Was at my son's baseball game and legitimately made a pun about "running bases" and the other dads groaned. I LAUGHED at my own joke. I've become the thing I feared. Send help.

So my ex is asking me to move my Thursday evening pickups to Wednesdays because she's got a new job that requires her to work late Thursdays. On paper this seems like a reasonable request but honestly I've had Thursdays locked in for 3 years now and my 7yo daughter has her soccer practice on Thursda...

My son's starting Little League as a catcher (god help us) and we need to get him a chest protector. Is there a brand that's actually comfortable or do they all feel like wearing a suit of armor? Budget isn't really an issue, I just don't want him complaining the entire season about how uncomfortabl...

So I decided we'd build a raised bed together this past Saturday. I'm a software engineer, not a carpenter lol. Got the lumber at Home Depot, figured "how hard can this be?" Well. My daughter Emma spent more time arranging the screws by size than we spent actually building. The thing is... wonky. L...

I've got 2 weeks left before I go back to work. My wife and I have been trading off days and honestly these past 8 weeks with my son have been incredible. Yeah, I'm tired as hell and I've peed myself a little (don't ask), but I'm gonna miss just hanging out with him all day. Anyone else felt weird a...

Looking at some local coding camps for my 10yo but they're like $300-400 for a week. She seems interested but honestly I can't tell if she's interested or just wants out of the house for the week lol. Anyone have experience with Code.org or Scratch? Can she actually learn anything useful from free s...

We're looking to get off texting for logistics since every conversation turns into an argument. Someone mentioned OurFamilyWizard but it seems pricey. Has anyone used it? What about the free alternatives like TalkingParents or Custody X?

Our boy is in the 40th percentile for everything - right down the middle. After obsessing over whether he's hitting milestones, the doctor was like "he's perfectly normal" and I felt this weight lift off my shoulders. I didn't realize how much I was catastrophizing until someone just said "yeah, he'...

My kids played in a soccer league where EVERYONE got a medal just for showing up. Everyone. The kids who worked hard got the same thing as the ones who didn't even try. How is that teaching them anything? I pulled mine out and found a different league where winners win and losers learn from losing. ...

We've been trying to get into fishing for like 6 months and it finally happened. Small bluegill, nothing fancy, but the way his face lit up when he felt the tug... man. We went to this little pond near our house in Austin that I didn't even know existed until a coworker told me about it. He held th...

Been thinking about getting a few dads together to maybe pitch some ideas to our city parks dept about updating the equipment at Riverside Park. It's pretty beat up and the kids deserve better. Nothing crazy, just figured if we had a group of parents behind it might carry more weight. Anyone in the ...

I feel like I'm either too strict or not strict enough, there's no middle ground. Some parents I know let their kids basically free reign with tablets and I feel judgy but also maybe I'm being too rigid? Our rule is basically 1 hour on school days and 2-3 hours on weekends but we bend it all the tim...

My kid just discovered Scratch and won't stop talking about it. Looking for a structured class (not online, in-person preferred) in the Seattle area. We tried a summer camp last year but it moved too fast. Any recommendations? Doesn't have to be cheap but it should actually be good.

Tried the elephant toothpaste experiment with my 8yo yesterday. Got hydrogen peroxide everywhere, kid got scared of the foam, dish soap in her eye. Would not recommend. Anyone know of actually kid-friendly chemistry experiments that don't end in tears and a mess?

I keep reading all these posts about 1 hour a day max or no screens on school nights and like... great for you I guess? But my kids have homework that requires computers, they use apps for school, and then they want to chill for 30 mins on TikTok or gaming. And sometimes I want them occupied while I...