ILX Parenting 6: "Put Some Goddamn Pants On Before You Go Outside!" is a thing I say now

is putting your seat back on a plane considered rude??!

We took our 8 month old from CA to UK for 10 days (8 hour time difference, lots of log drives In the UK). It was extremely difficult but I’m glad we did it because of the people we visited. My wife and I and the baby had an awful time though.

New (in packaging) small toys and those books that are made out of tyvek that weigh nothing. iPad.

Not sure how it would go over with non-US airlines, but I used this on a flight with just me and the kid when he was 18 months and it was great http://kidsflysafe.com/. Pro tip: use some of that plastic webbing they put on shelves to stop baby sliding/slumping on shiny leather seats.

Putting your seat back on a plane should get you life without parole.

what?? i honestly had no idea people cared about that. might need to take this to the "shockingly old when i realized" thread

there are also free bassinet seats on bulkheads for long haul flights. BA is a terrible airline in almost all respects but they do this pretty well. our now 20 month old would never in a million years go in one (small seat, move around a bit for heavy kids, etc.), but we used one for the UK and back when he was 8 months and it was very good.

(you may need to call the airline to reserve seats next to them)

Give them something to drink the second the plane leaves the ground to prevent popping ears, and the same for the descent. I now give chupa chups to our five-year-old, pretty much the only time he’s allowed them. Entertainment-wise, I think variety is key - small new toys to unwrap (as mentioned above), new things and old favourites to watch on the iPad (ditto) with baby-friendly headphones, and make the most of what’s around you - looking out the window, going for a walk along the aisles. Cabin Crew are really good with kids in my experience and when they have time like to say hello to tiny adventurers. Then make sure you have favourite blanket/soft toy because with any luck there will be a long sleep for you all.

And in the words of an elderly, posh bloke we met in a restaurant shortly before our first trip with a six-week-old baby, “if anyone starts tutting at you, fuck’em!”

What NA said: that young is pretty easy. I did it every year (to my parents in Japan).

I do have horror stories. My fault: stuffed’em full of food. Don’t. Do. It. Unless you want vomit. Lol

we were the park yesterday. as soon as we get out of the car a little girl comes up to my kids and asks if they want to play with her (my daughter does, for a little bit at least). after about 10-15 minutes I notice the other kids & parents have left and that this girl appears to be unattended. I ask her how old she is (she's 4) and where her parents are. She says her Mom is "over there" (pointing to an area where nobody is) and that she "was in her Minnie Mouse tent and Dad went to jail". It starts getting late and my kids want to go home, but I decide to stay until someone claims the girl. She winds up peeing her pants and then finds her Mom, about 500 feet away in a car in a parking lot. She goes up to the car and then runs back and tells me "Mom's smoking", pants still wet, and continues to play in the sandbox. I got in the car, drove up to where the Mom was and confronted her (she looked really young, maybe even a teenager still, and was with a few friends), and she yelled "I'm watching her from here, mind your own fucking business"...drove home, feeling kinda shitty about the whole thing...not getting yelled at by a teenager, but rather the situation this girl was in...what do you do here???

i dunno, that sucks

Ouch. That's grim, dude.

That's terrible :(

Child Protection Services. I’m not sure how it works in your country but here the system is pretty good. (They don’t put the child “in the system” and try their hardest to help while keeping parents and child together.) I really think you need to contact CPS. :-( So sad to read this.

Yeah, that definitely crosses the threshold to neglect. Call police, let them handle it. If it’s an isolated incident (unlikely) they’ll screen it. If it’s not, it’s grist for the case they’ll build for social work. Report.

So, my wife and son are going on an overseas school trip for 10 days. I will be taking vacation from work to stay home with my daughter. I'm trying to be good about planning things to do: activities, downtime, playdates, etc. But with their departure date looming, I'm starting to freak out on a couple points:

1. What can I do when she decides that she misses mommy?
2. How do I keep her from getting sick of me?

We're a very close family and we've never tried having one of the parents being gone for longer than one night before, let alone a week-and-a-half. Anyone have any experience around being parents who don't travel and then switching that routine up?

frogbs' post belongs here imo: This is the thread where we judge other people's parenting

xp

xp: Three days in and no signs of actually missing mommy or brother at all. Don't know whether to be relieved or concerned. :D

that's good! How old is she?

Hi ILX peoplemakers, I'm expecting my first child in somewhere between 7 and 10 weeks! I'm sure it's not a big deal right

yeh just a normal day, nothing to crow about nbd

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!! congrats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Congrats Chuck!

xps to kinder: She's eight. We actually did get to talk to her mom on the phone this afternoon, so that was good.

awesome news chuck - congrats!

Join us on the People-Making board!

Omfg. My 13 yo decided to cut her own hair in a bob style at 2 am. I didn’t realize till my husband sent me a pic. I find it hilarious. I kept laughing and told my colleagues. My husband was so shocked he couldn’t say anything.

Honestly I’m happy. She’d been feeling down last two years. Now she’s interested in fashion and apparently hair.

I told her she was awesome for cutting her hair.

was not expecting to have a "they grow up too fast" moment this early on but my 4.5 year old just started riding a bike and it got me pretty choked up. he fell his first try but quickly got the hang of it, resulting in me chasing him down the street as he went probably about 8-9 MPH (or thereabouts...I know how fast I can run). at some point I realized I couldn't catch him if he kept going for too much longer and it felt like a moment heavy with significance. eventually I had to just yell "Car coming! Pull over!" cuz I didn't know what to do

parenting is about letting go

Aww! I was getting seriously stressed trying to keep up with F when he started on a bike until I realised he was pedalling constantly.

I taught him about freewheeling and things got a lot more sane after that.

I keep being reminded of that early simpsons line: “I think the saddest day of my life was when I realised my dad At most things. Bart experiences that at the age of 4”

my son starts school in September and the (state) school has just announced they will be asking for 'voluntary contributions' of £10/month. I understand why they have to do this but yet again FUCK THE TORIES

my newly 9-year-old daughter (today's her birthday) has asked if she can have her own email account. i'm thinking she's too young, even for google's family link account, but it would make things more convenient since right now emails from her friends come to me or my wife. thoughts?

Happy 9th! That's coming up quickly for us as well.

Email? Sure, but monitor, monitor, monitor, imo. Have rules in place about transparency. How much internet access does she currently have? All I really want to say about that is I've learned lessons this year after having been laisez-faire about my older kid's internet access.

My first child is due in, er, 16 days. What's an emoji that combines anxiety, joy and terror? Perhaps it's just my normal face

That's so exciting Chuck! All three emotions are entirely appropriate.

https://thereviewweekly.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/good-luck-chuck.png?w=1000

lol my niece (11) just remembered she can now text me (since last weekend)

so far it is a blizzard of near-miss spelling and emojis arriving as question marks in squares

yeah but how’s her texting tho

My 4yo told me yesterday he didn't think Father Christmas was real! I asked him who he thought put presents in his stocking and he said 'you'.
So he's had literally one Christmas where he's been old enough to 'know' what's going on and possibly believe in Father Christmas.

Incidentally he'd started school the day before, but doubt he'd have talked much about Christmas and definitely not with any older kids.
:(
I waffled a bit but didn't confirm either way. We were talking about angels and whether they were real. He doesn't care about angels but really seems to want fairies to be real.

(xp) lol my friend has twins who are 6. they both have ipads (she said don't judge her). she imessaged them saying "go to bed." the girl then imessaged the boy something like "mommy said go to bed. if you don't you are in trouble and i will tell so just do it or you're in trouble like serious trouble!" she sent me and someone else on a group text screenshots of this and we were all like "how does she write so well on an ipad, and so fast?" then simultaneously realized she had figured out how to talk into it.

xp if my 3 1/2 year old figures out pa xmas is fake in the next year or two i will be delighted. i'm certainly not going to be pushing it as a thing, though my wife my be more ambivalent.

parental santa lies did trump *and* brexit

We had a daughter! It’s been a long week. Our water birth plan turned into an induction plan which turned into a last-minute emergency C-section. That took two days. Then we spent two days staying in a busy maternity ward like something from MASH, which was actually a riot. Then we went home! Then we went back to the hospital! And spent two days in an austere ward for a terrible-seeming health issue that turned out to be quite fixable. Then we went home again today! Fingers crossed this stage lasts a lot longer.

Anyway our daughter is a fucking joy and have 87 frozen family-cooked frozen meals to eat <333

Congratulations!

yay!! congratulations!

Well done!

Hurrah, congratulations on making it through all that with so much joy! And bon appetit...

huge congrats chuck!

Congratulations! I wish all the love and luck to you and your family.