My daughter will be 6 in December and we are now going on 2 years of needing to sleep with her, not just lay with her at night but sleep with her all night so that she does not wake up multiple times a night calling for us. How do we shift this?
How do I know if I am being too harsh or too lenient?
Yesterday, I took the three kids to the movies and to a park. Before we left, my daughter grabbed her socks and I told her, she didn’t need socks because I was going to have them wear water shoes in case the sprinklers were on at the park and she wanted to get wet. She said she wanted to wear her regular shoes because she didn’t want to get wet. I asked if she was sure and she told me yes. Once at the park, she eventually began leaping through the sprinklers, telling me she wasn’t getting her shoes wet, only her clothes, which was not the case. Her shoes were getting wet.
My 6.5yo wants purple hair. Should I let her go for it?
My 6.5yo daughter wants to dye her hair purple! All because she’s been watching this show, the Descendants, and the main character has purple hair. From my experience, I know it’s just experimenting and a phase. But, is it OK for a 6-year-old to have such freedom or should I wait till she’s a little older to experiment?
Can you help guide us with winning and losing?
We often play board games, card games or have pool races at our house and are trying to teach my daughter to manage her disappointment when she loses and honestly she has been doing pretty well with it. But Saturday we were in the pool and she and her dad were racing and I was the judge calling out the winners (in hindsight I probably shouldn't have been doing that). In one of the races, dad won and she had a total meltdown saying "daddy cheated, I hate Daddy, etc. etc. etc."
My daughter creates alters with her toys. Should I be worried?
My daughter has a few toys that she has on her bedside table as a permanent fixture and refuses to have them moved. She also doesn't play with them but she likes to look at them, occasionally touch them, keep them in the same place always and no one can touch or move them. I find it freaky but I try to respect and not touch it. I worry that she may develop (more of) OCD if we do not show her that it's ok to move things and that toys are meant to be played with.
How do you help your kid when they are doing their best but it’s not enough?
My son has had a rough few days at nature school this week with impulse control and focus. He has been separated from the group a few times to try and calm his wiggles and lost privileges because of his behavior. Sometimes he just can’t sit, stay, listen, or complete a task. His brain just seems to override occasionally and I totally get it.
My oldest may be feeling jealous of his younger brother. How do I talk to him?
My younger son has been invited to train and be a guest player in a tournament for the soccer club every boy in south Florida wants to get in. He is doing great and excited with the opportunity. On the other hand, I have my older son that also plays soccer in a local club and he is very happy for his younger brother but at the same time, my older one has been very edgy, moody, “grosero” lately. How do I talk to him?
My daughters are clashing. How can I handle it better?
Both girls play better together at ages 6 and 8 but my 8yo tends to always talk over and correct her sister constantly. My 6yo gets offended whenever her big sister corrects her.
This is where they are both clashing now as one likes to fact check everything and say "you are wrong" and the other one just falls to pieces. How can I better handle this situation with both of them?
My older son screams at his 2yo sister and she screams right back. How can I break this cycle?
The sibling relationship in my home between my son and my daughter (2yo) has become unbearable. My son doesn’t want his sister near him but when she is playing or doing something else he goes and bothers her, screams at her - so naturally she “fights back” and screams at the top of her lungs. Help! I don’t know how to break this cycle…
How do I prepare my 2.5yo child when I am travelling without them?
How do I know if I am adding too much to my little ones schedule?
This year we have the option of extending my son’s usual PreK day by an hour, taking him from 1:30pm to 2:30pm, where instead of that hour continuing to serve as his quiet/decompressing time from school at home, it would be replaced with an active activity like gymnastics/sports/dance.
Should I give him another semester where we honor his usual "quiet time" block and try adding that extra hour next semester, giving him a little more time to navigate his energy levels?
Or just proceed with the extra hour of school, knowing that kids are adaptable and will eventually adjust?
Did I choose the right school for my child?
My daughter started Kindergarten on Wednesday and I wanted to get your honest opinion on the school we selected. It’s a Charter/Prep School and very focused on “rigorous academics.”
Every day we are sent home a behavior chart (1-5) and we have to sign and send it back to school. Apparently they are up in the classroom as well. 3 means “ready to learn” and 5 is something like “exceptional/leader”. She has been coming home with 3s asking why she isn’t getting 5s. She’s only in kindergarten! It’s my mommy gut that’s already thinking it’s not the right fit, but she says she really loves it.
Does my child need a tutor or an educational therapist?
My son’s reading assessment has him reading at kindergarten level. Given his anxiety and that he has been in a Waldorf environment in the past, reading/spelling has not been the focus and he’s struggling. I think we have found a new therapist but I was wondering if you could recommend a tutor or do you think an educational therapist that can work with him each week on reading and his feelings around it.
I thought I enrolled my child in a progressive school that practiced conscious discipline. Was I wrong?
I recently enrolled my son in preschool for the first time and today was his second day . He was very sad because he said one of the teachers did not give him a sticker. I asked the teacher and she mentioned that he did not want to participate in one of the language class activities so at the end the kids that participated got stickers and since he did not participate he did not get one. Now I am having doubts about this school and about the teachers being trained in conscious discipline. What do you recommend I do?
Is it ok if my child is the youngest in a class?
I signed my daughter up for an after school class called “Introduction to Theater” at an arts studio.
Do you think it would be ok to have her be the youngest in the class? Just concerned how she will be treated by the “older” kids and if they could expose her to things that kids their age are into (like tv shows or toys or whatever else that may not be age appropriate for her). Or would it be good for her to be around older kids, since she is already more mature for her age and being around older kids would help advance her more in theater?
My daughter had an epic tantrum over a gift for someone else. What is happening?
My daughter had an epic tantrum this morning. She went downstairs to make her cousin a birthday card and she remembered that we are giving her a gift that she has never had before. So my daughter came up the stairs crying and screaming how she needs to have the same gift as her cousin but in a crazy aggressive way. I tried to explain to her that when we want things that we don’t have, we can figure it out. She was still screaming and crying saying, “I hate my cousin, I neeeeeed the gift for myself”.
My son has big reactions when making mistakes. How can I guide him?
Recently there were a couple of situations when my son made a mistake but his reaction was exaggerated and made me worry about the way he deals with these situations. I would love tips please on what to monitor, how to help him develop the thick skin we need to face the world after making mistakes. I know how I struggled with this… Thanks!
My 7yo says "That's not fair!" a lot. How do I interpret this?
My daughter is 7 years old, and I am trying to understand how to handle "that's not fair!!". This statement comes up at least once per day and it can be about me, her friends, anybody. Mostly her friends though... I try to acknowledge the disappointment, and that her friends' parents handle things differently from our family and that our family has its own rules.
My little one said something inappropriate as a joke. I am mortified! How do I stop this?
The other day, a new friend's mom brought him home. When she was taking him out of the car he said “te quiero dar un beso en las tetas” I was mortified (even though the mom was a good sport and knew he was doing it to get a laugh and he was laughing hysterically).
I can’t wrap my mind around him saying something like and I’m petrified he will continue to say inappropriate things. I don’t want moms to not want him around because he’s a bad influence. I also don’t want him saying things like that. Ever.
My 4yo loses control when he doesn't get his way. Is this normal? How do I manage this?
My 4yo son gets set off when he doesn’t have control, or rather, when he has something in his head (ie I want to play the game this way, or I want to be first in line), and then it doesn’t work out that way. He reacts before he thinks, and that sometimes results in a tantrum, throwing something, or hitting.
How can we help him slow down, process what’s going on, then react? How can we get him to express his thoughts in words, more calmly?