Parenting

We had a playdate incident and would like to understand my daughter's big feelings.

We had a little incident at a playdate recently.  We met another family at the park for lunch. My daughter doesn't know the little girl all that well, but she had a lot of fun on the playground with her. We went on to ride the train at the park and she said she wanted to sit alone (vs with her friend). I said, “oh honey, let's sit with our new friend” and she said no.  There were limited seats so the other mom sat with her daughter and son in the front row seat (it was a quick shuffle). My daughter had a fit because she wanted to sit in the front and kept saying "no one is listening to me." She and I ended up sitting together a few seats away from them and she kept saying "they are so mean, they are so stupid, I am never playing with them again, I just want to scream so badly."
Should I have just taken her home right after the train ride? 
Why does she get particularly stuck around the “no one is listening to me” scenarios?

My 7yo daughter was singing an alarming song she may have learned from a school mate. How do I handle this?

This morning was kind of alarming. As both girls are getting ready for school, I hear my 7yo daughter singing in a calm voice but all of the sudden the song is saying "I hate myself therefore I want to kill myself". In a "la,la,la" sort of way...
I asked, “Did you make that song up or did you hear it somewhere?” She says that she heard two boys at school singing it and it stuck in her head. I asked if the teacher said anything and she said no, but I don't know if she even heard it.
Did I have the wrong approach to this?
Should I have said something different and if so should I bring this subject up again?
I don't know if I should mention this to the teacher, the parents of these boys or what. Help!

My almost 7yo is experiencing daily wetting. Is this normal?

My soon to be 7yo son is still experiencing daily wetting. There really have not been any changes lately that could give us a clear answer to what could be causing this and he seems to not notice until his pants are already wet and then he runs to the bathroom. Sometimes we ask him to use the bathroom and he says he does not want to and 5 min later his pants are wet. What do we do?

We went from crib to toddler bed and now bedtime is a nightmare! What do we do?

We moved my soon to be 3yo daughter to a toddler bed because she would climb out of her crib.
She was doing pretty good about not getting up when we put her to sleep but now it has become a NIGHTMARE. She will not stay in her bed when put down and she wants us to stay in the room or else she gets up and walks out of her room.
With this new resistance she literally takes two hours to fall asleep - yesterday she fell asleep at 10pm.
What should I do?

School drop off has become very difficult. What do we do?

My 5.75yo daughter has started to develop some really big separation anxiety since returning from winter break. She has experienced a couple of transitions with a new nanny, and I went out of town last weekend. But now I am back and today was 25 minutes of crying at school for my goodbye. Each day seems worse and worse. What do we do?

What am I missing when talking to my 10.5yo daughter about body image?

My 10.5 year old recently told me that sometimes she doesn’t feel pretty because she’s bigger than her friends. Most of her fifth grade girlfriends are skinny and long & lean in shape. As a response to what she said, I said a few things. How was this response? What am I missing?

We are going away without our children. How do we handle this?

My husband and I plan to go on a trip together for 10 days without the girls. We want to prepare them and ourselves in the best possible way. How do we do this before we leave? When do we let them know it's happening? What should we do while we are gone? How do we join back after we arrive home in the best way?

My almost 6yo is talking back and saying "no" a lot. Help!

My oldest, about to turn 6, is getting really loud with us. A lot of fresh, back talk, a lot of ‘no’ , whining, etc...
I know it is normal, and we are remaining consistent and calm the best we can. But I am wondering if there are any books on “talking back”. It is difficult to explain and I am wondering if some stories would help. Ideas!?

I am having very difficult mornings with my child. How do I make this better for us?

I feel like I am losing my cool with my child during the morning routine in particular . In the past, I’ve mentioned my child’s difficulty following instructions, transitioning, inattentiveness etc...
Our morning routines have been the same with small tweaks for years. I have been very regimented and routine oriented. This school year, kindergarten, in particular, is a major issue with getting ready. We try and problem solve together and we come up with good plans, but they are short lived. I know she probably can’t help it, and I want to support her and not be mad!  How do i do this?

How do we speak to our child about touching private parts so that they feel safe and open with us enough to share?

Our child has had two incidents at school in the past two weeks that we are very concerned about. The first time they exposed themself at dismissal to their classmates after being dared by others. The second time they were sitting in a circle with their peers and reached a hand up another child’s shorts. The child was very alarmed and upset of course.
There is no open access to the internet. We are starting to look at the time that has spent on FaceTime with the best friend that moved away.
Could this other child have been exposed and shared this with our child?
How do we speak to our child about this so that they feel safe and open with us enough to share?

My almost 4yo had an epic tantrum. What could I have done better?

Today my almost 4-year-old had an epic tantrum at a store and although I was able to be calm and did not care about the looks I got from everyone around me, I was exhausted after his tantrum.
At the end he fell asleep at home exhausted from his tantrum and I am thinking ..
What could I have done better?
Should I have bought the toy?

I am struggling with my children's sleep and letting them know the nanny is leaving. Helpo!

I would love some sleeping advice. My oldest child 5.5yo and my youngest 2.5yo share a room at night. They each have their own bed. They fall asleep fairly normally… book, tucked in, rub back, fall asleep, I sneak out.
Somewhere around 11:45pm-2am my youngest will call me in to put the blanket on her, or my oldest will come and get me to rub her back or snuggle. This will continue through the night.
We are also in search of a new nanny. How do we tell our children?

My 4yo says she has stomach pain when she is scared of something or someone. How can we help her?

My 4 year old would say she has stomach pain from time to time, and recently, she verbalized that when she is scared of something/someone (unfamiliar adults in general) or excited about something, she would have a stomachache.
We wonder how we can help her manage this?
What are some skills/techniques we can equip her with to manage this feeling?

How can I help and support my 12-year-old with phone addiction?

I would like to have an approach that is collaborative with her and empowering rather than punishment based, or forced... Help!

How can I help my son have a better relationship with his dad?

In my son's transition from one school to another, his relationship with his Dad has deteriorated. 
My son refused to go to his home, see him or talk to him.  When forced, he engaged in fight or flight, refused to eat, yelled and refused to come out of his room at his dads. 
Dad has allowed him to stay with me for the last three weeks, hoping that giving him time would help. I am at a loss how to help them with this relationship or at least get my son to the table. Please help!  I'll pass on the tips. Thank you!

I hesitate introducing video games to my son. Is there a healthy and safe way to do this?

All of my son’s friends at school have some type of gaming system. We have been really firm about not introducing this into our home mostly because of safety. Our main concern is that he has a tendency to fixate when he likes something. I am worried if we allow video games in our home this will get out of hand really quickly.

My 13yo has become very challenging. How do I discipline them?

My 13 yo has been very challenging at home and at school.  When he does not show appropriate behavior, I start to put restrictions on the phone/take away the phone.  However, I feel like this is being done daily to the point sometimes he says he doesn’t care (but really he does). 

Any suggestions ?

Should I pull my daughter out of Girl Scouts or stick with it?

This afternoon we had our 2nd Girl Scout meeting. It’s about 15 girls and moms that I don’t really know (combo of K & 1st graders). I told my daughter before the meeting that her vest may look a little different than the other girls as her yellow flag pin hadn’t arrived. When we got there and it was time for all the moms to pin a gold pin on the yellow flag my daughter had a fit and ran out of the room. I coaxed her back in but then she said “girls scouts is so stupid, it’s so boring, all we do is draw. I hate Girl Scouts.” I was mortified.
I am tempted to just quit. Should I just pull her out of Girl Scouts?