Do your kids actually groan at your jokes or do they just not laugh? Mine don't even acknowledge them anymore. Like I'll say something objectively hilarious and my 8 year old just stares at me with zero emotion. Is this what my future holds? Total comedic irrelevance?
Looking for something where I can actually talk to other dads about the mental health side of parenting. Not really a "dad jokes and golf" group, more like actual conversations about depression, anxiety, loneliness, etc. Does anyone know if there's anything like that in Portland? Or is it all just o...
This is embarrassing but my 8yo spilled juice and I literally yelled at him like he'd done something terrible. It wasn't even that much juice. He looked terrified. I feel like garbage. This is the third time this month I've blown up over something small and I can't figure out why I'm like this now. ...
8yo starting 3rd grade and I'm weirdly stressed about it. Not about his adjustment—he's excited and outgoing. But I'm having these intrusive thoughts about something bad happening during the day and I won't be there. School shooter stuff, accidents, whatever. I KNOW the stats and I KNOW I'm being ir...
We live in Seattle and paying $2,100/month for my 2-year-old to go to daycare 3 days a week. THREE DAYS. My wife makes more so it made sense for me to cut back, but holy crap, at what point does it make more financial sense for one of us to just quit? We're not rich, we're normal middle-class people...
So I'm still not 100% sure what happened here but I'm documenting it for future reference because this was the opposite of every horror story I heard. My youngest turned 3 last month and we had zero intention of pushing potty training yet. He just started asking to use the bathroom like a week ago a...
Every Sunday when I pick up the boys (12 and 14) they're in the WORST moods. Sulky, short with me, don't want to do anything. I'm trying not to take it personally but it's like losing the first few hours together. Anyone else deal with this? Is this just normal teenage stuff or adjustment stuff or w...
My son woke up excited, ate his breakfast without complaint, didn't cry when we dropped him off. I was READY for tears and clinginess and we got zero of that. Picked him up at 2:30 and he said it was "cool" which for a 5yo boy is basically "life-changing." His teacher said he participated and made a...
This is so dumb but our son will take a bottle fine from any of our 4 Tommee Tippee bottles EXCEPT the blue one. It's the exact same bottle. He just refuses it. He'll scream and turn his head. Why would he care about the color?? We've tested it - same formula temp, same time of day, doesn't matter. ...
Spent like 3 hours yesterday chopping vegetables and cooking rice and chicken. Packed it all into containers. This week I've actually made myself lunch every day instead of hitting the drive-thru. Saves like $50 too. Pretty stoked. Gonna try to keep it up but also acknowledging I'll probably give up...
No cap this is a game changer. We made the 'Omelette' episode muffins yesterday and my 5yo daughter helped measure everything. She ate them all in like 2 hours. Found it at Target for $19.99 and worth every penny. Highly recommend if you got young kids and a Bluey obsession in your house. Also the r...
Simple question from my 7yo yesterday: "Dad, why do you work so much? You're always tired." I gave her the usual answer about supporting the family and she just... looked at me. Didn't believe it. Smart kid. Any of you had this conversation? How did you actually answer?
Honest question: everyone here posts these perfect camping photos with their kids roasting marshmallows by a fire, but like... do your kids actually enjoy it? Mine complain about bugs, dirt, sleeping bags, being cold, not having bathrooms. Last trip my 7yo cried because a moth came near the tent. We...
I've got Screen Time set up on my 13yo's iPhone but honestly I'm not sure if it's doing anything? Like I can see the time reports but she just asks me to extend her limit and I usually do because I feel bad. The downtime settings don't seem to actually force her offline either. Is there a parental ...
I went to a dad support group at the library last Tuesday. Didn't say much, just listened, but I'm going back next week. Hearing other guys talk about their struggles was weirdly validating. Like I'm not the only one losing it over stupid stuff or feeling overwhelmed. The guy running it seems chill ...