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remigious posted:I had a really nice three month stretch where my son stayed the same size, and just in time for fall he had another growth spurt! Does anyone else feel like you are constantly buying clothes to keep up? And on that note, where do you like shopping for toddler clothing? I used to shop at old navy but the quality is pretty lovely. Yeah, second hand is definitely the way to go. My husband has bought a few bundles of clothes from an online market place and those plus me occasionally hitting the one dedicated kids' second hand store keeps us pretty well clothed. Plus, you can get much better quality poo poo second hand for far less if you do some investigating. One of the bundles was full of barely used merino clothes (and a pristine eyewateringly-expensive-as-new baby alpaca jacket) for far less than same amount of basic cotton clothes from H&M would've cost. Went for a baby swimming class today! Pool was pretty fun, changing room and the showers terrible, horrible, my baby's worst nightmare. He just lost all confidence and sobbed. Next week again, yay!
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Sep 6, 2023 20:41
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remigious posted:I had a really nice three month stretch where my son stayed the same size, and just in time for fall he had another growth spurt! Does anyone else feel like you are constantly buying clothes to keep up? And on that note, where do you like shopping for toddler clothing? I used to shop at old navy but the quality is pretty lovely. Local Buy Nothing groups (usually on Facebook) are a great way to get and give perfectly usable kid stuff that has been outgrown.
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Sep 6, 2023 21:04
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Still working on my son sitting up at 10mo but today I sat him for like 6 minutes on this little chair we got him. All on his own he just played with some of his toys. He hasn’t done it for that long before 😭
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Sep 7, 2023 01:26
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Having a girl is nice because a dress that is too big is a floor length dress, then it becomes knee length dress, and when it finally gets too short - now it's a fancy shirt! Hadlock Jr went to school the other day wearing a striped dress with a glittery fish on the front, and a pair of halloween pumpkin themed pants (her choice) 
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Sep 7, 2023 07:02
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Lederhosen with tall socks start making sense when you have kids.
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Sep 7, 2023 10:35
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Discussing with fellow parents about their kids at work and hearing their lives. Multiple kids with soccer practice and having to ferry them all over all the time. It sounds like hell and like it'd burn you out. The way they describe it sounds like they never get to relax. I'd honestly hate doing any of that. I can just imagine after a hard days work (well menial mind killing poo poo work) I'd have to drive my kids around and deal with other parents when I don't feel like saying a single word and need to recharge. I also feel bad because our kids have no hobbies (don't want any either), nothing organized. I never did as a kid either. But it seems so common now and it feels like something we imported from the US or something. All kids should now have organized hobbies away from home instead of just doing... whatever? I've never had to fill up my time like that or keep a schedule. But I suppose I can see how it's a good adaptation to dealing with modern hell life to learn it as a kid, always busy busy busy and learning to schedule your time into alloted segments from the get go. Sounds dystopian to me the way they explain it, but other parents keep on as if it's normal and good even though they must drive hundreds of extra kilometers every week shuffling their kids to and fro. I dunno maybe it's me who is weird?
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Sep 7, 2023 12:06
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Nah I feel the same way. I have a niece/nephew I basically never see because their parents have them in every extracurricular possible, so every family gets together they either miss completely or have to leave early for some kind of practice or a game. We tried just soccer and it was a killer, even just splitting between two parents it ate up way too much of our time and energy, and kiddo didn't even like it. The way I see it, kids deserve rest, and he goes to school 5 times a week already.
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Sep 7, 2023 12:19
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Not to pile on those who keep a full schedule but I feel the same way. Was talking to one mom and she brought up her 7 y/o doing tackle football. Before school started it was 3-5pm practice 5 days a week, now with school it’s 6-8pm practice 3 days a week. They watch film and review Xs and Os game plans. My jaw hit the floor. Who is that for?! Even she didn’t understand it but I guess her son really wanted to play football. Not only is that insane hours for a 7 y/o, but now 3 times a week they probably can’t even have a sit down family dinner (sorry little brother). Seems way more disruptive than worth it. I also grew up as a non-sport-doer besides some school based stuff here and there when I was older (golf, track, rec basketball). But just objectively that seems like a bad time…
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Sep 7, 2023 13:18
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My boss has two kids, one does baseball/football, the other irish dance. He never has a free weekend or time to himself. I don't get it. My kid did soccer, but that was before they were in school, so not as big a time sink.
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Sep 7, 2023 13:35
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I don't know how any parent can allow their child to do tackle football after everything we know now about how damaging it is. Our oldest is in karate and he has therapy once a week. He's in Karate because he enjoys it and he tries hard. The minute he says he doesn't want to do it anymore we won't force him to stay. When he was doing that and our youngest was also doing speech therapy once a week it felt overwhelming. Edit: The karate in a weird way is also sort of like therapy as well. His therapist told us its a great thing for him to be in.
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Sep 7, 2023 13:37
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The overscheduling of a sport is also to force the kid (parents) to abandon the idea of doing anything else because now they don't have time (and hey, might as well just give us all that extra money now). Where else do you see this? Religion/cults.
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Sep 7, 2023 13:38
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I am dreading the days of extracurricular activities. I want my kids, currently 5mo and 2y5mo to have activities they enjoy when they’re old enough but I am dreading the death of the little free time I currently have and do not look forward to being a taxi service. Reading some of you talk about starting soccer for toddlers around 3 is giving me anxiety.
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Sep 7, 2023 13:56
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Alterian posted:I don't know how any parent can allow their child to do tackle football after everything we know now about how damaging it is. Agreed. Football is one of the few "absolutely not going to happen no matter how much they want to" things for my kid.
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Sep 7, 2023 13:57
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This is also why walkable cities have a huge advantage over suburban sprawl. Sure, a 5 year old still needs to be escorted around, but once he's 10 he can bike to his own practices/events.
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Sep 7, 2023 14:04
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Our kids each do 2 things a week because they asked to and really enjoy it. My daughter has art once a week, my son has tumbling once a week, and they both do a fitness class together once a week. We still eat dinner together every night and our weekends are free. My wife is also a SAHM, so the chauffeuring doesn't bother her as much. If it gets to the point of intense organized sports*, we might have to gently encourage a change in pace. * My friend's 10yo daughter is in a club soccer team, and I swear they are doing something soccer-related 7 days a week. And my neighbor's 8yo daughter is in a "prestigious" gymnastics club where she practices 6 hours every Saturday on the weekends that they don't have competitions all weekend.
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Sep 7, 2023 14:26
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I know it's a common refrain but it's wonderful how my city has 500 activities, preschools, and summer camps for kids and my son can attend approximately 3 of them because two parents working 9-5 can't do "drop off at 10, pick up at 3:30". All we can do it have him in programs tied to a daycare that will watch him for the intervening couple hours (at full day length price of course). It's to the point where the few preschools around us that have working parent hours have waitlists a mile long, even for the ones that are pretty mid quality. I personally don't think my son needs 3yo preschool since he's pretty socialized from being in daycare for a long time but it'd be nice to have the option. Shifty Pony posted:Agreed. Football is one of the few "absolutely not going to happen no matter how much they want to" things for my kid. Football and gymnastics are the two that are hard no's for us. The former for injuries, the latter because of the absolutely rampant eating disorders. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Sep 7, 2023 |
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Sep 7, 2023 14:37
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My wife wants to sign our kids up for jiu jitsu after listening to some podcast. I'm a little worried about injuries, but the risk is probably like any contact sport probably (unless they get into MMA or something). I also worry about getting my rear end kicked by my kids... maybe I should train too. I think having more than 1 or 2 kids changed the dynamic of sports involvement, especially at a young age when one of us parents would have to be involved in transportation. If all 3 of ours are in different activities twice a week, that's a huge commitment for us after school. We already have issues with scheduling around our oldest's girl scouts, especially during cookie sales. There's also been a dynamic shift in the expectations on parents, like we're supposed to be there for our kids at every moment. When I was in after school activities my teammate's parent would take us half the time, and most of the time the adults would just leave us.
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Sep 7, 2023 14:45
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I never was exposed to hobbies or activities as a kid and I totally regret it now, all I did was play video games and paint Games Workshop. Never exercised until I was in my late twenties. I want to expose my kids to all sorts of different things that I never got a chance to, to see what they enjoy. They won’t go on to be a world champion, but if they find a hobby that they enjoy; brilliant. Our eldest do lots of after school clubs with the school, the third does Ballet. They all do swimming as I feel that’s a life skill, not a hobby.
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Sep 7, 2023 14:46
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We waited until after the first year of school, to give lots of time to enjoy just being little and then allow time to adjust to the school routine. Martial arts to develop focus/listening/following a sequence, swimming for safety and because kid just heckin loves the water anyway. Pros are that both are indoor sports with relatively flexible/convenient lesson options and almost no special gear/equipment. Football (AFL/AusKick) is heavily subsidised in our state but even for $100 a year I'm not sitting in the freezing cold at the crack of dawn unless it's something the kid actually asks and cares about .. fingers crossed he remains blissfully apathetic to it.
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Sep 7, 2023 14:51
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My 2.75 year old is starting soccer this weekend but it’s not really full-blown soccer, just one hour per week to run around with some other kids and kick a ball. No games or anything. I agree that filling my family’s time up with extracurricular activities sounds like hell. Everyone needs some downtime.
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Sep 7, 2023 14:54
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Oodles posted:I never was exposed to hobbies or activities as a kid and I totally regret it now, all I did was play video games and paint Games Workshop. Never exercised until I was in my late twenties.  Even just for the sake of mood and energy, having an exercise program in my life would have done wonders for my mental state in high school. I want my son to have that rather than falling into the same traps I did.I would say that games and painting are hobbies, but imo the key is both physically active and *social* hobbies so you don't end up as bitter nerds. In hindsight my friend group was the one hosed up and all the jocks had their poo poo together and were actually really nice.
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Sep 7, 2023 15:03
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killer crane posted:My wife wants to sign our kids up for jiu jitsu after listening to some podcast. I'm a little worried about injuries, but the risk is probably like any contact sport probably (unless they get into MMA or something). I also worry about getting my rear end kicked by my kids... maybe I should train too. I think any martial arts is way more likely to prevent injuries than cause them, on the whole. Flexibility, learning how to fall and roll, learning discipline and body awareness, are all great skills for preventing injuries day-to-day and a big part of most martial arts.
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Sep 7, 2023 15:09
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Yeah I did martial arts and it absolutely helped me figure out my body and what to do with it if I suddenly fall/trip/stumble, which is great since I'm gawky as hell. Knowing how to fall correctly is crucial.
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Sep 7, 2023 15:12
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Pretty sure knowing how to roll saved my life in a bike accident
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Sep 7, 2023 15:22
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The neighborhood where you live in matters a ton! My kids have activities most days, but largely they are walk/bike distance from our house, and most of them have at least one friend from class in them. My 9yo rides her bike home from school together with a friend on soccer days and then they bike to soccer practice after hanging out. My little guy isn’t quite there yet, but he’s jealously awaiting the day he can have that freedom? I’d be pissed if I had to drive more than a mile or two on a regular basis, but having lots of stuff close by to keep the kids engaged in their community seems great.
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Sep 7, 2023 16:24
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I'm pissed when I have to stand up after I get home from work. I hope my kids turn out boring like me
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Sep 7, 2023 16:40
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We're super lucky to have a city-run sports complex that's literally next door to our elementary school, which is an easy 15 min walk from our house. I would LOVE to get the 5yo in soccer, but he already comes home so spent and cranky from kindergarten (+aftercare) that it's just not going to happen. And tying back in to homework chat, it's like pulling teeth to get him to do the (extremely nominal) assignments, eg write your name 5 times in the homework journal, so adding sports on top of that during the week would be suicide. Gonna give him a year to adjust and re-evaluate next fall. Got this gem picking him up: "Umm, mama? When I was coming to the door I saw someone in a pink shirt and they looked like...an old girl." "Uhh, an old girl?" "Yeah! And guess what! It turned out to be you!!!" 
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Sep 7, 2023 16:46
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We just started our daughter at something called TeamGym. It’s like gymnastics but they compete as a team! Local rumor is the club kicked out all the leaders who were promoting unhealthy attitudes to eating a few years ago, so hopefully now there will not be any of that. I’ve talked to a few young adults who strongly recommended the club so that’s something at least. Of course, there are no competitions for 4-year-olds. At this point it’s just a well organized workout for 35 minutes one day a week. Only drawback I can see is that the 4-6 group is “conveniently” at 4:15 PM. My wife and I are privileged to have the work flexibility to leave early once a week and catch it up some other day. Anyway, my point is she was SO. READY. She absolutely loved it, and her best friend is in the same group. We can even ride our bikes there. I love it when a plan comes together! E: så Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Sep 7, 2023 |
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Sep 7, 2023 18:05
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We live down the block from the community pool. It is a particularly active one, built for swim meets. Regulation size, etc. The lady who runs that program has kids in the pool 5 days a week afterschool in the spring and fall, and 5 days a week from 7-noon in the summer. And then they do swim meets every saturday and wednesday from mid May through end of August. Parents are expected to volunteer at every swim meet. Cult sounds about right. You join this swim team and you're basically committed to 2 hours a day at the pool 9 months out of the year, plus every Saturday for the entire summer We were considering putting our kid in the program since it's a top rated one and so close to the house. Then I heard about the volunteer requirement on weekends. Every time I drive by I just see a ton of parents sitting around 50-100' from the pool, waiting for practice to end. I'm not sure if that's how I want to spend my life. I want my kid to have structured sports activities but I think swimming for 9 months out of the year would be exhausting. We will probably elect to do something like soccer/baseball/basketball/volleyball that has a distinct season that lasts less than 6 months.
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Sep 7, 2023 18:54
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Hadlock posted:I want my kid to have structured sports activities but I think swimming for 9 months out of the year would be exhausting. But how else will your kid achieve the dream you lost in your childhood to become the next Michael Phelps / Katie Ledecky?
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Sep 7, 2023 19:29
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My old boss coached his son's little leauge ("select" baseball?) team from 6th grade through graduation and was a... volunteer assistant coach at the high school varsity team, and then also coached both daughters volleyball team and they finished top 10 nationally several times. And yeah he played scholarship baseball in college but never went pro. The two eldest kids went off to school on sports scholarships to local schools and I'm sure that's the plan for the third one. On the plus side, he's a super involved dad (and overall good dad) but on the down side I'm not sure they did anything else their entire childhood except maybe play video games after homework
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Sep 7, 2023 19:48
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It’s also (not) funny because apparently pediatricians have been seeing a rise in repetitive strain/overuse injuries in kids because apparently a bunch of people think it’s appropriate or desirable to have an elementary aged child hyperspecialize in a sport. We take our little kids to one activity a week (swim or judo right now). I could see doing two activities a week as an elementary aged kid with actual interests, but I can only see 5 nights a week creating a stressed and exhausted kid and uh whyyyy. They have their whole lives to be stressed and exhausted, why burn them out so young.
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Sep 7, 2023 19:58
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I’m teaching my kid that “hustle” is a bad word. Which it is.
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Sep 7, 2023 21:34
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*in the middle of a wedding reception* "I'm sorry, do the WHAT, now?"
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Sep 7, 2023 21:36
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Thanks for the car seat travel tips, this will be an overseas flight when he's 18-24 mo so I'll probably get a harness or cheap light seat for the plane and then browbeat my wife's parents (our hosts) into buying a seat to use over there.
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Sep 8, 2023 02:02
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Pro tip: 3 years old is the worst age to take kids to Disney World. We’ve found that out this week!
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Sep 8, 2023 02:35
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Mind_Taker posted:Pro tip: 3 years old is the worst age
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Sep 8, 2023 03:23
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So I don't hate "Word Party" on Netflix, especially for the 2.5-3.5 crowd If blippi and Vlad and Nikki are a 10 (or 11?) on the energy scale, this is like a 6, and teaches vocabulary and dealing with toddler emotions in a relatable way If your kid is more into Spiderman and his amazing friends, check out Octonauts it's more like a 7.5 on the energy scale
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Sep 8, 2023 04:33
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killer crane posted:My wife wants to sign our kids up for jiu jitsu after listening to some podcast. I'm a little worried about injuries, but the risk is probably like any contact sport probably (unless they get into MMA or something). I also worry about getting my rear end kicked by my kids... maybe I should train too. As an aging man with the body that comes with years of sitting on my rear end at a computer I can say the injury risk of Jiu Jitsu is considerably lower than other contact sports, there's no striking and practice is generally a lot lower intensity than what you see in videos. The risk comes from the positions you end up being put in, joint injuries are the common one but there's no striking, takedowns/being thrown is as violent as it gets. Competing the risk certainly goes up as you're not being quite as considered. Getting beaten up by the kids is the higher risk, the kids in the class before mine could rip the limbs off me, wee fuckers are made of rubber and spite.
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Sep 8, 2023 07:18
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Mind_Taker posted:Pro tip: 3 years old is the worst age to take kids to Disney World. We’ve found that out this week! Tell us more
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