred to me that he did something good for someone when he was young, and found someone who does the same for him how that he is old. And for some reason - I know it’s circunstancial, I know it’s not proof of anything, but still - it gave me hope that my daughter might not end up totally alone after all. That maybe someone will indeed be willing to do for her what she does for Michael. And I’ve been crying about that for like, half an hour now, for some reason. I’m just very proud of her.

Hi everyone - I need some help making sense of this. Please note, my husband studies psychotherapy extensively, so his knowledge impacts his perception of things. My husband and I have had many, many arguments due to him psychoanalyzing me and stating that majority of my emotional issues stem from my father’s mistreatment of me as a child. He believes until I don’t hold my father accountable, I can never be a healthy wife or mother. Please note, my father had narcissistic tendencies but he has changed a lot and has been remorseful of being strict with me. I’ve been in therapy, have had talks with my parents etc but my husband still believes that I still have a lot of work to do.

Now to the parenting part, my daughter is 2 years old and my husband feels that grandma (my mother) and I have turned her against him. She unfortunately is not very fond of her dad. She often tells him to go, says no to him and is rejecting of him. But I think this is also because he rarely spends any time with her (maybe 30 minutes a day max). Grandma and I play with her all the time, take her out and even with us she can get a little nasty (understandable as a toddler) but I feel she thinks her primary caretakers are grandma and mom, not mom and dad. Dad is someone who occasionally plays with her but for the most part he’s in his own room working or studying psychology. My husband is convinced that he cannot have a good relationship with our daughter until my mother and I don’t overcome our traumas? That somehow my mom and my experiences with my dad are unconsciously relayed to our daughter which then causes our daughter to act out on her dad/my husband. Could there be any validity to this?

I am working on my emotional issues, but I can’t force my mom into therapy being 65 years old, but my husband strongly believes that his relationship is dependent on how my mom and I view men due to our traumas.

Also, No matter how much I encourage my daughter to be nice and loving towards her dad, she just isn’t interested in him. My husband has stated he can no longer tolerate living with us because of how rejecting our duaghter is towards him and that he is considering divorce over how my mom and I have manipulated our daughter. Of course, we have had many other issues that contributed to the state of our current situation but my daughter’s rejection of my husband has pushed him over the edge and willing to divorce me.

Please note, my mother lives with us because I have serious health issues at this point, work a full time job and need help babysitting our daughter while I work. I wouldn’t want my mother here with us, but I just can’t manage alone with all my life stressors.

Thank you for any insight!

My 8 week old baby just started rolling and it has been a very hard transition for us. He can roll from front to back and has started working on back to front but hasn’t been able to yet. Since then of course, we have put away the bassinet and stopped using swaddles. Now that we just use sleep sacks, he’s having a very hard time taking naps during the day because of the Moro (startle) reflex waking him up all the time. We will have him in a sleep sack and he will just be flailing his arms and legs trying to sleep but not able to. Even with soft white noise and a very dark room. He has begun learning how to self sooth with his hands but doesn’t always do it. I’m not sure exactly what to do in this situation. Advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

I have an 11 month old son I'm a 21 year old father and I have a hardwood floor and my son is learning to walk and he slips and falls a lot and he's hit the back of his head on the floor before a couple times and I'm wondering if I'm being a bad dad by allowing this to happen.

I am a FTM here trying to build my registry for my June babe. I am wondering do you need multiple types of baby wraps? So far I have a Konny mesh wrap good for 8lbs and up, thinking this will be really good for the newborn stage. But I don’t get if I would also need a ring sling and then a more structured carrier for when they are a bit older? Help! Thank you 🤍

Our daughter started kindergarten in september for the first time. She’s 19 months old now. She has been continously sick with all different kinds of diseases, stomach bugs, ear infections, the works. She gets better and after three days in the kindergarten she’s sick again and we have to take her home and one of us needs to stay away from the job for a couple of days. Our pediatrician today told us that this is normal, but we are really frustrated as this has been going on for months now without end. The most she has been in the kindergarten without interruption is one week.

Otherwise she is a completely healthy and happy child with no underlying conditions.

When does this stop or at least get better?

We are first time parents and this is really stresful, impacting our relationship and our jobs.

Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

My wife is feeling embarrassed and humiliated by a tantrum my son threw in public. Help her feel better by sharing one of your toddler’s worst/ embarrassing tantrums.

I have seen a couple episodes of Cocomelon to not like it. I am watching little angel for the first time and it feels very cocomelon like to me. I do not mind the songs and the nursery rhymes. I just don't like how fast the scenes switch. What do y'all think about it?

Hi everyone, I'm hoping you can help me. I've bought the fire hd 8 kids tablet for my daughter for Christmas. It was said to come with 100s of games. I'm awful with technology and couldn't find any games on this thing but you are able to download others. But ever game costs money even the so called free games are just as free or a free trial. Can anyone please suggest some free, preferably educational, games I can download for a 3 y.om girls tablet? Thank you!

I come from a very large family. Six brothers and sisters who are all married and who all have at least 1 kid though the majority have more. On top of that, my spouse comes from a family where everybody gets everyone a gift. Very tapped out this year with giftgiving for the holidays. Think this is all incredibly excessive.

How do people handle an odd number of gifts to give/receive for? To somewhat streamline the process, my family has at least agreed to a set gift limit ($40 a kid) but it’s really not fair given how people have different sized families (one family only has to buy for 5 kids, others have as many as 10 kids to buy for based on my quick math).

Picking names was rejected. I tried. I’m really burned out and I still have another few hundred dollars to spend now.

How do others do this or am I just being a grinch?

I’m not a big reader (I only read children’s books to my son) anyway, I’ve had this book for at least 3 years and today I finally thought let me start reading it. And wow, I already do some of the things but I think of the past and I’m like wow I’ve been a POS mother. I’m going to keep reading it. But ugh, has anyone else had this experience? 😩

Hello, I want to teach my daughter (6) to obey us and to stop aggression. She's pretty obedient most of the time, but also she demands obedience from us. Yes, you read well. Also when she really wants something we do not allow she apparently thinks she can force us by hitting, screaming and insulting us. We don't give her what she wants when she's behaving that way. Other time she may get activated if she loses in a game or if we make a mistake towards her. I tend to get triggered and then I start criticising her behaviour and/or trying to resonate (I know, it's wrong). Sometimes I leave the room, which is also wrong because she has strong separation anxiety. She can see that I'm nervous, furios, sometimes even sad, depressed. I give her timeouts sometimes. I'm glad she stays where I put her (there was a time when this was not the case), bit she's pushing all the boundaries - yelling, throwing things etc. I tell her I'm gonna restart the 5 min timer everytime she misbehaves and if she wants this to take all day is her choice. Today I've restarted this 3 times, which I think it's a record. She says sorry in the end for hitting or insulting, sometimes she cries, hugs me. The I speak to her about what our conflict and I try to show my disapproval. Problem is, I don't think she gets the message. I don't show my disapproval enough, I don't know how. I feel like I'm actually allowing her to disrespect us, and I want to take action instead. I want her to feel that we the parents are the boss. She certainly doesn't believe that.

I want to have a discussion with her about the fact that I expect obedience and that I'm not gonna allow her to use violence towards us anymore. I want to make a poster with rules and give consequences when it makes sense. But I feel that this isn't enough. Maybe I find here some wisdom from more experienced parents.

Any tips? You can criticise my mentality, no problem. I am gonna ponder every suggestion and I'm able to change the way I see and do things. I don't post usually but I'm so tired of this treatment we have from our daughter.

We used to use a more persmissive approach until we observed the fruits it brought, a year ago.

Obviously she would be north of my head, so wouldn't see anything graphic.

My daughter is asking to have a mom/daughter day. The only day I have available, I already have an appt to get my IUD changed out in the middle of the day. I am pretty open with my kids, and have had the period-talk with her. Not sex-talk too much, just physically how it happens, but not like, birth control methods or any sub-topics (STDs etc). I was thinking this might be a good way to open up the subject of things like that, and also give her a real-world glimpse into the things women have to do when you start having sex/ having babies.

My daughter is NOT into romantic relationships or anything like that, so not sure if it would scar her for life. When she was a lot younger, like 3yo, she would go with me to the OB bc I was pregnant with her brothers. But obv a lot has changed since then.

Parents who have fussy babies (hate car seats, just generally prefer to be at home chilling than out and about):

Do you power thru for the sake of the family knowing baby gets stressed or do you stay home even if it means the rest of the family has to make some sacrifices (i.e sibling can’t make it to their activity)? Married, but partner has a difficult work schedule, so assume I’m in this solo.

Struggling to find the balance with a 2 month old who wants to be at home all the time and a 6 year old who does some activities/sports and generally wants to be out of the house (parks, library, stores, etc.)

Hi all.

My kids birthday is coming up (4->5yo) after the new years . And here we are not the types to do the whole class or nothing those are for when they are older and do more the hang with music type of parties.

So now I’m trying to figure out how to best host a children’s birthday party. Unicorn themed.

Please share your insights on what you would do.

I’m getting overwhelmed by ideas , crushed by my limits and I fear to death that I will fuck this up and ruin friendships for my kid. And I would hate for her to be lonelier than me.

So yeah I need words of encouragement, definitely not parenting style bashing, so please be kind.

I live in a small house and we don't have an extra room (no, not even a closet that can be repurposed), so it's only a matter of time till our now 3 months old baby boy will have to share a room with his 4.5 yo brother.

When is the best time for the transition? I am trying to plan ahead.

My main considerations are schedules and life changes. The schedules are somewhat similar: both fall asleep for the night and wake up for the day at roughly the same time. My husband does the bath and bedtime v with the big kid while I nurse the baby and put him to bed. The baby is currently in our room in a Snoo bassinet and will move to a mini crib around 5-6 months. The baby is breastfed and usually wakes up to feed around 5am and then sleeps another couple of hours. I plan to wean the baby at 1yo. The big kid will start school around the baby's 1st birthday.

The big kid already sleeps with a white noise machine and a night light, but I am not sure he would sleep through the baby crying. I am also not sure if the night light will interfere with the baby's sleep, as he currently sleeps in complete darkness.

Should I start the transition when the baby moves from his bassinet to the mini crib? Wait till he's weaned? Wait till he sleeps through the night without a single wakeup (who knows when that will happen if he can see and smell me, the source of his milk)?