My middle child (M25 months) has been increasingly interested in sitting on the toilet. Our daycare is closed for a couple of weeks, and this seems like an obvious time to potty train! But how do I put myself at the beck and call of the toddler with a six week old?
Give me all the tips!
My second is a tall, large, strong boy. He’s drawn to the characters he sees like himself, but in a lot of kids media, those are villains. So he’s been doing a lot of smashing, throwing, etc while shouting “I bad guy” or “I mean.”
What recommendations do y’all have for books or shows that include heroes or helpers using their physicality for good? Nontoxic masculinity as it were.
ETA: he’s not a big sports kid, but he does love all things truck or train. Little Blue Truck is huge in our house. Does anyone have suggestions for similar “strong truck helps” or “construction hero” kinds of books?
My brother is estranged from my entire family except for our mother, with whom he maintains limited contact. The estrangement happened before my eldest was born, so none of my children know he exists. We don’t mention him and we’ve asked others not to mention him except by first name in front of them (ex. They can call him Theodore but not “your Uncle Theo” or “your mom’s brother”).
Initially, this was from a combination of my own hurt about the estrangement and my concern that it would be scary/confusing for my kids to grow up with the message that “people who say they love you can change their mind and leave without warning.” My husband and I decided at the time to wait until they were older to bring him up.
But now that my eldest is almost four years old, I wonder what is actually best. I’m wondering if there is any research into how to talk to children about estranged family or if there are better (or worse) ages to broach the topic.
I *would prefer* to be able to share my own experiences with my sibling with my own children as they navigate sibling dynamics, and I think there is benefit in knowing that my advice is based in experience. But I don’t quite know how to do that without opening a can of worms!