Parent Thread

Tarrant_sl said:

Small update, my son really took to the sign language, he only knows a couple things but if he brings me his sippy cup and hands it to me, as soon as it's out of his hands he makes the sign for more.

It seems like a small thing but I is proud of him.

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My 4 year old watched these and was signing before he could talk. Just a few things, more was a big one. Milk, water, eat... stuff like that. They get really good at it:

http://www.babysigningtime.com/

Couldnt hurt to try them too.

Its got magic fingers!

I could get you a an engraved king sized sleigh bed carved from white oak for 700! Just the frame and box springs, but still. Make him sleep on a mattress on the floor, tell him you're trying to turn him asian so he'll be able to add faster. Tell your wife it's to reduce falling risks. They'll both be happy with that!

Tarrant_sl said:

My brother told me he bought his 9 year old an iPhone...it took everything in me to not be like wtf?

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A lot of kids have iPads these days, so having a mini-iPad with phone capabilities isn't so surprising anymore. If it were 2-3 years ago, it'd be a bit more worrying. These days, give a kid an iPad and have him/her off your back for monthsI know a 2.5 year old who has literally spent the last year playing with an iPad. He basically only talks to the iPad.

I think we spent about ?300 (about $490) each on the kids this year, my local football team Millwall got most of that money for my Oldest, kits are not cheap even for kids as well as hats,watch,lunch box all Millwall releated. He also got Fifa 13 and some books/clothes.

Youngest just a whole bunch of Batman,Spiderman stuff some xbox games and Skylanders on the Wii with a whole bunch of the little charecters to go with it (Side not, very childish game but have a great time playing it when he goes to bed!) He also got Books which he was not happy about and some new PJ's.

The Wife normally goes crazy and spends close to ?600-700 (about $1000) on each one but with a baby on the way and all the expense that goes with it I managed to get her to set a budget for Christmas this year.

It really is Tarrant.

I have been so proud of how much progress my 3 year old has made since she began her preschool program a month ago. Her interactions with other kids is so much better, communication increased a ton, etc. She is doing awesome.

However... on xmas eve, we were visiting family with a 4 year old girl. My oldest (5 years) and her cousin get along great, but my 3 year old doesn't like her. So my 3 year old came running downstars to tell us a story about the games they were playing downstairs and the cousins is standing behind her and starts laughing at her going "nya nya nya, Jamie can't talk". I wanted to smack that kid so hard....

Kids are such assholes.... and it is so hard to hear other kids making fun of them. Especially when your kid does have problems that you are working on and you try so hard to protect them.

Tarrant_sl said:

My brother told me he bought his 9 year old an iPhone...it took everything in me to not be like wtf?

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I know right? What shitty parents. My kid would never be seen walking around with an iPhone. He's going to be raised proper and I'd get him a Galaxy.

I think the only thing that would cause me hesitation son something like this would be the concern of him losing it or someone stealing it from him. My 7 year old nephew loves the fuck out of my droid. It's a handheld gaming system he doesn't have to drag cartridges around for like his friends PSP and so forth. I've got tons of old Nintendo, GBA and SNES games on it aside from your standard downloaded from the play store fare. Useful stuff for school like a dictionary, unit converter, encyclopedia, calculator, etc...

It's also not hard to lock the phones so they only people they can call/text are numbers you pre-set.

It's not that unfathomable in this day and age. Kids are pretty fucking savvy. My niece got a laptop for Christmas. It's a good way to teach them responsibility if nothing else. I had a game boy when I was 9. I don't think my parents would have hesitated it I could also have used it to call home if I forgot my lunch or school got out early.

How do you guys get your kids to eat? My 5 year old will try most anything we ask her to but my 3 year old eats NOTHING. And I mean sandwiches (pb&j or cheese - not grilled, just cheese and butter), macaroni and sometimes pizza if she is feeling really adventurous. Breakfast she'll eat most anything, but dinner/lunch... if I don't make her one of those 2 things, she won't eat. I don't cater to her food crap either, most of the time she just doesn't eat dinner but it makes me feel horrible every time.

My oldest has issues with eating sometimes. Our pediatrician told us it is fine, and that rather than look at each day's intake of food to judge the entire week. He said that most likely you'll see off days and normal days and even days they seem to gorge themselves, and not to freak out. As for getting her to eat a variety, we try incentivizing. "You only get X food that you really like if you at least try the potatoes." That sort of thing. It doesn't always work, but often enough. We never give in to their food bullshit either, the books say different things but I wont budge on this one.

Cutlery_sl said:

My grandmother had a sign in her kitchen that said "Today's menu - Choice of 2. Take it or leave it."

I have always stood by that stance with food. Don't wanna eat dinner? It's a long time till morning.

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This is our planned approach. We have friends with kids where kids 100% dictate the meal. Don't like whats for dinner? What can I make you? What do you want to eat? You don't want to eat that? Ok.

Not in my house. My husband has a slogan as well (that I'm sure comes from somewhere else) "Hunger is the best sauce."

Mine is "this isn't a restaurant."

I had things growing up I didn't particularly love (steak for example but now I know that's because my mom couldn't cook anything but well done UGH) but I ate them. There was no cheese sauce to coerce broccoli consumption (cheese and butter and shit ruins veggies - we actually had a healthy appreciation for veggies). There were things that I absolutely didn't like that I STILL dont like today (raw tomatoes, onions, peppers in a lot of cases). But "I don't eat that" or "I dont like that" to something we had never tried? Yeah no.

There are actually a few tricks we read to getting them to eat better. You have to learn to properly judge portion sizes for kids, a lot of kids will eat less or refuse to eat if their plate is loaded down. I have seen this first hand, and smaller portions really seemed to help with my oldest.incentivizing, which I already mentioned, is not the same aw bribing. Introducing new foods slowly and in a familiar setting. Like, a bunch of new foods at a family gathering is less likely to go over than one at home side by side with things they eat well.