u/IncognitoResearch111

I cannot feed my kid the school food (or, in the past, the daycare food). It is so over-processed and not "food" to me. I grew up eating healthy, and the menu is so bizarre to me to feed growing children. I know the reason is for the lack of funding for ingredients, labor costs, time constraints. I just can't send a little growing child to school and have them eat packaged powder donuts for breakfast (like the kind you'd get at a gas station). Or funnel cakes for breakfast (I grew up viewing that as the type of things you'd eat once a year at the fair, not once or twice a week). Lunch is things like hot dogs, deep-fried pizza bites, deep-fried chicken nuggets that seem to be mostly filler, etc. The healthiest options are like, seriously hamburgers and pizza. Sides are mostly canned fruit in sugary syrup, and some veggies like carrots (that the kids don't usually eat). Snack time in the afternoon is stuff like cosmic brownies and little debbie cakes. It is SO over-processed and unhealthy.

I always let my LO partake in classmates' birthdays and holiday treats and such, as I don't want him to feel left out. And to me an occasional unhealthy treat is not a big deal. For instance, if we go to a birthday party or a picnic, I let him eat things like hot dogs, loads of cake, etc. But we don't eat that kind of thing regularly at home on a regular basis. It's the *daily, 2 meals and 1 snack a day most days of the week being unhealthy* that I have a problem with. And the few other parents who do pack throw like bags of chips and a luncheable and oreos in the lunchbox and call it a day.

I grew up eating, like, real food, with limited sweets. That's how we've fed LO, and he's an adventurous eater who is WAY less picky than other kids his age, and fine with eating way healthier. I've known other parents who did what we did when their's were babies and toddlers and who were great eaters, then had them eat daycare food and school cafeteria food for convenience, and the kids suddenly got used to that and now refuse to eat anything but chicken nuggets and gogurts and stuff. I really do not want that to happen to my kid.

If it was just him, he'd happily keep eating mostly heathly foods made with whole food ingredients. But it's hard not to notice a cosmic brownie in a plastic package right beside you.

I'm exhausted from providing breakfast, lunch, and snack every. single. weekday. AND supper most nights because hubby is still working, so if I don't do it, supper would be too close to LO bedtime. It would be easier if I could at least do breakfast at home, but it's not realistic with how early I need to get to work. And he's at the age where he's not happy eating similar things all the time, and wants more variety at lunch and such of things to nibble on, as everyone else has a zillion things on their cafeteria tray (theirs mostly unhealthy).

It was one thing when my mom would pack us a lunch every day for school, but I have to back lunch AND breakfast AND snack.

What suggestions of easy breakfast, snack, and lunch foods do you have that are less processed, more healthy, but also can compete with the "convenience store" type options his school surrounds them with? Preferably stuff that doesn't take a ton of time to prep, as I also work full time and am having to get supper on the table as well? (I already do cold leftovers of supper the night before sometimes for a main lunch entree). Or, anyone just wanna commiserate with me about how unhealthy food is pushed on kids so much as "kid food" (when my kid happily eats a wide variety of adult food from all over the world that's mostly healthy and whole foods-based when not having this "oh kids will only eat pizza and nuggets" stereotype shoved at him).

Hello, has anyone else dealt with extreme chronic constipation that was NOT cured by the usual Miralax, ExLax, enemas, good hydration, great diet, lots of physical activity, good potty habits and timing, etc. (5 year old).

His gastro specialist who guided us through an intensive 3 day at home cleanout said that since the impaction hasn't come out, he has to come in to the children's hospital ER to get a disimpaction.

Has anyone else had to do that or could share their experience? The gastro doc is acting like this is normal and something they see routinely, but I cannot find a single post on any parenting/kid subreddits about this, and don't know anyone in real life this has happened to, making me feel like we're really alone and outliers, and I've been up all night worrying and spiraling. I will be sure to update later in case it's helpful to a future parent going through this, but in the meantime it would be super helpful to me just to hear from some other parents who have been through it.

(If you have not been through something this extreme, please don't post things like "try fiber gummies" or "try prunes!" etc., we have already optimized everything like that, and an intensive 3 day bowel cleanout with mass amounts of Miralax and ExLax and enemas has not made this huge ball of poop budge, to the point where they're telling us this is a medical emergency and a serious, chronic impaction). I'm really looking for experiences similar to this, where nothing worked even though you already did ALL the things, and you had to actually go to the ER for it.

I'm quoting myself from another sub here, because I finally wrote it all out and here's what's going on:

I finally insisted on an X-Ray for my 5yo to get a concrete data point - it turns out he has a HUGE poop impaction, even after bowel cleanouts, daily Miralax, etc. He must have had it for over a year and a half, because that's when all this started. His primary care doc just would tell us to use Miralax or occasionally a tiny bit of ExLax chocolate, which did nothing because he was way more severely constipated than that. Everyone kept acting like, "oh, well, accidents happen..." I got so fed up, and somehow I just knew it wasn't him, but felt like no one believed me. Finally, I took him to a pediatric gastro specialist (had to travel several hours away from our rural area). Even there, they initially wanted to take the conservative approach and didn't want to give him an X-ray, but I insisted. They finally gave him one, and said he has a massive impaction, and everything that's been coming out as diarrhea, soft poops, etc. for the past year, has just been slipping out around this massive ball of poop he's had stuck in him, and that is why he can't control it.

Both his primary doc and the gastro specialist could NOT feel his extreme constipation through feeling his abdomen from the outside, both said he "doesn't feel constipated". Primary doc thought that meant he couldn't possibly still be constipated. Gastro specialist knew better and said it was totaly possible, but that she just couldn't feel it. Regardless, having that XRay was key.

It's the only reason they know that when we did a 3 day bowel cleanout these past 3 days (Miralax, ExLax, Fleet enemas) and all that came out was small amounts of liquidy stuff, that he definitely did not pass it, because they could actually see the mass that should have came out on the Xray. That's how they know to tell me he needs to come in to the pediatric ER to get it removed.

I could have cried, for 1.5 years we've been trying to cajole him with sticker charts, prizes, I've been going nuts trying to optimize his diet, lots of physical activity, lots of hydration, daily Miralax, ExLax, etc. None of that would ever be enough - he has a really serious impaction that will NOT come out on its own or even with the most serious home treatment. And when his primary care doc was advising me blindly with no xray, she had no idea there was still a large mass of poop in his intestines.

Kids can still poop daily and have a major impaction. The poor little guy. I feel so sad for every time we treated it as a behavioral thing or a "he just gets so distracted/focused playing". It turns out that the XRay and talking to the specialist verified that with what's going on with his impaction, he really cannot physically control the poop accidents - they are just stuff seeping out around the large blockage, and after the home extreme cleanout didn't work, he needs serious medical attention, which we wouldn't know if I hadn't insisted on the Xray.

Has anyone else's kid had a severe impaction like this that an intensive bowel cleanout wouldn't help and needed to take them to the ER for a disimpaction? If so, can you share?

Thank you <3

Hello, has anyone else dealt with extreme chronic constipation that was NOT cured by the usual Miralax, ExLax, enemas, good hydration, great diet, lots of physical activity, good potty habits and timing, etc. (5 year old).

His gastro specialist who guided us through an intensive 3 day at home cleanout said that since the impaction hasn't come out, he has to come in to the children's hospital ER to get a disimpaction.

Has anyone else had to do that or could share their experience? The gastro doc is acting like this is normal and something they see routinely, but I cannot find a single post on any parenting/kid subreddits about this, and don't know anyone in real life this has happened to, making me feel like we're really alone and outliers, and I've been up all night worrying and spiraling. I will be sure to update later in case it's helpful to a future parent going through this, but in the meantime it would be super helpful to me just to hear from some other parents who have been through it.

(If you have not been through something this extreme, please don't post things like "try fiber gummies" or "try prunes!" etc., we have already optimized everything like that, and an intensive 3 day bowel cleanout with mass amounts of Miralax and ExLax and enemas has not made this huge ball of poop budge, to the point where they're telling us this is a medical emergency and a serious, chronic impaction). I'm really looking for experiences similar to this, where nothing worked even though you already did ALL the things, and you had to actually go to the ER for it.

I'm quoting myself from another sub here, because I finally wrote it all out and here's what's going on:

I finally insisted on an X-Ray for my 5yo to get a concrete data point - it turns out he has a HUGE poop impaction, even after bowel cleanouts, daily Miralax, etc. He must have had it for over a year and a half, because that's when all this started. His primary care doc just would tell us to use Miralax or occasionally a tiny bit of ExLax chocolate, which did nothing because he was way more severely constipated than that. Everyone kept acting like, "oh, well, accidents happen..." I got so fed up, and somehow I just knew it wasn't him, but felt like no one believed me. Finally, I took him to a pediatric gastro specialist (had to travel several hours away from our rural area). Even there, they initially wanted to take the conservative approach and didn't want to give him an X-ray, but I insisted. They finally gave him one, and said he has a massive impaction, and everything that's been coming out as diarrhea, soft poops, etc. for the past year, has just been slipping out around this massive ball of poop he's had stuck in him, and that is why he can't control it.

Both his primary doc and the gastro specialist could NOT feel his extreme constipation through feeling his abdomen from the outside, both said he "doesn't feel constipated". Primary doc thought that meant he couldn't possibly still be constipated. Gastro specialist knew better and said it was totaly possible, but that she just couldn't feel it. Regardless, having that XRay was key.

It's the only reason they know that when we did a 3 day bowel cleanout these past 3 days (Miralax, ExLax, Fleet enemas) and all that came out was small amounts of liquidy stuff, that he definitely did not pass it, because they could actually see the mass that should have came out on the Xray. That's how they know to tell me he needs to come in to the pediatric ER to get it removed.

I could have cried, for 1.5 years we've been trying to cajole him with sticker charts, prizes, I've been going nuts trying to optimize his diet, lots of physical activity, lots of hydration, daily Miralax, ExLax, etc. None of that would ever be enough - he has a really serious impaction that will NOT come out on its own or even with the most serious home treatment. And when his primary care doc was advising me blindly with no xray, she had no idea there was still a large mass of poop in his intestines.

Kids can still poop daily and have a major impaction. The poor little guy. I feel so sad for every time we treated it as a behavioral thing or a "he just gets so distracted/focused playing". It turns out that the XRay and talking to the specialist verified that with what's going on with his impaction, he really cannot physically control the poop accidents - they are just stuff seeping out around the large blockage, and after the home extreme cleanout didn't work, he needs serious medical attention, which we wouldn't know if I hadn't insisted on the Xray.

Has anyone else's kid had a severe impaction like this that an intensive bowel cleanout wouldn't help and needed to take them to the ER for a disimpaction? If so, can you share?

Thank you <3

Hello, has anyone else dealt with extreme chronic constipation that was NOT cured by the usual Miralax, ExLax, enemas, good hydration, great diet, lots of physical activity, good potty habits and timing, etc. (5 year old).

His gastro specialist who guided us through an intensive 3 day at home cleanout said that since the impaction hasn't come out, he has to come in to the children's hospital ER to get a disimpaction.

Has anyone else had to do that or could share their experience? The gastro doc is acting like this is normal and something they see routinely, but I cannot find a single post on any parenting/kid subreddits about this, and don't know anyone in real life this has happened to, making me feel like we're really alone and outliers, and I've been up all night worrying and spiraling. I will be sure to update later in case it's helpful to a future parent going through this, but in the meantime it would be super helpful to me just to hear from some other parents who have been through it.

(If you have not been through something this extreme, please don't post things like "try fiber gummies" or "try prunes!" etc., we have already optimized everything like that, and an intensive 3 day bowel cleanout with mass amounts of Miralax and ExLax and enemas has not made this huge ball of poop budge, to the point where they're telling us this is a medical emergency and a serious, chronic impaction). I'm really looking for experiences similar to this, where nothing worked even though you already did ALL the things, and you had to actually go to the ER for it.

I'm quoting myself from another sub here, because I finally wrote it all out and here's what's going on:

I finally insisted on an X-Ray for my 5yo to get a concrete data point - it turns out he has a HUGE poop impaction, even after bowel cleanouts, daily Miralax, etc. He must have had it for over a year and a half, because that's when all this started. His primary care doc just would tell us to use Miralax or occasionally a tiny bit of ExLax chocolate, which did nothing because he was way more severely constipated than that. Everyone kept acting like, "oh, well, accidents happen..." I got so fed up, and somehow I just knew it wasn't him, but felt like no one believed me. Finally, I took him to a pediatric gastro specialist (had to travel several hours away from our rural area). Even there, they initially wanted to take the conservative approach and didn't want to give him an X-ray, but I insisted. They finally gave him one, and said he has a massive impaction, and everything that's been coming out as diarrhea, soft poops, etc. for the past year, has just been slipping out around this massive ball of poop he's had stuck in him, and that is why he can't control it.

Both his primary doc and the gastro specialist could NOT feel his extreme constipation through feeling his abdomen from the outside, both said he "doesn't feel constipated". Primary doc thought that meant he couldn't possibly still be constipated. Gastro specialist knew better and said it was totaly possible, but that she just couldn't feel it. Regardless, having that XRay was key.

It's the only reason they know that when we did a 3 day bowel cleanout these past 3 days (Miralax, ExLax, Fleet enemas) and all that came out was small amounts of liquidy stuff, that he definitely did not pass it, because they could actually see the mass that should have came out on the Xray. That's how they know to tell me he needs to come in to the pediatric ER to get it removed.

I could have cried, for 1.5 years we've been trying to cajole him with sticker charts, prizes, I've been going nuts trying to optimize his diet, lots of physical activity, lots of hydration, daily Miralax, ExLax, etc. None of that would ever be enough - he has a really serious impaction that will NOT come out on its own or even with the most serious home treatment. And when his primary care doc was advising me blindly with no xray, she had no idea there was still a large mass of poop in his intestines.

Kids can still poop daily and have a major impaction. The poor little guy. I feel so sad for every time we treated it as a behavioral thing or a "he just gets so distracted/focused playing". It turns out that the XRay and talking to the specialist verified that with what's going on with his impaction, he really cannot physically control the poop accidents - they are just stuff seeping out around the large blockage, and after the home extreme cleanout didn't work, he needs serious medical attention, which we wouldn't know if I hadn't insisted on the Xray.

Has anyone else's kid had a severe impaction like this that an intensive bowel cleanout wouldn't help and needed to take them to the ER for a disimpaction? If so, can you share?

Thank you <3

Hello, has anyone else dealt with extreme chronic constipation that was NOT cured by the usual Miralax, ExLax, enemas, good hydration, great diet, lots of physical activity, good potty habits and timing, etc. (5 year old).

His gastro specialist who guided us through an intensive 3 day at home cleanout said that since the impaction hasn't come out, he has to come in to the children's hospital ER to get a disimpaction.

Has anyone else had to do that or could share their experience? The gastro doc is acting like this is normal and something they see routinely, but I cannot find a single post on any parenting/kid subreddits about this, and don't know anyone in real life this has happened to, making me feel like we're really alone and outliers, and I've been up all night worrying and spiraling. I will be sure to update later in case it's helpful to a future parent going through this, but in the meantime it would be super helpful to me just to hear from some other parents who have been through it.

(If you have not been through something this extreme, please don't post things like "try fiber gummies" or "try prunes!" etc., we have already optimized everything like that, and an intensive 3 day bowel cleanout with mass amounts of Miralax and ExLax and enemas has not made this huge ball of poop budge, to the point where they're telling us this is a medical emergency and a serious, chronic impaction). I'm really looking for experiences similar to this, where nothing worked even though you already did ALL the things, and you had to actually go to the ER for it.

I'm quoting myself from another sub here, because I finally wrote it all out and here's what's going on:

I finally insisted on an X-Ray for my 5yo to get a concrete data point - it turns out he has a HUGE poop impaction, even after bowel cleanouts, daily Miralax, etc. He must have had it for over a year and a half, because that's when all this started. His primary care doc just would tell us to use Miralax or occasionally a tiny bit of ExLax chocolate, which did nothing because he was way more severely constipated than that. Everyone kept acting like, "oh, well, accidents happen..." I got so fed up, and somehow I just knew it wasn't him, but felt like no one believed me. Finally, I took him to a pediatric gastro specialist (had to travel several hours away from our rural area). Even there, they initially wanted to take the conservative approach and didn't want to give him an X-ray, but I insisted. They finally gave him one, and said he has a massive impaction, and everything that's been coming out as diarrhea, soft poops, etc. for the past year, has just been slipping out around this massive ball of poop he's had stuck in him, and that is why he can't control it.

Both his primary doc and the gastro specialist could NOT feel his extreme constipation through feeling his abdomen from the outside, both said he "doesn't feel constipated". Primary doc thought that meant he couldn't possibly still be constipated. Gastro specialist knew better and said it was totaly possible, but that she just couldn't feel it. Regardless, having that XRay was key.

It's the only reason they know that when we did a 3 day bowel cleanout these past 3 days (Miralax, ExLax, Fleet enemas) and all that came out was small amounts of liquidy stuff, that he definitely did not pass it, because they could actually see the mass that should have came out on the Xray. That's how they know to tell me he needs to come in to the pediatric ER to get it removed.

I could have cried, for 1.5 years we've been trying to cajole him with sticker charts, prizes, I've been going nuts trying to optimize his diet, lots of physical activity, lots of hydration, daily Miralax, ExLax, etc. None of that would ever be enough - he has a really serious impaction that will NOT come out on its own or even with the most serious home treatment. And when his primary care doc was advising me blindly with no xray, she had no idea there was still a large mass of poop in his intestines.

Kids can still poop daily and have a major impaction. The poor little guy. I feel so sad for every time we treated it as a behavioral thing or a "he just gets so distracted/focused playing". It turns out that the XRay and talking to the specialist verified that with what's going on with his impaction, he really cannot physically control the poop accidents - they are just stuff seeping out around the large blockage, and after the home extreme cleanout didn't work, he needs serious medical attention, which we wouldn't know if I hadn't insisted on the Xray.

Has anyone else's kid had a severe impaction like this that an intensive bowel cleanout wouldn't help and needed to take them to the ER for a disimpaction? If so, can you share?

Thank you <3

Hello, I HATE the plastic bottles of liquid laundry detergent that are all that's for sale at my local grocery store. I live in a rural area so don't have a lot of options. I used to be able to order All Free and Clear powder online, but they don't seem to make it any more. I was able to just compost the cardboard packaging it came in in our little forest out behind the backyard. Now I'm reduced to using the liquid version of the same brand and plastic bottles are being thrown in the garbage, which I hate.

I can't use just any other brand because my husband breaks out from most laundry detergents, but not this one (liquid or powder). Like his skin reacted to Tide Free and Gentle, but not All Free and Clear.

Are there any other sensitive skin folks out there who can recommend a laundry detergent similar to All Free and Clear powder detergent, that comes in powder in cardboard?

We both work full time and have LO in cloth diapers, so I don't have time to make my own or anything. Just need a kind I can order and get delivered that would be powder, in cardboard, and safe for really sensitive skin (while still cleaning everything).

Hello, PreK-6 art teacher here.

I'm debating getting rid of an old pottery wheel in my elementary art room, and debating turning a spray painting hood in the elementary art room into just storage. Here are my reasons:

The only class I'd let actually do spray painting is 6th grade (they are the only grade I trust with non-washable paint), and I just take them outside one day in spring when the weather's nice and do it outdoors, as the hood doesn't do a good enough job at sucking up the fumes, and only one kid at a time can use it. When I do it outside, there's plenty of fresh air, and everyong can spread out and do it all at once.

I don't know any elementary schools that do wheel throwing for pottery. It takes up a ton of space, only one kid could use it at a time, and it would require a lot of one-to-one guidance from me (which I know how to do, just don't know how I'd have time to with 26 other kids in the class). I'm considering seeing if the high school art teacher wants it (as she has smaller classes that take, like Ceramics II or something). I also run a very robust hand-building clay program that allows the kids to get really creative with what they make.

On the one hand, it seems dumb to get rid of expensive things. On the other hand, I've never used these things in the 8 years I've taught here (I kept thinking I'd "get around to it"), I have plenty of other engaging projects that lend themselves better to full size classes, and they take up too much space.

Other elementary art teachers - thoughts?

What are the main types of art you teach throughout the year in elementary?

For instance, I teach PreK - Grade 6 art, and my main units I try to do for each grade are listed below. It may start with something really simple in that media for PreK, to something much more advanced in that type of art for 6th Grade. I incorporate art history lessons throughout, so they are not a separate unit for me.

This is what I do:

Drawing

Painting

Clay/Ceramics

Sculpture (mostly with aluminum foil, coated wire, and/or cardboard saws)

Fiber Arts (Sewing, Weaving, Knitting, Jewelry, etc.)

Print-making (starts with simple stamping for littles, older ones make styrofoam prints)

Collage and Mixed Media

Does that sound like the main types of art a basic elementary art education program should have? Am I missing anything? (I am NOT doing anything digital, that is already pushed too heavily in the rest of my school's curriculum, this is the one special a week they can be hands on).

EDIT: Yes, I know I spelled sculpture wrong in the title!!

Hello! Does this look like a good training plan for someone who already runs a few times a week 2-4 miles slowly, but easily (along with some lifting, biking, and swimming), to start training for a 17 mile "25K" in 13 weeks?

Since the actual race is actually more like 17.25 miles instead of an actual 25K distance, I was thinking of adding an extra mile to each of the long runs (to account for the race being about 2 mile longer than a 25K). Does that sound like a good plan?

Since I only have 13 weeks, not 14 weeks to train, I was planning to do the first week's worth of runs on some of the cross training days of other weeks in order to still do the same amount of runs, but condensed into 13 weeks (and still maintaining all my rest days). Does that make sense?

I'm assuming I should try to make as many of my runs hilly and on trail, not road, as I can to mimic the actual race course?

My background is that I used to be a mediocre college cross country runner, but have been mostly out of shape the last 10 years, broken up by the occasional spurt of activity sporadically (a random 5K off the couch here or there, training for a half marathon one year, training for a 15 mile trail race one year - both of which I completed slowly, but decently, running the entire time).

Does this look like a good training plan? I got it form this website: https://runninforsweets.com/25k-training-plan/

https://preview.redd.it/44p1ws399x1h1.png?width=948&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1aeb349dbdb075a4aeeb5988f8ba52383148fdd

I noticed that all the hip young women at my work are all wearing midi dresses this spring, no more knee-length dresses anywhere, and hardly a maxi. Same thing at a fancy cocktail attire wedding I went to - all the hip young "hot" girls were wearing midi length slinky slip dresses with a slit, whereas in the past at such an event I'd have seen more mini dresses.

And of course for casual wear - wide leg pants or jeans with a boxy white tee or something with some minimal sneakers. A tiered flowy white cotton skirt for casual/dressy.

Those seem to be the "uniforms" I'm seeing all the people in my life at work, among friends, family, on the street, etc., who are the type of people who always look put together and fashionable.

It's weird that I haven't seen midi length very highlighted in any 2026 spring/summer content I've been looking for. I'm so sick of videos and articles and stuff that just look like they are rehashing fashion shows. I like content that feels like a cool older sister is showing you her actual closet. I like Anna Reid the best for this - she tries the stuff on how she would actually wear it out in the world, shows a bunch of street style pics in the real world, shows of a bunch of outfits relatively quickly, but the Youtube videos are long enough to enjoy, etc. I wish I could find more content like hers.

What are you seeing the "cool girls" in your life or on the street wearing for spring?