11:29 A.M. That's the exact time my phone rang on the first day of school. It was the school nurse. My child had been "back to school" after a long summer break for precisely two hours and 29 minutes before he needed me again. He had an ear infection, and his ear was draining fluid. "I'll be right there," I heard my cheery mom voice telling the nurse. Inside, of course, I died a little.
Routinely sitting next to or near each other at school tips toward growth as well. Parents may or may not have a role in shaping such opportunities. Play is the major driver of friendships in the preschool years. Children who choose the same or similar play settings, routines, or activities will get a lot of practice being together, waiting their turn, sharing, winning and losing-all things that teach essential social lessons. Sam's father called his son's clutch of friends the "Magna-Tile mafia."
5. A potty ladder for helping kids independently use the potty at home. Now they can climb up the porcelain throne like the mature kids they are and you can save your poor back muscles from hoisting them up there.
My daughter and her two kids (boys, 7 and 9) recently moved in with us until she can get back on her feet. Her and the kid's dad (not married) had an acrimonious break up, and because she was working for his family business, she is now without a job. But she should be starting one in the next week or so. The house she was living in with him is owned by the business, so she had to move. The dad isn't paying much for child support and doesn't plan on paying more until "the courts decide the amount."
That familiar sound of escalating voices fills the house again. One second the siblings were playing peacefully, and the next moment, World War III has erupted in the living room. Sound familiar? Sibling rivalry is as old as time, yet dealing with the daily battles between brothers and sisters remains one of parenting's greatest challenges. This comprehensive how to deal with sibling rivalry guide explores practical strategies to reduce sibling conflict, foster meaningful bonds, and transform your home from a battleground to a playground.
Halloween is nearly two months away, but there's already trouble brewing over my 13-year-old daughter, "Shelby's" choice of costume. Shelby wants to go as a sexy nurse. My husband is vehemently against it and has told her that she is "not going out dressed as a slut." The costume is a little on the skimpy side, but it's not THAT revealing. And our daughter is no longer a child. I don't see the harm in this sort of thing for a single evening.
Graham believes in spanking, while I am staunchly against it. My husband grew up in a household with three brothers, and according to him, "good old-fashioned ass whippings" were the only thing that prevented the household from descending into chaos. My younger brother and I grew up with an alcoholic father who would beat us with anything he could get his hands on if we so much as looked at him cross-eyed, and I will NOT have any child of mine subjected to corporal punishment.
My mother has never been particularly fond of my wife, "Ellen." Recently, at my father's birthday party, she got drunk in front everyone-including me, Ellen, and our two kids (5 and 11)-and shouted out a wild accusation. She said that that Ellen "probably screwed around" and that our kids are not mine! We left immediately and haven't spoken to my mother since, but the damage has been done.
C: The children are wrong. Not really, but there needs to be a third option. And consider this: it takes a young dad a moment to realize that their own childhood is over, and that these funny, adorable kids he loves so much will also eventually shove him into his grave. It's OK for him to be a little childish as he processes this life change. But he should leave your utes out of it. Certain words deserve respect.
This week,a listener asks for help navigating one of parenting's most delicate moments: how to tell kids about divorce. Zak, Elizabeth, and Lucy share advice on language that reassures, pitfalls to avoid, and ways to keep the focus on love and stability. Plus, triumphs and fails: Friday night plans go awry, shoe shopping mishaps, and a school drop-off turns into a win.
It's a question that seems to pop into every mom's head when she's going to sneak downstairs early and have a cup of coffee before her children's extremely routine and normal wake-up time. Suddenly, before you can even pour the creamer, there they are, waiting for you on the stairs or already unplugging their tablet from its charger in the living room.
How you handle the conversation is less about age and more about what you know of your child and how likely they are to be impacted by the events, Deborah Gilboa, a family doctor and resilience expert, tells TODAY.com. Of course, these discussions depend on whether or not parents know for certain that their child has been exposed to graphic content.
In the United States, more than 390,000 children are currently in foster care. Each year, between 19,000 and 30,000 youth "age out" of the system without permanent families or lifelong supports. The transition to adulthood is especially challenging. By their early twenties, former foster youth are significantly more likely than their peers to struggle: Nearly one in four experience homelessness. About one in four face incarceration.
When my oldest son Edwin first started preschool, it was incredibly stressful. He was about 3, and it was the first time in a big classroom for him. As a sensitive, quiet child, he was very upset on the first day. He cried and clung to me, and it broke my heart to see his little hand reaching for me with tear-soaked eyes as I left him there. Needless to say, I cried too.
"He was born ready for a haircut," Yanez, who lives in Oregon, tells TODAY.com. Noah, who is 5 months old, has piles of beautiful thick hair, which his many admirers can see in videos his mom posts on TikTok. One video of Noah, sitting in a bouncer with morning bedhead, is giving "big hair, don't care" energy. "My five-month old with fluffy hair," Yanez wrote as a caption.
Riding a bike as a kid wasn't just fun-it was independence. That feeling is one of the biggest reasons cycling became such an important part of my life. It gave me confidence. It gave me joy. And it taught me how to move through the world on my own terms. But I look around today, and I don't see nearly as many kids on bikes.
The "but" is the problem. As the great philosopher Pee-Wee Herman once said, "Everyone I know has a big 'but.'" "It's not about the Barbies. The problem here is guilt," says Eve Rodsky, the author of "Fair Play" and "Find Your Unicorn Space," which is all about making time for creativity and your own passion projects as an adult. " Mother's guilt, and not feeling like you're enough as a parent."
Using the genetics of someone you don't know to help you build one of the most intimate relationships in your life can be very difficult. It can generate feelings of loss, worry about being accepted by others, fear of others not accepting your children, concerns about bonding, and more. These feelings do not need to be resolved to parent. They need to be accepted, and they often need time.
We had only been there for a little over an hour. Alicia was extremely upset and said it wasn't fair that she had to be punished as well because her sister was acting up. When I suggested to Jane that Alicia had a point and that she take Annie home and come back for Alicia and me, she responded that she was taking both girls, and I was welcome to order an Uber to get home if I wanted to stay.
I barely repressed what I could only describe as a growl, as I hurriedly let us out of the claustrophobic pod, trying hard not to touch anything at all. It had been an extraordinary few months. The decision to attend the Green Man festival, which involved camping for three nights in a huge open space in the Welsh countryside surrounded by thousands of other festivalgoers - one that put me way out of my comfort zone - was the final culmination of our family experiment.
For many parents, that knowledge can spark panic: What if this is the first place my child learns about sex? What if they think that's what real intimacy looks like? Here's the good news: you don't need to panic, but you do need to prepare. The truth is, your child will be exposed to ideas about sex, whether through peers, media or yes, pornography. And it will happen long before you'd ideally want it to.
Looking back, most parents and adult children are going to have some regrets about their adolescent time together. They may regret what they did (commission) or didn't do (omission)-mistakes made or opportunities missed. Commission regrets might be: "I wish I hadn't lied to them about so much and grown so far away." Dishonesty costs intimacy, creating distance from distrust. Or: "We held onto her too tight when we should have done more letting go!" Their need to control delayed important youthful learning from life experience.
Some people like to keep it low-key. Others are eager to spark some open-ended conversations. The remaining love diving deep into the burning zone where statements uttered are so controversial they get the discussion sizzling in no time. And what for? Let's say if you have a burning unpopular opinion, you'd know why. And there's a safe corner of the internet known as the UnpopularOpinion subreddit that has had the most disputable points of view flowing since 2012.
Pam Parris of Orlando, Fla., says becoming a grandma turned her world "upside down" in the "most positive way [she] could ever imagine." When her first grandchild was born, she was 39, and she was experiencing an "unexpected, devastating divorce." "She gave me purpose and the desire to start a whole new life," Parris said. Now 69 years old, Parris reminds new grandparents that their children will have "certain ways of doing things that might not be the way you would do them." She adds that it's best "not to interfere and constantly make recommendations."
