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sullat posted:I'll be doing the SAHD thing for a few months while we get a new daycare. Last time I did this, the oldest was 1, now he's almost 4. And the youngest is 2. So this time will be very different. Museums, zoos, liquor stores, auto parts stores, and nature areas. Good for kids of all ages. I kind of miss answering "and what is _this_ one!?" questions for a 3 year old in a hardware store. Been awhile since my expertise was quite as in-demand and unquestioned. Lots of museums have toddler areas that you can park them and read your phone for 45 minutes with the other dads who have parked their kids in the toddler area to read their phones.
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Aug 3, 2015 01:02
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Slo-Tek posted:Museums, zoos, liquor stores, auto parts stores, and nature areas. Good for kids of all ages. I kind of miss answering "and what is _this_ one!?" questions for a 3 year old in a hardware store. Been awhile since my expertise was quite as in-demand and unquestioned. You know what I need? A field guide to construction equipment. My three-year-old eagerly asks me, "Mommy, what's that machine? What is it doing? Why is it doing that?" and my answers are usually "uh that's a digging machine...? I think? And... I'm not sure? Let's walk up to the fence and look!" (I have apparently told him "look with your eyes, not with your hands" so much that now he explicitly asks, "Can we go look with our eyes?")
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Aug 3, 2015 01:42
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sullat posted:When to kids start learning to read? Might have to try that. I learned by phonics and was reading at 4. Another boy my mom babysat at the same time was a year younger than me and reading at 3. *shrugs*
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Aug 3, 2015 04:48
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sullat posted:Ha, yeah, the oldest is already trying to get the youngest to pull the cat's tail and eat stuff from the ground. Good times. I've got a zoo membership and it comes with free visits to the Children's museum all September, so I might just camp out there for a bit. Otherwise, I dunno. When to kids start learning to read? Might have to try that. I am a SAHM and I take the kids out ALL THE TIME. Indoor playgrounds work best, but zoos, aquariums, parks - whatever works for them to run around, burn off energy and maybe learn something along the way. Library story time, picnics in the park, hiking on super easy trails, water splash pads, there's a Kids Bowl Free program in the summer in most big cities. We also do My Gym, which is pretty expensive but it comes with several open play times as well as structured classes which all my kids love. The longer you are out doing stuff, the less they are destroying the home or dirtying dishes or breaking poo poo. Just carry around a big backpack full of extra diapers, a change of clothes for each and snacks and you will be set!
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Aug 3, 2015 08:18
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I live in the arse end of nowhere, the only inside places for kids are a couple of small softplays. There's a cinema but the two year old doesn't have the concentration span for a whole film, a tiny library with a very small kids section and a swimming pool but you need a one to one child/adult ratio. When it's sunny I take my books (I'm distance studying while I am at home with them to keep me sane through the power of Taylor Polynomials) and the kids to the park and that works pretty well but we're in the middle of the coldest rainiest summer I can remember so outdoor pursuits are walking around in waterproofs trying to get them enthusiastic about damp flowers until one of the kids starts crying with the misery of it all. The closest city with a museum and other attractions is a six hour round trip. So most of what we've been doing lately is inside stuff like baking and painting which keep them from destroying anything for a while but needs constant supervision and ends with a massive mess. And playdates, which keep them amused but is basically just multiplying the terrible children doing terrible things that might cause death or injury problem. Also they have just been moved into the same room and the youngest is out of her cot (because her big brother taught her how to climb out) so they don't even go to sleep and carry on the hullabaloo until about 11pm every night. Sorry, that just turned into a big whine about how horrible my children are.
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Aug 3, 2015 09:25
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Bad weather sucks, being outside is one of the best things about the country. Remember all the stuff I used to do as a kid. Playing in the woods, sandboxes, running around the village with friends, we made rafts and tree houses, etc etc. I had a BMX bike, used to swimming at the nearby lake, had a dog, whittled stuff, made blow pipes and shot rowan berries at each other in autumn. One time I met a moose as I was on my bike and going along some desolate forest road. Man I never pedaled so hard before. Granted a lot of these things a 2 year old is too young for. Likewise our kids (nearly 2) always seem to find something interesting to play with when outside. We don't really make activities for them. We just let them out and watch over them so they aren't endangering themselves with whatever they come up with doing. Inside they like to destroy the house, climb things, and dance whenever music comes on.
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Aug 3, 2015 09:51
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hookerbot 5000 posted:so they don't even go to sleep and carry on the hullabaloo until about 11pm every night. Don't feel bad, most kids are... We finally got our 2 year old to fall asleep before 9 pm. How? Denying her sleep during the day. Also stopped using diapers during the summer, very few accidents and most are out fault for not asking her if she needs the bathroom, or taking her when we feel we should. Laziness on our part. Still, she is 2 years and 3 months, I'm pretty proud of her. But really, not having her sleep during the day and falling asleep at 6:30 pm is a miracle, and I still can't believe it when it happens.
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Aug 3, 2015 12:39
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Dunno-Lars posted:Don't feel bad, most kids are... We finally got our 2 year old to fall asleep before 9 pm. How? Denying her sleep during the day. Also stopped using diapers during the summer, very few accidents and most are out fault for not asking her if she needs the bathroom, or taking her when we feel we should. Laziness on our part. Still, she is 2 years and 3 months, I'm pretty proud of her. But really, not having her sleep during the day and falling asleep at 6:30 pm is a miracle, and I still can't believe it when it happens. She was fine at sleeping until we moved her in with her brother - even when she was safely trapped in the cot it wasn't too bad. Now that they are both in the same room and free to run wild though it is a nightmare (there is a gate on the door, but most of the night seems to be them trying to work out what they can prop against the gate so they can scale it...). She rarely sleeps during the day, and if she does it is mostly just a ten minute nap when we are travelling in the car so when it gets to bedtime she is absolutely shattered but will fight sleeping to the death if she thinks there might be something interesting happening. A couple of times last week we ended up sending Connor up to sleep in our bed leaving Eleanor alone in the room which does help but feels like it might be a bad habit to get in to. Frankly though I am thinking that anything that lessens the pain might be worth it. Good job on the potty training  I'm having another shot today but not sure how well it's going. Basically she'll sit on the potty happy as larry until she needs to pee, at which point she will run about whimpering and leaking everywhere. It's pretty gross and exactly the opposite of successful potty use. She's no different using the big toilet - I think she just really hates peeing without a nappy on. Her bladder control is pretty good though so I think once we get her over the first hurdle of not being scared of the potty it shouldn't be too bad.
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Aug 3, 2015 15:51
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VorpalBunny posted:The longer you are out doing stuff, the less they are destroying the home or dirtying dishes or breaking poo poo. Just carry around a big backpack full of extra diapers, a change of clothes for each and snacks and you will be set!
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Aug 3, 2015 16:18
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hookerbot 5000 posted:I live in the arse end of nowhere I apologize, I live in a big city (Los Angeles) and I often forget there are places where there's not much to do with kids. I've only ever raised them here in Southern California, and the only time we don't do outdoorsy stuff is right now at the height of summer where it's 90+ degrees outside. This lasts from about mid-July until October, and we still do stuff outside just in the morning or right before bed. I honestly don't know what I would do if I lived in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do with my kids. You have to be pretty awesome parents to keep kids entertained with so few resources around!
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Aug 3, 2015 17:14
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hookerbot 5000 posted:She was fine at sleeping until we moved her in with her brother - even when she was safely trapped in the cot it wasn't too bad. Now that they are both in the same room and free to run wild though it is a nightmare (there is a gate on the door, but most of the night seems to be them trying to work out what they can prop against the gate so they can scale it...). She rarely sleeps during the day, and if she does it is mostly just a ten minute nap when we are travelling in the car so when it gets to bedtime she is absolutely shattered but will fight sleeping to the death if she thinks there might be something interesting happening. A couple of times last week we ended up sending Connor up to sleep in our bed leaving Eleanor alone in the room which does help but feels like it might be a bad habit to get in to. Frankly though I am thinking that anything that lessens the pain might be worth it. Maybe she is put to bed to late, tipping over, becoming what I can only directly translate to "over tired" ? Not sure what you call it. We have that problem with ours as well, if it gets to late, she is up until 9-11 pm. We actually had a rather big problem before she stopped sleeping during the day, with the 5 year old being ready to go to bed before the 2 year old. Both girls btw. 5 year old was sleepy and ready to go to bed between 6 and 7 pm, but the 2 year old was not ready before 8 pm, usually later in pure defiance/tantrum. But the 5 year old fell asleep with the 2 year old screaming at the top of her lungs, even when they were in the same bedroom. It was weird really.
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Aug 3, 2015 17:16
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VorpalBunny posted:I honestly don't know what I would do if I lived in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do with my kids. You have to be pretty awesome parents to keep kids entertained with so few resources around! There's less of the kind of entertainment you're used to, but not everything has to be cast in the same form. I've never lacked for things to do as a kid, nor are we right now. Stepping outdoors here and we're off, it's one big playpark, bigger than the fanciest and most expensive park that city kids are used to I bet. Kids find all kinds of things to do I've noticed, if you let them, helps creativity to grow I think. I don't think this modern lifestyle of being fed constant stimulation and filling up free time with all kinds of activities is mentally healthy either, the ability to just sit down and relax and do.... nothing, is under appreciated. Heck we drive even further away from civilization when we want to relax and goto my parents cottage at the sea, to get away from the ipads and smartphones.
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Aug 3, 2015 19:30
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His Divine Shadow posted:There's less of the kind of entertainment you're used to, but not everything has to be cast in the same form. I've never lacked for things to do as a kid, nor are we right now. Stepping outdoors here and we're off, it's one big playpark, bigger than the fanciest and most expensive park that city kids are used to I bet. Kids find all kinds of things to do I've noticed, if you let them, helps creativity to grow I think. I don't think this modern lifestyle of being fed constant stimulation and filling up free time with all kinds of activities is mentally healthy either, the ability to just sit down and relax and do.... nothing, is under appreciated. Heck we drive even further away from civilization when we want to relax and goto my parents cottage at the sea, to get away from the ipads and smartphones. ......except when it's pissing down. But yeah, country living is usually fine and I think overall I prefer it as that's the kind of childhood I had - all day running through fields and woods and swimming in rivers. It was pretty cool and I am looking forward to doing the same with my kids when they get a bit older. At the age they are now even is fine if it ever stops bloody raining - they love the beach and the woods (we saw a red squirrel and a load of rabbits last time we went). I think a combination of the extremely lovely weather we've had up here the last month or so and the younger kids being what feels like the worst age combination has just left me whiny and blue. Dunno-Lars posted:Maybe she is put to bed to late, tipping over, becoming what I can only directly translate to "over tired" ? Not sure what you call it. We have that problem with ours as well, if it gets to late, she is up until 9-11 pm. I honestly think she is just a witch. But I'm going to start staggering their bedtimes and see if that helps. Put Eleanor to bed at 7 then Connor at 8, hopefully giving her enough time to fall asleep before he comes in. hookerbot 5000 fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Aug 3, 2015 |
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Aug 3, 2015 19:50
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My wife and I have similar issues. Daughter is in bed around 7. She is 6. My son (3) roams the house looking for excuses to not sleep till he inevitability crashes in the hall way. Then an hour later climbs into our bed once we pass out. I've tried a lot of things to try to keep him his own bed, but to no avail.
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Aug 4, 2015 02:58
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We moved my oldest to his own room, as he is starting Kindergarten next week and we wanted to give him privacy to do homework and get lots of sleep. Which means we now have a 1.5 year old and a 2.5 year old sharing a room. The first night, the older one filled the baby's crib full of books. She covered his entire mattress several books deep, and he just laughed along. When we checked on them about 20 minutes after putting them down, we had to empty his crib out and guess what she did as soon as we closed the door? We had to wait until he fell asleep on a pile of books and then quietly remove them again. It's been about a week, and they really only fall asleep without incident if they are overtired. And the 2.5 year old now knows how to open doors, so she is constantly opening their door and asking for water or whatever. And the baby's crib is right by the door, so she keeps him awake with her shenanigans. I keep telling myself they will get used to the situation and simmer down with the madness.
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Aug 4, 2015 03:07
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Homework in Kindergarten?
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Aug 4, 2015 07:57
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kells posted:Homework in Kindergarten? Dude, homework in preschool. It's bananas.
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Aug 4, 2015 08:29
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...... why? I don't think I had homework until 1st grade, which was when I was 7.
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Aug 4, 2015 09:17
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VorpalBunny posted:We moved my oldest to his own room, as he is starting Kindergarten next week and we wanted to give him privacy to do homework and get lots of sleep. Yeah, that's how it started with us (one time we went through and there was a full sized scooter in the cot with her). I think the problem was really that they didn't get time to get over the novelty of sharing a room before the side of the cot came off - hopefully your two will get used to it and settle down to just going to sleep before the crib has to be retired and a toddler bed introduced.
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Aug 4, 2015 09:17
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[quote="hookerbot 5000" post="448502092"] ......except when it's pissing down. [quote] I'm taking it from this you're Scottish too. It's usually the case for us when it's raining we go off to a indoor play centre. Given that in Aberdeen it's raining nearly every weekend as a matter of course.
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Aug 4, 2015 10:56
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Oodles posted:[quote="hookerbot 5000" post="448502092"] Yes, on the West Coast Do you know Oban? That's the sprawling metropolis we go to when we need to do a 'big' shop. Day two of potty training and it's not going as bad as previous attempts. Although for some reason she prefers to squat really high above the potty so there's a pretty big splash zone. It's weird, everyone said potty training a girl would be a doddle compared to the boys but I am not finding that at all.
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Aug 4, 2015 11:14
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VorpalBunny posted:Dude, homework in preschool. It's bananas. This is insane. I don't remember having real, actual homework assignments until 6th grade.
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Aug 4, 2015 17:22
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His Divine Shadow posted:...... why? I don't think I had homework until 1st grade, which was when I was 7. We're not talking a ton of stuff, just a few worksheets for him to practice things like writing numbers and letters. Plus, he really loves doing his "work", which also includes coloring in coloring books and doing connect-the-dots pictures. I'd rather he be sequestered in his own room with crayons and pencils and keep that stuff away from the little ones who shove that poo poo in their mouths and color on the walls and stuff. They actually have an interesting program here in California called Transitional Kindergarten (TK), which is essentially preschool but at the elementary school. The idea behind this new class is that kids were coming into Kindergarten without having gone to preschool, which meant they were falling way behind in acquiring the skills they needed to be able to start "real" school in 1st grade. So now there is TK to help fill that gap. It's kind of nice, free preschool at his elementary school with his future classmates, but he also has to adhere to the same standards as every other elementary kid including a uniform and a strict attendance policy. That last one is throwing me, as he will still be 4 when he starts, and I feel like I am cutting his childhood short a bit by making him go to school 5 days a week for 5+ hours a day. He is over the moon with the idea of full time school, since he loves his current preschool stuff so much (even the homework), but I can't take him out for a random day at Disneyland or whatever without giving him a school absence and if we get too many we are stuck with the same punishment as everyone else (parent meetings to start). Trust me, I still plan on a few surprise adventures during the school year but I have to limit that kind of stuff and it makes me kind of sad. Some parents I know are opting to keep their kids out of school until they are 6 or doing homeschool kindergarten, but I just feel like my kid will benefit from this TK program even if he misses out on a few fun adventures. I love the idea of more free time for childhood fun, but I also know how much he loves to learn and would hate to keep him from blossoming. EDIT: Now that I think about it, this must be a reaction to all the mandatory testing we have here in the US. Kids didn't have the basic skills needed to do these stupid tests, so they probably created another elementary class to get them on track to test well. This is worth investigating futher... VorpalBunny fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Aug 4, 2015 |
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Aug 4, 2015 17:39
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I think you'll find TK actually stands for telekinesis, and they are training your child in the deadly psychic art.
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Aug 4, 2015 18:20
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In Finland it's all the same for everyone, pre-school at 6, then 1st grade at 7. Very rare that this differs for someone and then it's usually some special reason. I've found it interesting that other countries start putting kids into the educational system so much sooner than us, yet we've had the top spot in education a lot of times in comparisons. So it doesn't seem to hurt much to start later as we do.
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Aug 4, 2015 19:35
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VorpalBunny posted:He is over the moon with the idea of full time school, since he loves his current preschool stuff so much (even the homework), but I can't take him out for a random day at Disneyland or whatever without giving him a school absence and if we get too many we are stuck with the same punishment as everyone else (parent meetings to start). Trust me, I still plan on a few surprise adventures during the school year but I have to limit that kind of stuff and it makes me kind of sad. It really depends on the school district, how strict they are about that. We're in San Diego Unified and they really don't give much of a poo poo as long as the absences are "excused" and not like 5-10 days in a row. By "excused" they mean "A parent or guardian is willing to call the school that morning and say said child has a cough/fever/something like that." You can't say "is sick", you have to give an actual symptom of something. No idea why. Mine's going into the second grade and I've kept him out for Disneyland trips in both kindergarten and 1st grade. I'm not taking him out of school for funsies on a regular basis, maybe twice a school year. Pretty much everyone is totally aware of the fact that he wasn't sick but it all gets a nudge nudge wink wink and no one gives a poo poo. This past year we kept him out for Disneyland when his grandmother was visiting from out of town and his Principal actually mentioned to me that she hoped he had fun "being sick" because she thinks spending time bonding with family is an important part of growing up a healthy well adjusted little person. He's not missing enough to put him behind academically from where he needs to be and he's an incredibly healthy kid for the day-to-day. Last year he really only had 4 sick days - 2 were me faking it and 2 were for the day of and the day after his eye surgery. I'm also generally pretty careful to schedule doctor and dentist appointments either very early in the day so he can still go to school right after or as late as possible in the day so at most I'm only picking him up maybe 15 or 20 minutes early, which I think probably buys us a bit of grace because they are aware that he has really complicated underlying medical issues which require a lot of specialist visits to manage and he could very easily be missing 15 or 20 days a year if I weren't careful about scheduling. As for homework in Kindergarten, I find that varies from teacher to teacher and school to school. In his kindergarten year, his teacher announced at Back To School night that the research just isn't there to prove that homework helps with anything and in her opinion it only served to cause stress and disrupt important family and activity time so she would not be assigning any homework but could we please read with our children/have them read to us as their reading improved for 20 minutes a night. My friend whose daughter was in Kindergarten in a different school in the same district had her kid coming home every Monday with a packet of 20 worksheets to complete by Friday, plus the reading, and often additional worksheets sent home daily because they hadn't completed them in class.
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Aug 4, 2015 20:11
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God drat I am so bloody sick of people constantly talking about how fat my baby is. He's already gotten "fat" nick-names from all the family members, and whenever we meet someone new out in public the inevitable first comment is about how fat the baby is. He's not even fat! He's at exactly the weight he's supposed to be for his height! It's getting really annoying. Does anyone else have to deal with this constantly?
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Aug 5, 2015 21:19
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I dunno man, I love fat chubby babies. Maybe people just love them a chunky little ball of baby?
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Aug 5, 2015 22:51
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sheri posted:I dunno man, I love fat chubby babies. Maybe people just love them a chunky little ball of baby? Babies are supposed to be fat. I've never heard someone call a baby fat in any way other than as a compliment.
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Aug 5, 2015 22:54
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I hate both of you. >:|
GlyphGryph fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 22:56
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Weird. Our youngest was pretty fat, like 90% weight and height, but nobody ever commented on it. Possibly because we are recluses and nobody but daycare, relatives, and the basement rats really saw him for the first 18 months, but still, nobody really commented on that. The rats are very inclusive and non-judgmental, though.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:21
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Also, red laser lights are very effective baby toys.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:38
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We look at pictures of our toddler from a year ago, and holy crap does she look chubby - and she's 30 percentile in weight/50% in height. Babies are chubby, it's part of their charm.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:41
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On the other side of things, he's officially in 18-months clothes at 6 months. We never thought we'd be blowing through clothing quite this fast. He's not fat for his height according to the charts - but he is 95% percentile in everything (height, weight, head size). Almost 22lbs already.
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Aug 6, 2015 00:30
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Papercut posted:Babies are supposed to be fat. I've never heard someone call a baby fat in any way other than as a compliment. Same here. The cheeks. The tubby thighs. The arm rolls. :3
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Aug 6, 2015 00:50
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I always thought our son was fine, chubby cheeks sure, "but he's a baby", I would say. After a year or so I was browsing some of his old photos and wow! He wasn't obese, but his face was so much chubbier than I remembered!
rgocs fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Aug 6, 2015 |
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Aug 6, 2015 00:59
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We get the opposite because our kid is so skinny. He's 2 1/2 and wears 12 month pants. They look more like capris, but they don't fall off of him. He just recently was able to start wearing some 18 month pants. We always get comments about if he eats enough, but he can out eat kids older than him.
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Aug 6, 2015 01:11
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As soon as my first daughter became mobile she got tall and skinny. Then people would always make comments about that. Especially certain people who wanted to make veiled criticisms on my parenting. The doctors said she was in perfect proportion, so that's all that mattered. Of course, if someone wants to be a bitch no amount of logic or rationality will make a difference. Hopefully in your case people are just making (obnoxious) offhand comments rather than trying to get under your skin.
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Aug 6, 2015 02:47
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GlyphGryph posted:On the other side of things, he's officially in 18-months clothes at 6 months. We never thought we'd be blowing through clothing quite this fast. He's not fat for his height according to the charts - but he is 95% percentile in everything (height, weight, head size). Almost 22lbs already. Holy poo poo! That is a *big* baby. You must be doing something right + genetics. My kid is almost 8 months and last time we weighed her (5mo? 6mo? something like that) she was around 15lbs or whatever is around 50%. Also, a baby being fat is not only cute and hilarious, it also means you're doing the right thing for your child, whatever that happens to be. If you weren't, the baby would be skin and bones and probably having some serious issues. Oh and wow, it really never does get old hearing your child crack up.  . I did the big headbang/bow with my head and my daughter just lost it.
notwithoutmyanus fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Aug 6, 2015 |
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Aug 6, 2015 02:54
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GlyphGryph posted:God drat I am so bloody sick of people constantly talking about how fat my baby is. He's already gotten "fat" nick-names from all the family members, and whenever we meet someone new out in public the inevitable first comment is about how fat the baby is. Got slim babies here, underweight and born premature. We used to feed them straight butter once to fatten them up, doctors told us to get as many calories as we could into them. David's still a slim toddler however and Daniel can be described as average now.
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Aug 6, 2015 07:28
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