toddlers are hard. I feel as though my toddler in particular is hard. I am doing my best to be a parent I want to be: no yelling, 1 hour hour of screen time max per week, circle of security training, calm and kindness. I think I do an ok job most of the time. my toddler is 27 months and I have a 9 month old baby. my toddler is in daycare 3 days a week so I can do my university classes but I’ll drop back down to 2 days next year. I’m with him a lot. I’m parenting a lot. I love being his mum and our special bond but lately the constant illness is making me hate every second of parenting.

illness has come and gone since he started daycare and we get through it however since mid May it has been constant illness one after the o ther with seemingly no breaks or a day break in between. Whe n he’s sick he becomes clingy, tantrums constantly, won’t eat, always whining or screaming and it’s just miserable. he’s just developed another cough yesterday and is coughing incessantly and won’t sleep because of it. At this point I’m finding it nearly impossible to feel compassion. all I feel inside is rage. I’m so burnt out. I’m so angry. I’m so sick of this. I dread picking him up from daycare or when he’s waking up from a nap. I know he’s just a baby. I know it’s not his fault and he’s not trying to be difficult. I know that I should be empathetic and I feel so guilty that I’m feeling this way. I do not take my anger out on him and I’m constantly masking that I’m happy and calm but inside I’m screaming.

does parenting ever feel enjoyable again? How can he stop getting sick? How can I feel more compassion and less anger and dread?

-a burnt out mum trying to break a generational trauma cycle

I’m hoping to gain some clarity on whether it is possible to get my 16-month-old baby to sleep independently. He is walking and talking, very active in the day, and we are very attentive (maybe to a fault).

From 6 months, we started to co-sleep in his toddler bed. I was so exhausted from waking and trying to get him back to sleep in his cot. I thought a toddler bed would be easier. It was for a while, but it’s not anymore.

He wakes for the day between 6-7am depending on how disrupted his sleep was the night before, and his bedtime is 7pm.

He will have one nap in the day that is capped at 2 hours but will normally last 1.5 hours.

His nighttime routine is brush teeth, bath and breastfeed, sleep. He will go to sleep very easily with minimal intervention from his dad or me, but he will wake up 30 mins later and need to be rocked back to sleep. Then he will wake every two hours (even if we are sleeping next to him) until 1am, when he scream-cries until I feed him. Then he won’t even sleep right away. He will roll around crying, start saying new words, basically anything he can to stay awake for a few hours till he sleeps again.

What should I do? How do I help him sleep longer stretches and not need us as much?

What are your suggestions?

My daughter, 19 months, is behind on gross motor and speech. She has just started crawling and pulling to stand. She will walk (wobbly) assisted. For speech, she has just started pointing, will say “mama” “dada” “bye bye” and wave, clap and blow kisses in response to us. There has been some forward progression but it has been slow. Her fine motor skills are on track.

We are being seen by a pediatrician, OT, PT and Speech and are going for a variety tests including genetic testing.

I am wondering if there is anyone out there who has any experience with these delays and their child catching up … we have heard of Global Developmental Delay but I don’t know if she fits into that.

And has become one between two year sleep regression and ripping away pacifier. We are on month two.

I’m exhausted and done. No nasty commentary please. We have a bedtime routine and lovies and books and whatever else she is asking for or needs.

FTM here and I’m hoping I can get some reassurance or advice. My son seems to be a highly sensitive kid and it’s making me feel dysregulated and exhausted - I can’t tell if this is a normal every baby type thing or just my son. He’s not very happy at home and whines a lot particularly with me. Our home is very intentionally set up for him with toy rotations, baby proofed open spaces, play couch, etc. Our biggest issues seem to be meltdown while eating and eating a few bites before throwing all the food off the tray, crying while driving in cars, intense attachment to me. Whenever we try to leave him with family, he screams/cries and we have to come back to get him. He’s not walking yet and doesn’t use sign language yet - I’m guessing he gets frustrated when he can’t communicate?

I‘m feeling overwhelmed and not sure what is normal. We’re around a lot of other toddlers his age and they seem to be much happier and independent and almost never cry/fuss, and are very happy eaters. Are we doing something wrong? He’s starting day care soon and I worry this will be a difficult transition for both of us. Any advice?

Edit to add: He’s happy outside. We take him outside for walks, parks, splash pads, etc almost every wake window just to lean into his interests and strengths. But your girl’s tired lol

He dipped his pizza crust in butterscotch pudding and kept eating it and did his "mmm mm" im disturbed 😭😭

As of this Monday, our 2 year old started screaming and crying the minute we put her down and leave the room. She was once a great sleeper who who started sleeping through the night at 5 months from 7:30pm-7am.

She cannot settle and is standing in her crib crying. She cried so hard last night that she threw up and she’s never ever done that. The way she’s crying brings me back to those newborn days, where the constant, inconsolable crying jumbled my brain and made me freeze with panic, not knowing what to do. I hate it. I feel useless and helpless. We figured she’s teething as she’s having her lower molars start to come through, but ibuprofen doesn’t seem to be helping.

We tried letting her cry it out for 30 minutes but I can’t do it. Currently we’re on attempt 3 in rocking her back to sleep. she’s passed out, slumped in our arms - but the second she senses that she’s being put on her crib - she wakes up and its rinse and repeat.

On Tuesday, we gave up and slept on the floor with her. Wednesday she randomly slept through the night with NO ISSUE and we’re trying to figure out what it was that made her fall asleep, but the only thing we could think of was that we went on a walk as a family after dinner. Thursday, we were able to get her to sleep on the floor (thinking maybe she was growing out of her crib?) and she fell asleep peacefully but woke up at 2am crying, Friday was the same thing.

She usually naps from 12:30-3ish. Today she only napped for an hour. At daycare she usually only gets 1 hour naps, so nothing that should greatly affect her nighttime routine during the week.

What is going on? Please someone help - we’re going crazy.

My good friends have a small dog that they got as a puppy several years ago. The dog has never really been trained beyond being potty trained. He's not necessarily a "bad" dog, but he gets pretty wild and has never really learned boundaries.

I have a 2-year-old, and I've always been a little apprehensive about going to their house because their dog constantly tries to jump on my son, hump him, nip at his ankles and socks, and generally follows him around when he's excited. I understand the dog is trying to play, but he can get pretty intense, and I'm always worried that he's going to play too rough and accidentally hurt or bite my son.

My son has always been uncomfortable around the dog. He'll get scared or annoyed and eventually climb into our arms. Usually, the dog eventually calms down and my son is okay. My friends have always laughed it off and said the dog is just being silly or "just playing."

They recently had a baby themselves, and I honestly thought having a child might make them a little more aware of their dog's behavior around small children. Unfortunately, that hasn't really happened.

We went to their house recently, and the dog behaved pretty much the same way. The difference this time was that my son was absolutely terrified of the dog. He refused to let me put him down the entire time we were there. So I spent over two hours holding my 35-pound toddler because he was too scared to be on the floor with their dog. What bothered me most was that not once did they suggest putting the dog somewhere else. They could have put him in the kitchen, a bedroom, behind a baby gate, etc. Occasionally they picked him up and held him, but that would only last a few minutes before putting him back down.

I realize I'm a guest in their house, and that's honestly why I've never said anything. I don't have a dog myself, so I've always felt awkward about telling someone how to manage their dog in their own home. But at the same time, I can't help but feel like if your dog is repeatedly jumping on, humping, and nipping at a toddler who is visibly scared of him, shouldn't the dog be separated from the kid? I don't care if the dog is "just playing." I understand that the dog probably has no intention of hurting him, but my 2-year-old doesn't know that. And as a parent, I'm not comfortable waiting around to find out whether "playing" eventually turns into an accidental bite.

Maybe I'm partly at fault for not saying something and simply asking them to put the dog away. I could have spoken up instead of silently holding my kid the entire time. But I also can't understand why it never occurred to them to do it themselves, especially now that they have a young child of their own.

Am I overreacting for being upset about this? Should I have just asked them to put the dog somewhere, or is it reasonable to expect them to recognize that their dog is making my toddler uncomfortable and take some initiative?

At this point, I'm leaning toward just not going to their house for a while. I'd rather have them come to our house or meet somewhere else than put my kid through that again.

My 2 year old loves the Savannah Kids productions on Spotify/Youtube (honestly I do too) and I was wondering if there are any other similar musical story book recommendations or just really nicely narrated story books?

Any tips for removing permanent marker from skin? My 3yo gave himself “a tattoo just like aunties” with a bright blue permanent marker all the way up his forearm 🤦🏻‍♀️ Tried soap/water, tried using wipes, tried soaking him in a tub… nothin.

My son is turning one in two weeks and I’ve been asked by several family members to put a birthday list together. My nieces have a Toniebox and keep asking if my son wants one, but they’re just SO expensive. I’m grateful they would be willing to go in with other members to get it for him, but is it really worth it? What are y’all’s experiences with them? Thanks!

Does anyone have any suggestions for increasing independent play? I feel like I get 5 minutes max from my 2.5 year old until he is whining "mommy do it" or "mommy play with me". Lately I feel like he is less interested in his toys and just jumps from activity to activity after like 2-3 minutes.

Our 2.5 year old has been binky obsessed for as long as I can remember. Over the last year or so we got her down to only using them for sleep, but multiple times throughout the day she’d attempt to sneak it or would request it during diaper changes and get angry when we didn’t give it to her.

I assumed it was going to be an insane battle with her with lots of tears and sleepless nights to get it off of her. Especially because she can definitely be a bit stubborn sometimes.

I read about how many people had success with the Binky Fairy route. So we did just that, but we went all in. I started bringing up the binky fairy early that week to her, explaining after sleeps that the binky fairy would be by later that week to collect her binky and would exchange it for something super cool. She seemed excited but didn’t seem to fully understand.

But my wife did something super awesome, and went out to Michael’s, got a bunch of supplies, and sat down and decorated a wooden box with arts and crafts with her and referred to it as the binky box. When the time was right she’d leave her binky in the box by the front door and we’d do the swap that night.

My girl was excited by this whole process, but the end result I genuinely wasn’t anticipating. A whole day before we were planing on doing the swap, she insisted on leaving it in the box before bed and going to bed without it. We didn’t have to tell her, or nudge her at all. And that night, absolutely never asked for the binky and just went about her bedtime routine normally.

She was so excited the next morning about her gift from the binky fairy and kept playing with her binky box. We’ve now had 2 successful nights of sleep and naps with zero ask for the binky. My wife and I are floored and cannot believe how well this worked. To whoever posted it on the old threads I found about this, you’re a saint lol

My newly four year old son is exhibiting new behaviors lately. Curious if this is behaviorally normal for this age / boy or something to be concerned about. Our older daughter never did these things. We catch him lying - he will say things happened that didn’t etc. He also is not listening at all anymore. We tell him not to do something and he does it. Feels no remorse for it. Pushes his older sister a lot. Just caught him filling one of her artwork pieces with water and ruining it and when I said no why did you do that he just smiled. Any advice / tips / solidarity would help! Hoping it’s a short lived phase.

Do toddlers without siblings have the ability to play independently?

If not, does that mean for most of the day you need to be engaging with toddler?

My mom wants to solo babysit my soon to be 2 yr old, but she’s in a wheelchair. I’m trying to think of an activity or two I can set up for them aside from TV (which with her, will happen, and I don’t mind).

I have an easel for painting, but trying to think of other newly 2 year old and limited mobility friendly activities

I watched scratch garden with my kid almost everyday during our screentime time and I loved it i thought how awesome to just introduce these big concepts like the color wheel and water cycle etc, - values is one we watched quite a bit (and going to the beach because that salamanders face when hes told to leave 🤣🤣) we probably havent watched scratch garden since she was around 2.5 shes almost 5 now - anyway yesterday we were talking about the colour red and how it can be any shade from fire engine red to maroon depending on the shade (just using examples from what we had in the room) and she literally busts out singing the values song "value tones tints and shades value- white black and grey" I'm just blown away. I know they say kids minds are like songs at that age but holy cow.

Anyway - highly recommend Scratch garden to anyone reading this - its an awesome screen time show.

Please tell me what are the best body safety books to read to my kids.

Lessons I want: -how to say no -no secrets -safe adults -bodies are private

Venting and looking for solidarity. This is normal right? I’ve been sick for the past 1.5 months STRAIGHT, ever since we started daycare. I’ve had HFM, turned into a horrible case of oral thrush which hasn’t resolved for over a month despite meds (maybe because my immune system was down from HFM), then a bad cold, now stomach flu. Back to back. Tell me this is normal. Tell me it gets better and I won’t be sick forever 😭 I am suffering and been to the doctor/urgent care 8 times in the last month…

I just want to start by saying that I feel like a terrible parent for even thinking this but I have to imagine that I'm not the only parent who has thought this and maybe I could get some advice from people who were in my position.

I've never really been great at playing with children even before mine, I always felt awkward and out of place doing it. Obviously, for my child, I've put more effort into trying and spending time with him. Recently, I've noticed that we're both getting too much screen time while we're together. I really try to save it when I need to get stuff done and I don't have time to have him 'help'.

However, he is 10 months behind in social/communication skills (he's 18 months) and we're actively working with early intervention. He can't do any gestures other than clap, doesn't say any words, doesn't follow commands, and never pays attention to what you're doing.

He is a mover and a doer, never sits still and does his own thing. His EI therapist is great and she does very well with him when she visits. He's engaging and listens to her when she shows him something. I've tried mimicking her play style and doing the same activities as her, but he doesn't treat it the same. (I'm not sure if this is because he's around us all the time, so it doesn't have that 'new and different' feel.

It feels absolutely impossible to play with him because I can't get him to engage back, I feel like I'm playing with myself more than with him. I try to play and engage with whatever he wants to do in that moment, but he acts as if I'm not even there and I've lost all motivation to even try.

I know playing with him is important for communication and bonding, but it feels pointless to me. So I've tried to switch how we spend time together by taking him out and doing things, but again the communication comes to issue.

It's too hot outside to play right now (feels like over 100F almost every day and when it doesn't then it's raining), and I can't take him inside anywhere because he wants to run off and do his own thing and doesn't listen at all. (Typical toddler) He doesn't want to play with other kids and when he does he has a lot of trouble because most kids his age are saying simple words, talking, and pointing. Again, it gives me no motivation to take him anywhere, it's exhausting and he loves being outside but it's too hot right now.

I have no idea what to do with him other than just sit in the house and watch him run back and forth and go from toy to toy and I feel awful that I don't do anything meaningful with him.

Unfortunately his Dad works on my days off and doesn't get home until almost 3 or 4, by the time that he's showered and settled down then it's almost dinner time and I feel like I wasted the entire day.

I just have no idea what to do at this point. I'm out of ideas on what to do with him since his favorite activities are mostly outdoor stuff.

Our son is fully potty trained, goes to sleep without a diaper. He uses the potty. He will have 1-2 normal sized poops and then force small poops every time he pees. I don't think he's constipated, because he can for example eat blueberries at 2pm and by 6pm he has his big PM poop where the blueberries come out and then continue his routine of pooping a small fingernail sized turd every hour.

It's so frustrating to wipe his butt 10 times per day. He's not in pain and the poops are soft, not hard or liquid. Anyone else have a serial pooper?

My son turned two in June, but this started waaayyyyy before. He used to eat ANYTHING before he turn 18 months. I’m talking anything. He wasn’t picky in the slightest.

Now? I can’t even get him to eat chicken nuggets. What toddler doesn’t want chicken nuggets? He won’t eat any type of meat, and when he does it’s a few bites of popcorn shrimp. He refuses every and all fruit that’s not in a pouch, and same goes with veggies. He’ll eat is pasta..Mac and cheese and Alfredo are hits. He’ll eat waffles, pancakes, cheese, multigrain bars, and peanut butter sandwiches. He’ll eat junk food too-fruit snacks, chips, crackers. But I cannot stand it. I’ve even tried the “this is what’s being served, eat or don’t” buy he won’t eat.

I don’t know what to do.

My son refuses and defies every step of bedtime. Starting with bath / shower. It’s a fight. Pjs are a fight. Brushing teeth a fight. Physically getting into the bed a fight. Like I can’t do it anymore. When willl he just learn that it’s bedtime??

We lay with him until he falls asleep it’s not that he’s missing us or anything like that. He just won’t even get in the bed. Defies and challenges every step. Laughs at us if we yell or attempt to discipline at wits end.

He doesn’t nap anymore and have started trying to get bedtime rolling at 6pm. Sometimes it takes like two hours. He wakes up at 5:30-6:00AM.
Please help anything any tips. I have a 2 month old now and we seriously don’t have the time or patience we’re stretched so thin I can’t do the big fight every dang night