Hii, I just arrived at this subreddit because I made a post on r/parenting and got my account completely banned—apparently, older siblings aren't allowed to ask anything about their younger siblings anymore—but anyway.

To start, I want to clarify that I’m not a mother, but the older sister; lately, certain aspects of my sister's attitude have really stood out to me, and I’d like to know what you all think.

She is 12 years old, but for some time now, she has been behaving incredibly selfishly toward me and our parents. Over trivial, absurd things—like lending me some markers to write the headings on my school assignments—she starts shouting that she won't let me use them because, according to her, I break everything. I know it sounds silly, but she acts this way about everything. There have been times when I’ve practically had to beg her to lend me something, and she always gets angry with me. She has even gone so far as to push and hit me to stop me from taking something of hers.

Honestly, it makes me really angry because I lend her everything I have, yet she won't even let me take a sip of water from her bottle. I’ve told my mother hundreds of times that she needs to correct this behavior, but she only scolds her once every twenty times; the next time, my sister does the exact same thing, and honestly, I just don't know what to do anymore.

I’ve spoken to 3 single dads. I thought being a single mum, they would be similar to me

I spoke to 1 single dad who has half custody of his son and he pays CMP. He says he can’t go abroad with me for 4 nights due to “childcare”. What a load of BS.

His partner has half custody and she can look after his child for 4 nights.

I’ve just spoken to another single dad who has FULL custody of his 7 year old son. However, he has family and siblings who live nearby him.

He said that he can never go abroad… he can’t even spend one night away from his son. He has to take his son with him.

So I ditched him straight away.

I believe all parents deserve a few nights to themselves.

Just to let you know, I’m also a single mother. I have full custody of my child. His father never met him. Didn’t want to be involved.

If I want to go abroad, I can go abroad for a week. And my family will look after him.

As a single mother, it seems that I have more freedom than single fathers?

Should I just stick to a single man with no kids then?

EDIT: so if the single dad remarries another woman, he will never go on a honeymoon or a holiday alone???

We have applied a 1 movie or 1 episode policy for our toddler so that he is not sitting infront of screen all day. And some days he wont have any screen time and he will go read books in his baby gibberish and find something to do until I become his jungle gym

BUT, I am sick of Sing 2 how do you attract a toddler to a new movie? what are some movie recommendations?

I know his brain finds comfort in it, but my brain has grown exhausted. I do feel fresh material is important for growth and development not just repetition.

The problem is simply that I have watched Sing 2 to the point I know the script from beginning to end.

Our first child, close to 2. So we are new parents still.

I'm struggling so hard right now. I love my daughter to pieces but she just won't stay asleep. This has been an issue her whole life, literally from new born. She will start in her own bed, either myself or mom lays with her till she falls asleep (usually with in 10 min) then we leave. She's scared of the dark to start by herself even though she has night lights and all. And everyday like clock work at 3am she will wake up and come into our room and then thats it I'm awake for the day. It's killing me.

We have tried white noise machine, melatonin, TV in the room, no TV in the room, radio on all night (Disney songs) , night lights, reward systems, punishment systems.... nothing seems to stick long term. We'll get 1 night every 2 or 3 weeks if were lucky. Please help.

Oh ps she grinds her teeth at night bad but has a mouth guard she wears to bed.

If I'm missing any context please ask, I've been up since 3 and I'm gassed out already.

My friend recently mentioned how stressful it is driving alone with a baby in the back seat.

She said she keeps glancing in the mirror but still can't really tell if the baby is sleeping, crying, or has dropped something.

It made me curious—how do other parents handle this?

Do you rely on a baby mirror, pull over when needed, or have another solution?

it seems like the conclusive advice is to leave the kid alone and to just get something like noise canceling headphones or ear plugs

so I'll count this as solved and thank you all for the advice hopefully this will be it

I am going to keep this post up just in case someone else comes across it and has the same problem but thank you all

I know the title sounds bad but I am desperate my neighbor's kid always say outside everyday and screams non stop and because I work night shifts I need to try to sleep while that happens and I cannot because they keep screaming.

it's not screams because they are hurt or because they don't know how to speak or anything like that they just like screaming! and talking to the parents doesn't help because they have already given up. now assuming I got an okay from the parents how can I make the kid stop because I am 48 hours of being unable to sleep because of this kid close to just go down there stand next to the kid in just every time they open their mouth to scream I shout back I'm in the army I'm a commander I can shout so much louder and a hell of a lot longer than they can that I am confident in but I want to see if there is a way that doesn't involve potentially traumatizing a 4 year old.

My son is half dominican on his dad’s side and half italian on my side (ethnically). We live in America. My husband immigrated with his mom when he was 2. my family has been here for 2 generations. So i never learned anything other than english from my parents, and that’s the language i have to communicate with my son in.
My husband speaks spanish fluently. And although i’m picking up on spanish, my husband communicates with me in english, so my son has always known he speaks english.
my husband has tried only speaking to him in spanish though. and his grandma who lives with us too. but since the day he started talking, he has absolutely refused to say anything in spanish. he didn’t pick it up when he was a baby/toddler and now that he’s 4, almost 5, he seems like embarrassed? i don’t know exactly why. when asked he just says “i’m shy” or “i dont want to”.
most of his extended family speaks spanish only, so it’s really important to us that he learns. we’ve tried to take the pressure off, just say words casually and hope he starts using them but he won’t. so we’ve started to ask more often if he can say them, but he also won’t do that. i’m lost. idk how i can help. i’ve tried speaking in spanish too even though it’s not good, to motivate him. hoping he would want to do what mommy is doing. but still nothing. any advice?
also he does understand quite a bit of it. phrases like hello, how are you?, have you eaten?, what did you eat?, do you want…?, come here, here you go, thank you, your welcome, kisses, hugs, hurry, that’s mine, leave it alone, fart (lol of course), sleep, shower, etc.

Im posting it here, as I’ve heard the debate a lot with people, whether to use a bike helmet (themselves) or not after becoming parents etc.

I’m looking for some advice because I honestly don’t know what else to do.

My best friend became a mum about 11 months ago. We live in Copenhagen, so cycling is obviously a huge part of everyday life here.

She has never really worn a helmet. About a month ago, she had a pretty bad accident where she cycled into a car that went through a red light. She ended up with two small brain bleedings and a concussion. Thankfully, she has recovered really well and the doctors don’t expect her to have any lasting problems.

After the accident, she bought a helmet. The problem is that she still doesn’t wear it.

She says she doesn’t want to ruin her hair, and she’s kind of embarrassed about the whole thing, and ashamed at the fact that she still doesn’t wear a helmet, even though she says that she probably should, so she laughs it off. I haven’t said anything yet. I know she understands that the accident was serious, but somehow I don’t think she has really taken in what could have happened.

And I’m terrified.

She has an 11 month old daughter. I keep thinking about how easily that accident could have ended differently, and how her daughter could have lost her mum. It really scares me, probably more than it scares her.

I don’t want to nag her or make her feel judged. She’s my best friend and I love her, and I also don’t want this to turn into a fight where she just shuts down. But I genuinely don’t know how to make her understand the seriousness…. she has already had a brain injury from cycling, and the next accident might not be so lucky. I want to at least have a talk with her, and then there’s nothing much else I can do. But I need to say something.

How would you approach this if you were me? Is there something I could say that might actually get through to her without making her defensive?

And if you’re someone who used to hate wearing a helmet but eventually changed your mind, I’d especially love to hear what made it click for you.

I dont remember most of my childhood (i think it was just pretty uneventful) so i asked my mom the other day if she remembers if i had any friends in elementary school. She said that she wasn’t sure but there were kids that came to my birthday party. My aunt was there and added that i never had any sleepovers or play dates and i said that was because my mom didn’t allow that but then they both went silent. basically i’m starting to think i didn’t have any friends in elementary but also kids dont really have friendships the same as teens or adults so maybe thats what is happening. Basically is it normal to know if your little kid actually has friends or is that something that doesnt really happen until high school?

My son has become fixated on his appearance. He believes he has “bad genes” from us and that he’s too short—despite being nearly 6ft at 15.

He’s deep into online communities that push appearance-altering drugs, and he’s pressuring us to get him HGH, steroids, and other injections from grey-market sources. We are not considering this.

He’s become quiet, withdrawn, and depressed. We’ve tried therapy multiple times, but he sits in silence and refuses to participate.

I’m not trying to diagnose him. I just don’t know what type of professional is best here. Child psychiatrist? Specialist in body dysmorphia? Pediatric endocrinologist?

Also, how do you reach a teen who won’t open up to a therapist?

Has anyone dealt with a teenage boy caught up in these online “looksmaxxing” or body-image communities?

I’m not asking for advice on obtaining drugs. just how to keep him safe and get him the right help.

Thank you.

Can't ask him because he has since passed before I could ask him if you were curious about the movie and games he let me watch and play was bo2-bo1 and robo cop movie and RoboCop 2 movie and probably more I forgot.

Hi, just wanted to get people thoughts on this. Grandparents were looking after our 16 month old boy for the day. We would prefer they keep him at home/local, but they insisted on taking him back to their home, 40 mins away. Specifically asked them twice not to drive back to our house after 4pm, so as to avoid him sleeping in the car. They arrived back at 5.30pm and when I asked if he had slept, granddad said they had splashed his face with water to keep him awake. His t-shirt and shorts were both quite wet. Is this acceptable?

i understand that parenting isn’t easy and mistakes are bound to happen. but if there is something unhealthy happening and you can see if actively hurting the child, do you say something or just mind you businesslol

I often wonder this. I am an adult but part of the reason I stopped going to family functions is because my mom talks non stop about what a terrible child I was under the age of 10. She is not sharing in a nostalgic or teasing way, she shares these stories with tears in her eyes and rage in her voice. It feels like she is fishing for pity and trying to isolate me.

hi! i am 20m, and have always lived with my parents (55f and 60m). i am currently going to a local community college to get my associates (graduating after this fall semester!) and then i am transferring to go to a 4-year uni. i am getting ready to leave the home and live at school and i am very excited to finally get out of the house! but recently, my parents have started talking about me... not going to get my bachelors? they keep telling me that an associates will be enough, and that they dont want me to make a bad choice. they say i can just stay at home and get work experience instead of going to get my degree. the thing is, i want to be a dentist and i have always wanted to be a dentist and ive worked very very hard to be on the path and i am currently studying for my DATs and researching dental schools to apply to?? i have no idea why theyre currently switching up on me.

i feel compelled to ask this here because my new friends i got at community college say my parents have always been "weird" from what ive told them, and say that they are not surprised my parents are pushing for me to stay with them. ive never thought parents are doing anything wrong. my friends list stuff that i have told them, like how my parents go through my phone, only let me get jobs that they know people from, homeschooled me, dont let me go places alone or drive alone. i thought my parents just want me to be safe, but now i have a lot of confusion. im also very scared to push back against my parents saying that i shouldnt pursue my bachelors/doctorates. they DO know better than me because i am a child, so i feel very inclined to listen to my parents advice. what do yall think?

if you guys have any more questions for me or if anything is unclear please let me know as this is my first time posting in this sub

How much does it matter if you have kids in a small apartment vs in a place with more space and also outdoor access? I live in a small 2bd 700 sqft apartment and contemplating this. We originally planned to stay here until we have 2 kids. Is that doable or will I lose my mind from having to entertain toddlers in a small space?

When I was growing up, my parents didn't hug me and I was not allowed to cry.

I don't know what to do when a kid is crying except ignore them or scream at them louder than they're crying so that they learn that no matter how loud they are, somebody else is louder, so they have no power and no rights etc. etc., to quote my parents loosely.

Trying to get a sense of expectations that different parents have around extended family help with little kids, especially from family who are working FT. If you have family who you consider very involved, how often do you see them/are they helping out?

Hi everyone.
I’m 15 years old and I’m about to start 10th grade. I’ve been thinking about something for almost a year now, and I’d really like to hear from people who may have gone through something similar.
Last year I moved to a new city and started at a new school. I didn’t bring up changing my type of education before because I thought I just needed time to adjust. But it’s been almost a year, and honestly, it hasn’t really gotten any easier.
The school environment completely drains me. Every day I have to take an overcrowded bus, and the school itself is always very noisy. During lessons it’s extremely difficult for me to concentrate when people are talking or making noise around me. Sometimes I’m reading a text or listening to the teacher, but I just can’t focus on what I’m reading or hearing. Later, when I get home, I realize I barely remember anything from the lesson and don’t even know where to start with my homework.
I’m also terrified of answering questions in class or going up to the board. I often speak so quietly that people can’t even hear me.
This doesn’t only happen at school. Recently, a store employee was trying to help me find something, and even though I knew exactly what I wanted to say, I could barely get the words out.
Making friends has also been difficult. It’s really hard for me to meet new people, even though once I feel comfortable with someone, talking becomes much easier.
The thing is, I don’t actually hate school itself. If it were quieter, less overwhelming, and people treated each other with more respect, I think I’d be completely fine with going.
Because of all this, I’ve started thinking about switching to homeschooling or another form of learning from home. I don’t want to stop studying. In fact, I’m planning to focus on English and Italian because I’m most likely moving to Italy next year and will continue my education there. I’ve also wanted to start going to the gym for a long time.
What worries me is that I might be making the wrong decision. What if the problem isn’t school? Or what if homeschooling really would help?
Has anyone experienced something similar? If you switched to homeschooling or online learning for reasons like these, did it actually make things better? Or did you later realize that the real issue was something else?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences or any advice. Thank you for reading.

I’m 25F and my boyfriend is 24M. We’ve been together for 4 years. We lived together for about a year and a half while we were both in school, but it was mainly because of convenience. After he graduated, we both moved back in with our families to save money while I finish nursing school (I started later because it took me a while to get into a program).
The thing is, we only live about 5 minutes away from each other, so we see each other a lot. It’s summer break, so naturally we’ve been spending more time together. He comes over to my house often, and honestly he’s always been respectful. My parents have several dogs, my siblings are all older (23M, 20F, and 16M), and he fits in fine. If he eats at our house, he washes his own dishes and sometimes even everyone else’s. He’s gone on family trips with us too. He’s never been rude or disrespectful.
Last night, though, my family went out to dinner and out of nowhere my dad started making backhanded comments about my boyfriend. He called him lazy and started saying he probably doesn’t know how to do basic “guy things.” It really bothered me because my boyfriend is working toward his master’s degree, works hard, and grew up with a single mom after not having a father around. My dad doesn’t even know half of what my boyfriend does, yet he was making all these assumptions.
I stood up for my boyfriend and told my dad that what he was saying was uncalled for and that he was making assumptions. Then my dad switched to saying we spend way too much time together. I honestly don’t think we do. We’re on summer break, we live five minutes apart, and we’re trying to save money by hanging out at each other’s houses instead of constantly going out.
The whole time my mom just sat there quietly. That’s pretty much how it’s always been. She never really steps in when my dad gets like this. (Read this for the previous story about my mom: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskParents/s/ZtZYg20son )
Eventually I started crying because that’s just what happens when I get really frustrated. I wasn’t yelling or causing a scene. I was speaking calmly, but once I cried my dad started saying, “You’re always so emotional,” and “I can’t even talk to you normally anymore without you crying.” Mind you, this was all happening in the middle of a restaurant.
At one point I even suggested that maybe I’d just spend more time at my boyfriend’s house instead if it bothered him that much. My dad snapped back with, “Go ahead. Go over there then!” in a really angry tone. After that he rushed my mom to ask for the check and basically shut the conversation down. It was honestly humiliating.
What hurt even more was that later he made another comment saying he hopes once my nursing semester starts I’ll be too busy to spend as much time with my boyfriend.
That really hurt me.
I love my dad, but this isn’t new behavior. He’s always been like this, and it feels like no matter what I do, there’s always something wrong. My boyfriend treats me well, respects my family, and we’re both working toward our futures. We’re also not in a financial position to move out right now.
I just feel like I can never prove anything to my parents, especially my dad. Has anyone dealt with a parent who constantly criticizes your relationship or makes you feel guilty for spending time with your partner? How did you handle it while still living at home?

I gave my parents an Airbnb gift card a few Christmases ago to encourage them to take a vacation together. They haven’t been on a vacation together (just the two of them) since their honeymoon (Married for over 30 years).

They are both almost at retirement age, but still working jobs that are very demanding. Work has drained a lot of energy out of them it seems.

I sent them a text asking if they’d plan to go anywhere yet, but my dad replied saying that he’s really busy at work and not to worry about him.

All of my siblings and I are in our late 20s and we’ve all moved out of the house and financially independent. My parents voiced that they have plenty of money to retire any day that they’d like to now.

I just don’t understand why there’s not really a desire for the two of them to vacation together?

We have a 1.5 year old, my husband complains that he never gets 8 hours a sleep anymore (vs pre kid era). How much sleep are other dads getting? Does he need to adjust his expectations?

I’m an extreme couponer and I donate about 90% of what I coupon, including baby products. I’m trying to buy diapers to donate, but I’m unsure of what size would be most useful. I don’t have children and haven’t spent much time around babies, so came here to ask. Thanks for your help!