As an American parent, I'm probably not going to stay up for mine lol. Celebrating the UTC new year. Woo!

Not sure if memes are welcome in this comm, if not I can take it down :)

Article Authors: - Colin King | Director, Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic, Western University - Amy Rzezniczek | Ph.D. Candidate, School and Applied Child Psychology, Western University - Rachel Krahn | Master's student, School and Applied Child Psychology, Western University

Apparently making her stop playing to get ready for bed (15 minutes past the normal time I might add) is worth loathing of the highest degree. Threenagers.

My wife and I are looking to buy our first home and naturally are concerned about schools for our kids. I was looking at one school and it had a "B+" from [Niche](https://www.niche.com/) but a "4" from [GreatSchools](https://www.greatschools.org/) which are kind of contradictory? Does anyone have any advice on which sire is better, third options, or are all these sites actualy useless lol?

Self portrait made by a 5 yr old and we are all the person in red on this blessed day.

My 5.5yo daughter is very shy, so I've been pushing her into hobbies to help managing her shyness. I've talked about how being shy is fine, but it's something to work on, otherwise she'll have a really hard time making friends. I'm shy and told her about that. I took her to a gymnastics class (we do gymnastics together at open gym), but she refused to join the class. I said if she does one activity (even just a game at the end), I'll get her ice cream. We spent the time sitting on the side. She didn't do it, so I figure no ice cream then. She's pretty mad. I'm not mad with her, but just of the opinion that we had a deal, and if she wants the reward, she needs to earn it. Too harsh? Too soft? Alternatives?

Hidden Brain podcast Episode title: Parents: Keep Out! Publish date: 24/11/2025, 20:00:00 Podcast length: 01:23:04 If you’re a parent or a teacher, you’ve probably wondered how to balance play and safety for the kids in your care. You don’t want to put children in danger, but you also don’t want to rob them of the joy of exploration. This week, we revisit a favorite conversation with psychologist Peter Gray. ...

I finally started to listen to "Sold a Story", then in a panic reviewed how my school system is teaching children to read. While listening to episode 2, "The Idea", I learned that many students were taught how to read with the skills that are certain to make them poor readers. (This made me reflect on the recent news that a great many Americans don't read at the 6th grade level.) I hope that you all check what your school district is doing, and like me find that the school district is following a good plan. (Minnesota requires the reading plans for school districts to be made public. I read the plan, and then I ran it through Gemini to check against "sold a story" as this is not my area of expertise.) As an aside many reading program have suspiciously terrible names, like "Read Naturally". While the google I use found the main site quickly, criticisms of that program are harder to locate. (There are many criticisms of other programs that use the phrase "read naturally".)

People seem to like it (German): https://chaos.social/@markusseifert/115837668962928429

Does anyone here have any firsthand experience of the pros & cons of home schooling? Whether as a parent, child or friend/family member/neighbour?

Awful to see the steady dismantling of the CDC. There are doctors and science advocates coming together to scaffold and build up trustworthy sources of info outside of the CDC. I follow epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina and she has a great newsletter she started up around Covid and has kept going - https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/ She recommends the general public avoid the CDC web site now. She recommends healthychildren.org powered by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Some U.S. states have also partnered together i.e. the West Coast Health Alliance that have pulled away from the CDC recommendations. A friend of mine in health noted it's a big reason why we (I'm in California) can still get our Covid vaccines regardless of age while her sister in Oklahoma was denied. I know there are some North Eastern states that have also partnered up. Going to be very different healthcare messaging to navigate state by state...

My kid can't really read yet, but they brought me home a book. This exchange occurred in the first ten pages: "Papa, that man is as black as ashes, isn't he?" \ Papa laughed. "Dogs and horses come in different colors, don't they?" \ "But he's not a horse, is he, Papa?" \ "No, he's not a horse." Papa patted her on the head. "But colored folks aren't much different." I WONDER WHY THIS BOOK WAS FREE IN THE LIBRARY. (I'm not blaming my kid, they chose it just based on the cover.)

My baby is 8 months old, and still wakes up at night. It's not just waking up to suck, but also to play. She just doesn't want to sleep! Falling asleep during the day is not a problem, but when night comes, she wakes up every two hours, and she can be awake for several hours. I'm losing my strength and the will to get up and I'm afraid I'll lose my patience, even though I know I should be thankful because she's a healthy and happy baby. My husband have more patience but we both are tired and Im beginning to worry for our mental health and relationship. I tried few sleeping techniques but none of them was useful to me Do you have some advice?

In a surprising and controversial move, the government has introduced a new national holiday that has left parents in a frenzy and employers infuriated. The holiday, officially known as “National Daycare Closure Day,” has caused frustration among working parents across the country. This day is chosen randomly each year, without prior notice, and seems to serve no purpose other than to inconvenience parents.

My wife continues to use Reddit and the german counterpart to this community. A user got in touch and asked what you could do if you had become listless and anxious as a result of your interaction with the child. The key question was probably: "Where do you get your strength from?" There were many answers that were aimed at constructive assistance, leisure time compensation, physical problems, or depression were considered in the comments and an offer of options on how to proceed. But my wife was bothered by a comment and I think she was right. A user replied, her love would be enough. This is absolutely condescending and presumptuous because it assumes that the desperate parent who is trying to get better would love their child less or that it is their own fault. I just wanted to get rid of that, because due to my job as a kindergarten teacher (or is it educator?) I am often confronted with thoughtless statements that may even have been meant nicely, but don't bother to take a foreign position or to find a sustainable solution.

For those unaware, Miku baby cameras are now charging a monthly subscription for features that owners previously had access to such as remote access, live breathing monitor, nightly statistics, DVR of movement through the sleep. We originally paid $400 because it was advertised as a product that would not require a monthly subscription, and we've been using it that way for the past 14 months. As of this month, the only functionality that exists without a subscription is video monitoring, but only on your local network. Everything else requires you to pay. Likely what led to this was due to the fact that they released a buggy firmware earlier this year that bricked everyone's cameras and they were on the hook to replace cameras. A few months after this they declared bankruptcy, only to be purchased by someone who has instituted the monthly subscription (rumors it's an investor of Miku trying to make their investment back). I didn't get an email about this change, only saw some chatter on that other site about it. Anticipating this change, I blocked the app from updating on my Android phone and all apps from updating on our iPad. I know it was a long shot thinking that would work, betting that it would be a server side change as opposed to client side. Looks like the change went live a day or so ago, people are pissed, however I still have access to features. Looks like the subscription block is a client side update based on the screen shots I've seen. Long story short, how can I pull the .apk from my phone to distribute to others? Fuck this company. EDIT: Figured it out, here's the update from May 2023 with features still intact - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sOOCY08j8nxvfXJd1SU7Kll-uMjiRftm/view?usp=drivesdk EDIT 2 - I figure this company only has a few months left, we'll easily just transition to a cheap Ubiquiti camera that records on my local network. Fuck this remote recording approach.

I've always been a fencesitter when it comes to having kids. I'm getting to a point where I *think* I'd like to have a kid. I don't know if it's because I really want one, or there's just nothing major left on the list of life accomplishments and it's a societal expectation. The thing is, I can think of a million and one reasons not to have one and can't put into words why I would want one. However, I'm starting to have a nagging feeling that I want to start trying. I just don't know if that feeling is something I actually want, or just society telling me I should. It doesn't help that I don't have a lot of small children I regularly interact with, so I honestly don't have a clue what life would look like after kids, beyond it being a lot of stress and hard work. It also doesn't help my spouse says it's my choice and they'll go along with whatever I want . Any advice or things that helped you know it was the right choice/time for you to expand your family?

Assuming they're old enough to have a phone, obviously. I have to send my daughter reminders to do things all the time because she's extremely forgetful. She's not annoyed by that, she's asked me to do it. And whenever I send her one, I get a read receipt *and no reply.* And I've told her a bunch of times that it's rude to not reply to texts like that, but she keeps doing it. It's driving me crazy. She's a good kid, but why doesn't she return texts?!

As of today, I have a 1 month old. She is amazing and I love her so much, but she's boring! Don't get me wrong, she's difficult and my wife and I haven't slept a good night in a month, but all she does is eat, sleep, and poop. There's basically no interaction. I'm so looking forward to being able to laugh with her, play with her, and generally start teaching her the world. How do you feel? What's your favorite stage of child development?

I thought this would be a nice place to aggregate lists of miscellaneous parenting tips, organized by age. Maybe if this gathers lots of good input, I’ll post another age group in a few days. If nobody is into the idea, no big deal. Let’s start with babies 4-6 months old, since newborns are way to fucking complicated! Suggestion: post a single tip per comment, so people can up/downvote each tip, rather than long comments with lots of ideas. May the best advice float to the top!

Hi there, in case you're wondering, this is just a burner account as I want to keep somewhat personal things separate from my usual account. I'm looking for some advice/thoughts on the following. I'm in a relationship and we're slowly looking into moving together, which also brings financial things to the table. She's got a kid, both of the parents are still somewhat in the picture. When we're moving together it'll mean that they will be living in my house. She already told me that shes not ever asking me to pay anything with regards to the kid, but I think that's not really all that fair. I'm looking for advice/thoughts on this matter. Personally I would find it nothing but fair to chip in for the necessary things, as in food, clothes etc., but draw the line when it comes to school, vacation and that sort of things, mainly because both of the parents are still there and to not bring a kid that her and I might ever have in the future in a financial disadvantage, because I've been chipping in for everything for the other kid. Secondly, it's of course their kid that they chose for, so it's not my responsibility, neither does the kid owe me any responsibility.

My child lost their first tooth today. I (being clever) got them to put it in an envelope under their pillow ready for the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy tells me the envelope was empty but they left £2 anyway. Hopefully this is standard procedure. XD

It's an exciting policy, and I didn't realize the history of such experiments being tried in NY.

Can anyone offer some advice on getting an 18-month-old to sleep at night? Until now the three techniques we've had are 1) feeding to sleep on the boob, 2) walking to sleep in the sling and 3) falling asleep in the car. Number 3 is only good for naps in the daytime, number 2 is getting difficult as our kid is getting big and heavy (and is a PITA at night anyway, and number 1 is starting to become less reliable/effective. What have you learnt about getting kids (particularly this age, if relevant) to sleep? Many thanks!

Me (after spinning them around): Do you know why people get dizzy? \ Kid, 6: *accuratelyish describes the workings of the inner ear* \ Me: uh ... Yeah.

my daughter has stolen a few things. She's 7 now but it started when she was 6. It was from school a few times - at first it was seen as a mistake and for her to return at item. She was always told "it's the school's" or "person X will be sad if doesn't have y back". Recently however she took some chewing gum from a shop. When I saw it I took her back to the shop, we gave it back and she apologised to the shopkeeper. I told her about how it is not nice, can make people sad, it is illegal etc. she didn't get a dessert that day (our usual day for having one). And I wrote a few questions on a bit of paper (why stealing is bad, what will you do if you feel like doing it again etc.) and asked her to answer them - she wrote the answers down. Less than a week later she got a pencil off a boy, gave it to her mum and said that she won two pencils. We checked this with the teacher and the teacher said there was a boy who 'lost' a pencil and was upset about it. So she knows it is wrong, but is continuing to do it. It is difficult to catch her in the act of it. Has anyone dealt with similar behaviour in a child of a similar age? Any recommendations? I can force myself to shout at her (this would scare her as I don't shout), I can take her to the local police by pre -arrangement , I'm not sure what the best approach to stop this behaviour is. It could have possibly been going on since she was in nursery as we've always accounted for things showing up as normal mistakes not intentional stealing.

[!dads@feddit.uk](https://feddit.uk/c/dads) and [!fatherverse@midwest.social](https://midwest.social/c/fatherverse)

We didn’t grow up in the US, so we don’t really know much about the gifted programs. She has scored 99 in CogAT, and 96.5 in ITBS, so she qualifies to the HAG program in NC. We can either switch to a different school that has the HAG curriculum, or keep her in the current school under the next lower level curriculum (AIG). The school says their AIG program is excellent, and that many HAG students have opted to stay in the school’s AIG program. I want to do what is best for her social, emotional, and academic growth, so please share your experience/horror stories/success stories with the gifted programs, and your advice on which one to choose. She's an only child and a bit naive, if that matters.

My 4yo is just starting to get the hang of knock-knock jokes. She told this one this morning that I think turned out unintentionally pretty hilarious. 4yo: Knock knock 9yo: Who's there? 4yo: Banana 9yo: Banana who? 4yo: Banana you glad I didn't say Orange?

I've been thinking about this for a few days. I want a place where parents can come talk about parenting with a group of peers to commiserate, seek advice, provide advice, etc. Parents of all children of all ages are welcome.