I'm not vegan, but my friend is and I'm struggling to think of how I'll make frosting for his birthday cupcakes. I'm usually good with substitutions, but I can't find any sort of vegan whipped cream/heavy whipping cream? Does anybody have any good recipes? (Also, they're purely vanilla, so ideally something that doesn't have a strong flavor otherwise.)
(Reposted this from r/women) I've had awful period cramps for about 4 years now. Before then, it was just kind of annoying, but now, I've been stuck in bed from the pain. Almost every month for the past several years, I've vomited, sometimes several times, and continue to feel constant nausea. I've thrown up in school (multiple times) and have been sent back to class by the (female!) nurse because "you can't skip just because you're on your period", and continued to throw up while in class.
I've tried those heating pads you stick to your stomach, I've tried Ibuprofen, I've tried hot tea and ginger. It doesn't feel like anything helps, or if it does, only marginally so. My mom's not around and I generally don't like talking about my body with people so I don't really know what to do. I mentioned it to my dad once and he just laughed and said my body's getting used to it, but I started around 9 so I can't imagine how much more "getting used to" I need.
I'm 17, so my only options are pretty much at-home remedies or over-the-counter medicine. I'd like to look into stopping my period completely once I'm 18 but I don't know how realistic that is. Does anyone have anything that helps them deal with intense cramps? It only lasts for the first couple of days but it makes me feel absolutely miserable for that time and I just want it to stop.
I've had awful period cramps for about 4 years now. Before then, it was just kind of annoying, but now, I've been stuck in bed from the pain. Almost every month for the past several years, I've vomited, sometimes several times, and continue to feel constant nausea. I've thrown up in school (multiple times) and have been sent back to class by the (female!) nurse because "you can't skip just because you're on your period", and continued to throw up while in class.
I've tried those heating pads you stick to your stomach, I've tried Ibuprofen, I've tried hot tea and ginger. It doesn't feel like anything helps, or if it does, only marginally so. My mom's not around and I generally don't like talking about my body with people so I don't really know what to do. I mentioned it to my dad once and he just laughed and said my body's getting used to it, but I started around 9 so I can't imagine how much more "getting used to" I need.
I'm 17, so my only options are pretty much at-home remedies or over-the-counter medicine. I'd like to look into stopping my period completely once I'm 18 but I don't know how realistic that is. Does anyone have anything that helps them deal with intense cramps? It only lasts for the first couple of days but it makes me feel absolutely miserable for that time and I just want it to stop.
I'm 17. I've felt mildly depressed for years. I think my mother's death was the start of it: I remember blaming myself after she was arrested for child abuse/neglect and overdosed shortly after, because I thought it was my fault for begging my father not to let me go back there. Even when I didn't think about her specifically, it just felt like my emotional state would get worse and worse, not at all helped by the echo-chambers on the internet that gave me bad ideas on how to cope with it. For a while, I could never imagine making it to my next "milestone", even if I couldn't come up with an active plan to commit to it.
I made some good friends in school last year. The 8th anniversary of my mother's death was around November. She died when I was 8, so after that day, I would've spent more of my life without her than with her. But I made some really good friends that, for once, didn't make me feel like an outlier for the beliefs or interests I have. When the day came, I completely forgot what it was even the anniversary of. I continued to hate myself and didn't have a concrete plan, but it was easier to exist, especially since I had friends I could be open with. Later on, one of them betrayed my trust by telling other people about my experiences with self-harm (who then threatened to contact the school, even though I'd been clean for a couple months at that point), but I don't regret being their friend. I hated myself for a long time because I felt like I was incapable of loving anyone without also hating them, but I made a friend that I truly did and still do love.
I've had a very bad relationship with my (half; we share a father, but have different mothers) sister (30 year old woman) after I reported her boyfriend for child abuse. He's threatened to kill us and her children and has dealt drugs with their 6-year-old child in the car. He is also a felon but has somehow accessed a gun, and we've had to call the police on him. I still hate his guts and can't believe that they're still dating after everything he's done to us. My sister has said that I'm trying to "steal her father" or "tear the family apart for attention", and has said that I've been crazy since my mom died. She's full of shit, and what frustrates me almost more than her is the fact that my dad won't set up rigid boundaries with her. He just says that, because she's mentally ill, we just need to accommodate her and let her do what she wants. I don't hate mentally ill people at all and don't want to generalize, but I think what *she* needs is HELP with a therapist or psychiatrist, not to be enabled constantly. The other night, I tried to grab a charger that I thought was mine, and she yelled at me and forcibly ripped it from my hands. It hurt, and I'm pretty sensitive to being yelled at, so I walked away without saying anything and cried. But our father gave *me* a talk about how I just need to let her be because of her mental illness, even though I just let her take it and walked away. Before, I tried talking to him about my own health (I've had such painful cramps for years that I've vomited almost every month, several times), and he just laughed at me and said I need to get used to it.
At this point, I'm done hoping things will get better where I am now. I've realized that I want to be happy, and that the people around me won't help me to find happiness. I love my father, but even he's too busy and stressed to help me. I finally want to live my own life and get very, very far away from the people around me. I feel guilty for being so desperate to get away when my life is, by all accounts, good, but I want to be happy, and that feels like the only way I'll achieve that. I just wanted to get this out somewhere, and I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience.
I (17F) have had a poor relationship with my (half) sister (30F) for a few years. My sister has two kids, my nephew (8M) and niece (6F). I used to like my sister's boyfriend (29M), the father of my niece, but we haven't talked ever since my dad got upset over the game he played when I was 12.
He and my sister are hot and cold. Whenever they broke up, she was open about how awful he was. She told me that he was racist and hates black people. My sister and I are biracial, my nephew looks black, and my niece looks white. Sister's boyfriend is Hispanic. He's nicer to their daughter than her son, but makes kid call him dad.
Once, my sister called me in hysterics to call the cops because her boyfriend had a gun and was "going crazy". This was shortly after he entered our house, searched, and left. I had hide with my younger brother and call the police. Boyfriend is also a felon (not supposed to have a gun). He has threatened to kill my niece and nephew while my sister watched, then the rest of my family. My dad pays for the house he lives in with my sister, but he has also harassed our dad via text/calls.
The final straw was when my nephew casually told me that, when he misbehaved, my sister's boyfriend would suffocate him as punishment. I saw red: no child deserves that. I told dad what he told me and immediately resolved to make a report to the DCF. Dad knew but brushed me off.
Nothing came of my report, but their neighbor reported them for reasons I'm not too clear on, and an investigation was conducted. She was late to the meeting with the officer because she was getting weed with her boyfriend. Later, when I told her she should put ice in her son's food if it was hot, she lashed out, saying that it's her kid and "if I had a problem with her boyfriend, I should've told her". She said I overreacted about the suffocating. Our relationship has only deteriorated. She has told our father that I need therapy because I'm trying to tear our family apart for attention since my mom died, then had her son ready to record on his iPad when I came down yelling at her. Whenever my father gets angry with her and tries to have a discussion, she says that he wants her to die, and he comforts her: no progress made. She has also gotten mad at me for not having a job and has said that I'm doing nothing with my life. I'm 17—she's cheating her way through community college and lives off our dad's money.
Recently, boyfriend was caught dealing drugs with my niece in the back seat. There was also an unsecured firearm left in their house (where kids lived), and she claimed it was hers (I doubt it), leading to both losing custody. I don't know all the legal jargon, but they're still allowed to visit, and my sister frequently does. The two kids also spend time with the families of both my sister's boyfriend and my nephew's father (father is in prison).
Whenever she is at our house, I ignore her. If we have to use the same room, I refuse to look at her. She does the same. My father and his girlfriend say that I need to make up with her because we're sisters and should get along. They also say I'll have to rely on her one day, and that I already am because she feeds my cats sometimes. If there were people being hurt by my refusal to talk to her, I'd understand taking the high road, but it's entirely between us: I babysit her kids and try not to speak poorly of their mother around them, I still encourage them to follow what she says, ask her before they eat sweets, etc.
I thought of myself as a kid and therefore blameless, since most happened when I was 15. Now that I'm almost a legal adult, I'm reconsidering. I'm still young so maybe I just don't get it, but I have no respect for someone who would put her family and KIDS in danger. I know my sister has had mental health struggles in the past and is likely a victim of emotional abuse from her boyfriend, but that can't excuse endangering children.
So, AITAH for refusing to make up?
Edit for clarity: when I say suffocate, the kid told me that his mom's boyfriend would plug his nose so that he couldn't breathe, not physically strangle. It's still bad but I also still feel guilty or like I overreacted. My sister said it was just discipline and that he exaggerated the issue (though my nephew didn't seem to even think it was a bad thing, which breaks my heart). My dad was also half-awake when I was trying to talk to him and didn't seem to remember the conversation when I tried talking to him about it later, but I was so angry at the time that I wasn't focusing on that and just wanted something to change for my nephew. My idea was that, even if he exaggerated or lied (doubt it), an investigation would confirm that. Also, I don't THINK my report was what directly led to custody being lost, but it may have factored in. My dad also thinks that we should've looked more into it instead of immediately reporting, since now the kids might also refuse to be honest about if something bad were to happen again out of fear that it could get their mom in trouble.
I want to preface this by clarifying I'm an older sibling (17) tasked with babysitting my younger brother (10), nephew (8), and niece (6), because my mother has passed and my father works. I'm not sure if this is the appropriate subreddit but I also don't know where else to go or who I can ask for advice in my life. I've gotten into fights with my sister (parent of niece and nephew) over how I've tried to discipline their kids, because my niece bawled her eyes out when I told her she has to brush her teeth and spent half an hour in the bathroom teaching her how to do it properly (and brushing alongside her), saying I'm too mean. On the other hand, she and her boyfriend don't have custody over the children due to child neglect and abuse matters, so I don't know how much credence to lend her opinion on her own kids. My dad is also extremely lenient with the children, and both favors my brother over the other two and will only really punish (via sending them to time-out) them for things that are personally inconvenient, like being too loud or crying. I don't mind noise, so I never care if they're loud unless someone asks them to quiet down, and if they're crying over being in trouble, I prefer to just let them express their feelings. He's also said that I'm better at being "the bad guy", even though I've never really wanted to be the bad one; I just want them to grow up well-rounded and adjusted.
(Also, sorry if this is long: I'm not sure how to format these kind of posts, and I feel context for my particular kid is important.)
My nephew is a very hot-and-cold kid. Sometimes, he's the sweetest ever and will offer to do anything to help other people. Others, he screams, yells, lies, steals, and hurts the other two, then says it's their fault for being "annoying". He also always says that he "didn't know" after he lies about things. For example, he'll take something that's not his and say he didn't know it belonged to someone else or that it wasn't
his, even though I tell him he has to ask if he doesn't know who things belong to, especially when he winds up breaking these things.
Today, I made them a frozen pizza and told them they all had to have a healthier side with it. My niece wanted a banana and he agreed to share it with her. But after he finished his pizza, he refused to eat it. My younger brother volunteered to eat it for him but I refused, because I don't want him to get into the habit of thinking he can ask for things and waste them after the fact. I don't want to force kids to eat things they didn't ask for, but again, he said he would eat half a banana. Currently, he's sitting in his room, and I told him he has to finish the food he asked for if he wants to leave his room and play.
I have a very short temper and get frustrated easily, to the point where it's hard for me to not swear when I get upset with them. I try not to scream or yell too much, but sometimes it feels like the only way they listen. I feel terrible for being this way, but it's like I get angry and just can't help myself. I don't agree with physically disciplining kids and have never hit them, but I do sometimes have to grab my nephew's arm or restrain him to drag him into "time-out"—again, NOT to cause pain.
How do you manage kids that don't listen to a word you say? I don't know how to manage my nephew because he's had a troubled life: his father is in prison, his mother thinks he was "born a bad person" due to his father's DNA, and his mother's boyfriend forces him to call him daddy (and, again, lost custody over the children for child neglect/abuse matters). I don't want him to think the entire world is against him, but on the other hand, I don't want to raise him into a person that thinks he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. Before, he's also tried to drag his sister into a pool knowing she can't swim while she was screaming and begging him to stop.
What do you do with kids that don't listen? And how do you manage anger? I always feel terrible after raising my voice at them and at least try to apologize to show them that grown-ups can be wrong, but I'd rather be able to stop myself before damage is done. Any advice would be very much welcome. I just want them to grow up into healthy adults.