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NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Raising Children Thread

I put way too much pressure on myself. I know life isn't perfect but I find myself stressing over decision regarding Itty Bitty's life. Right now I am stressing over preschool dance classes. Who has the nicest teachers? What dance class will be the most fun? Can she handle tap shoes or will she constantly slip? Is 30 minutes too far to drive for a class? Is a Monday class better than a Wednesday class? Do they make shoes small enough to fit her little feet?
 
dvdneal said:
I always get,

Mommy,

Please don't give beans to Daddy.

Both girls.
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And they...never...fart/stink, right?

Loudly proclaim it next time they let one loose. But with a proud tone, of course. :D

(un?)Fortunately, we're a household of four males and one female and the three youngest males are quickly moving to puberty...BO is becoming a problem.

I will soon become background smell anyway.
 
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dandy_warhol said:
I put way too much pressure on myself. I know life isn't perfect but I find myself stressing over decision regarding Itty Bitty's life. Right now I am stressing over preschool dance classes. Who has the nicest teachers? What dance class will be the most fun? Can she handle tap shoes or will she constantly slip? Is 30 minutes too far to drive for a class? Is a Monday class better than a Wednesday class? Do they make shoes small enough to fit her little feet?
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Parents taking little girls to their first dance classes are the luckiest people on the planet. All my little girl dance classes are over. I heard it as soon as I typed it, don't bother mocking me, mendelman.
 
My daughter and I were talking at dinner the other night and we got around to when her older brother stopped calling me "daddy". I told her it was about late 3rd grade IIRC. She asked when she stopped and I told her it was very shortly after he stopped. I told her it made me sad to realize I didn't have babies anymore.

And then she said, "When I talk to my friends, I never say 'my mom' it's always 'my mother', but I always say 'my dad'.

That girl has been wrapping me around her little finger ever since she peed on me in the delivery room almost 17 years ago.:lmao:
 
mendelman said:
But I must....

There is nothing wrong with taking girly dance lessons, ursus.
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Not just girly dance lessons, LITTLE girl dance lessons. Which just comes out kind of creepy cuz.

I'm in a household full of women so I'll always be that offending smell in the room. Although my girls are good at walking over and declaring, "I farted stinky!" and walking away.
 
dvdneal said:
Not just girly dance lessons, LITTLE girl dance lessons. Which just comes out kind of creepy cuz...
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Speaking of creepy behavior... The place my daughter used to take swim lessons is an old industrial building and the area with the pool is behind a big glass wall with the lobby/reception counter and the area for parents to sit and watch is on the other side of the glass. When I took my daughter if I were sitting right next to the glass watching, and some parent would lean over and ask which one is my kid, I used to always want to reply, "Oh, I don't have a kid. I just like to come and watch!"
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Speaking of creepy behavior... The place my daughter used to take swim lessons is an old industrial building and the area with the pool is behind a big glass wall with the lobby/reception counter and the area for parents to sit and watch is on the other side of the glass. When I took my daughter if I were sitting right next to the glass watching, and some parent would lean over and ask which one is my kid, I used to always want to reply, "Oh, I don't have a kid. I just like to come and watch!"
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So you're wondering what a punch in the face feels like, right?

:p
 
JNA said:
Does this top Florida crazy news ?

No, You Won't Be Charged with Child Molestation in Arizona for Changing a Diaper
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news...tion-in-arizona-for-changing-a-diaper-8668287

Can You Be Convicted of Child Molestation in Arizona for Changing a Baby's Diaper?
http://www.snopes.com/2016/09/19/change-diaper-prosecution/
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Kind of sounds like idiots over interpreting a law. Kind of like saying the zoning code has a rule for no glare so that means no welding anywhere. Not even to put up a cell tower (actual local idiot statement).
 
My 13 year old daughter is going to drive me bat shit crazy. Lying. Sneaking food (like gorging on candy). Stealing her mom's makeup. And an absolute refusal to own up to any of it when she's caught. We're thinking counseling at this point because she get's angry so damn quick. Anyone have any experience with the family/child counseling realm.

Another part of me feels like we're just super-vigilant parents who don't let her get away with ANYTHING, especially when compared to her peers.

She's an excellent student. Plays sports. Just can't stop herself with certain things like she's living in this other world.
 
btrage said:
My 13 year old daughter is going to drive me bat shit crazy. Lying. Sneaking food (like gorging on candy). Stealing her mom's makeup. And an absolute refusal to own up to any of it when she's caught. We're thinking counseling at this point because she get's angry so damn quick. Anyone have any experience with the family/child counseling realm.

Another part of me feels like we're just super-vigilant parents who don't let her get away with ANYTHING, especially when compared to her peers.

She's an excellent student. Plays sports. Just can't stop herself with certain things like she's living in this other world.
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She's 13. You have just captured The Girl in your description & she's 13 too. Very 13!

The lying isn't too strong but the little white lies are killing Mrs. P. I'll just call her out and walk away. Mrs. P has too scold, but that usually turns into something more. She has stopped sneaking candy because she noticed she was gaining weight. She does get angry quick too, but its because of all the hormones and such, however I will say it can turn to laughter in a snap. She 'hibernates' in her room.

A good friend of mine said to me that "when your daughter turns 13, aliens will take her brain and replace with something else. You will not figure it out. Patience will get you through and in about 4 or 5 years, the aliens will put her brain back into her body and all will be good again."
 
I really really don't like drama at home. For that reason I'm grateful I'm not parent to a 13 year old girl. As it is, 11 yr old boys are bad enough.
 
Having been a 13 year old girl, I can tell you that it's a tough time. Girls are starting to physically change, hormones are floating through the system at hyper speed, and there's a ton of social pressures that culminate in feelings of inadequacy, superiority, depression, guilt, jealousy, smugness, happiness, and stress. Each feeling just zips right into the next in no paticular order and it's difficult to adjust to each one. Once you figure out that you're happy, bam! you're now jealous of someone else. Lying is a little out of my expertise - I told some white lies to coast through stressful situations, but the more extreme end of the spectrum wasn't part of my teenage years. I'm also the youngest, so I learned early that mom's BS meter is super sensitive.

Counseling can help with the understanding of one's personal feelings, and help with adjusting to being a teenager. I would think that it would help with the need to lie as well. Warning - teenagers are resistent to outside help. So expect some push-back on anything that could be seen in that light.

Good luck!
 
Planit said:
A good friend of mine said to me that "when your daughter turns 13, aliens will take her brain and replace with something else. You will not figure it out. Patience will get you through and in about 4 or 5 years, the aliens will put her brain back into her body and all will be good again."
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Only 3 more years until my child's alien brain abduction, although I already suspect they're taking it in pieces.
 
Luckily I have 7+ years until my daughters have their brains abducted. In the meantime...

My oldest, who we normally read to at night before bed, has now decided she only wants to hear wacky stories from my time in the Marine Corps instead. I am soon going to have to start just making stuff up because otherwise I will run out of 6-year-old-appropriate ones and have to start telling stories about unethical or possibly illegal hijinx, horrible tales of disaster relief, Kosovar refugee camps, or awful training accidents. Thankfully she is also content with me describing chow hall menus in excruciating detail.
 
Planit said:
She's 13. You have just captured The Girl in your description & she's 13 too. Very 13!

The lying isn't too strong but the little white lies are killing Mrs. P. I'll just call her out and walk away. Mrs. P has too scold, but that usually turns into something more. She has stopped sneaking candy because she noticed she was gaining weight. She does get angry quick too, but its because of all the hormones and such, however I will say it can turn to laughter in a snap. She 'hibernates' in her room.

A good friend of mine said to me that "when your daughter turns 13, aliens will take her brain and replace with something else. You will not figure it out. Patience will get you through and in about 4 or 5 years, the aliens will put her brain back into her body and all will be good again."
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Glad to know it's not just me! And yes, the wife is more insistent on yelling at her than I am. Scolding is not something I see as working at this point.

Salmissra said:
Having been a 13 year old girl, I can tell you that it's a tough time. Girls are starting to physically change, hormones are floating through the system at hyper speed, and there's a ton of social pressures that culminate in feelings of inadequacy, superiority, depression, guilt, jealousy, smugness, happiness, and stress. Each feeling just zips right into the next in no paticular order and it's difficult to adjust to each one. Once you figure out that you're happy, bam! you're now jealous of someone else. Lying is a little out of my expertise - I told some white lies to coast through stressful situations, but the more extreme end of the spectrum wasn't part of my teenage years. I'm also the youngest, so I learned early that mom's BS meter is super sensitive.

Counseling can help with the understanding of one's personal feelings, and help with adjusting to being a teenager. I would think that it would help with the need to lie as well. Warning - teenagers are resistent to outside help. So expect some push-back on anything that could be seen in that light.

Good luck!
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Thanks for the comments. She's a damn good kid, so I think a lot of it is her learning how to navigate the world, including her parents.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Luckily I have 7+ years until my daughters have their brains abducted. In the meantime...

My oldest, who we normally read to at night before bed, has now decided she only wants to hear wacky stories from my time in the Marine Corps instead. I am soon going to have to start just making stuff up because otherwise I will run out of 6-year-old-appropriate ones and have to start telling stories about unethical or possibly illegal hijinx, horrible tales of disaster relief, Kosovar refugee camps, or awful training accidents. Thankfully she is also content with me describing chow hall menus in excruciating detail.
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I'm going through that with my younger one. Fortunately it's not all focused on the military days, but I get to tell her stories of the dancing bear and various monkeys I've run across. Usually I just make up a story about a squirrel or some other random animal and she's happy.
 
dvdneal said:
I'm going through that with my younger one. Fortunately it's not all focused on the military days, but I get to tell her stories of the dancing bear and various monkeys I've run across. Usually I just make up a story about a squirrel or some other random animal and she's happy.
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Maybe I'll have to tell her about giving folks big poles and sticks and putting them on "Monkey Watch" as we passed through the Straits of Gibraltar...
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Maybe I'll have to tell her about giving folks big poles and sticks and putting them on "Monkey Watch" as we passed through the Straits of Gibraltar...
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We had ours hanging off the bow with every piece of safety equipment we could find and some grappling hooks to catch the mail buoy. It's not a children's story as the end result was fingers, cussing like a sailor, and a full moon.
 
My wife and I are trying to pick a godmother for our youngest daughter and we've come to an impasse. She suggested we use one of my nieces whereas I suggested the woman from the Kroger meat department who always gives me extra free samples and convinced me to take advantage of their special on pot roast (buy one get one free!) on Monday.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
My wife and I are trying to pick a godmother for our youngest daughter and we've come to an impasse. She suggested we use one of my nieces whereas I suggested the woman from the Kroger meat department who always gives me extra free samples and convinced me to take advantage of their special on pot roast (buy one get one free!) on Monday.
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Your could do that, but you could also think of RJ.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
My wife and I are trying to pick a godmother for our youngest daughter and we've come to an impasse. She suggested we use one of my nieces whereas I suggested the woman from the Kroger meat department who always gives me extra free samples and convinced me to take advantage of their special on pot roast (buy one get one free!) on Monday.
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Planit said:
Your could do that, but you could also think of RJ.
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Propose the woman from Kroger and RJ. Given those two choices, you'll be enjoying free samples and inside sale information until the woman from Kroger retires.
 
I left work early yesterday to take Russ for her final practice driving before taking the road test to get her license. Her practice driving and parallel parking were out-freaking-standing the first two times. But the third time, the wheels figuratively fell off. She couldn't parallel park within three feet of the curb, forgot her blinkers, turned the wheel the wrong way. She was nearly in tears, so I had her park the car, set the flashers and breathe. We happened to be near a Pokemon gym, so I had her check her phone to (do whatever they do at Pokemon gyms:-|).

She managed to gather herself and we drove over to the test place. The receptionist said all the tests were postponed, but said she would try to get someone to take Russ out for a test. She made a few calls and we got someone who could be there in "half an hour". She did waive the $35 fee, so I was cool with that. It turned out to be closer to 50 minutes later, a kindly looking gentleman took her on her test.

Twenty minutes later she walks in and I can't read the look on her face. I asked and she told me she passed. The older guy said she was pretty nervous at the start and had a couple of problems, but finished really strong. He had her parallel park first to get the jitters out and said she was fine after that.

We'll go get her DL tomorrow.

One more thing to worry about.8-!
 
^ Congrats? on her passing!

I don't recall that we did parallel parking when I learned to drive and I don't recall ANY of the communities out on the very northeastern edge of the 'burbs and the rural cities out there having anywhere streets with parallel parking. I never learned how until I was maybe 25 or so when I was dating a girl from Long Island and I had to parallel park a lot of places out there in Queens and Mineola. After my first or second time doing it she noticed that I really had no idea what I was doing and taught me a trick about pulling up so my front mirrors were parallel with the car in the spot ahead of me, putting it in revere, and immediately cutting the wheel as that seems to work perfectly. These days, there are a lot of communities in the area I live in that have parallel parking, including our own downtown, and I can park just about any vehicle in any spot with ease. It's sort of a point of pride when I am out with my wife who refuses to even attempt it on my occasions. :lmao: I can even park my dad's gigantic F350 without breaking a sweat! :D


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yesterday evening I was out at my parents house and was getting hungry while I was driving home so I decided to stop for dinner at a BBQ place I had heard about and I was pulling into the parking lot and randomly saw a very good friend of mine walking in. He was meeting his wife and kids for dinner and they invited me to have dinner with them. Their kids are 7 and 3 and were sooooo well behaved at the restaurant (our daughter is actually usually pretty pleasant when we go out too) and ate every single bite on their plates and said "please" and "thank you" for everything, etc. I was talking to my friend this morning (he was trying to convince me to make an awful fantasy football trade) and I commented on how nice his kids were and he told me that was only because I was sitting with them and that his wife said they were being absolute brats before I sat down. I had to laugh. It's like when our daughter's teachers and her friend's parents always tell us how kind and easy going she is all day in class and I have to wonder if we are talking about the same kid!
 
I've always said I'm glad the "public child" is good about The Girl.




Many years ago, I practiced parallel parking in my mom's big Mercury station wagon - it was huge. Then I took my test in dad's Toyota Corolla. Aced that easily.
 
Gedunker said:
I left work early yesterday to take Russ for her final practice driving before taking the road test to get her license. Her practice driving and parallel parking were out-freaking-standing the first two times. But the third time, the wheels figuratively fell off. She couldn't parallel park within three feet of the curb, forgot her blinkers, turned the wheel the wrong way. She was nearly in tears, so I had her park the car, set the flashers and breathe. We happened to be near a Pokemon gym, so I had her check her phone to (do whatever they do at Pokemon gyms:-|).

She managed to gather herself and we drove over to the test place. The receptionist said all the tests were postponed, but said she would try to get someone to take Russ out for a test. She made a few calls and we got someone who could be there in "half an hour". She did waive the $35 fee, so I was cool with that. It turned out to be closer to 50 minutes later, a kindly looking gentleman took her on her test.

Twenty minutes later she walks in and I can't read the look on her face. I asked and she told me she passed. The older guy said she was pretty nervous at the start and had a couple of problems, but finished really strong. He had her parallel park first to get the jitters out and said she was fine after that.

We'll go get her DL tomorrow.

One more thing to worry about.8-!
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Congrats to her and some more heart burn and nerve meds for dad.
 
Parallel parking is a requisite in Indiana and if you hit the curb, it's an automatic failure, so the kids definitely stress about it.

You know you are pretty good at it when you can do it on a one way street on the curb opposite the one you usually park at. That annoyed the crap out my ex. :p
 
Gedunker said:
Twenty minutes later she walks in and I can't read the look on her face. I asked and she told me she passed. The older guy said she was pretty nervous at the start and had a couple of problems, but finished really strong. He had her parallel park first to get the jitters out and said she was fine after that.

We'll go get her DL tomorrow.
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I rolled through a stop sign during my test and still passed. Georgia, yo! :h:
 
Facebook posting -

My parents were apparently abusive to me when I was a kid.
They made me do chores, go to bed at a decent time, and go to school.
They gave me a curfew and spanked my butt when I did wrong.
They put food on the table and we were expected to eat it.
They put clothes on our backs and we were expected to wear them .
They suggested I get a job and work for the things that I wanted.
They insisted that I do my best at school, at my job, and to take pride in my work.
I grew up with morals, a good work ethic, and respect for the law & my elders.
I'm thankful everyday for the way I was raised !
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The church across the street from the office sells pumpkins each year as a fund raiser. The past couple years there are different colored pumpkins showing up. This year, along with the vast majority of orange pumpkins, there were teal, green, yellow and white ones.

I pointed to one of those other colored ones and asked The Girl if she liked those. She said nope, they just don't look right.
 
dvdneal said:
Only 3 more years until my child's alien brain abduction, although I already suspect they're taking it in pieces.
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We have noticed a partial lobotomy at a week prior to 11 - it's rough. It's hard to watch as a parent, because so often it seems like we've reversed into the toddler/learning impulse control all over again but they're bigger and mouthier. And I have to do this multiple times for the next decade.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Habanero said:
We have noticed a partial lobotomy at a week prior to 11 - it's rough. It's hard to watch as a parent, because so often it seems like we've reversed into the toddler/learning impulse control all over again but they're bigger and mouthier. And I have to do this multiple times for the next decade.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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My problem is the change from, "Do you want to try this?" "Yes" followed by I like that or I don't like that.

Now it's more like, "No". If you ask why, "I just don't want to."
 
Bubba said:
I rolled through a stop sign during my test and still passed. Georgia, yo! :h:
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Funny, I ALMOST rolled through a right-on-red during my driver's test and then caught myself a little more than half way through. Next we went to parallel park and I missed the first time. I went to try it again and was told I didn't need to, that I had already failed.

I thought it was the end of the world at the time but my favorite uncle called to tell me it wasn't a big deal, that he'd failed 3 times. Once, he was told to turn around (referring to a 3-point turn) and he pulled into someone's driveway. :D He always knew how to make me feel better.
 
Gedunker said:
Parallel parking is a requisite in Indiana and if you hit the curb, it's an automatic failure, so the kids definitely stress about it.

You know you are pretty good at it when you can do it on a one way street on the curb opposite the one you usually park at. That annoyed the crap out my ex. :p
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Yesterday afternoon I was down in Detroit and parallel parked on a one way on the opposite curb. I don't know that I had ever done that before (but thinking about how many one way streets are down there, I must have at some point) but I immediately thought of this thread.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Yesterday afternoon I was down in Detroit and parallel parked on a one way on the opposite curb. I don't know that I had ever done that before (but thinking about how many one way streets are down there, I must have at some point) but I immediately thought of this thread.
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We had dinner downtown Tuesday evening and I had to parallel park on the opposite curb. Russ looked at me and rolled her eyes and said, "you are just showing off now, dad". I, too, thought of this thread.:h:
 
This also applies to 4-H projects too ?

14900527_10154868239334448_112415340899870443_n.jpg
 
That is hilarious. I can remember sitting at the kitchen table working on projects (mostly in elementary school strangely), it was late, my parents were frustrated, I was tired and crying and just wanting it to be over.
 
Well we had a situation last week with our oldest. Apparently 3 kids were picking on him on the bus and took his hat and was tossing it around the bus. The bus driver made my son move to a different seat which I was not thrilled with because he was not causing the problem. So I contacted the school yesterday and they were able to fully address it today and the kid who was causing most of the issue had to apologize. Turns out it is a kid in our neighborhood and this evening his dad called me and thanked me for contacting the school. He knows that my oldest will go to the gym with me on occasion and is quite positive that my son would have beaten the crap out of his son.

However, my son did not fight back because he was outnumbered and one of the kids was much bigger than he was. I also have instilled in my son that violence is only for absolute defense of yourself or another. The hilarious part was when we were told about the incident on Friday, our youngest who is a stout little bugger got angry and wanted to go beat the kids up... he is 3. :lmao:
 
Bubba said:
I rolled through a stop sign during my test and still passed. Georgia, yo! :h:
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Yes, but how did you do on the 'bootlegger turn' portion of the driving test? I understand that's mandatory for all drivers in GA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVjEYCSYwcs
 
Maister said:
Me too. Big paper is necessary for big drawings of monsters.
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One time I brought home a roll of old newsprint stock we used for something or other at work. Anyway, we rolled it out on the floor and traced her body in a couple of different poses (think dead body chalk outline), then she colored them with different outfits and taped them to her wall. That was pretty funny.
 
My 4 year old emptied a new 24 oz bottle of shampoo all over her bedroom yesterday 8-! When I got home my husband told me about it and I asked him how/when this happened. He asked why I was questioning him and I said it was because he was home with her and if she's in the bathroom too long or too quiet upstairs that he needs to immediately investigate.

Upside is her room smells like berries, downside is a film of shampoo on everything. My husband will have fun cleaning her room today :D
 
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