Haha yes and that was my vibe on it too- I’m not sure I’d say I loved it but I do think about it often and had my husband read it. Doing those things otoh though… 
everything comes out sharper and ruder than I want. When she’s doing totally innocuous or even adorable-to-others things, I still have this “why are you bothering me” feeling. Idk if I’m explaining it well.
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Yes, that’s how I feel about my spouse during some seasons of life. One silly thing that I do then is put an extra piece of jewelry on (usually a ring on a finger that doesn’t usually have one). The sensation of remembering that ring all day because it’s new and different feeling is my reminder to be kind to my spouse because he deserves me being kind. (And obviously never tell him that if I’m wearing more jewelry than normal it’s because I’m BEC at him haha)
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Chiming in to say that I also have been losing it with my 5 (nearly 6)-year old a lot lately. When I step back and reflect, I feel like the issue is that he acts and sounds like a reasonable human being much of the time, so when he goes feral on me I’m not prepared and forget that he’s 5 
). The other day he kicked his sister (not hard, not out of maliciousness, but out of an abundance of energy), and we had the following interaction.
“Why are you so rude to me?”
Me, yelling “you kicked your sister!”
“You don’t have to be so rude!”
Whereas with the two year old I expect the chaos more.
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That would be so fun!! And you don’t have to wait a year to get childcare support!
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Been there. As in once this school year already (Kiddo’s ADHD meds not in board yet at that point and bad sleep the night before).
As a SAHM to one kid who is in school during the week, I’ve definitely realized over the summers that two weeks of having my kid around 24/7 (while my spouse works, so not a vacation setting) is my limit. Then Kiddo goes to summer camp so he can try new experiences and I get a few hours not parenting.
And yes I’m typing this in my phone from bed while my kid plays video games across the house, but I did Minecraft with him earlier (at his request for an activity that was just me and him).
The first time his taekwondo did a parents night out, Mr. Meer and I didn’t know what to do with ourselves. I think we watched a movie. It can be hard to figure out what to do on your own!
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I mean, I could definitely figure out stuff I wanna do with SirB, but that doesn’t translate to stuff I wanna do on my own. I absolutely love hiking with him for example, but it doesn’t feel super safe and relaxing for me, I’m just too on edge to do most hikes by myself. I would even take going out for a meal ha ha. We were able to do a lunch outing a few times before Luna was born, but it hasn’t really worked out in a long time.
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You and Sir B deserve space in your lives to have a meal together, just the two of you, at least every couple months, if not more.
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One of my kids told me at about that age that I was No Fun, and I owned it. What I am is a reliable mom, who saw that they had food and clean clothes and that their hair was brushed and I always had their backs and loved them to pieces. I feel like they could have done a whole lot worse inthe Mom lottery, and in the long run, I think they agree.
I also did this with zero childcare before they went to school and a small budget and a dh who worked a million hours and also no transportation, so if I was a bit snappy from time to time - again, they could have done lot worse.
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This convo reminded me of what you were saying about breastfeeding awhile ago: didn’t you say you were breastfeeding and never left your kids for long enough to be an issue for something like 10 years? I would be Cranky too!
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“Need” can be so subjective and you could argue with yourself about it forever. But would it help? Maybe worth a try. I have paid childcare for almost an entire DAY once a week and it’s probably what’s keeping me tied to what little sanity I have. It’s expensive and worth every penny. And it would probably take you a while to get used to the routine and figure out what you want to do with that time. That’s OK.
I do kinda feel like we’re piling on; it’s easy to say from the outside “get a babysitter!” It takes an enormous amount of spoons to do that, as I think you noted. I just get a vibe of “I can do it all by myself, therefore I should,” and I’ve been there.
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I did! I don’t think I left the house without a small child for like 13 years straight!
And honestly, I remember it as about 98% fun. But if I occasionally raised my voice to be heard over the din of family life, nobody can blame me and I do not think it scarred my kids, all of whom seem reasonably fond of me.
My kids were spaced out enough that each time I really did think about whether I wanted to do it again. Nobody twisted my arm, and none of them were accidents.
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This was my exact thought, lol. And it’s not a bad interpretation for how much absolute crap parenting-Instagram serves up on the regular.
I’ve started working with a population that includes teen moms who need explicit instruction in making formula so they don’t accidentally starve their babies. I don’t want to hear another word of regurgitated self-important shame-slinging disguised as helpful advice.
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We have a lot of supervised visits at the library with kids in foster care and their parents who are trying to get them back (one mom had transportation issues and would wait for hours to see her baby). Really puts things in perspective.
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What is your lego storage? And if you are a toy dumper or hate tidying and struggle with transitions what might work for you?
Budget of $200 but prefer $0. Current system is a single clear bin and then I sweep it up and dump it in complete with dust but not when anyone is looking or else we melt down
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when the Js were small I’d put out a fitted sheet, all lego was to stay on the sheet. when playtime was done, the sheet just kinda got bundled up and put in the bin, lego / sheet everything
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We did the same thing but with a flat sheet.
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No advice but man my feet hurt looking at this picture
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My actual storage is a clear bin, but for a dumper I’d go with something like https://www.layngo.com/products/lay-n-go-large-60
Devastating. The number of deaths I would die sitting for hours to see my baby for a short visit every, what, week at best?
I have a student who told me his mom is in Guatemala and he’s here with his dad. And at the same time that my mom-brain is short-circuiting at the thought of sending my child away from me to what is an increasingly hostile country, my teacher-brain is still trying to help him through algebra and geometry because I can’t fix everything but I can make sure he reaches high school graduation to have any kind of hope for better here.
And 9 out of 10 kids has some kind of story like that—they’re always tardy because they’re getting multiple elementary age siblings off to school first (and the elementary school starts later than the high school), or they’ve been kicked out of their dad’s house after being kicked out of their mom’s house and they’re with a friend’s family with none of their stuff because they finally unpacked after multiple moves only to have to leave without everything a few days later, or their biological parents lost their rights and they’re living with a relative who hates them and makes them live in the basement that flooded over the summer and will 100% kick them out the day they turn 18 so the school staff are working with local agencies to make sure they aren’t immediately homeless.
So the last thing I want to hear is why I need to spend 56 more seconds of quality time every minute with my child to be better than the other moms and how it’s okay to sometimes give a prepackaged fruit bar as long as I breastfeed until middle school and if I don’t outdoor-forest-fairy-un-homeschool then I might as well have not bothered having a child.
The perspective of privileged social media influencers means jack squat.
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Not technically parenting, but might as well be: any ideas for “spikey” type fidgets for my student who likes to draw on their hands for the sensory input? Ideally they could fidget with one hand and do math with the other instead of using both for drawing.
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