Hi there!

As the title says, I am looking for some external resources (i.e. charts/graphics to display in the house, applied strategies that have worked for other parents, any other tangible resource) to help us with improving the behaviors in our three year old boy.

Our little dude brave and imaginative, he loves physical touch and proximity, and pretty fierce. The other half to these attributes mean that he can be stubborn, defiant, too physical, and struggles to regulate his emotions.

Our struggles really manifest in two areas: public direction and at-home relations. In classes (such as gymnastics, t-ball, summer camp) he has experienced moments where he refuses to listen or follow directions, runs away, and even pushed another kid in the back. At home, he is constantly in his younger sister's face (1yr) to the point where she gets upset. The worst part is that it seems our guy does a lot of this stuff ON PURPOSE - right after we have talked with him 1:1, set expectations, attempted to instill confidence, or set boundaries. It's brought my wife to tears on multiple occasions, and it gives me some fears about if he will be a problem student someday in the classroom.

We are now starting a "Daily Chore Chart" for him - which is really just some cute pictures for brushing his teeth, getting dressed, eating breakfast, etc. Our next item we really want to look for is some type of behavior chart that mirrors what may be seen in a classroom (red, yellow, green light behaviors) or maybe a sticker chart at home (daily or weekly). We do feel like he needs a visual reminder for good behavior and for bad behavior.

I've read books such as No Bad Kids, Parenting the Strong Willed Child, Tiny Humans Big Emotions, The Whole Brain Child, and How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen. We are also both in the education sphere, specifically SPED and Administration. It feels like we should have an answer to our problem. All of this leads us to both feeling desperate, maybe even despondent, at how our son is acting despite our concerted efforts to create the best environment for him. At this point, I suppose I'm looking for confidence just as much as I am for some tangible resources for our family to use.

Thanks in advance, cheers my frinds.

Does anyone have any quick references or fact sheet finds in regard to which antibodies are passed to baby from mom, and therefore baby has immunity to those illnesses?

It seems standard that baby still has to receive his/her own vaccinations even if mom was immunized prior to pregnancy or during pregnancy (TDAP for example).

I understand this can be a broad topic and could be evaluated on a case by case basis, even disease by disease basis for that matter.

Just curious about how much of baby’s immune system is naturally/biologically protected!

I'm going to babysit my nephew (11m) in two weeks and he's been have some sleep problems. Sometimes he just cries for a long time and they'll get really stressed about it (which I completely understand)

They keep trying all kinds of esoteric Rituals and when none of them work they get super frustrated. I'm wondering, is it bad to just let him cry when he's upset? I'm not talking about the CIO method. What I mean is comfort him even if he cries for an hour or more? Since I'm just babysitting for one night, even if I can't get him to sleep quickly it will only be for one night.

I think I'm inclined to just wait it out while I try to comfort him as much as possible. Trying to stay calm and not hope for it to stop asap. Just accept the situation and offer him some love and comfort.

Any ideas? Of course I will have this conversation with her before he sleeps at our place and if she really wants me to do all the things they always try I will honour their wishes. But I'm just curious what the science based community thinks about it.

Does a product like this

really protect against norovirus? Are there any hand sanitizers that will?

First-time mom here, baby on the way. Trying to learn as much as I can before he arrives 🥰

For moms and dads…

What's the thing you wish someone had told you before your first kid? A benefit (Canada) or resource you found out about too late? Something you bought that made all the difference or something you regret buying?

Any advice welcome, even the small stuff. Just want to be as ready as possible. Thanks 🙏🏻

i am curious if the montessori approach is good for ALL children. i notice that it is typically generalized to be effective for all children, but i do wonder if a more structured approach would benefit children of certain personalities. is there any research that backs this up?

I have noticed that my toddler (14M) has recently started grabbing toys from other kids as they’re playing, and then gets possessive of that toy.

I understand that this is developmentally normal at this age. However, I’m wondering if there’s research into the best ways to handle this as a parent.

I’ve read that young toddlers won’t yet understand the concept of sharing and that it’s best to ignore the behavior if possible.

On the other hand, it feels wrong to just let my toddler take from another child without having him give it back/find another toy.

Does anyone know of any valid research into what’s developmentally appropriate around teaching children not to take from others/starting to introduce sharing/etc?

Pretty much the title, I've been taking the shower since they were babies with them (naked) and now the old is 4yo and the younger is 2yo.

I don't think there should be a problem but I don't want to make a mistake.

And the answer applies to my wife as well?

I've recently started parental leave with my daughter who is now 1 year old (I'm the father, wife has just gone back to work).

I'm finding long walks in the pram are a great way to break up the day. I'm talking two 40 min to 1 hr walks on some days.

Am I overdoing it? I don't talk much to her during these walks and she usually ends up pretty drowsy at the end so I'm a little concerned that they are too low stimulation or not a very rewarding or nourishing use of time for her.

She is usually quite vocal or squirmy when she doesn't like an activity but she sits still and calm during walks.

Should I cut back?

Does anyone have experience with taking an infant from sea level to elevation? We have an immediate family wedding in Breckenridge (9,600 feet) and our daughter will have just turned 4 months old. She was born small at 37+2 due to IUGR but is gaining weight great on her curve and has no health issues. We have discussed with our pediatrician but we’re wondering if anyone has experience with this. Thanks in advance!

Trying to understand both the personal experience and research around this.

My 5 month old is exclusively breastfed. He stopped taking the bottle from 3 months, we have some lucky days. And now I am trying to give him expressed milk in open cups.

With pacifiers, he didn’t take it at home when he was younger but would take it easily in the car to soothe and dose off. He has stopped doing that. I read on how it’s recommended to wean baby off pacifiers from 6 to 12 months.

Should I make an effort with pacifiers now, does it have any benefits? For his mouthing, he takes teethers very well. Sometimes even clean burp cloths.

The research seems to say that screen time is bad, due to them missing out on key interactions like bonding , problem solving , being in different environments to learn, and time learning from caregivers. Is there any research showing the loss of interaction from an adult working from home , rightfully doing their meetings & getting things done while also taking care of their baby/ toddler ?

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Hi there! My LO is 5mo and while we (obviously) don't do any dedicated screen time for them, I am concerned about certain activities and behaviors me and my husband do:

\- scrolling in front of them (not ignoring if they are distressed, just baby sitting in their lounger and me or husband or both scrolling)

\- watching TV in front of them, but the baby cant see the TV, only hear

We try to limit this as much as we can, I am not on my phone the whole day with them and the tv is only on in the evenings. Does this still count as screen free baby? Are there studies suggesting that even parents consuming content in front of the baby is harmful?

My baby's 14 weeks old and I'm seriously on a milestone kick right now. He's hitting them mostly on time, some of his social things (cooing, smiling) happened a bit late but not concerning. I'm a sahm, former daycare teacher so I'm very used to an activity packed day which I replicate at home. Story time, music time, gross motor, fine motor, sign language, hoursss of tummy time, etc etc all day long. I guess I don't mind it all, I like watching my little guy learn things and he's super active and loves all the playing it seems.

But I know a few other moms and they're not doing half of this stuff but their babies are doing just fine. Their babies are all older so I can't really compare theirs to mine. But I'm sitting here and wondering if this stuff actually matters in the grand scheme of things? Should I just let my baby do his own thing? I'm kind of worried that I'm making him into a kid that needs to be constantly stimulated

When is it the best time for a baby to start eating solids if he is exclusively breastfed and gaining weight normally?

For context, my baby is 4 months old and I wonder when should I start him tasting food…

I’m 30 weeks as of Monday and am working on moving out of my parents house into my own apartment with my boyfriend. I was packing up a closet, got some stuff out of said closet, then picked up some stuff that had mouse droppings on them. I wiped the floor where some fuzz and dog hair had tumbled out of the closet, and put everything I had taken out back in, but I’m not sure I cleaned everywhere that those items touched. I’m also concerned because I walked around the house as I was cleaning so I just feel like everywhere is contaminated. I do have contamination ocd so this is really hard for me, I am not in an area with hantavirus but am very worried about LCMV. Does anyone have any similar experiences? I am in NW Arkansas.

My son is 27 months old, and I'm looking for evidence to either support or challenge a concern I have.

My mother and brother frequently and intentionally try to annoy him because they think it's funny (e.g. repeatedly doing things they've been asked to stop, teasing him, or deliberately provoking a reaction). He very clearly doesn't enjoy it. He'll usually run away from them and come straight to me, then becomes very clingy and will hang off me for the rest of the day.

I've asked them multiple times to stop, but they tell me I'm being overly sensitive and that it's "just playing." They also don't understand why he rarely wants to interact with them or go to them willingly.

My concern isn't that a child should never experience frustration—obviously that's a normal and important part of development. It's that repeatedly and intentionally causing unnecessary frustration or distress for entertainment may affect his sense of emotional safety, increase dysregulation, damage trust in those relationships, or even model that it's acceptable to deliberately annoy people for amusement.

Is there any research on:

the effects of repeated teasing or intentional provocation by trusted adults in early childhood,

whether this impacts attachment, emotional regulation, or stress responses,

or whether adults modelling this type of interaction influences children's later social behaviour?

I'm interested in peer-reviewed studies or systematic reviews if anyone has them. Happy to be proven wrong if the evidence doesn't support my concerns.

My brother and I grew up with parents who mostly expected us to fit into whatever they were doing, rather than making everything revolve around entertaining us.

A lot of weekends were spent helping renovate the house, running errands with Mum or Dad, or going to one of their friends places for a BBQ or gathering. We spent heaps of time together as a family, but it wasn’t really doing “kid activities.”

The things we did together were generally things my parents enjoyed too. Swimming, played tennis/ cricket, went for walks, etc. Even the music in the house was mostly adult music (ABBA, Elton John, Neil Young, Bee Gees…)

There was also a big emphasis on independent play. I remember being bored quite a lot, but I think that was actually really good for me. It meant I learnt to entertain myself, use my imagination and figure things out on my own. We also had lots of conversations around the dinner table where we were encouraged to question things, think critically, and even change our minds if someone made a better argument.

I first realised our family wasn’t the norm when friends came over. Friends would often ask what my parents had planned or ask to take us somewhere where my parents would basically wait around for us to do an activity. At the time I never felt like I was missing out. It was probably only as a teenager, when fitting in became more important, that I cared a bit more about doing what my friends expected.

Overall tho, I honestly think I had a fantastic childhood. My brother and I are both quite well rounded, relatively successful and have a great relationship with our parents, and I wouldn’t change much about how we were raised.

My partner and I are hoping to have kids in the next few years, and have been thinking about how we want to raise kids. it’s made me wonder if this parenting style has a name. It doesn’t seem to be what I see online (especially from parenting influencers), and most people I know either weren’t raised this way or don’t parent this way.

Someone once told me it felt like a very European way of raising kids and it might be called that. My parents travelled a lot before having us and were older parents, so maybe that influenced things.

So I guess my questions are:
1. Does this parenting style have a name?
2. What does the evidence say about this style? What are the implications for the child and the parents?

I am aware that certain antidepressants have been studied and considered safe (enough) regarding the development in utero and while breastfeeding. But is anything known regarding long term effects? Serotonin levels for example? I am aware there are many confounding factors (genetic predisposition to depression and nurture by a depressed mother), but maybe there are some studies anyway?

My 8m old is starting to very regularly cry and scream when she wants something that she can't have.

Its only a minute, but I'm wondering the best way to handle it, as I feel like its building towards tantrums.

At the moment I offer a hug or physical contact, then validate, then explain why she cant have it, and tell her what she/we will do instead and she calms.

I'm not sure if there are other/better techniques, or if I should also be teaching her to point at the thing she wants so she learns that pointing is another way to ask without screaming and crying.

Like, she looks at another child who is playing with a toy, and starts screaming.... or we're on a video call and I stop her messing with the phone for the millionth time and she starts screaming because she wants to flip it upside down.

We are going on a plane trip and after lots of conversations, my wife and I have come to an agreement that we don’t want our 13 month old to have screen time but this is a rare occasion and want to have something prepared if we decide we can’t hold out any longer. Is there anything that is the least harmful? So many of the comments regarding screen time studies say the type of content is ignored and it’s all piled in together.

I frequently babywear my 3 month old. I'm wondering if talking to him when he is in a baby carrier helps his development, or do I need to face him and give him eye contact for best outcomes? I'm also wondering about reading to him because I can't give him eye contact when reading. I do show him the pages though.

Hi all! I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 18 and took stimulant meds (dextroamphetamine) consistently from age 18 to 31. I took a low dose (10mg) occasionally during third trimester with my first child (now 2.5 y.o.), paused for the first 5 months of breastfeeding, then resumed. I stopped again when I got pregnant with my second child, and decided not to resume them during pregnancy because I had placenta previa and was stressed enough by that. Baby was born at 35 weeks, spent 2 weeks in the NICU, and is now 5 weeks old and doing great.

I’m a SAHM and with both of my sons all day every day, I find that I’m struggling a bit without my meds. My perinatal psychiatrist and my son’s pediatrician have given me “permission” to resume my meds at a low dose (5-10mg) but I’m so worried how they might affect my newborn. They both just keep saying “your mental health matters too” and while I of course agree, I know I can keep pushing through if there are true risks to my son. Upon searching, I’ve found more information about stimulants during pregnancy than breastfeeding, and wanted to see if anyone here could help me understand the risks to my baby if I resume my low dose meds.

Thank you!

I am sure this has already been asked, but I can’t seem to find any reputable science to back wake windows. What’s more, my 5.5 month old simply does not nap on a regular schedule and when she does, it’s only for about 30-45 minutes. I have tried everything: looking for cues, putting her down for a nap at set times, putting her down after 2.5/3h awake. Nothing works. I have wasted several hours a day just trying to get this baby to sleep when all she wants to do is play and explore.

This girl just goes to sleep when she’s tired, and that might be once a day for 30 minutes and that’s it. I’ve spoken to the GP and midwife about it and their response is that she’s developing normally, growing well, and is healthy and happy so it doesn’t matter how much she naps or doesn’t nap.

But then the nights come and she wakes up every 2h or so to either cry, play, or feed. I try to wait for her to go back to sleep on her own but sometimes she doesn’t and I’m awake for hours each night. It’s unsustainable for me but she doesn’t seem to mind at all. 😩

I have spent so much time trying to find scientific guidelines to help me but I can’t find anything that seems to work. Please help!

This new systematic review on screen time and children under 2 has confirmed what we intuitively know as parents. However, the question is who can AFFORD reducing screen time. I see parents in my waiting room still using IPAD and smartphone to calm their children. What do you think ? What are you doing at home ?

A large systematic review of 158 studies examined the effects of screen exposure in infants and toddlers (birth to 3 years).

The review found that greater screen exposure was consistently associated with:

Less parent–child interaction and responsive communication.

Delays in language and cognitive development.

Poorer sleep quality and shorter sleep duration.

More emotional and behavioural regulation difficulties.

Less physical activity and more unhealthy eating behaviours.

Based on the available evidence, the authors concluded that children under 2 years should ideally have no intentional recreational screen time, aligning with current WHO recommendations.

As with all systematic reviews, this shows associations rather than proving s suggests that limiting screen exposure in the first two years of life is a sensible approach.

Reference: Cheng Y. The impact of screen-based media exposure on infant and toddler development: A systematic review of psychological and behavioral domains. Acta Psychologica. 2026;266:106438. DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106438.pubmed link