We started talking to our kids about why grocery stores throw away so much perfectly good food and they were shocked. my 7 year old asked why stores do not just give it to people who need it and honestly i did not have good answer beyond company policy which feels pretty hollow.

now when we shop they point out discount sections and want to rescue food that is close to expiry. they have stopped complaining about bruised fruit because they understand it tastes same. we have been buying marked down items more often and our grocery bill has dropped noticeably but more importantly they are learning to think about waste and value differently.

it has been interesting watching them apply this to other things too, like they are more careful about not wasting food at dinner now and my oldest has been asking questions about where our food comes from and how it gets to store. was not expecting conversation about food waste to turn into broader discussions about environment and supply chains but here we are. anyone else having these kinds of conversations with their kids? i am curious how other families are approaching this stuff because it feels important but also complicated to explain at their age.

Parents with young kids, do you stay up after putting kids down? Me and my wife struggle so hard to stay up. Any recommendations for finding time?

my husband only speaks english meanwhile i speak english and arabic, and its so important to me that our daughter speaks arabic. we also live in an arabic speaking country but its super multicultural heavily expat based and everyone predominantly speaks english in our community

i already know the basics like speaking to her in arabic, making sure i encourage that she speaks back to me in arabic, reading to her in arabic and making sure i stay consistent with it

what worries me is the later years because nowadays a lot of kids lose their arabic skills once they start school since they end up speaking english with classmates and friends and realistically she will hear me and her dad speaking english to each other at home too

so im wondering what helps kids stay interested in their second language and actually maintain it as they get older?

did anyone do things like reading books in their second language in exchange for money or privileges or getting a weekly private tutor or anything else that may have worked?

if youve successfully raised older children who speak your native language in a bilingual/mixed household id love to hear your tips please this is so important to me and i see so many parents around me struggling to keep the language alive even in arabic families because of how dominant english has become in our community :((

My neighbor's child was reading something off my phone the other day. The text is not complicated, any child should be able to read it. But he was mouthing a lot of the words and still couldn't really tell me what it meant after. He's 12

It got me thinking because I've noticed it with a few kids his age - a few of my son's classmates included who are around 12-13...

Is this something other parents are dealing with? What does it actually look like in your house?

Delta Children is terrible!

We have had so much trouble with the Delta Children brand. It is surprising because they had decent reviews... but first it takes them WAY longer to deliver than we were told, then it comes missing key bolts, takes over a week to get anyone to answer us through email, because they have no phone number or anything to contact them at, and now they are saying it will take 3 to 4 weeks to get a few bolts that they never sent! We ordered this crib 2 months before our kid was due and he is now 2 weeks. If they stick inside the 3 week time frame, which i doubt, it will have taken them 3 months to properly deliver a subpar, super expensive crib.

It is a terrible quality crib on top of all of this. Every little touch scuffs it, its flimsy, colors dont match... i could not say a SINGLE good thing about them.

Anyone else used them lately?

This is a long one. I apologize. I like to make context. I have a 3 kids (6,4,1 years old). I really need some advice/tips/ suggestions on how to build strong relationships with them so they end up not feeling the way I have for years. This thought hit me hard after my daughter was born. The reason being is my oldest two are full on daddies boys. They are like little adventurers following their leader (daddy). Here is some context on why I am asking for advice.

My spouse and I grew up in very different households. Without going into very many details, my spouse grew up in a very chaotic, narcissistic household and I grew up extremely sheltered quiet home. We have both come a long way in changing bad habits that we have developed over the years. I will say that now that we are parents, we realize the cons to their parenting but no not hate them for anything. He has distanced himself from his family by his own choice due to some more recent issues around our children when they were little. My spouse is working on the issues formed from his childhood. And I am doing the same. Our kids have no idea of any struggles we have went through to get to the place of peace we are currently in.

The one thing I am struggling with lately is making sure I have a close relationship with my kids. They are extremely young yet but I want a close relationship with our kids. My parents are great people but I will admit the closeness of our relationship is just not there. I am not a person who calls my mom when exciting things happen or talks to their sibling a lot. It’s just not something I had with my family. It does deeply bother me. I have noticed as I get older that my parents like to show off, talk about the latest gossip, or drool over people who are picture perfect. I am not that by any means. I try not to gossip or judge others for who they are or what is going on in their life. I am not a showy person. I could care less about making sure my house decorated perfectly (I am saying my house to extremely clean and organized but I could care less if I have decor everywhere) or making sure I am dressed up all day everyday. I am what people call an “alternative mom/biker chick” I listen to alternative rock, I wear my band tees, covered in tattoos and I wear my Harley boots like they are a wedding ring. I am quiet but I will say my feelings in a non asshole way because I don’t believe on lying or being two faced. I feel overly judged by my parents. My brother doesn’t care so much but with my parents I can feel it this.

Back to my point, I want my kids to always feel comfortable with me. Be who they are and never feel the way I feel. My parents are much different towards my kids then when they were raising me. My parents are very adventurous now and are my kids favorite family members. Grandma and Papa always have the fun old school toys and are always planning fun things inside and outside their home. I don’t see the way I grew up effecting their relationship. My parents are the best grandparents.

I just want advice on how to keep a healthy balance of raising my kids to be close with us without lacking discipline. I know that sometimes when people are close with their kids, they lack being able to discipline their kids. I feel like this should come naturally to parents but it isn’t with me. When something is wrong like being sick or they get hurt, they always come to me. If they want to have fun, they go to dad. My daughter is a bit young yet to judge. My boys are very open with me when it comes to something being wrong and they don’t lie about things like “shhhh… we got daddy an extra surprise for his birthday. Don’t tell him” they will not keep that from their dad. That’s how honest they are. This part does make me feel like I’m doing something right. I want to know what you out there have done when it comes to parenting that keep a good healthy line between rules and being close with your children.

I have asked my husband about this. How I want to be close with my kids so that when they have anything exciting in their life, they call or they don’t hide things from us. When I was younger, I didn’t tell my parents for 3 years I had a bf in middle school/ early high school due to the fear of what they would say. The possible judgement was the scary thing, I wasn’t scared due to being yelled at. I have a lot of self confidence issues and I may think it may have to do with my upbringing. My husband said when he was younger, he could talk about medical things no problem but anything personal like relationships or big news. It wasn’t something he talked about due to possible being used against him or made fun of. Once he got older, he came to the realization that he was taken advantage of for his kindness and the unconditional love and respect wasn’t there. That’s why he cut ties besides a very small few that do love him/our family like their own.

Any suggestion helps

When should they take the Psats? I just got an email from guidance counselor about my 10th grader sitting for the exam in OCTOBER. Why so soon?

My son takes gymnastics at the local kid's gym and a few weeks ago I started talking to another mom there. Deep in conversation she mentioned she usually goes to the day gymnastics classes so I asked if she was a stay at home mom. She replied with no, she's off for a while from work due to losing her older son due to cancer. She mentioned after his passing she's been seeing a bluejay every day in her yard and she thinks it's her son saying hello. At the end of gymnastics they have a puppet show for the kids and the puppet that night was a blue Jay...she told me she knows her son is with her when a blue Jay is near.

Her story touched me in such a way. My son and I decided to make her something, like an arts and craft. Is this weird? It's a dreamcatcher with blue Jay beads. Is it too much for just talking to her one time (we have seen each other before because our kids have had gymnastics class together for a while). Please give an honest opinion

My son is 9 and used to like kids books but over the last year he has basically chosen Roblox, YouTube and his tablet every single time. I want him to build better reading habits and enjoy book reading again not treat it like homework. So please can you tell me what worked for your kids' reading routines?

FTP Did you tell your other half when baby took their first steps if they were absent? Wary my baby will start to walk soon and husband is usually at work but will be going away soon too for a few days and thinking there is a possibility she starts walking then! Would you keep it from them and let them see it for themselves rather than think they missed it?

My 9 year old really likes dagronopa and she said her favorite is toko. She told me a bit, it's a school and they have to kill and if they're caught they're executed. It doesn't surprise me she likes it, she played doki doki literature club and you guys told me it wasn't a kids game.

So my parents want to take my son on a fun vacation to a waterpark, but here’s the thing they never take my daughter their other grandchild and they’ve done this multiple times now. I didn’t say anything before because my daughter was still little but now she’s not so little and she’s starting to understand and she asked me Mom why do my grandparents not love me and that absolutely broke my heart and I asked her why do you think that? and she said because they only take my brother on family vacations to have fun with them but not me and so this time I told my parents no you’re not taking my son because it’s causing sibling rivalry and I don’t think it’s right they got very upset, but I am standing my ground on this one

One of my kids has started saying they're just bad at math and I'd like to have this mindset changed before it sticks with him.

What are some practical ways parents can do at home to build more confidence in math? What activities have worked for you guys? (I don't expect them to have perfect scores, just want to help them enjoy learning)

My toddler is starting school but he’s too young for a phone, what’s the best way to track them from your experience. Don’t comment if you’re against it lol I want to know where my kids is at all times the world is too scary out there

Edit- I’m literally not even reading the comments that aren’t helpful so don’t even bother writing them 🤣

Sup, I'm Lucas, 20 years old. There is 1 month that i'm meeting a Woman who is 21 years old and live with her parents. They are very controlling, even her said it. Anyways, she also want to know me, and i invited her to an restaurant at 8pm after she get out of work. She told her parents that was meeting me on Instagram and they said that wont let her hangout with me because doesn't know me and my parents. I asked what could i do about it, but she said "nothing", but i can't just accept this. Im wondering "should i meet her parents firts, before the first date?" or just invite her to something different at daylight, closer to her home maybe.
So i came here to ask, in a parents reddit, what you guys think about it being parents.
note: she never have a relationship with another one before.

Opinions on having one year old upstairs in their room in a crib and parents down stairs? We are currently pregnant with baby #2 and wanting to move downstairs to eventually have both babies upstairs. But I’m scared to move downstairs and keep my one year old upstairs. We have a baby monitor and all that but still scared.

I have two kids, 3 years and 10 months. I’m a full time working mom and so is their dad. We both have decently flexible jobs and our kids are taken care of by my mom (full time for the youngest) and part time mom and preschool for my oldest. Lately I’ve been feeling overwhelmingly guilty that I’m not a SAHM. I’ve had little rushes of guilt since my first was born, but lately it’s a lot. I really like my job and I’m good at it. I make decent money and am the bread winner. There is no option for me to be a SAHM and even if there was, the truth is that deep in my heart I don’t think I’d enjoy it. I’m really curious to hear from members that were raised by 2 working parents and what your experience was in a positive manner. Specifically with a working mom. Did that mean anything to you as a kid? Does it mean anything now? What did you think was cool about it?

What age is an okay age to allow access to the internet and devices?

My baby's 9months so we're ages away from this but I'm wanting to map out some of our parenting plan now so it doesn't bite us later.

I know child locks on devices only work for so long as children figure out how to use these things quickly.

I know my son will hate it but I'm wanting to get him a standard non-smart phone when he's old enough to need to contact us, and not allow unrestricted access to the internet until he's in highschool and will need to use it for projects, and even then it will still be monitored. I just don't know if this will result in him hating us without understanding how unsafe the internet is. It wouldn't be a trust issue on his regard, but as someone who grew up on kik and omegal, I don't want that for him.

Hey guys :)

Recently became a fulltime single dad, it's meant resigning from work and a massive change in lifestyle (not complaining)!

Tomorrow is my daughters birthday and im in a position where I'm unable to afford any gifts or significant outings :(

Does anyone have any ideas about free activities that will make the day memorable for both of us?

Not the usual advice. But my son plays football in the garden. He has a large goal with a net. The elder neighbours at the back of us are always complaining and shouting over the fence when the ball hits the fence. Granted I'm sure it's annoying, but he rarely plays out there due to him being worried he's going to miss the goal and get shouted at. I have moved the goal in several places and still can't solve the issue.
This is our house and our garden. I want him to be able to play freely.
Does anyone have any sort of suggestion what I could put infront of the fence to make some sort of rebound thing so solve this issue?
Thanks!

Is anyone annoyed by the videos and comments parents make like "this is such a boy mom thing"?

I don't understand, I have a child, it is a boy and I don't understand the hype of saying boy mom as if it would change that much if you were raising a girl.

Like yeah, that toy is cool, I played with something similar when I was a kid, and then boom "only boy moms would understand, boys love this". No, any child would like that, it is a fucking toy.

Neither my parents nor my in laws have had updated family photos (other than wedding photos) in 15 years. We are updating photos for both sides this year. What combos should be included? My list so far for in-laws includes

- whole family
- just my in-laws
- husband, me, kid
- brother and sister in law
-Husband, his dad, my son (only grandkid on this side)
- grandparents with grandkid

Do we do my son individually with each grandparent? Any other combos? This side is just: MIL, FIL, SIL, BIL, Husband, our child, myself

My daughter is 4 years old, and I’m trying to understand whether these behaviors are within the range of typical development or if they could point to something else.For example, she dropped a piece of watermelon on the floor. I asked her to pick it up. At first she said, “We’ll both do it.” I told her I’d wait until she picked it up. She then suggested that she would pick it up and I could throw it in the trash. I agreed. She handed it to me, I smiled and walked toward the trash can to throw it away, and suddenly she had a huge tantrum.
That same evening, I went into the bedroom and she followed me. I asked her to close the door. She said she didn’t feel like it. I said, “Okay,” because I often ask her to do small things and she refuses. She eventually closed the door only halfway. I jokingly told her, “Next time you ask me to take you to the mall, I’ll only take you as far as the entrance.” As soon as she finished closing the door, she had another meltdown, threw herself on the floor, and screamed. Later, it was time for our bedtime routine. Every night we listen to the same classical music, and she likes to watch the first 10 seconds of the intro before falling asleep. She kept screaming, “Put it on! Put it on!” I told her I would once she calmed down. She seemed calm for just a few seconds, so I started the music and said, “See, I’m putting it on because you calmed down.” The moment I did, she threw the phone and started screaming, “Put it on! Put it on!” even though it was already playing.
On another day, I asked her to bring me my phone. Instead of handing it to me, she deliberately placed it in the middle of the couch, just far enough away that I had to reach for it myself.
Today at the mall, I washed my hands first while she hadn’t finished yet. I was standing right next to her waiting for her, but she had another meltdown because I hadn’t washed my hands at the exact same time as she did.These situations happen quite often. It sometimes feels like even when I do exactly what she asks, or when things don’t go exactly the way she expects, she has an intense emotional reaction.Has anyone experienced something similar with a child around this age? Does this sound like a temperament issue, emotional regulation difficulties, a strong need for control, or could it be something else?