u/appleslice244

My husband has recently made a couple of comments that have really gotten under my skin.

I stopped breastfeeding earlier than I originally thought I might (6 months with my first and now 4 months with my second), and he told me, “I think you’ll regret stopping breastfeeding so early.” I’ve also continued doing some work during maternity leave. I own a business, so completely switching off for months was never particularly realistic for me, and I actually want to remain involved in it. His response was, **“**You’ll regret working during your maternity leave.”

When I told him these comments felt like an attack, he said they weren’t snd that they were just his opinion. And technically, yes, he’s entitled to an opinion. But there’s something about the wording “you’ll regret it” bothers me. It doesn’t feel like, “I wonder if you might feel differently later” or “Have you thought about whether you want more time off?” It feels like he’s telling me that the decisions I’m making are wrong and that one day I’ll realise he was right.

Maybe part of why it hits such a nerve is that I feel that I put an enormous amount into our family. I work, contribute significantly financially (50/50 or more), organise a huge amount of our family life, and I’m raising two little kids. I’m not making these decisions because I don’t care about my children. I’m making them because I’m trying to balance motherhood with still being myself and running the business I’ve worked incredibly hard to build.

I also never grew up as someone whose entire life ambition was to become a mum. I chose to have my children and I absolutely love and wanted them, but motherhood hasn’t suddenly erased every other part of who I am. If anything, that makes comments implying I’m going to regret not doing motherhood a particular way hit even harder.

I think what bothers me most is the implication that I’m somehow not giving enough..not breastfeeding long enough, not taking enough time away from work, not doing motherhood “properly” enough.

Am I overreacting to the phrase “you’ll regret it”? Would you hear that as someone simply expressing an opinion, or would it feel judgmental? I might be 5 months postpartum emotional right now…

That’s it. I appreciate it’s probably a gloat, and I have to say, I woke up for his normal 3am feed and he just didn’t wake up. But I was in bed. I didn’t hop out of bed. So I’m counting that as a full night.

I feel like I could fight a gorilla.

My husband and I are going to a birthday party next month, and it’ll be the first time we’ve left our toddler and our baby with someone who isn’t family. Kids are 3y and 4mo.

The babysitter will just be looking after them at our house for the evening.

So far I’ve:
Got written references
Seen her police check
Seen her Blue Card
Confirmed she has current First Aid/CPR
She’s also a paediatric nurse

Have I covered the normal due diligence, or is there anything else people would recommend?

Would you call the references even if they’re written? Is it worth having her come over beforehand to meet the kids? Anything you wish you’d checked before leaving your children with a babysitter for the first time?

I’m probably just an anxious mum, but I’d love to know what’s considered standard and what gave you peace of mind.

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’m in Brisbane and feeling incredibly fortunate to be able to consider this. I’m looking to hire someone full-time for a role that’s a blend of nanny and household manager. The main focus would be caring for my two young kids at home (no daycare) while also helping with housework - washing, tidying, and keeping things organized when I’m working or out with them.

If you’ve hired someone like this, what do you call the role? What tasks did you include? And what’s a reasonable salary range for this kind of all-encompassing position?

I truly appreciate any advice or insights you can share. Thank you so much!

So jade thinks his theory will get everyone home. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that he’s actually about to do the exact opposite and get himself killed.

I think Jade’s plan to pull up the Bottle Tree is the event that creates the loop in the first place.

Everyone who ends up in Fromville sees the same thing before they arrive: the fallen tree across the road. It’s always there. It never changes. It’s almost like it’s a fixed point in the story.

What if that fallen tree isn’t just a warning sign? What if it’s the Bottle Tree?

Jade has discovered there’s a clearing connected to the tree and the chamber beneath it. We also know the roots seem to be connected to the children’s remains and whatever larger force is controlling the town. The Man in Yellow’s warning didn’t sound like someone worried about people escaping. It sounded like someone worried about the consequences of disturbing something fundamental. Imagine they successfully pull the tree out.

Instead of creating an exit, they trigger whatever strange force controls Fromville. The tree is transported through space, time, or whatever mechanism governs the place and ends up falling across the road that every future victim encounters before entering town.

The residents think they’re ending the cycle, but they’re actually creating it.

That would explain why the fallen tree feels so important. It’s not just an obstacle. It’s a marker. A piece of the town itself.
It would also fit with one of the show’s biggest themes: every attempt to escape ends up feeding the system that’s trapping them.

The really disturbing part is what that would mean for everyone in town. If Jade’s actions create the fallen tree, then the current residents are indirectly responsible for every person who has ever been trapped there, including themselves. A perfect bootstrap paradox.

Just a loop that keeps creating itself.

Suddenly the Man in Yellow’s warning takes on a completely different meaning. Maybe he isn’t trying to stop them from escaping. Maybe he’s trying to stop them from creating the next cycle.

Jade thinks they need to find the children’s bones/remains to save them because they’re trapped in Fromville.

Then Marielle makes the point that everyone is trapped there, not just the children.

A short time later Victor finds the bag of teeth (which are basically bones).

It made me wonder whether the show is telling us that Jade’s theory is right, but only partly right.

Maybe the children aren’t unique. Maybe anyone who dies in Fromville becomes trapped, and their remains are somehow connected to that. The bag of teeth could be the remains of previous victims who are still trapped just like the children.

The timing of Marielle saying “everyone is trapped” and then Victor finding the teeth felt very deliberate to me.

I'm the owner of a growing law firm in Australia (currently around 10 staff, likely 15+ over the next few years) and am considering standardising on ThinkPads.

My priorities are:

- Reliability
- Ease of fleet management
- Fast support when something goes wrong
- Minimal downtime for lawyers

I'm currently looking at the T14 and X1 Carbon range with Premier Support.

For those of you running ThinkPads in a business environment:

- How has Premier Support been in practice?
- If a laptop suffers a hardware failure, what has the repair experience actually been like?
- Has anyone received a replacement machine rather than a repair?
- How long are your laptops typically lasting before replacement?
- Would you buy ThinkPads again for a professional services firm?

I'm also curious about best practice. Do you rely on Lenovo support, or do you keep a spare pre-configured ThinkPad on hand so staff can swap immediately if a machine fails?

Located in Australia, so Australian support experiences would be particularly helpful.

We're a growing law firm in Australia (currently around 10 staff, likely 15+ within the next couple of years) and I'm looking to standardise our laptops.

I'm currently leaning towards Lenovo ThinkPads (likely T14s or similar) because they seem to have a strong reputation for reliability.

My biggest concern isn't actually the hardware itself it's support. If a solicitor's laptop dies before a court appearance, mediation, or client meeting, downtime is incredibly expensive.

For those managing business fleets in Australia:

- How has Lenovo Premier Support been in practice?
- If a ThinkPad fails, how quickly are repairs actually completed?
- Has anyone had experience with replacements being provided?
- Would you choose Lenovo again, or would you go Dell Latitude + ProSupport instead?

Also, what's the best way to purchase and manage these?

- Do you buy direct from Lenovo or through a reseller?
- Should I be engaging an IT provider to source and manage the fleet?
- Is there anything you'd do differently if you were setting up a fleet of 10–20 laptops from scratch today?

I'm less interested in benchmarks and more interested in experiences when things go wrong.

Located in Australia if that makes a difference.

TIA

What do workers actually want now?

Genuine question from an employer because I feel like the messaging is all over the place at the moment.

At our firm we offer:

2 WFH days per week
“flex time” (do your 7.6 hours whenever — start at 12pm for all I care)
salaries at about 1/3 of generated revenue
no micromanaging
flexibility for appointments or whatever needed
clear progression
decent office culture
autonomy/trust

Despite the above recruitment still feels hard af.
Not saying this in a “people don’t want to work anymore” way either. I genuinely think expectations have shifted and employers are struggling to work out what actually matters now.

Because from where I sit:
people say they want flexibility, but also mentorship/culture, they want autonomy, but also structure/support
they want high salaries, but lower targets/stress,
they want growth, but not necessarily pressure

So what is the actual priority list now if you’re an employee?

If you could build the ideal workplace, what would it realistically include that most employers are still missing?