So I’m making chicken tostadas tonight. The tostada shells are premade from the store. I’m in the process of cutting the vegetables and he started telling me that I have to heat up the shells in the oven, w the refried beans on it w the chicken and cheese.

Yall. I never heat up the damn shells. They break every time in the oven. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I get annoyed because here I am after a long day trying to make dinner for him and our son. Can’t get a thanks or any sort of appreciation.

I got annoyed and said “you do it” and walked off.

Sorry. Just had to complain. This isn’t the first time that I’m “doing something wrong” according to him.

and he’s being an even bigger asshole.

Bobby Boy has started his first job in almost 11 months! It’s a well paying job with a 50 minute commute each way.

Poor Bob is already tired! The commute! The work! Poor Bob!

He’s irritated with having to commute “such a long way.” In his own car. In his luxury SUV. Poor Bob.

So he’s taking it out on us. The kids were having a sibling spat (swear words were muttered and things were thrown) to which I told them to stop and Oldest stormed off and Middle cried. It’s a spat and they would be over it in ten minutes.

Of course Bob started yelling about how dare Oldest utter a swear word in HIS house etc, etc, etc. I said it was a sibling spat and to leave them alone.

So Bob started on again about how the children are out of control and need discipline.

Oldest is studying law on a full scholarship, Middle is the sweetest boy ever. They are great kids.

So we all just ignored Bob and he stormed off to bed, but not before making it all about Bob - HE was sent away to school, HE never behaved like that. Blah blah blah. Umm, great? WTF has that got to do with anything??

And now he’ll be all shitty tomorrow and won’t bother waking Middle and Youngest for school because he’ll be “so busy” getting himself ready for work.

He’s just low-grade aggressive ALL the time (I tell him he has the same look as a pit-bull), and any little thing sets him off, even when it has nothing to do with him.

On the bright side, I’m now able to save some money and re-line up my ducks!

I've been pissed off and pissed on for a long time. I am a single mom with a baby daddy who doesn't want any time sharing. He also has informed me he will not be making any more child support payments until further notice.

I recently lost my housing because the sewage line started leaking into my son's room. The landlord said he didn't have money to fix it and I had to have all my things out in 3 days. I managed.

Moved into a condo. Been here since April. Shortly after I moved in, I was strapping my four year old in his carseat and this maybe fifties woman starts stumbling toward me. I'm watching her as I'm strapping him in and she starts walking around my car! I turned around and she's standing right there. I was like "Can I help you???" She asked me if I had cigarettes. I said I didn't. She said "You know you should really quit that shit can kill you." I told her, "Mind your own business." And stepped toward her and we were kind of chest to chest. She was STINKY like booze. I told her to go back on with her day and that I didn't have anything for her, and she did.

I see her chain smoking on her front stoop every day all day. She hasn't approached me since.

Today I got a text from my landlord that she has been informed I have people living in my unit that should not be and that I need to have them out today. I called her immediately and informed her that it's just me and my son. I asked if I could know my accuser. Guess who.

I don't know what it's going to be. But I put a sign on my car, inviting her to continue the bullshit. So if she does fuck around, we will find out what happens. I have been waiting for an excuse to fuck someone up. I can really make her life harder if she wants. I read the entire bylaws of our HOA. She's in violation of quite a lot of things with her porch in the condition it is.

I have a 10 month old. Due to past substance abuse concerns, I am seeking majority custody and preferably no overnights for a while. My lawyer, however, has been pushing me toward 50/50 parenting time, and emphasizing that this is what the court believes is best in general, that her age doesn’t matter, and that she will get used to him. The baby hadn’t seen him in months and so visitation without me or her grandma (my mom who has been her secondary caregiver) didn’t go great. She was clearly in distress at points which is normal bc of her separation anxiety. I brought up to my lawyer that I felt invalidated in my expression that solo parenting time should be gradual and no overnights until she’s older. She said that if she put on a wig and my perfume, that she’d be able to get my baby to sleep. She agreed to fight for 70/30 and stop pushing me toward where his aggressive lawyer is advocating for, but we are definitely in an awkward place right now. Thoughts?

Our 16y daughter has been with her boyfriend for 9 months, they've gotten really close during this time and usually see each other daily. We joke that he is now our 4th child.

He has been 6hrs away at camp for all of July without access to technology. He returns this weekend. She has been counting down the days!

This morning, a friend sent our daughter a text with a screenshot pic of her boyfriend and another girl at camp. They were cuddling.

(the girl he was cuddling is a peer leader, so they have access to their phones)

This girl had sent her friend the photo of them, at which point the friend recognized him, and told the girl he has been dating our daughter for 9 months. She responded that she had no idea and seemed just as shocked/confused because he apparently told her he wants to continue things once camp ends. This conversation was screenshot and sent with the photo to our daughter.

Our daughter is (rightfully so) beside herself upset. My heart is aching for her.

Please....tell me how to help her through this.

Maybe some ideas of comforting things we can do together, or that I can do for her. Etc.

This is awful.

My son was getting on my nerves tonight, so I went to my room to listen to some music, and calm myself. 20 minutes later I walk out of my room to see my son slipping and sliding in the kitchen, covered in soap. Shower soap and dish soap! I think it may have been both bottles. My daughter ran away when she heard me open my door.

We have an open floor plan, and so all of the floor in the main part of the house was covered. I tried to mop it up the best I could, but there's just so much of it! And I work in the morning, so I can't spend all night cleaning it.

I'm so mad! They are old enough to know better, and I already wasn't in a great mood. I took away all of their electronics, but I don't know how well that will go. I work from home and use anything to keep the kids occupied and not bugging me. So really it's also a punishment for me.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

I was too tired to have a witty comeback and all I said was yup I’m sure. Thanks.

The new school year is about to begin in a few weeks. I have enrolled my son to start in a new school. The school has not sent out a school supply list yet. Every other school within the district has sent out ours. I contacted the school and they said that they would send out their list in several weeks. That's ambiguous. Also, school starts in several weeks.

Every other school in the same district calls for both individual supplies and communal supplies. I don't mind doing both, I understand that shared items are important for the smooth running of the classroom. It's important to teach sharing and contributing to the community. However, I cannot read minds and I'm bad at guessing.

I'm also not pleased with the fact that this school does have a dress code but they will send out the details with the supply list and not a moment sooner. It's not easy to find a sensory friendly wardrobe last second.

I've had food poisoning or something since yesterday. Can't keep any food down. Chills. Can't keep my eyes open fortoo long because my head hurts so bad.

Husband is taking care of the kids thankfully but not me. I feel like a whiny bitch for saying this but I need help deciding if I need to go the the ER. So far he's gotten me electrolytes because I told him too and told him when and where to go get them. He's also walked into the room and says "at some point this should stop". But I'm struggling. I even said "I need help".

It would have been enough money in the next few years that I may have had a shot at getting my ducks in a row. I'm capped out pay wise now until my longevity step after 7 years in my current role.

I love my team so I was a little sad to leave them behind, but I needed the raise.

And while I was ok with either outcome initially, I realized recently how much that position would give me an opportunity to really consider divorce. My husband is a man child and recently threw a tantrum because I told him i was super disappointed in him for ignoring his chores again. And he told me he got mad because he was sooooo depressed it turned into anger.

Bitch I have major depressive disorder and anxiety and bipolar too. But I don't throw massive tantrums like a 6 foot plus toddler. And if my medications were failing me that badly I'd adjust them with my doctor and get ✨️ therapy ✨️ to learn how not to be a massive douche canoe. I did it. He has access to my EAP and could at least get a few sessions for FREEEEEEE.

And my chance at possibly truly considering escaping thus marriage just slipped through my sweaty little hands.

I think that hurts more than being passed up.

I am fantastic at my job and would have been an asset in this role. So it is their loss. But damn I needed that money lol

Thanks for listening to me vent.

I work and make my own money so normally I don’t have to ask him for anything financially. This pregnancy has taken a toll on me and unfortunately I can’t work like I used to which leaves me having to ask for bill money or gas money. I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT. I asked for gas one time and the next day he made a comment like “I had to take $30 out my savings to give you gas to even get there” I’m sorry… what? Mind you, when he asks me for $20 here or whatever I literally NEVER care. He’s a teacher and doesn’t make a lot so now he has to get a second job because, once again, this pregnancy has left me unable to work as much. Not to mention I was in nursing school and just graduated so I was also not working much during that period because I couldn’t work full time and make good grades. This is a temporary situation and I don’t depend on him financially all the time but for the time being I hate it SO BAD. It’s so depressing. I miss having my own money and my own income. I can’t wait to have this baby, take my time off and head back to work.

I’m on a new medicine that has been helping me wake up in the morning, so I have been doing 45-90 minutes of walking on my Peloton every morning for the past two weeks. I feel amazing!! My 6yo, who is used to getting that morning time (between Dad leaving for work and my regular waking time) to snuggle with struggling to wake up me, has been laying on the couch next to the Peloton still hanging out. The past couple days she has been protesting when I get out of bed. Hearing her sad little voice say “I don’t want you to walk on the treadmill today” is just the saddest thing and so demotivating. It’s making it so hard. How do I keep up my motivation? What can I do to make her feel like I’m not choosing a treadmill over her?

When did it become the norm to send tie dye projects home to be processed? In time to be worn back to camp that week? (Also heads up you're doing tie dye that day so kiddo doesn't wear a light t shirt?)

Ive been rinsing for 45 minutes and the dye keeps coming off. My mother would have never.

I’ve been struggling with my mental health so much. My daughter is only 6 and she has seen me have multiple anxiety attacks and get emotionally dysregulated. I have so much guilt and anxiety about this. She has been struggling with various physical and mental health issues, and I feel like my own mental health has contributed to that. I wish I was a stronger person. I’m in a bad relationship, I most likely have ADHD or another type of neurodivergence. I’m not financially independent. I just don’t know how things got this bad. Both my daughter and I have been experiencing strange health conditions and I feel like stress is to blame. I feel so much guilt for all the unnecessary stress that she has experienced at such a young age. I know better and I try, but I struggle so hard.

My daughter turns 14 friday and once again one of the kids birthday is turning into an argument because he is ridiculously lazy. I got her cake one mile away from where i usually get our cakes so hes mad about that because of the “distance.” Both are about four miles away from the house. I tell him we can just pick it up on the way to the amusement place and he is so shocked that i would think of doing it on a week day.

When he has to work he doesnt want to do absolutely anything after work and would much prefer scrolling or playing the PlayStation. So any events that land on a weekday just aren’t happening or have to wait til the weekend. He gets home at 4pm and i feel like thats plenty of time for him to decompress and do whatever he needs to do beforehand. We have 4 kids and he does this for all of them. He thinks that giving them a toy will suffice letting them down and never want to go anywhere to celebrate them. Tell me this isnt normal and that im not tripping because i feel like if it isn’t about him he just doesnt care about anything

My teenager went off on my husband and I because I made a flippant remark about how my mom, in her 70s, got a large breed puppy and I said "I cant believe "she did that to herself"--in a joking tone because my mom loves animals, especially dogs, and has way more animals than I could possibly imagine being able to take care of (she does a good job and makes it look easy though).

This puppy is going through the chew on everything/everyone with its sharp baby teeth phase and is well tall enough to reach almost everything it wants. I went through legit "post puppy" depression with our dog when it was a puppy and this dog is making me feel vindicated in not getting another puppy. I am proud of myself for recognizing my limitations and not over extending myself like I used to do.

Anyway, teenager went on and on about we are the abnormal ones for finding puppies too much to deal with and everyone else loves having puppies and they aren't that hard. (She and my mom talked us into getting a puppy years ago with daughter making grand promises that she would take complete care of it. Spoiler alert: husband and I do everything for the dog and have since day one). .

She is also always judging my parenting of her 9 year old AuDHD brother and always getting on his case and saying very mean things to him while trying to parent him. My husband was parentified as a kid and it messed him up so I've always been very purposeful in *not* treating her like a built in baby sitter or second mom. But now that she's older she thinks she knows better than I do and has no problem telling me as much.

Anyway, just feeling cranky and had to vent. She's my first teenager and I don't know if it's normal for teens to be so damned judgey.

I'm so upset i just need to vent, i apologize in advance.

My ex stepdaughter killed herself two years ago and my child is now a shell of herself in every way possible. She is 7.

I have tried everything and i truly mean everything but she is just not okay and at this point i feel like never will be.

I truly just feel like giving up, of course i'm not mad at my child or my stepdaughter i'm just mad at the situation and what it created and at the fact that i lost someone i saw as my daughter and now it also feels like i lost my real daughter because of it. Whatever, i can't do anything more than be there for her. We got a cat a few months ago, stepdaughter loved cats and we never got around to get her one, which i deeply regret, i thought getting one for my child would help her "honor" her sister or whatever. I Don't know. I don't know what i'm doing or what to do anymore.

Woke up today and the cat is fucking dead. Don't know why, it just died like that ??? we have had pets die before but this was a cat supposed to help with her sisters passing. I'm MAD. My daughter is with her father right now so i fear already what her dad is telling her about her sister because he always talks badly about her and apparently there's nothing i can do to avoid it. Now she will come home looking for her cat and it will be dead like her sister. Yes i can do the "They're together now and blah blah blah" thing but i'm so fucking mad and sad, this doesn't feel fair. I don't know how i'm gonna tell her or what i will do when she starts crying and screaming that she wants her sister and i don't even have the fucking cat to comfort her. It sucks. I hate this.

My (42F) husband is out of town on a work trip so I’m alone with our child (6yo). Which honestly is fine, she’s a really great kid. But I’ve just been feeling sort of down lately. My husband and I both work full-time, so we have a part-time nanny to help us with our daughter. This week, he is out of town for work. But he was also recently out of town for a three-day weekend for his hobby. He goes on three day weekend trips for his hobby approximately 8 to 9 times a year. He says this is really important. His mental health and I try to be supportive. He does pay the nanny to come for half the day on one of the weekend days to help me out.

But what usually ends up happening is I just use that time to clean or do the grocery shopping. It’s not like it’s a free vacation for me. We do live near my parents and they try to help, but they’re pretty elderly and there’s a limit to what they can do. In addition, they frequently travel to visit my sister‘s children, partly because my sister passed away a few years ago. Her kids are teenagers, but obviously it’s very traumatic losing your mom.

My best friend has three little kids and is a stay at home mom, so her time is pretty limited. She also just recently moved across the country. I have other friends, but she is my closest and most intimate friend.

I worked all day today and now I’m making dinner for my daughter. After my daughter goes to bed I’m gonna work a little more tonight. Then we get up and do it all over again tomorrow. I’ll have to keep an eye on her while working from home for the first couple hours till the nanny gets here, which is challenging because it’s hard to work and entertain a six-year-old. But I have no option because my husband had to leave town and my parents are currently visiting my nephews.

And honestly, I just feel really lonely. I feel like I have no one to talk to. It’s been a long day of work and I was talking to my friend earlier, but she had to go because her kids needed her and she said she would call me back, but I think she just got busy with her kids and couldn’t. Which I don’t blame her for at all, but I’m still lonely. My mom texted me, but it was just a forward a message from a recruiter that reached out to her on accident instead of me. And my husband and I texted briefly, but then he dropped off and didn’t respond to my last text, which I assume is because he’s busy with work. So it’s not like I’m mad at him, but I just find myself in this position of where everybody in my life is busy doing other things and I’m sort of alone.

Can any other moms relate?

My daughter will be 11 in November and holy shit, the attitude. The ATTITUDE. The moods. The refusal to eat or sleep or shower and the constant bickering about how she has to do all of them. I am constantly reinforcing boundaries and addressing the out of pocket things she says. We'll get glimmers of her normal self but a lot of time she's in a funk. I feel like more sleep would help but she's been having a hard time falling asleep lately. She really is a wonderful kid, I just worry that she's having a hard time and I don't know how to best support her. I felt a bit more competent at the younger ages, but I'm feeling a bit rudderless as she's gotten older.

A bit of a tangent - She also has this friend that I think is rubbing off on her. Her friend talks to her parents any kind of way and does whatever she wants, and my daughter comes home from hanging out and tries the same thing with me. NOPE. I even learned that they stole something from the store together! My daughter felt guilty enough to tell us without us knowing anything about it, so she's really acting out of character. I worry that she's accepting an unhealthy friendship because she's a bit lonely (she's said this to me).

Is this normal?? I only have the one kid, and I was the youngest in my family. Advice or empathy welcome.

Summary of the post: my four year old helped himself to a tub of ice cream; one that I bought myself as a treat. in the 5 mins my husband went to the bathroom and spoke to me as I fed the baby.

I took the ice cream off him said he had to ask, he melted down I gave him a cuddle but maintained that he needed to ask in the future for that. Said ice cream was done for the day.

Spoke to my mum later on who said by cuddling him I coddled him and I asked Reddit how I could handle to better

Basically, I’m a fucking abuser who’s going to give my son an eating disorder because I stopped him eating ice cream that wasn’t for him.

There is plenty of snacks, he’s not restricted in any sort of way, right next to the ice cream was his favourite ice pops.

But honestly now I just want to cry the amount of people telling me I’m awful, that he can’t rely on his parents and we’re leaving him out for the baby.

I try so hard, I’ve found this age really difficult and I want to raise a good human but not be too over the top

But yeah didn’t realise I was this shit of a parent

Edit: thank you all for being the most supportive group on Reddit! I honestly had a good cry after the first post thinking I was terrible, you guys are all absoloutely amazing and helped ease my guilt

Thank you :) x

First of all, I want to preface this by saying I know this rant is brought to you by exhaustion and pregnancy hormones. But I also know my husband is being an absolute douche canoe.

Last night I was on hour 48 of being a married single mom. I mean… I’m almost always a married single mom but we’re talking next level where my husband did fuck all for 48 straight hours while I took care of our toddler, did all the cleaning/cooking/shopping/etc, did all the daycare drop off/pickups, and worked my full time job. All while 32 weeks pregnant with really bad SPD. Why was my husband more useless than a sack of potatoes you ask? Well that’s a whole other story about the 4 day fight we had, his lack of functioning adrenal glands, and his refusal to take extra synthetic cortisol during emotional and mental stress.

But last night, I was wiped. Like, bone-achingly tired. I somehow managed to wrap up early and make it down to bed before midnight only to find he had left a pile of clean laundry on the bed and all the baskets were in use. I fold the laundry, put it away, and am about to get in bed when he comes down to tell me about this new job posting he found. This man loves to hear himself talk and he went on for 25 fucking minutes about it until I was finally like, “it is after midnight. I am exhausted. I’m going to sleep.” He left saying he was going to apply and will be down after.

My alarm went off at 7:30 in the morning and I realize he never came down. He comes in to get a change of clothes as I’m hitting snooze for the second time. I ask if he slept in our daughter’s room. No. He pulled a fucking all nighter. Which means now he’s going to crash today.

I stupidly think that since he’s up early, he’ll start daycare prep. I go back to sleep. Again, big nope. I get up at 8:30 and realize he went to fucking sleep in our daughter’s room while she played on the floor. Didn’t get her dressed. Didn’t make lunch. Didn’t give her anything to eat.

So guess who was left scrambling to get everything together and get out the door so they could be to work at 9. Guess who was late to work. And guess was sound asleep by the time I got back from drop off.

Best part? I accidentally got curb rash on my wheel while rushing about. My very expensive wheel he loves to lecture me on. So I’m definitely not productive today as I ruminate over how that’s going to play out when he finally wakes up.

My daughter is 5.5 months corrected and she has Prader-Willi Syndrome (an entire series of rants on its own). It's not as bad as it used to be; there's a lot of new and in-development treatments that have greatly improved outcomes and QOL, but two things are still basically guaranteed: she has a lower metabolism that will get even lower as she ages, and she will eventually minimally develop OCD tendencies with food, and more typically, full blown hyperphagia. The most extreme cases had people literally eating themselves to death, which is a wonderful thing to read while holding your newborn daughter.

With that context in mind, no modern food discourse applies to her. She cannot have excess calories. Sweet things have been shown to lead to worse hyperphagia and cognitive outcomes. Food must be scheduled and regimented. She cannot be given free access even to healthy food. We will likely need to have locks on our cupboards once she's older. Our entire lives are going to be revolving around her food intake. They already are.

So the healthy thing to do would be to tune out food stuff that applies to typical children. But I can't? Almond mom discourse is fucking everywhere! Not letting your kids free range and denying them snacks and treats makes you a terrible, evil mother who will give your child a debilitating eating disorder. Never mind that my child comes with one built in. Never mind that she'll literally become obese and die in her 20s if I don't monitor this.

And since nobody knows what PWS is, because it's so fucking rare, I get to look forward to explaining to other parents how this works, and hoping against hope they're nice people who won't try to undermine me or otherwise be shitty and exclusionary to me or her (on top of her being clumsy, maybe having some dysmorphic features though she doesn't really so far, likely having some sort of speech impediment if not apraxia, likely some level of intellectual disability, and behavioral issues which, haha, are usually tied to food!). I love the idea of bringing pamphlets to birthday parties! Sure hope I don't lose all my friends!

I love her to death and she's really exceeding expectations so far but I'm also a realist and baby milestones don't mean shit for what she'll be like as a child. Everything sucks and I can't enjoy my baby like everyone says I should because I'm so scared for her future. Almost seven months since she was born and I still cry almost every day.

ETA: I know I'm not actually an almond mom, my ADHD brain is just telling me I am or that I'll have the same effect on my daughter whenever I see this stuff. And I'm in my feelings because my girl is starting solids and I'm stressed I'll make a choice that will make her PWS symptoms worse plus all the normal FTM food anxiety.

newborn and toddler with a fever. Has anyone else dealt with it? I feel like I’m at my breaking point.

I have a fresh three week old at home. We have been isolating to the max pretty much staying home except one wellness visit at the pediatrician. My two year old woke up with a high fever after nap yesterday and I’m devastated. This is the last thing I need. I developed a uti after birth, then antibiotic resistant mastitis, now this…. I just don’t want my newborn to get sick. We did everything right and my worst nightmare still happened. I’m just looking for other families that have dealt with this? We’re in a three story townhome and toddler is in the living room sleeping in a pack and play with dad and I’m upstairs with the newborn. We did this almost immediately after the fever but I’m afraid the damage is done. Newborn is eating ok and feels nice and cool for now, but I know all illnesses have an incubation period.