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9 votes
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The stimulus bill punishes parents behind on child support. Now is not the time
8 votes -
With the UK on coronavirus lockdown, some young people have been forced to isolate alongside parents who don't accept their sexuality
12 votes -
PSA for parents/guardians of school-age kids: Many distance/online learning tools are currently available for free through your child's teacher
For anyone who's caring for school-age children, I want to let you know that nearly every single online education platform/tool is currently offering up their normally premium paid services for...
For anyone who's caring for school-age children, I want to let you know that nearly every single online education platform/tool is currently offering up their normally premium paid services for free on account of school closures. While some will offer these directly to parents/students, most of them require a teacher to sign up and then have the student account exist underneath them.
If there is a resource that you or your children would like to access, please email your child's teacher and ask if they'll sign up for it. It'll likely take only two minutes on their end (and they'll be happy to do it! trust me!), but it'll open up a ton of resources for you and your child.
7 votes -
Cheating on my parents: My own abusive mother and father were being replaced, and they knew it
11 votes -
A letter to other parents
Dear almost all other parents with kids between the ages of 2 and 5 years old, I appreciate all you're doing. You are taking an active role in raising your children, and I applaud you for that......
Dear almost all other parents with kids between the ages of 2 and 5 years old,
I appreciate all you're doing. You are taking an active role in raising your children, and I applaud you for that... it's hard to do nowadays.
But this is a rant that I won't say to your face because I largely believe in parental autonomy. You need to hear it though. It's important, because many of your good intentions are crippling your child's development., and my own kid's. If at the end of this rant, you agree with it and aren't horrified or offended, PM me cause we could be best friends.
So let's start with the basics: If you take your young child to a children's play area, stop with the hovering. If your child can walk for more than 5 steps without falling on their face, give them some space (like more than 15 feet). Even if they get hurt, that is a teachable moment. If nobody is going to the hospital, don't worry about intervening. Sure they might get some scrapes and bruises, a couple of hard falls....but they will learn and they will grow. Shielding them from everything teaches them nothing. Hovering over your children also scares other children that are not yours, and discourages social interaction. I know this, because I am a very tall man who easily and accidentally terrifies anybody more than a foot shorter than me. It took me a few months to learn this lesson.
Next, let's talk about sharing. I know everyone wants to instill in their child that it is important to share. It's generally a good principal. But sharing is a two-way street, and every time you intervene whenever there is the slightest possibility of conflict, you're teaching your kid that 'sharing means to give whatever someone else wants to them no matter what' and you're teaching my kid 'you can totally take what other people want with 0 consequences.' My child can utterly dominate children twice as old because of this. I do my best to prevent that from getting instilled, but it's a long uphill battle when myself and my spouse are the only two teaching that lesson.
Children need to be able to have conflict with their peers. They need space from adults, and learn to interact with others their age. Yes there will be conflict, pain, and suffering. But there will also be joy, reconciliation, and fun. It's part of learning to be a human with empathy. My child learns far more about socializing in 5 minutes of interaction with your kid than 5 hours of interaction with me.
Next up: Potty training. My kid potty trained at 2 years old. They showed signs of being ready at 18 months, but couldn't quite verbalize well enough at that point. By 2 years, they were completely potty trained during the day. Took a while before being able to get through the night without accidents (tiny bladders have trouble going 8+ hours without peeing), but during the waking day 0 accidents for months on end. I see many of your 4+ year olds still wearing diapers and shitting themselves in the aisles in the grocery store, and it's one of the most depressing things ever. If your kid isn't potty trained by 3, it's your failing, not theirs.
I know my spouse and I are not the best parents (our stance on screen time is very controversial), but I also can blatantly see when development issues are forming as a result of hovering parents, both in my child and yours. Do these things, and everything will be better for everyone.
Signed,
A parent who is judging you harshly.
22 votes -
Four years, two continents: A gay Chinese couple's journey for a surrogate son
5 votes -
Eight things toxic mothers have in common
10 votes -
A photographer has spent twenty years documenting stillbirths. For grieving families, the photos preserve the only memories they have of their child
9 votes -
A six year old girl was arrested and held in a mental institution without her parents' consent, under a controversial Florida law known as the Baker Act
11 votes -
Why it's cheaper to have a baby in Finland than in the US
11 votes -
The nuclear family was a mistake
14 votes -
New data from Sweden challenges the idea that parents of autistic children refrain from having more children, a practice known as reproductive stoppage
4 votes -
Finland's woman-led center-left government plans to nearly double the length of paternity leave to give new fathers the same amount of paid time off work as new mothers
16 votes -
I worry for my teenage boys – the beauty standards for young men are out of control
28 votes -
Splendid isolation: How I stopped time by sitting in a forest for twenty-four hours
5 votes -
An attempt to name a child after the Devil has won no sympathy from Iceland's official naming committee
12 votes -
Two gay Chinese dads. One long and winding trip to fatherhood
9 votes -
Finland's family cafes are helping solve one of parenting's biggest problems – loneliness
8 votes -
America's parents want paid family leave and affordable child care. Why can't they get it?
15 votes -
Why is childcare so expensive?
13 votes -
I showed vintage Mister Rogers to my 21st-century kids
14 votes -
Car seat manufacturers and retailers suggest that secondhand ones are unsafe and that they expire every six years or so, but finding any data that supports this is difficult
16 votes -
On finding the freedom to rage against our fathers
8 votes -
I’ve opted out of homework for my young children. Here’s why, and how you can, too.
10 votes -
Shame on those who defend the "loving smack": it's just plain violence against children
19 votes -
Transgender man who gave birth must be registered as "mother" on the birth certificate
11 votes -
Why IVF has divided France: The country is forever caught between tradition and innovation, universalism and individual rights
7 votes -
The hedge fund billionaire’s guide to buying your kids a better shot at not just one elite college, but lots of them
11 votes -
Using "time outs" to discipline children is not going to harm them or your relationship with them, US research suggests
6 votes -
A photo exhibition shows what parenting might be like if fathers took six months of parental leave
16 votes -
School uniforms are on the rise — even for toddlers — and it’s changing back-to-school shopping
24 votes -
How ‘safety first’ ethos is destabilizing US society
6 votes -
As millennial parents demand sustainable toys, Lego is perfecting plant-based bricks
16 votes -
Eight signs that you're a good parent - even if you think you're not
5 votes -
College financial-aid loophole: Wealthy US parents transfer guardianship of their teens to get aid
15 votes -
Fatal distraction: Forgetting a child in the backseat of a car is a horrifying mistake. Is it a crime?
19 votes -
William and Ida are Denmark's most popular names again
3 votes -
Madelaine Gnewski: ‘Sweden's parental leave may be generous but it's tying women to the home’
8 votes -
When you’re trans, living with your parents can be complicated
8 votes -
Queer parenting: The beauty of the sometimes less-visible modern family
5 votes -
"Shona is one of the almost 50 people worldwide known as skyborns—impromptu deliveries who increase the passenger manifest, mid-flight."
4 votes -
YouTube now disallows minors from live-streaming unless accompanied by an adult
16 votes -
Choosing the right coding summer camp for your kid: nine questions to ask
3 votes -
Coming of age in cohousing: Growing up communally brings exposure to the world of adults—and lessons in interdependence
7 votes -
After men in Spain got paternity leave, they wanted fewer kids
17 votes -
Making playgrounds a little more dangerous
12 votes -
Thirty essential ideas you should know about ADHD
7 votes -
It’s time to stop referring to maternity leave as “generous”
10 votes -
How do you turn kids into bookworms? All ten children's laureates share their tips
7 votes