I’ve been planning a solo fishing trip without my kids for years. It’s finally happening even though I’m getting sick and the weather is so bad for my trip, I may not get a minute on the water. What grinds my gears is the sheer amount of planning I have to do before I leave. Printed weekly schedule, food prep, laundry prep, animal prep, paper work prep for taxes etc etc. I have 3 separate spread sheets so my wife and in laws can follow all the moving parts I’m exhausted filing the freezer with meals my kids and wife will eat, packing and getting ready. Made all the worse by the fact both my k ..read more

It’s my birthday coming up and I think this is what I want - a once/month or once/every two weeks caregiver who will watch and hang with my kids (ages 16mos and 2.5yrs) while I’m mostly at home and/or leave the house for a short errand. My oldest (5yrs) is in school so maybe when he’s around in the summer as well. I haven’t had a break longer than what I get after they go to bed since my second was born in June of 2021. I’m pretty burnt out. My husband is gone on a lot of work trips and he has no idea how to entertain the kids that they don’t want to come looking for me every couple of minute ..read more

For the past 2 weeks almost my 3.5 year old boy has been insanely difficult. Literally overnight. He's ignoring me, not following directions, constantly whining, refusing to walk, making obnoxious noises, randomly tantruming, not napping, and wandering around the house doing all the stated while ignoring his toys entirely. And yes I rotate them. Not a single day has had a positive piece other than when he finally goes to sleep. Every day has been over the top unenjoyable and miserable. This can't be normal submitted by /u/That-Expert5260 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

How do you handle pickups? My toddler is in daycare/preschool. Drop off is a drive thru but I have to go inside to pick him up. The baby is 5 months and HEAVY (last weight check was 4mo & 22lbs). I carry the bucket seat inside but I’m thinking about switching to a convertible because my poor back lol. Anyways, I’m not sure how to manage pickup if I have to take baby out of the carseat. What does everyone else do? I know most people here have their kids at home but for those who have an older one in school and the younger one at home. submitted by /u/mamanessie [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

My 4yo has never played independently. When she asks me to play, if I say, “Not right now, I’m doing something else. I’ll play with you when I’m done,” she keeps hounding me until I’m done with what I’m doing. If I say “I’ll play with you for 15 minutes,” she throws a tantrum when the 15 minutes are up. In any case, the second I’m not paying attention to her, she reaches for her iPad. I would love for her to be able to entertain herself without relying on a screen. I also get burned out from the constant interaction. I’ve tried many different tactics to get her to play on her own without a sc ..read more

Hey all! So I live in a really fun city. There are a lot of great things to do with kids. I currently have one child under 3 so they aren’t in school yet. I struggle with balancing doing fun activities and getting my normal household activities done. For example, today I’m trying to figure out if I should clean, cook, grocery shop or should I take my child to a museum series for their age group. I was thinking about having a dedicated day during the week for fun things. Even on errand days, we still go to the park for a little while. On the weekends we always do a lot of fun activities. I str ..read more

I'm 38 weeks pregnant with a baby we very much planned and want. We are so excited. Once we got pregnant, my husband and I agreed I'd stay home with our baby since we could comfortably afford to live on his income. I wanted this and so did he. But today was my last day at work and it was so much harder than I thought it would be. I started at this company as an assistant when I was 22 and was internally promoted four times to a department manager over the span of ten years. My boss practically raised me. So many tears and heartfelt goodbyes.. I actually ugly cried. I KNOW I want this - but wa ..read more

I’m struggling lately. My 4.5 and 2 year old are really wearing me out. I was so into gentle parenting before I decided to stay with them (about 6 months ago) and now I just fly off the handle and yell. They fight with each other all the time. Before they were apart much more and so there wasn’t really fighting. We try to get out of the house as much as possible but sometimes I just want to play in our yard or play with our toys. But I always seem to regret it because they are fighting or we sit to do an activity and my 2 year old is eating the markers/crayons/playdoh. I don’t know I just won ..read more

I’m struggling to find things to keep my almost 15 month old occupied when we are at home. We play with blocks and toys and read books, but those things get old pretty quick. He has a play pen cage thing that he will sometimes play in (looking at books or playing with toys) for short periods of time, but he pretty quickly calls/cries to be picked up, and I find myself turning on Ms. Rachel or Hey Bear too often so that I can get something done. I’m wondering if you guys have any toys or activities your little ones particularly like? We don’t have a ton of toys and I think he gets bored of the ..read more

Im really struggling today and most days. Rant incoming. My husband works 12 hour days and doesn’t get home until 8pm. He does not have off two days in a row either. I feel like his schedule is awful for family life. We don’t really have family help and my husband is scared of hiring outside help. I’m grateful for the life he is able to provide us with his job, but I feel so alone. Being alone with two little kids all day every day is exhausting. Not eating dinner together or spending any time together is depressing. By the time he gets home from work, the kids are asleep so he can’t help me ..read more