u/FickleBad3956

I can’t bring myself to type out our entire situation right now, but essentially, my husband and I are living in our car with our 4 year old and 1 year old. I posted the full story about how we ended up in this position a couple weeks ago, but it was a combination of my husband suddenly being laid off from his job of 12 years and some issues with his family.

I’m just.. exhausted. I could handle this if we’re just the two of us, but I cannot put into words how hard this is with two toddlers.

We’re staying at a campsite in our car right now. We have some of the basics, like a camping stove for cooking. Things have been mostly okay throughout the days, the kids have a good time playing in the creek, exploring our campsite, and at the nearby playground. We lay out a big blanket for “picnic meals” and overall try to make this a good experience for them, especially when it’s just me and the kids here while my husband is at work.

Night time is a whole different beast. My god. I don’t know how to do it. I am so tired. The kids desperately want their beds back, they barely get any sleep at night in the car, which means none of us are getting any rest.

Tonight we’ve been having thunderstorms on and off. Our 4 year old is terrified. I’ve been holding her, singing to her, watching a movie on my phone with her, etc but she starts crying each time she hears thunder. She’s never been scared of storms like this before. She keeps telling me she wants to sleep in her bed with her animals again (even though we have all of her stuffed animals here with us). We even watched a kids video about thunderstorms, she calmed down for a few minutes and then started shaking again the next time she heard the thunder. We tried putting music on in the car, but she’s just so anxious tonight that nothing is helping her settle down.

I feel so powerless. She is finally sleeping a little bit right now, and the storm has calmed down for now. Our son is still awake, but he’s drinking his milk and starting to settle down too.

I just hate seeing her scared like this. We should be able to make her feel safe enough, but we can’t. It is one of the worst feelings I’ve ever experienced. I wish I could take all of that fear for her.

Almost every night has gone like this, for different reasons.

I do think things will get easier once we can get a tent, because she will have her mattress back and our son will have his pack and play, and they’ll be able to play with more of their toys again. Hopefully we will be able to establish some kind of routine and adjust to a new normal.

I’m not really seeking any kind of answers to this problem, I’m just typing this out because it helps to get it out of my head. Any kind of support or reassurance is greatly appreciated, though.

Please put out any kind of good energy or prayer that you personally believe in that this gets easier for them, especially for our daughter. Our son seems to be young enough that he is adjusting to this better than she is, thankfully. I just want to make it through this and get them both into a more stable routine so they can feel fully secure and safe again.

Thank you in advance to anyone who has read this. I know it’s a difficult topic. I’m just not sure how to get through this if I don’t talk about it.

I can’t bring myself to type out our entire situation right now, but essentially, my husband and I are living in our car with our 4 year old and 1 year old. I posted the full story about how we ended up in this position a couple weeks ago, but it was a combination of my husband suddenly being laid off from his job of 12 years and some issues with his family.

I’m just.. exhausted. I could handle this if we’re just the two of us, but I cannot put into words how hard this is with two toddlers.

We’re staying at a campsite in our car right now. We have some of the basics, like a camping stove for cooking. Things have been mostly okay throughout the days, the kids have a good time playing in the creek, exploring our campsite, and at the nearby playground. We lay out a big blanket for “picnic meals” and overall try to make this a good experience for them, especially when it’s just me and the kids here while my husband is at work.

Night time is a whole different beast. My god. I don’t know how to do it. I am so tired. The kids desperately want their beds back, they barely get any sleep at night in the car, which means none of us are getting any rest.

Tonight we’ve been having thunderstorms on and off. Our 4 year old is terrified. I’ve been holding her, singing to her, watching a movie on my phone with her, etc but she starts crying each time she hears thunder. She’s never been scared of storms like this before. She keeps telling me she wants to sleep in her bed with her animals again (even though we have all of her stuffed animals here with us). We even watched a kids video about thunderstorms, she calmed down for a few minutes and then started shaking again the next time she heard the thunder. We tried putting music on in the car, but she’s just so anxious tonight that nothing is helping her settle down.

I feel so powerless. She is finally sleeping a little bit right now, and the storm has calmed down for now. Our son is still awake, but he’s drinking his milk and starting to settle down too.

I just hate seeing her scared like this. We should be able to make her feel safe enough, but we can’t. It is one of the worst feelings I’ve ever experienced. I wish I could take all of that fear for her.

Almost every night has gone like this, for different reasons.

I do think things will get easier once we can get a tent, because she will have her mattress back and our son will have his pack and play, and they’ll be able to play with more of their toys again. Hopefully we will be able to establish some kind of routine and adjust to a new normal.

I’m not really seeking any kind of answers to this problem, I’m just typing this out because it helps to get it out of my head. Any kind of support or reassurance is greatly appreciated, though.

Please put out any kind of good energy or prayer that you personally believe in that this gets easier for them, especially for our daughter. Our son seems to be young enough that he is adjusting to this better than she is, thankfully. I just want to make it through this and get them both into a more stable routine so they can feel fully secure and safe again.

Thank you in advance to anyone who has read this. I know it’s a difficult topic. I’m just not sure how to get through this if I don’t talk about it.

I wish it didn’t feel so wrong to talk about this

Every time I talk about our situation, it’s like there’s this big cloud of shame looming above me.

I go over it in my head all the time, thinking through every little thing that I could have done differently at each moment over the past year that might have changed the outcome even a little bit. I almost want to find something we did wrong, because the alternative is even more terrifying. I’m not sure if I’ll ever feel secure again knowing how easily it can fall apart.

In the end, no matter how hard I try or how hard I think it all through, I can’t make any of it make sense. We were okay. My husband and I both worked so hard to build the life we had. We’ve been together since we were both 16 and we always knew we wanted kids, but we didn’t rush into it. We wanted to make sure life was stable first. We spent years working, saving, and planning. We wanted to be prepared. We were married for 10 years before we even started trying.

It’s shocking how fast all of that work we put in was erased, and how quickly we ended up living the worst case scenario that we spent so long trying to avoid.

I haven’t slept yet tonight, and I’ve spent the entire night in my own head, which is why I’m posting. I just needed to get these thoughts out somewhere. Reddit has been the only place where I don’t feel so harshly judged when I talk about it, it feels like other parents on here have just been a little more understanding.

We’ve been officially homeless again for almost a week and I am struggling so much.

We had to delay getting our tent, because we had some unexpected car trouble (nothing major, luckily) and we had to fix that. Our car is way too important given the circumstances. We’re at our campsite already, just sleeping in our car at night.

I think it will be easier for all of us once we get the tent, especially because we can have a small section for the kids toys, they’ll both have a real mattress again, and my husband and I will be able to get some real sleep again. The kids have been having a good time throughout the day, but at night they start to struggle a lot. Our one year old has been waking up every few hours, and our 4 year old is having a lot of anxiety and keeps asking for her bed. It’s so hard because no matter what we say to reassure her that she’ll have her bed back soon, I can see how worried she still is.

I know this is all temporary, and I know we’re capable of putting in the work to turn this around, but right now I just want things to start to feel a little bit easier. We should be able to get the tent in about 9 days, and after that I’m hoping we all get better sleep and start to settle back into some kind of routine again.

I feel like this would be fine if it were just my husband and I, but I cannot put into words how deeply it hurts to see our kids going through it, especially our oldest. She’s always been such a sensitive, emotional, empathetic kid and I know she picks up on our feelings no matters how hard we try to shield her from the hard parts of this.

We don’t show them that we’re stressed and struggling, and I think that works for our son because he’s still so young, but I can see that our daughter notices that something is off.

I do feel like we’re good parents - we love them more than anything, we create good memories even when things are difficult, we put together activities for them, we both spend one on one time with each of them every day no matter what, overall we keep them healthy, safe, loved and take their emotional wellbeing into consideration just as much as their physical wellbeing. Still, it’s so hard not to feel like we’re failing them because despite everything we weren’t able to protect them from going through this. Nothing we did was enough to protect them from sleeping in a car when they should be warm and comfortable in their beds.

I’m sorry for rambling. I’ve been awake all night thinking, and I just needed to get some of this out without feeling too harshly judged. It feels a little less overwhelming just to be heard. I also just wish that this kind of thing was talked about more. I know we’re not the only family going through this.

It feels so isolating, and I feel so much shame about it. I hope that by posting here a bit, and being open about what we’re going through, someone else out there feels a little less alone in it.

Luckily, my husband is off work today and he’s going to make breakfast and bring the kids over to the playground for a little bit this morning and let me try to get some sleep. I’m really, really hoping that I’m able to sleep.

Every time I talk about our situation, it’s like there’s this big cloud of shame looming above me.

I go over it in my head all the time, thinking through every little thing that I could have done differently at each moment over the past year that might have changed the outcome even a little bit. I almost want to find something we did wrong, because the alternative is even more terrifying. I’m not sure if I’ll ever feel secure again knowing how easily it can fall apart.

In the end, no matter how hard I try or how hard I think it all through, I can’t make any of it make sense. We were okay. My husband and I both worked so hard to build the life we had. We’ve been together since we were both 16 and we always knew we wanted kids, but we didn’t rush into it. We wanted to make sure life was stable first. We spent years working, saving, and planning. We wanted to be prepared. We were married for 10 years before we even started trying.

It’s shocking how fast all of that work we put in was erased, and how quickly we ended up living the worst case scenario that we spent so long trying to avoid.

I haven’t slept yet tonight, and I’ve spent the entire night in my own head, which is why I’m posting. I just needed to get these thoughts out somewhere. Reddit has been the only place where I don’t feel so harshly judged when I talk about it, it feels like other parents on here have just been a little more understanding.

We’ve been officially homeless again for almost a week and I am struggling so much.

We had to delay getting our tent, because we had some unexpected car trouble (nothing major, luckily) and we had to fix that. Our car is way too important given the circumstances. We’re at our campsite already, just sleeping in our car at night.

I think it will be easier for all of us once we get the tent, especially because we can have a small section for the kids toys, they’ll both have a real mattress again, and my husband and I will be able to get some real sleep again. The kids have been having a good time throughout the day, but at night they start to struggle a lot. Our one year old has been waking up every few hours, and our 4 year old is having a lot of anxiety and keeps asking for her bed. It’s so hard because no matter what we say to reassure her that she’ll have her bed back soon, I can see how worried she still is.

I know this is all temporary, and I know we’re capable of putting in the work to turn this around, but right now I just want things to start to feel a little bit easier. We should be able to get the tent in about 9 days, and after that I’m hoping we all get better sleep and start to settle back into some kind of routine again.

I feel like this would be fine if it were just my husband and I, but I cannot put into words how deeply it hurts to see our kids going through it, especially our oldest. She’s always been such a sensitive, emotional, empathetic kid and I know she picks up on our feelings no matters how hard we try to shield her from the hard parts of this.

We don’t show them that we’re stressed and struggling, and I think that works for our son because he’s still so young, but I can see that our daughter notices that something is off.

I do feel like we’re good parents - we love them more than anything, we create good memories even when things are difficult, we put together activities for them, we both spend one on one time with each of them every day no matter what, overall we keep them healthy, safe, loved and take their emotional wellbeing into consideration just as much as their physical wellbeing. Still, it’s so hard not to feel like we’re failing them because despite everything we weren’t able to protect them from going through this. Nothing we did was enough to protect them from sleeping in a car when they should be warm and comfortable in their beds.

I’m sorry for rambling. I’ve been awake all night thinking, and I just needed to get some of this out without feeling too harshly judged. It feels a little less overwhelming just to be heard. I also just wish that this kind of thing was talked about more. I know we’re not the only family going through this.

It feels so isolating, and I feel so much shame about it. I hope that by posting here a bit, and being open about what we’re going through, someone else out there feels a little less alone in it.

Luckily, my husband is off work today and he’s going to make breakfast and bring the kids over to the playground for a little bit this morning and let me try to get some sleep. I’m really, really hoping that I’m able to sleep.

Every time I talk about our situation, it’s like there’s this big cloud of shame looming above me.

I go over it in my head all the time, thinking through every little thing that I could have done differently at each moment over the past year that might have changed the outcome even a little bit. I almost want to find something we did wrong, because the alternative is even more terrifying. I’m not sure if I’ll ever feel secure again knowing how easily it can fall apart.

In the end, no matter how hard I try or how hard I think it all through, I can’t make any of it make sense. We were okay. My husband and I both worked so hard to build the life we had. We’ve been together since we were both 16 and we always knew we wanted kids, but we didn’t rush into it. We wanted to make sure life was stable first. We spent years working, saving, and planning. We wanted to be prepared. We were married for 10 years before we even started trying.

It’s shocking how fast all of that work we put in was erased, and how quickly we ended up living the worst case scenario that we spent so long trying to avoid.

It’s 9am, I haven’t slept yet, and I’ve spent the entire night awake and in my own head, which is why I’m posting. I just needed to get these thoughts out somewhere. Reddit has been the only place where I don’t feel so harshly judged when I talk about it, it feels like other parents on here have just been more understanding than on other social media.

We’ve been officially homeless again for almost a week and I am struggling so much.

We had to delay getting our tent, because we had some unexpected car trouble (nothing major, luckily) and we had to fix that. Our car is way too important given the circumstances. We’re at our campsite already, which has been great for the day time, we’re just sleeping in our car at night.

I think it will be easier for all of us once we get the tent, especially because we can have a small section for the kids toys, they’ll both have a real mattress again, and my husband and I will be able to get some real sleep again. The kids have been having a good time throughout the day, but at night they start to struggle a lot. Our one year old has been waking up every few hours, and our 4 year old is having a lot of anxiety and keeps asking for her bed. It’s so hard because no matter what we say to reassure her that she’ll have her bed back soon, I can see how worried she still is.

I know this is all temporary, and I know we’re capable of putting in the work to turn this around, but right now I just want things to start to feel a little bit easier. We should be able to get the tent in about 9 days, and after that I’m hoping we all get better sleep and start to settle back into some kind of routine again.

I feel like this would be fine if it were just my husband and I, but I cannot put into words how deeply it hurts to see our kids going through it, especially our oldest. She’s always been such a sensitive, emotional, empathetic kid and I know she picks up on our feelings no matters how hard we try to shield her from the hard parts of this.

We don’t show them that we’re stressed and struggling, and I think that works for our son because he’s still so young, but I can see that our daughter notices that something is off.

I do feel like we’re good parents - we love them more than anything, we create good memories even when things are difficult, we put together activities for them, we both spend one on one time with each of them every day no matter what, overall we keep them healthy, safe, loved and take their emotional wellbeing into consideration just as much as their physical wellbeing. Still, it’s so hard not to feel like we’re failing them because despite everything we weren’t able to protect them from going through this. Nothing we did was enough to protect them from sleeping in a car when they should be warm and comfortable in their beds.

I’m sorry for rambling. I’ve been awake all night thinking, and I just needed to get some of this out without feeling too harshly judged. It feels a little less overwhelming just to be heard. I also just wish that this kind of thing was talked about more. I know we’re not the only family going through this.

It feels so isolating, and I feel so much shame about it. I hope that by posting here a bit, and being open about what we’re going through, someone else out there feels a little less alone in it.

Luckily, my husband is off work today and he’s going to make breakfast and bring the kids over to the playground for a little bit this morning and let me try to get some sleep. I’m really, really hoping that I’m able to sleep.