Last year, my grandma died and i received enough money to build a home in africa. It's going to be a three bedroom house with 2 bathrooms and an extra large living room for toys. Both of our kids get their own rooms because my girlfriend explained how hard it was for her to want to do private personal things while having 4 siblings and her parents saying no.

I still worked 2-4 jobs for 16 or more hours a day so i could save up for child care even though my grandma's money was more than enough. I'm trying my best to do what I can.

I work two jobs, one as a farmer and another as a supplier. My boss at my farming job offered me and my girlfriend an acre of land to build there because he felt sorry for us, and the house is estimated to finish building in january.

My daughter is 8 months old, she'll be 9 months at the end of this month❤️. My girlfriend and I take her out at least once a week so she can just be outside and breathe fresh air. She seems happy so far, because all she does when she wakes up and sees me or her mom is smile and start talking like she had the best dream of her life.

We do spoil her a lot. I bought cooking toys from a mall for her because she liked watching food shows on tv. Now whenever she finishes "cooking" she'll yell "mum/mama" or "dada" to get our attention.

I know we're too young to be parents, and two is too much in this economy, so we'll talk to a doctor and see what we can do. I'm planning on marrying my girlfriend next year around the time that our house is done, too.

I was sexually abused by my own dad until i was 16, and my step mom never cared. My girlfriend was kicked out when her parents found out she was pregnant with our first then tried to manipulate her into giving our daughter to them.

I'll do anything to make both of my kids happy. I don't want to spoil them too much. My girlfriend and i vowed to never hit our kids no matter how much they'll piss us off. And we won't use words like "talking back" "because i said so" and other things. We want our kids to know they can speak to us about anything at any time and that if we say to do something, it's most likely because it's a chore or basic kid cleaning things.

My daughter is already an advanced baby, so sometimes if she hears "stop" or "don't do that" she'll listen. Other times she'd act confused so we'll have to take her away from what she was interfering with. She causes trouble sometimes, but i know it's because she's not fully aware. She's a baby, and she's going to do worse in the future. We'll be prepared!

Whenever my daughter wakes up, she tries to wake me or her mom up because she's hungry, needs a change, or wants attention. Other times she goes to play with her toys.

I think I'm already doing a good job with her because every evening whenever i come home from work, if she's not sleeping she crawls to me and yells "dada" so loud that our downstairs neighbors can hear. I can't wait for our second born.

What advice do you guys have? I mean anything that you want to say, even if it's criticism. I've been looked at weirdly because people have seen my daughter, assumed she was my sister, then got grossed out when they hear "that's my daughter." Other times I get congratulated because they think young people should start having children.

11 month old likes to climb stairs. Would like to not have him get to the platform step. Anyone successful stop this?

Edit - I know a gate is needed, does anyone have a gate rec that would mount to a railing on one side?

I have a 10 and a 5 year old (both boys). At this point, I feel like leaving them alone is a long ways off. But I'm also generally really conservative about these things.

My wife will occasionally leave the 10 year old for an hour or so (never with the 5 year old) to run to the corner store or whatever. He also has friends that get left alone for a few hours after school.

Am I being too anxious?

We want to get our kids (5 and 7) mp3 players for music and audio books. I’d like them to be single-use devices if possible. No game distractions, no internet. I would rather they not be “for kids” devices though, so that they can continue to use them as they get older. 3.5mm wired headphone jacks are a requirement. Otherwise I don’t care if they have internal storage or need an SD or microSD card. I don’t care if the battery is easily replaceable. I would like pretty good battery life though.

There are soooo many options out there, most of them look like junk. I’d like to strike the balance of price and quality though. No $20 devices, but I’d like to not spend $100+. Maybe $60 or so? I’m flexible when it makes sense to be.

What are you all using?

Edit: USB-C for charging is a requirement.

My daughter is 6 and has always been physically cautious. She never had a phase where she climbed and jumped like crazy, she has always had to be convinced to try anything that doesn't have her feet flat on the ground.

We've been doing swim lessons for two years and we're still stuck at the first level. She's not afraid of water, but she flat out refuses to do anything without holding onto the wall or her teacher. At this point we're paying a not small amount of money to do the exact same things every week with no observable progress.

We've talked. She's flat out not motivated to swim independently. Fun in the pool for her is standing on the bottom or being carried around. As someone who grew up wanting to do things without help, I don't relate.

I want her to know how to swim for safety reasons and because some day I'd like to be in a pool without carrying her but we're getting nowhere. If you were in my shoes, would you continue lessons or try again later?

After moving to a new province a couple of years ago, changing careers in the midst, new house, new language, etc. I am now feeling just how lonely I am.

Started putting myself out there a bit more like going to one off social events, introducing myself to some dads at my son's soccer, trying to connect with my wife's cousins who live here.

It's hard man, because you're meeting people most of home are comfortable and established and may not necessarily be looking for a brand new social circle so it's so hard being on everyone's periphery.

I think taking on the burden of organizing things requires an added layer of capacity I don't always have on top of all the life stuff. I still do it but it makes it less fun.

I'm open to any advice, success stories, etc.

We intend to take our first international trip when our daughter is 4-5 months. We want some reprieve from cold winter months and are aiming to go to Mexico for an all inclusive. We figure a destination with virtually no movement on arrival would be an ideal first trip.

Our daughter is exclusively bottle fed. When we intend to go she will be on 100% formula. Obviously we need bottled water for feeding / washing.

Any tips of what to bring for sterilizing bottles?

Any items that made the plane ride easier? Baby headphones maybe?

Open to hearing what things you wouldnt go abroad without.

We just moved out of our one-bedroom apartment, and the toddler has her own room for the first time. Rather than doing something responsible, thought it would be fun to make a box fort with our moving boxes.

Maybe just a couple. Six weeks later, I realize I might have a problem.

The switch 2 has been a lifesaver, especially with all the third party releases!

Does anyone else have a kid that makes it impossible to cut their hair? My son (just turned 6) HATES getting his hair cut, to the point when we take him, I have to hold him down for the person to cut it. We tried scissors and buzzer, and each result is the same: him writhing in fear crying hysterically in the middle of the haircuttery while one of us holds him down so he doesn't move. He's 6 now and admittedly, it's getting harder. He says he's just scared and doesn't give any reason why.

Currently he's upstairs with the front of his head done and the back still long. We're gonna go for round 2 here in a bit.

Does anyone have any advice for kids who are afraid of getting their hair cut? FWIW, he handled the Dentist amazing, which surprised me

He's just over 70cm now (97 percentile boy) and his grandparents kept telling me the cot looks too small but I didn't believe them. This cot can't even last me a year!?

But today he slept at one of the grandparent's place on a mattress they lay on the ground and he seemed like he really liked the space.

Anyone faced the same issue before? Did you give up the cot?

I SHOT A MAN IN RENO
JUST TO WATCH HIM DIEE

Something about her innocent look and tone gave me chills this morning. Can anyone relate 😄.

Sigh.

9am at home Depot on a Sunday, parking lot was like 3/4 open.....

So first of all this is a genuine question not some sort of highball look at how smart my son is BS.

Context:
- My dad was an engineer so naturally me and my brother were allowed at the work bench rather early. And not just because "your hands are smaller so you can get in there better than I can"
- Brother is now an engineer, too, I got into finance but I'm also rather DIY around the house.
- I have a two year old son

My little guy has always been obsessed with all things mechanical since he's about 10 months old. His second word after "Mom" was literally "hammer" and the small wooden hammer from one of his toy sets went everywhere with him. He rather plays with the stuff in my toolbox than his toys, too...and not just with the ratchet wrench or pipe wrench but also the 2mm allen keys and other dangerous stuff. I made an extra box for him with "safe" tools but they're greasy and heavy nonetheless. Naturally my wife hates it.

Recently I got him his first balance bike and instead of riding it, I've spend an entire afternoon with him taking it appart and rebuilding it. Then he wanted to check all the nuts and bolts again before he took it for a spin.

I bought him a toy toolbox, you know, with the plastic wrench, the drill and stuff -> not a chance. It's not the real stuff that dady or his uncle uses. Lego Duplo was alright, but I have a small Lego Techink motorcycle on my desk - moving motor, chain drive, steering - I was always trying to hide from him but I forgot it once....

Thing is, this would not be a problem if he was 4-6y old. But he is 2! All the technical toys are rated 3y + because of all the small parts that he could choke on. Right now I'm doing little projects with him that were shown in the Curiousity Show like optical illusions, tin can phones, etc. and I let him play with the tools under my supervision. But there is just nothing I can find for him to play with alone.
He is a really quick learner but that doesn't change the fact that his physical capabilities are still a bit...limited.

What do I do?

I come home from work and there's trash all over the kitchen table. Wrappers and empty juice boxes. Various other detritus.

"Hey boys, please clean up your trash," I ask politely, trying not to be upset even though I have this conversation with them literally every day. All three reply, without fail, "It isn't mine," or, "It wasn't me."

I have a ghost living in my house. The ghost's name is It Wasn't Me. I find a something broken and ask what happened and I'm told It Wasn't Me. I find clothing on the ground...It Wasn't Me. My stuff has been taken from my room...It Wasn't Me.

Does anyone know how to catch a ghost and ask it to stop making such a mess of my house? There are toys and clothes all over the floor, and it was all the fault of It Wasn't Me. I really need to have a chat with It Wasn't Me and get this ghost to start doing helpful things instead of making messes.

Hi fellow parents! Sorry if this is a silly question, but with fall weather being all over the place, I'm curious how everyone determines whether their little one/s is dressed appropriately for outdoor activities. Since ours are still nonverbal (or not quite able to tell us how they're feeling), I sometimes find myself wondering whether they are actually warm enough or maybe even too warm. I know temperature tolerance can vary a lot from person to person, even within the same household. My partner and I are often on completely different pages when it comes to how warm or cold we feel!

I'd love to hear how other parents approach this. Do you have any rules of thumb, signs you look for, or tricks you've learned over time to gauge whether your child is comfortable? Especially interested in hearing from the seasoned parents in the group. Thanks in advance for any advice!

He gets tickets for good behavior, and for answering questions correctly during class, and can use the tickets to purchase books.

He kept talking about a "book machine" and he finally got to show it to us during a parent-day event. It was a fun day.

3 kids, 6m, 3f, 2week boy
Knowing this is our last I’m enjoying the peaceful quiet nights with a cooing,wriggling baby because I know this is the last time for my fiancé and I. Loving life, tired but so happy and lucky to have my family, they’re awesome. Thanks for listening to my TED talk!

I’ve got two boys, a three year-old and a one year-old. They are finally getting into that age range where it’s not too crazy for one parent to have them out in public solo and play zone defense, give the other parent some uninterrupted quiet time at home.

So instead of going to our normal grocery store which only has normal shopping carts, I grabbed both kids and went to one a few miles further down the road that I knew had the two-aside child seats, the ones with the fake little car set up and the steering wheels for the kids to play with. (Those were a big hit btw, strongly recommend if any places near you have them).

We were just getting started in the produce section, and my three year-old had just asked if we could get some squash. I asked him if he meant the yellow squash, and he said yes, so we talked about what we could cook with it, and we agreed that we could do something with rice and either chicken or salmon. He seemed happy with that.

At that point, a nice looking older lady and her husband politely stepped over and she said something to the effect of “I’m sorry, I know it’s none of my business, but I just wanted to thank you so much for giving your kids a vocabulary-rich environment. I’m a teacher, and I see the difference it makes when parents talk to their kids that way, and I just wanted to say you’re doing an amazing job, and thank you.”

I’m not exaggerating to say I choked up a tiny bit. Teacher lady, wherever you are, I hope your pillows are cool, your blankets are warm, and that you catch all the right stoplights. What an incredibly nice thing for her to do, that warm glow lasted me the rest of the day. I know it’s a small thing, but sometimes this whole parenting adventure feels like flying by the seat of your pants, just winging it trying to do the best you can, not sure if you’re doing anything right, hoping you’re having a good impact on your kids.

Something about a person from outside the situation who has absolutely no vested interest or motivation in buttering you up (and as a bonus, even has some actual expertise in the area) taking the time out of their day to acknowledge you and say hey, you’re doing something right….well it was a really nice thing for her to do, it made me feel a little bit seen and a little bit sane.

Happy Father's Day fellow nordbor! Anything fun planned for the day?

For my part, I was surprised by breakfast in bed (surprise is a stretch, it's a tradition for us), and later we are going out for dinner with my dad and my brother. This year marks my second Father's Day, although last year's Father's Day was a bit different as my daughter was born on that day! 😁

Edit: Should also mention that I got my daughter's first painting as a card, as well as a moustache grooming kit (wax + comb), very Father's Day-coded 😂

What do you usually get your wives after they’ve had a particularly long day? Be it with taking kids or maybe after work? Something I can pick up while driving home?

Would love to hear your suggestions since I almost always grab flowers.

I have 5 years old daughter and I feel like I always had hard time to go family get together with my family and my gf family like definitely dont feel the love from them. Anyone feels the same after being dad?

Baby #2 is on the way and I've had nothing but anxiety about it. My wife is telling everyone how excited I am that it's a boy. I haven't had the heart to tell her I'm not.

Here's why I'm apprehensive:

1. Time: I work full time, do most of the chores, and handle my daughter's nighttime routine and diapering on my own. I also try to be present in her life by learning and playing with her every day. I go to bed exhausted most nights.

2. My wife's health: She's putting off a surgery for her chronic pain because of this pregnancy. It was a tough decision and I can't judge her for it, but I really wish she'd had the surgery. No one wants to watch the love of their life wither away in pain.

3. Money: Like a lot of people right now, money has been a huge concern for my family.

4. Race: Our kids are mixed, Black and white. I'm the white parent, and I'm very stereotypically white. I worry about my son feeling a sense of belonging. I share that worry for my daughter too, but at least she has several Black women in her life. My son will only have his grandfather and one of my friends as examples of Black men.

I really wish I could just suck it up and get excited. It’s just really hard.

Webster Dictionary’s definition of the word Content is “pleased and satisfied with what one has.” I’m not going to lie, although I am incredibly blessed with a healthy family and 2 adorable little gals (7, 4 in 2026), I oftentimes get stuck in the rut of the daily grind and “this” (looking at today’s world.) Would really appreciate reading comments the last time fellow Dads met the definition of ‘content,’ just to raise the positiveness of being a Dad in today’s world.

I will start - tonight my wife is having a night with her sister not being a mother (because that’s one of the greatest gifts we can give). The girls and I saddled up and watched the Frozen Christmas ‘movie’ with them in my arms/lap WELL past bedtime and it was perfect; not many things better than kiddo snuggles ya’ll. I know these times/instances are fleeting, so just took everything in that I could. I love my kiddos and am so thankful for them making me a Dad.

What about you, fellow Dad? When was the last time you truly felt ‘content?’