People say it like it's some magic solution.
My kid would literally rather skip a meal than eat something outside his safe foods.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who's heard this advice and found it completely useless.
I’m looking for recommendations for those rare, magical toys that ended up being worth every single penny (and then some). For us, it’s that little $10-$15 Fisher-Price instant camera. It was cheap, but kids across a huge range of ages absolutely love it and it gets with consistently over the years between my 5 year old and 18 month old.
What are those sleeper-hit, high-value toys in your house that ended up being way better and more long-lasting than you ever expected?
My son was invited to a birthday party by a girl who invited their whole class. It’s at a Chuck e Cheese type place. This is his first time being invited to a birthday party so I’m not really sure what’s considered the norm when it comes to gifts. Additionally, my son isn’t really friends with this girl so I know literally nothing about what she likes. I was thinking since I don’t know what she likes that maybe I could just get a pack of stickers so she has something to open, plus a $20 gift card so she can pick something out herself. Is four too young for a gift card? Is $20 too cheap? Help me, I have no idea.
Hi mom here! My son is 4.5, and we've been together every single day since he was born. I work from home, so he's always been with me. We enrolled him in preschool this fall to help him get ready for kindergarten, and we've been trying Sunday school first since it's at the same church.
The problem is... he won't let me leave. Today was the first time he even went into the classroom, but I had to stay the entire time. The teachers kept encouraging me to just leave, but he was literally chasing me out the door every time I tried.
I don't mind if he cries after I leave- that's expected- but what do you do when your child physically runs after you? Do teachers stop them? Are they even allowed to? Has anyone dealt with this, and what actually helped?
Preschool starts in just a few weeks, and I'm worried he's nowhere near ready. I'd really love to hear from parents who've been through this.
My 4-year-old is struggling a lot with sleep and I’m at a loss.
We don’t give her sugar and little to no screen time. No screen time in the evening. She gets lots of physical activity during the day and we have a consistent bedtime routine. Despite this, she takes a very loooong time to fall asleep, often very late at night (11 pm +++)! She doesn’t get enough sleep.
At bedtime, she avoids brushing her teeth, delays everything, and keeps talking nonstop. She often says she is not tired and just wants to play. overall, bedtime feels very stressful and exhausting. She also tends to use repeated “stalling” behaviors like wanting more water, more talking, more bathroom, must rearrange toys, etc.
Once she finally falls asleep, she sleeps through the night.
I’m really worried about her and what might be going on. There is some history of stress in our family. When she was a baby, there were a few incidents where my mother came over and screamed in front of my daughter. I’m wondering if this could have had an impact on her.
From what I can tell, she is a social butterfly, communicative, and seems happy during the day. I don’t see obvious signs of neurodivergence, but I also know I’m not an expert.
Has anyone experienced something similar with a 4-year-old? What has helped? Are we just in a bad phase?
Thanks.
My daughter has had some weird stomach issue going on. She puked on Monday night once, then Tuesday night once & all Wednesday morning until given Zofran. The vomiting stopped after Wednesday morning, but ever since then she’s been complaining that her stomach hurts. She points to the area just above her belly button. She’ll still play and act completely normal between episodes, but she isn’t eating much because she says her stomach hurts after a few bites. She’s been drinking and peeing normally. We took her to the pediatrician, and they checked for strep because of a swollen lymph node, but it was negative. I went back to urgent care today cause she just doesn’t seem like herself. Tired, emotional, etc. Again, not constantly though. She just has these bursts of this. They said they think she may be constipated because she hasn’t pooped in a couple of days, so they told us to start MiraLAX. It doesn’t seem like constipation to me though but idk. The nurse mentioned it may have been strep (she was sick the week prior with cold like symptoms) that moved to her GI system. Any insight appreciated!!!
So our daycare also does pre-k and is just starting a private kindergarten. Our child who should be a rising pre-k student was offered a position in the kindergarten along with two other students.
What’s the difference? Will our child be missing out on anything from pre-k? This seems very confusing.
Last Updated: June 2026.
Looking for the perfect tablet for your kids? 🎮📚 Whether it's for learning, gaming, or entertainment, choosing the right tablet can be tough with so many options out there. That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive guide featuring the best tablets for kids in 2026.
💡 Want to learn more? Read the full article and explore all the details here: Best Tablets for Kids in 2026.
My 4 year old has been on and off allergies since the end of May. Some nights he’s super stuffed up and mouth breathing and is waking up in the morning sneezing and gagging on mucus. He’ll be better for a little while and then it starts again. He’s not sick, it’s definitely allergies. I’m starting him on an allergy medicine, but I’m trying to decide if I should take him to be looked at by an allergist to figure out what exactly is going on. He’s never had allergies up until this point.
A little bit of background, my 5 year old son is very high energy and we've discussed possibly having him assessed for ADHD, and possibly ODD I personally suspect him off. But his often doesn't listen and we do raise our voices. We've never been physical and he's not scared of us. Usually when he misbehaves we take away electronic devices or send to his room.
A family friend who is a social worker has decided we are emotionally abusing him and reported us to CAS. I know yelling isn't a good option, and we are looking for better ways to handle things. I'm just really shocked at this. Anyone dealt with CAS? What can we expect?
I’ve created a hand-drawn emotion card set for kids and included a special “I don’t know” card. My thinking was that children sometimes experience mixed or confusing feelings and shouldn’t feel pressured to choose an emotion they can’t identify yet.
My son found it really interesting and it often led to conversations like: “I’m not sad… but I’m not happy either.”
Therapists and teachers here: what do you think? Have you seen children benefit from having permission not to know?
My daughter is 20 months old and will be starting preschool in August. At her current daycare we walk her in every day. At her new preschool everyone drops their kids off and the teachers come grab them from our cars. I’m really nervous about this transition. Not only will it be a new school for her but a completely different way of leaving us for the day. Any tips or tricks on how to make that transition easier for her?
Very long story short we live in an extremely hot climate in the summer and my kids bday is in the middle of the summer. I’ve always had his parties at the pool from like 10:30-12:30. I serve a great lunch, snow cones and then we eat at the house across the street, have cake and go home. A family member is trying to convince me and is absolutely dead set that having the party from 5-7pm is better because it’s cooler outside and they can swim after eating too. Never in my life have I wanted to drive to a child bday party at 5pm. I have some guests coming from an hour away with kids to swim, eat, and put wet clothes back on to swim again. My sister in laws both have very little babies and she is saying it’s better for the babies if it’s cooler outside. Has anyone ever had a 4 year olds birthday party at 5pm?
The constant chatter, the non stop “Mom! Mom! Mama! Look!”
I have to fight to get 2 minutes of alone time to dress myself…
Then there is management of their belongings… I tried to find a toy in their toy pile today and I genuinely felt panicky … like my chest was squeezing!
I know I struggle with general anxiety/panic disorder & adhd so keeping things organized and staying cool is not my strength. He is my only & I’m single parenting.
How are you dealing with the constant attention seeking and management of toys?
We are moving to a new house in a week, about 45min away from our current place. I'm also on mat leave with a newborn (4mo) and my oldest (almost 4yo) is in daycare; and is starting JK in September in our new neighborhood.
I have a spot secured for my oldest at a daycare that is attached to the new elementary school she will eventually be attending. She would only attend this new daycare for exactly 5 weeks before JK officially begins.
Here's the thing: she is a sensitive kid. She's been crying and clinging every day at dropoff since her baby brother was born. Crying every night for the last couple weeks since we started packing boxes. This is despite all efforts to hype her up about the "big new house".
On the other hand, I am on mat leave managing a newborn, and in charge of the packing, unpacking, and settling into the new house. I NEED hands-free time to get our new home set up, and having an almost 4yo to entertain on top of everything else for over a month will be the end of me and my sanity...
Looking for some advice or similar experiences!
My 5 year old wakes up around 7:30am. We have a consistent calming routine before light out at 8:30pm. She calmly lays there and listens to a quiet story on her Yoto. She does a pretty good job laying there in her own bed although sometimes needs something or needs us to check on her before ultimately falling asleep between 10-10:30pm. She generally seems like she wants to sleep longer in the morning but is woken up by siblings or we need to go somewhere. She'll cry and say "I'm too tired, I just want to keep sleeping."
Official recommendations I've seen say to have at least 10 hours of sleep per night and she's consistently under that amount. We have tried putting her to bed early and it still takes that long. We've tried shifting bedtime earlier and wakeup earlier and it just doesn't seem to work. The only time she falls asleep faster is if we lay with her. Then it only takes her 1 hour to fall asleep.
Is she just low sleep needs? If so, I feel bad for making her spend 2 hours of her day just laying in bed. But she seems like she'd benefit from more sleep. I just don't know how to make it happen without having to lay with her for an hour.
I’m looking for some perspective on a playdate situation I’ve been dealing with.
I’m very good friends with another mom who has a daughter a few months younger than my 4 yr old. The girls have always played together well enough, but over the past several hangouts, I’ve started seeing a pattern with her daughter now that she’s in full threenager mode.
When the girls play, the other child will scream at the top of her lungs if my daughter is holding something she wants. She will snatch toys directly from my daughter’s hands, and in a couple of recent instances has screamed when she doesn’t get her way. My daughter is learning to stand up for herself, but she often feels confused and upset when this happens.
Something happened during a playdate today which really bothered me. The girls were playing with dolls, and the other child wanted the one my daughter was holding. She started whining and trying to pull it away. My daughter yelled “no, I’m playing with it,” and the other child escalated to snatching it out of her hands. My daughter held on, the mom stepped in to separate them, and the other child hit my daughter.
I immediately went to comfort my daughter, but I felt pretty frustrated watching the rest unfold. The mom’s response was to comfort her daughter and then redirect her to something else. There were no clear boundaries set in the moment like “we don’t hit” or “we don’t snatch toys,” and no consequences that I could see. And this isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this general approach. There have been other incidents where the child tantrums or throws toys, and the response is usually comfort + redirection, but no firm limit-setting. I haven’t said anything in those situations because my child wasn’t directly involved and it’s not my place to comment on another parent’s parenting.
But after today, I’m feeling conflicted because my daughter is now directly on the receiving end of this behaviour, and I don’t really want her to be in situations where there are repeated unsafe or unkind interactions without any boundaries being set. I’m considering that next time something like this happens, I will step in and say something like: “No, we don’t hit or snatch toys. If we can’t play kindly, we’re going to end the playdate and leave.”
Has anyone dealt with something similar? How did you handle it without damaging the friendship between parents, but still standing up for your child?
H
I’m feeling really overwhelmed and wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.
My daughter is 3½.
She’s always been very curious and loves chatting. We can have proper conversations together, she asks thoughtful questions, has an excellent memory, and she hasn’t had any developmental delays. She became a big sister about 3 months ago, and over the last 2 months her behaviour has become incredibly difficult. I don’t know if it’s related or just a coincidence.
The biggest change has been the anger and aggression.
For example, today I took her on a little coffee date. I bought her a mini milk drink with marshmallows, got out a colouring set and paper, and we were having a nice time. She asked me to help her colour, but I was rocking the pram and drinking my coffee, so I said, “Mum can’t right now.”
She instantly got angry, threw all the crayons on the ground, and when I calmly asked her to pick them up, she started scratching the leather couch and scribbling on it in rage.
Tonight her dad asked her at least five times not to spray him or his food with her water spray bottle. She just kept trying. We took it away, and she completely lost it. She became aggressive, was kicking, trying to hurt us, and even deliberately slammed the pantry door into her dad while he was putting food away.
Another example is that she came into my room saying, “Baba.” I jokingly replied, “I’m Baba,” thinking it might make her laugh. Instead, she instantly screamed and became furious. I know she clearly didn’t find it funny, and I won’t do that again, but it shocked me how something so small led to such an explosive reaction.
Even when we’re trying to do something fun, she can become extremely frustrated. Her dad was making paper planes with her, and because he folded one differently to how she wanted, she didn’t try to explain or show him. She immediately started screaming because it wasn’t “right.”
When she’s really angry, she seems to need to physically express it. She’ll slam her body into the couch, scratch at the couch, throw whatever is nearby, headbutt something, or sometimes even try to scratch her own face. It’s not repetitive or something she does all the time—it only seems to happen when she’s completely overwhelmed with anger.
What’s confusing is that she’s not like this at kinder or when she’s being babysat. This behaviour is mainly happening at home and has become much worse over the last couple of months, although she’s always been a child who feels things very deeply.
I’m thinking about starting parent-child play therapy because I like the idea of someone observing us together and helping me better understand what’s driving these behaviours and how to respond.
I’m genuinely starting to worry there’s an underlying reason for the aggression because it feels so extreme compared to other children her age.
Has anyone else had a 3½-year-old like this? Was it a phase, or did you end up finding there was something else contributing? What actually helped?
so my little one has been begging to do ballet for months and we finally caved and signed her up. she's so excited she's been practicing her plié in the living room every day and honestly it's the cutest thing.
but like. i did not realise how much stuff you need?? the email from the studio came with a whole list and i'm just sitting here like. what is half of this. why does a 4yo need special shoes. can't she just wear socks.
i've been googling dance stuff for like 3 days straight and my brain is fried. found this brand Energetiks that seems to have all the things on the list but i'm still not sure what's actually necessary vs what's just extra.
any other parents been through this? what did you actually need for the first class vs what can wait? i don't wanna be that parent who shows up with nothing but also don't wanna spend a fortune on stuff she might lose interest in after a month.
I’m looking for non judgmental advice from
Parents who have spanked before. Yes, I know it’s not preferred. It’s never ever a first line of defense. Some background: my 4.5 year old has been rough. We have tried numerous positive reinforcement tactics, consequences, rewards, etc. for good behavior. While he is typically super well behaved there have been some concerning incidences lately where I have felt I had no other option than a spank. One example is he came at me with a large board when I was pregnant. I felt in this instance I had to spank, a quick and memorable corrective action. It never happened again. Another time he got mad when I turned the tv off and started swinging a dinner fork. I don’t believe he knew that could result in a “stab” but I grabbed it, and another corrective swat. Lastly I was following him up the stairs while I was baby wearing and he turned around and almost kicked me down the stairs. He was angry about going to bed. Another swat. These have been done calmly and not in anger by me. We go to the room. I say why he’s getting it. And one swat. For those who have spanked, as your child grew did they feel totally traumatized? I’m feeling upset about the whole thing but I felt I was doing the best I could at the time - with pregnant and a new baby I needed to make sure these actions never happened again. Our home is very loving, very fun. But I felt the aforementioned actions were absolutely unacceptable and could not be ignored. I know what the research says. But I did it anyway. Just looking for other parents feedback in how your children were after.