He's been asking and his friends are all playing it. I know it's not violent or anything but I'm worried he'll just sit there for 8 hours building stuff instead of doing literally anything else. Can he actually 'lose' or 'fail' at Minecraft or is it just open-ended? Also how hard is it to set up par...

Took my boys (8 and 10) to a "easy" 2 mile trail near Boulder last weekend. They were done before we hit the halfway point. Complained about legs hurting, wanted snacks every 5 minutes. We ended up just sitting by the creek for the second half of the afternoon. Is this normal or are my kids just wim...

Started doing freelance work for an old client about 18 months ago, just 5-10 hours a week on weekends. Hit $15k revenue last month. It's not replacing my main job but it's giving me optionality—like if I need to step back from full-time, I have some income cushion. Plus it's something that's *mine*...

Got the email reminder at 3pm today. It was at 5:30pm, 20 minutes away. I was downtown in meetings. I just... left. Told my boss something came up, got in the car, drove like a maniac (not proud of that part), made it in time to see my daughter sing one awkward song. She spotted me in the audience a...

So after about a year of "can I pleeeease get a phone" I finally caved and grabbed a used iPhone 11 from Best Buy for like $180. Set it up with Screen Time limits, app restrictions, location sharing, all of it. First week he was super responsible. Week two... found out he figured out how to disable ...

Seriously. We just got discharged from the hospital Wednesday. They schedule our first appointment for Tuesday of the following week - exactly 9 days later when my wife is most exhausted and we're still figuring out feeding. Then it's another one at 1 month, then 2 months, then 4... I get that monit...

This kid has been talking about it for THREE DAYS. "Dad came in second place, I'M THE CHAMPION." Has it written on a sign on his door. My competitiveness tells me to demand a rematch but also this might be the most confident I've ever seen him about something and it's kind of awesome? Letting him ha...

Got a Fitbit last year specifically to track stress levels (heart rate variability). Sounds stupid but data helps me see when I'm running on empty. Also set up automated Google Home reminders at 5:45pm every day: "Leave work in 15 mins. Commute starts now." Sounds dumb but it actually helps me clos...

lol okay so my son wanted to do a cooking activity with me last Saturday. I'm thinking we'll make cookies or a pizza or literally anything. Kid opens the pantry and goes 'can we make lucky charms?' Apparently pouring cereal into a bowl and adding milk is a 'meal' he prepared. I gave him points for ...

First time camping with kids (6yo and 3yo) and we're starting small - just in the backyard this weekend. Got the tent, sleeping bags, flashlights. Planning to make s'mores. What's the one thing everyone forgets that makes the night miserable? Also my 3yo is still in diapers at night - do I just acce...

This might sound dumb but I'm genuinely excited. My son has been glued to screens for like a year and my wife and I were getting worried. Last month I bought him a beginner's rock climbing wall for the garage (nothing fancy, just one of those $300 ones from REI). Figured he wouldn't care but he's be...

We had to sit down with our 12yo yesterday and talk about online predators because he made a "friend" on Discord who kept asking personal questions and wanted to video chat. He thought it was totally normal. We logged in and looked through the messages - it was CLEARLY inappropriate. I'm not trying...

We're paying $2,400/month for one kid at a supposedly mid-range place in Ballard. TWENTY FOUR HUNDRED. That's almost 30% of our household income. I've heard horror stories about the in-home places too - kids getting sick constantly, owners who don't really care. Has anyone found a legitimate afford...

Found a cool wooden lure at an estate sale for like three bucks and it got me interested in old fishing gear. Now I'm down a rabbit hole of eBay auctions and vintage fishing blogs. My man cave shelf is getting full but who cares right? This stuff is awesome.

There's a summer camp in our area (Boston) that teaches Unreal Engine to 14+ kids. My 14yo is interested but it's expensive (~$2k for 2 weeks) and I'm wondering if it's actually worth it or if he'd learn the same stuff from YouTube tutorials. Anyone have kids who did these summer coding programs? Di...