I recently created a small art corner in our home with some basic supplies: crayons, colored pencils, paper, and a few different activities.

I didn't expect it to make much of a difference because my kids already had plenty of toys around the house.

But after a few weeks, I noticed they started going there on their own. Instead of asking for a tablet or saying they were bored, they would sit down and create something.

Sometimes they draw, sometimes they color, and sometimes they mix different ideas together to make their own projects.

The best part is that there is no pressure. Nobody is telling them what the picture should look like or what colors they need to use. They just experiment and have fun.

It made me realize that sometimes kids don't need more entertainment they just need a space where they can be creative. Has anyone else set up a creative space for their kids? What items were the biggest hit?

Your tween wakes up and it is discovered that he had a bloody nose in the night.

He showers, you strip the bed and wash the sheets.

The morning is rushed and morning chores do not get done before going to camp and work.

When you get home, what do you do?

A. Have the kid do their chores, yes, there was a mini emergency in the morning, but that doesn’t mean the work goes away. That is part of life.

B. Do his chores for him. It’s not like they weren’t done because he was procrastinating and taking time there was a mini emergency. He is still a kid, life lessons can wait.

I’m not sure emergency is even the right word kids fine, and he was fine when he woke up. This is not a regular occurrence.

Hi everyone! I am a single, full time solo dad. I have three kids between 12 and 16. I also work full time and this has been the situation for the past three years. I’ve relied heavily on things like frozen pizzas, hot pockets, fast food and the like for meals. This summer we haven’t been able to do much due to work and the kids have basically been sitting around doing nothing and eating a lot. I definitely know it’s unhealthy and I want to get things turned around. I already have a plan for the activity, there’s a pool a block from the house and the beach is fifteen minutes away. I was able to adjust my hours for when school starts so I’ll be off, pick them up, and head to either the pool or the beach for an hour or two. However, the healthy yet still appetizing to them meals I’ve yet to figure out. Looking for recipes and resources. Would prefer things I could make on Sunday night and keep in the fridge or freezer for easy warm up meals. Thanks in advance!

Our nearly 5 year old daughter is highly sensitive and has an over processing sensory pattern (she notices everything around her more than the average person and it can be a bit exhausting). She is very smart and understand pretty complex concepts for her age. Very curious and a deep thinker.

We have her enrolled at a small private girls school walking distance from our home. She's been at their kinder for 1.5 years now, enrolled for prep next year. There is another much bigger co-ed private school also walking distance. Facilities are far superior and they offer more in terms of subject choice and sport, theatre, design, music.

We are torn on what to do. Send her to the smaller school where we think she'll cope better in the environment or give her a chance and see how she goes at the bigger co-ed? She seems excited to be at a co-ed school and reckons she'll "just make new friends". We do have an issue in her current class with a kid repeatedly pushing, pinching others, including our kid. That kid is enrolled for prep next year and interventions from the school so far don't seem to have worked.

She has one main friend at kinder who is going to another school anyway.

She is working with an OT affiliated with the school so I don't think I'll get an objective answer from them on school choice. We are soon to meet with a psychologist for her.

Any wisdom from parents of HS kids would be so appreciated. Have your kids surprised you transitioning to a school environment? What would you do?

My kid got her license last year and truly, the first few months were hard. Not because she's a bad driver, but because I'd just sit there wondering if she made it to her friend's house or if she's stranded somewhere. Then one night she actually did break down on some random exit and couldn't tell me where the hell she was because it was dark and she was freaking out.

She was trying to describe landmarks but nothing was making sense. I was googling gas stations near her school while she's panicking in the background. It took like 20 minutes just to figure out where to send help.

So now I'm seriously looking into getting a family location sharing app, but I don't even know where to start. I don't want to be that parent who's tracking every move, but I also never want to go through that again.

For people who actually use these - what did you go with? Is it awkward with your kids or do they get it? Does it actually help or does it just turn into another thing to stress about?

Just got off a post of a kid having a very valid tantrum (while I personally don't post my kid online I'm not here to yuck anyone's yam- I say as I vent about ppl posting their kids🫢)

Anywaysz I think 'awh cute, what a precious-ish one off moment caught on camera right?? No. Whole page dedicated to the kid .

Putting all the unpredictable and predictable damage to a child being paraded online to strangers online aside, I can't help but think how boring do you have to be to do this??

Seriously, I can think of at least 5 things I'd dedicate a whole Instagram page to(with the sightings of 'yard sard' sale signs being top 3) before I even consider my kid.

It kinda of feels like repeating the joke someone else said but cause you said it louder everyone laughs??

You don't even make the cut when it comes to your own personal branding??

Don't give your toddler candy. They turn into a..... idk just hard to deal with

He did also have a checklist of clothes he'd need, but packed his own carry on and pretty much has it down pat.

We’ve been stuck inside because of heavy rain, and I’ve realized I’m not looking for more toddler activity lists.

What’s wearing me out is setting things up, cleaning everything afterward, and then doing it all over again later. By the afternoon I’m usually choosing between turning on the TV or starting another activity I know will create more work.

What do you keep available all day without a big setup? Not necessarily something that holds their attention forever. Just an option they can return to while the day moves along.

So it says in the title, I'm a mum of three girls 12,10 and 3. I work part time as a nurse. I've got nothing planned for the 6 weeks I feel awful especially as my daughters are saying so and so is in Disney land oh so and so is going to Greece ect. None of us have passports my girls haven't been abroad and a holiday seems out of the question. I know we can't all have nice things and lots of money but damn it gets me down sometimes. Anyone in the same boat or any ideas? Thanks

We have some wiggly teeth in the house, what’s the tooth fairy giving out these days?

I’m single mom to an 11 year old. I work remotely from home, 10-12 hrs, 4 days a week (one weekend day).

I spent ~$3,500 on summer camps, but it’s only 6 weeks worth of camps. We have 1 week of vacation together, but it’s left 3 weeks during the summer where he has nothing to do.

I don’t want him to just sit inside those 3 weeks, but I also can’t take any more time off work this summer.

We live in a small-medium sized metropolitan city, and have 3 parks with playgrounds each within 1 mile of us. Would it be appropriate for me to just send him off to the splash pad on his own?

What are other ways to get tweens out of the house without supervision?

I have twins who just turned 8. One of them has had issues within the past 6 months with getting to the bathroom on time, specifically with #2.

Both had zero issues potty training at 2.5- I mean, it was almost *too* easy. I’m convinced this is a behavioral issue, because he is clearly potty trained. This happens at home, but more concerning is that it’s happened toward the end of the school day more than once.

The first time, I asked him if he asked his teacher to go to the bathroom. He told me she said no-which I’m not sure was the case or not. I never asked the teacher directly, because I didn’t want to sound accusatory (in hindsight I should have definitely asked). He has also told me that the boy’s restroom doesn’t have toilet paper, so he can’t go to the bathroom at school (again, not sure if this is true or not, but would be pretty likely). I told him that can happen in public places, and that he can tell an adult something is out/ask for help.

Now he’s done it at my in-law’s house. And has done it at home multiple times. He is very active, especially having an identical twin (non-stop doing something at all times). My husband theorizes that he gets too wrapped up in / into whatever activity he’s doing, and truly puts it off until it’s too late.

I would love to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation. My goal is to get to the root of it. He has a lot of shame and guilt when I try talking to him about it. Because how he feels is so obvious, I’ve always treaded lightly and avoided reacting in a big way. Hoping to get some light shed on whatever this may be.

My screen standard for the kids (now 12 and 9 years old) has been one hour of gaming, all games approved by parents, and watching some TV together in the evening. I’ve always kept my kids busy with art supplies, books, games, toys, and lots of outdoor time.

Well… this summer is putting my standards to the test and I’m not sure if I’m worrying too much or if I should let it go. We are in the process of moving, overseas so we have shipped 90% of our possessions and have a ton of red tape to manage through now. We also have an elderly parent who is on hospice care and it’s overwhelming and very emotionally hard. Also, I have some medical problems and my pain is higher than usual these few months due to all the packing and the grief (I have chronic pain).

So what has happened is the kids have been on screens a LOT. Because we shipped things, we don’t have their art table and supplies, we don’t have our games and books and puzzles, and I’m busy with packing and caring for our sick family member and myself so I’m not taking the kids outside as much. I do not foresee this lasting forever, we will be moved and settled in a new home and routine by September and I’m sure I’ll get the kids back on a healthy low-screen routine by then.

Have you ever just let your standards go for a month or so? Will it ruin and rot my kids brains if they play videos games for hours during this whole messy transition period? Do I need a kick in the ass to keep my standards up, or permission to let things ride in this hard transition right now? Just venting about how hard this screen thing can be, and looking for advice or reassurance that a period of loose screen restrictions is ok in the long run?

My son just turned 12 and I’m not sure what is going on but it’s been about a year but he’s just kinda a jerk. He will troll his friends and sounds downright rude to them when they play games. When he talks to us it’s usually one word answers or he will go in depth on what he wants to talk about. When we try to include him in planning for things he just wants to nope out on anything that doesn’t involve video games (which we regulate pretty strictly).

Is this normal preteen behavior?

TL;DR: A stranger in a van waved at my family, then reappeared on a different street, parked, and walked over to start a conversation. During the conversation, my wife mentioned we’d recently moved and gave him our address before I could stop it. He claimed he was parked at a client’s house, but his explanation didn’t line up with where we’d first seen him. The interaction felt off enough that I photographed his license plate. I also have the van’s business name, his first name (“Tom”), and a description. Am I overreacting, or would this concern you too?

Update:
We just moved into the neighborhood & my wife thought he lived in here - which is why she gave him our address. She isn’t just walking around, giving random people our locations. It was an honest mistake.

- I called the police & reported the incident to the non emergency line.
- The police ran the plates. The information I have on the guy checks out.
- I got a doorbell camera and motion detector lights.
- Told the nanny to keep the kids inside/back yard for the next few days.
- Hopefully it was an inexpensive lesson to not share personal information.

Thank you for suggestions.

First, I want to be clear that this is only my side of the story. I'm certain my son has his own experience of everything I've shared, and I know it's just as valid as mine.
I've always known I wanted to be a dad. Despite growing up in an abusive and neglectful home, with caregivers whose behavior left deep emotional scars, becoming a father was something I genuinely looked forward to. More than anything, I wanted the cycle of generational trauma to end with me. I promised myself that my children would never experience the kind of abuse I did.
Both of my parents died young, before the age of 55. My wife and I decided to start trying for children while we still had the chance for at least one grandparent to meet them. My mother passed away five months before my oldest son was born, never getting to meet him.
At 24, I became a dad. I thought I had a plan. We were going to build the kind of family we never had—one where love was unconditional, where no one was hurt, and where we made our own rules.
Parenting didn't go the way I expected.
It turns out trauma doesn't disappear just because you have good intentions. I loved being a dad from the very beginning and have never once regretted it. The cuddles, the adventures, the discoveries, the laughter, and even the big emotions are some of the greatest gifts of my life.
At the same time, I was carrying years of complex trauma that I didn't fully understand. I didn't recognize the severity of my mental health struggles, which were eventually identified as C-PTSD, OCD, and possibly mild autism. Instead of seeking evidence-based treatment at first, I searched everywhere else for healing—spiritual practices, energy work, crystals, teachers, and personal development programs. I was desperately trying to become the person I thought my kids deserved.
During those years, my moods were unpredictable. My trauma responses showed up regularly. I was trying so hard to be a good father, but I didn't have healthy examples of parenting or relationships to draw from.
By then, we'd welcomed our second child, and soon after, our third. At the same time, I went through three unexpected job changes in two years. Life felt like it was happening all at once.
Eventually, when the alternative approaches weren't helping, I talked to my doctor. I was prescribed Wellbutrin, but it led to severe suicidal thoughts. That experience was frightening, but it also pushed me toward getting the right kind of help. Over the next year and a half, I learned more about my mental health, found better treatment, restarted therapy, and by the time I was 33, I finally felt emotionally stable for the first time in my life.
Looking back, I see two very different versions of myself as a father.
Before I became stable, I wasn't physically abusive, but I was reactive. I yelled. I swore. I demanded compliance. I focused more on what my kids did wrong than what they did right. I wasn't considerate of their feelings or plans, and I often relied on threats of punishment instead of connection. In many ways, I was just difficult to live with.
At the same time, there was another side of me. I planned adventures, vacations, road trips, camping, fishing, hunting, built play spaces, played games, cuddled, and tried to share whatever my kids were interested in. I genuinely loved spending time with them.
After becoming stable, I kept the love and the fun, but I became much more consistent. I'm calmer, more patient, more logical, and much more empathetic. I still make mistakes, but I no longer feel like my emotions are driving the car.
The hardest part is that my oldest son spent the first 13 years of his life with the unstable version of me. That's the father he remembers.
He's an incredible young man—gentle, responsible, hardworking, and independent. As he got older, we dealt with the usual teenage challenges: pushing boundaries, experimenting, making mistakes. Nothing unusual.
Over time, though, I noticed he stopped sharing his life with me. He compartmentalized everything, which I assumed was just normal teenage independence.
Then he started dating someone whose family had things we couldn't offer—camping property, toys, experiences. I became jealous. I worried he'd love her father more than me.
Instead of recognizing that those feelings were about my own insecurity, I let them affect how I behaved.
One day, I accidentally walked in on him and his girlfriend in an intimate moment. She understandably felt embarrassed and no longer wanted to come to our house, so they spent nearly all their time at hers. Instead of accepting the consequences of an awkward situation and acknowledging the strain that already existed in our relationship, I blamed her. I made sarcastic, hurtful comments that I honestly can't even remember now, but I know they caused damage.
Since then, we've been stuck in a painful cycle.
I feel guilty for the ways I hurt him and try to repair things. He keeps me at a distance. I feel rejected and become resentful. He assumes my intentions are bad, and I assume he's intentionally trying to hurt me. Neither of us seems able to step out of that pattern.
He has since moved in with his girlfriend's family. I hoped the distance might eventually help us reset, but it hasn't.
I've asked him if we can work on our relationship. Usually he agrees in the moment, but then nothing happens, and communication fades again.
The truth is, I have no blueprint for what a healthy father-son relationship is supposed to look like. I've asked friends, therapists, and professionals for advice. I've read books and tried to learn. I've never thought of myself as a great parent, but I can honestly say I always wanted to be a good dad, and I did the best I could with the tools I had at the time. That doesn't erase the hurt I caused, but it is the truth.
Interestingly, I don't have these same struggles with my two younger children. They grew up with a much healthier version of me, and if anything, they sometimes overshare.
So I guess this very long story leads to one question:
How do I reconnect with my oldest son?
Do I keep reaching out? Do I give him more space? Is this something that simply takes years?
I miss my boy more than I know how to say. Part of me feels an urgency to fix this before it's too late, but I also know that urgency can create pressure that pushes him further away.
If you've been through something similar—from either side of the relationship—I would genuinely appreciate your thoughts.

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?

toddler is almost 2, sippy cup on tap water for 8 months. friend's kid came back with elevated blood lead at a routine pediatric check and now I cannot stop thinking about whether our house is fine

house is from 1958. service line could be anything from copper to lead depending on what previous owners did. utility report shows lead "below action level" but I just learned the utility tests at the source, not at the tap, and a 1950s house can leach significant lead at the tap even when the utility-side water is clean

stuck on: tap-side lead test (yes, but how and which one). pitcher vs under-sink. did I poison my kid mixing formula with tap for the first year (probably not, trying not to spiral). and the PFAS stuff in every news article doesn't help

is this real or am I doomscrolling

Hi everyone. I wanted to get some opinions on preserving family stories like those of my mother, father, and relatives. I have younger kids, and I think they'd really benefit from hearing these stories told well.

Out of curiosity, I decided to build a small demo of what it would look like. I am testing it out with my parents. Basically, it’s a platform for preserving memories that turns family stories into AI-animated cartoons for kids. Each week, my mom or dad gets prompted to share a story, and their answer becomes a fully animated cartoon in their own words for my children.

Does this sound like something other people would be interested in? Could you see yourself using this with your kids?

I feel like i spend so much of my day repeating the same instructions over and over. things like getting ready, putting things away, brushing teeth, or leaving the house somehow turn into a long process every single time.

I don’t want to be the parent who is constantly yelling or getting frustrated, but sometimes it feels like my kid only responds after i have asked several times. i’ve tried reminders, routines, and explaining why things need to get done, but we still end up in the same situation.

I know kids are not going to act like adults and i’m not expecting perfection. i just want to find a better way to communicate so daily things don’t become arguments. What actually works for getting kids to listen the first or second time without turning everything into a fight?