My daughter (10) has had zero friends that want to have anything to do with her throughout school. We moved for my husband’s job last year and both he and I hoped the new school would be her fresh start to make some friends but here we are a full school year later and nothing. My two boys have friends galore who show up in force at birthday parties. Baby girl only has my husband, myself, her brothers and her grandparents show up. Every once in a while a cousin or two. I’d like to say it’s through lack of trying but she tries, I’ve seen her try countless times she’s not afraid to talk to other kids and often initiates the conversations but usually starts getting ignored pretty quickly.

I couldn’t find her this afternoon when normally she’d be outside playing but instead she was in her room curled up in my husband’s lap crying because both the boys had friends over playing but she didn’t even have a friend who would talk to her. My heart is breaking over this it’s got me feeling very helpless because all she wants is a friend and I can’t give her one out of the blue. What do I do moms? How do I help my baby girl make friends? It’s already affecting her mental health and it scares me knowing she’s crying over this now. I just don’t know how to help

I am in my early 20’s and a mom of a beautiful son. I love art, drawing, music, and cooking and baking. I am a stay at home mom and married to a wonderful man. I am anti-AI and don’t use it in any capacity outside of Google AI summery which there isn’t a way to turn off.

I’m am also a survivor of CSAM distribution from the ages of 9-11 years old and was entirely made, produced and recorded by myself. This is how a large amount of CSAM is produced and shared. The recent ruling on AI generated CSAM is concerning - however, people freaking out about it are ignoring that fact. That children themselves are weaponized to become the producers and distributors at the request of predators online.

It also ignores the fact that the ruling did not legalize the production and distribution of said images, images cannot be based on a real child that someone has reasonable access to, and it it ignores that the judge specifically stated that laws need to change and the first amendment specifically, needs review by higher courts because as it stands right NOW, he had no choice but to make this ruling.

Every single image and video of me out there from ages 9-11 I made myself, I shared myself. It’s not my fault, obviously, but that is the truth.

I would not have been able to be abused the way that I was without access to a computer or camera, or the internet.

Yes, my internet access was “monitored” but there are ways around it. Any program used, or physical barrier to access did not prevent the abuse.

The majority of the people I shared images with were men with physical or intellectual disabilities between the ages of 27-40. There were a few women who I would describe as reasonably well adjusted, employed, with no kids of their own and unmarried. The top occupation I was aware of was teacher.

ALL of the people that I produced images for had access to multiple children online and would talk about them and compare them.

ALL of the people that I encountered had already seen or began collecting images of CSAM.

The main offender in my case, was a disabled man who lived with his mother with access to a large sum of money. I was compensated for my participation in these acts in the form of online currency for games that I played, food delivery (I was food insecure as a child) and gift cards.

I never had physical contact with any of these people and most did not attempt to do so. Claiming that “looking” was fine but touching was a step they wouldn’t take.

People often take hard line stances against posting their children online uncensored, but have 0 hesitations hand them the device they can make unlimited CSAM with for money, be blackmailed with, under the guise of them being technology aware.

Seeing the discourse online about wanting to protect your children, yet being so willing to hand them something that could impact them for the rest of their lives, has been an incredible weight on my shoulders since the ruling.

I am not advocating to make a public instagram page of your children online because AI CSAM isn’t an issue. I am for censoring or having your children offline entirely.

That said - I am also 100% saying that if you are regularly handing an iPad or computer to your kiddo, you are putting them at a much greater risk than AI CURRENTLY is to them.

I love Burt’s bees. But oh my, at this point I just want pajamas for my toddler and kid that are loose fitting

My stepdaughter (10) just asked to start shaving her legs and I was NOT prepared for this 😂 Moms of girls, when did yours start shaving?? 10 feels so young to me, but I honestly can’t remember how old I was.

Also, this child has used her leave in conditioner to make slime and hairspray to do God knows what with her squishies, so I’m supposed to trust her with shaving cream and a razor now?! 😂 That shaving cream will 100% be slime by the end of the week.

ETA: I asked her why, and she just said she wanted to try and that her legs are hairy. She has blonde hair on her legs. Maybe we will give it a go this weekend below the knees!

Hey everyone,

I usually don't talk about my home life, but I think it'd be good to get an outside opinion. I've been a stay-at-home mom for six years now, and we have three kids. I do everything. My day starts before everyone else wakes up; I get the kids ready for school. Dressed, hair, breakfast, and packed lunches. Then I drop them off. When I get home, my husband works from home two or three times a week, so he asks for coffee and breakfast. That's fine, but if I don't go straight home and he's there, he'll call me and say he's hungry and needs coffee. When I am home, I'm constantly doing something...laundry, cleaning, dishes, taking care of pets, planning meals, figuring out logistics for upcoming events, and making sure everything's ready for the kids' practices and games. After school, I pick up the kids, get them ready for their activities, make sure they're fed, and their homework is done. At night, I bathe them, get their pajamas ready, and put them to bed. All me, every night. Meanwhile, I have to keep the laundry going, make sure the house doesn't look like a tornado hit it, and take out the trash. I'm so burnt out, and he comes home, goes to the gym, or just chills and watches TV,he doesn't help with anything at all.He does not clean after himself AT ALL. I've brought it up with him before, but he always says, "Well, I work all day" I don't know how I let it come to this. Some day I just want to walk out and take a vacation 😩 but that won't change the deeper problem that's going on. I think we should definitely go to marriage counseling, at this point. Thank you for listening.

Hi all. My eight year old daughter is my sweet, beautiful girl and I love her endlessly, but I'm at a complete loss on how to talk to her about something that's been driving me up the wall. She interrupts absolutely everything. Doesn't matter who I'm talking to, she cannot let a conversation happen around her without jumping in, whether it's just blurting random noise, adding her own opinion, or peppering whoever is talking with questions.

Just in the past hour alone. My husband and I were going over the day's plan and I mentioned that place A is about 20 minutes from place B. The second "20 minutes" left my mouth she shouted "TWENTY MINUTES TWENTY MINUTES" so loud that my husband couldn't even hear my normal speaking voice anymore. This exact thing happens multiple times a day and she gets corrected every single time, yet nothing changes.

Another example, I was reading something about a celebrity's before and after surgery photos and said to my husband quietly, wow that's kind of sad she felt she had to do that. My daughter was in a completely different room and still screamed out "WHAT? What's sad?" I told her it was a private conversation between adults, not something for her.

Even when I'm just talking to the baby, she'll shriek whatever I'm saying right back at me in an exaggerated voice. I'll say something simple like let's dress the baby and she screams "DRESS A BABYYYYYY" right over me.

What I actually need help with is figuring out how to communicate with her about this in a way that actually sticks. I've tried explaining, correcting her in the moment, taking away privileges, and none of it seems to translate into her actually understanding why this bothers me or changing the behavior long term. I genuinely don't know what I'm doing wrong in how I'm talking to her about it, or if there's a better way to approach this conversation with an eight year old that I'm just not seeing.

Adding this because I know how these threads go. She gets plenty of one on one time, more than the baby does honestly. She's not doing this because she isn't heard, she has plenty of opportunities to talk and be listened to. I'm not looking to get picked apart, just genuinely asking if anyone has found a way to actually communicate about this that works.

I sent her pediatrician a message but wondering if anyone has experienced this? For context, she has a cold. I’m kinda freaking out because Google makes me believe she has maple syrup urine disease or diabetes but can it just be her cold making her smell like this?

It’s not her breath or anything like that, just her pjs this morning and her sheets where she peed. She is 3 so peeing the bed happens occasionally, usually she has her pull up on but she’s been doing good without.

Can a child’s urine smell sweeter when they are fighting an illness?

Sometimes I need a break, so I turn on our robot vacuum, we named it hank, and let it clean the living room. My son follows hank around like it’s his new best friend.

It takes care of the floors and keeps my son busy, so I get a few minutes to myself. It’s a win win haha.

I know my son will try to ride it or throw toys at it one day, but for now, I’m happy to have hank around. We even cheer when he makes it back to the dock.

My five year old is very sensitive/dramatic. She gets “injured” about 12 times a day. The injuries include things like: scraping her arm on the corner of some furniture. Bonking some part of her body on the wall as she walks by. Slipping and stumbling but catching herself. A hangnail. A papercut. Finding a small scratch that she hadn’t noticed previously. A speck of dirt that she thinks is a splinter.

All injuries result in tears. I believe her distress is real…but exaggerated. I don’t want to not react at all but I also don’t want to react too much and reinforce it. I usually just say calmly “oh I’m sorry that happened” and if she continues to be upset, ask if she wants a hug or an ice pack. My husband and I joke (except it’s not really a joke) that she’s going to break a limb and we’re going to shrug and say “walk it off” because we’re so desensitized to her injuries.

Tonight after dinner, she collapsed sobbing on the couch after dinner because she “ate too much and my stomach hurts.” This is a somewhat unusual complaint to I felt her belly, asked where the pain was, tried to assess if it was serious or not. Gave her a hot pack which she said helped. Between bouts of sobbing, she was talking and laughing. Seemed like when she remembered her stomach hurt it bothered her and when she was distracted she forgot about it. I finally asked if she wanted me to take her to the doctor which she said said “do I have to?” and looked scared. I gave her some tums and she perked right up and finally stopped complaining. My best guess is it was gas or indigestion—uncomfortable but not serious.

But at this point how do I even know? What happens if she gets appendicitis and I minimize it?

I can’t sleep at night and my body hurts a lot. Like not one clear thing either, my back hurts, my legs feel heavy, my shoulders are always tight and some nights it feels like my whole body just forgot how to relax. The annoying part is I feel like I’m doing the right things. I stretch most days I try to eat well, I drink water. I’m not living off junk food or anything but I still get into bed and suddenly every ache gets louder. I don’t know if it’s stress, being on my feet all day or my body just being dramatic. I’m tired all day then I can’t sleep at night, would love to hear any suggestions you guys have

Is anyone else terrified of the recent court ruling on AI created child sexual abuse images? I am. I regret ever uploading pictures of my son to Facebook. I thought I was safe because I had a private account but after looking into it I wasn’t. Everything has since been deleted. I hate the infiltration of AI into everything without any regards to safeguarding or privacy for me and my family.

I just took my 4f daughter in because she grew 2 inches in 5 months, has under arm BO and some slight acne spots (not too bad.) The doctor ordered a growth x-ray of her left wrist. The results came back and aged her a year older, growth of a 5 year old. He wants us to go see an endocrinologist now. I’m just wondering if anyone has seen this and it turn out to be okay and just normal for some kids.

Her doctor said if she just had BO and got taller it wouldn’t mean much but her growth scan came back a little abnormal putting her just past the normal range they accept for growth.

One thing alone doesn’t mean much but all of it together is starting to worry me.

My son is almost 3 and recently started at a great school. His teacher is very patient and caring, and there are lots of fun activities throughout the day. She says he has good days once I leave, but drop-off is really hard.

I hug him, tell him I love him, and remind him I’ll be back in the afternoon after nap time. Then I leave. According to his teacher, he cries and screams for about 30 minutes after I leave. She says this is completely normal and isn’t phased by it.

He hasn’t said he doesn’t want to go to school or asked to stay home, but he told me last night that it feels like it’s a long time before Mama comes back, and it broke my heart. He cries whenever he thinks about me leaving.

I’d really love to hear some positive stories from parents whose kids struggled with drop-off but eventually became happy and comfortable at school.

My baby was born with jaundice and struggled to gain weight for her first couple weeks. We had to go in for weekly weight checks and triple feed for a while. She is 6 weeks now and she is gaining well. This has left me EXTREMELY anxious about breastfeeding and her weight gain. I weigh her daily and still worry about her getting enough breastmilk. I sent a picture to my long distance best friend (who did not know about her weight struggles) and her response was to say “She needs to get little rolls and be a little chunk”. I almost cried thinking I’m falling my baby and not producing enough. Her diaper count is strong and she eats every 2-3 hours but this really made me more anxious and insecure.

What’s everyone wearing on days when you’re home just chilling doing some chores/cooking with your toddlers?
I like to stay in my pjs to be honest but do people get dressed properly or wear active wear, I just don’t see the point of always getting into extra clothes I’d rather just stay in pjs rather than trying to battle to get changed and throw them in the laundry at the end of the day

I prepared for the birth of my child for many, many months including how much it was going to cost us. I can’t tell you how many times I called my insurance company to make sure my insurance plan was covered, my husband’s insurance plan was covered, and all-in-all we were covered no matter what. I knew it was still gonna be a hefty bill, but I needed to make sure there wasn’t going to be any surprises.

While you can plan for these types of situations, you can’t plan for what life can unexpectedly throw at you. About two weeks before I gave birth not only did we lose my husband’s brother, but my husband got laid off from work. We lost our insurance, we lost his steady paychecks, we lost paternity leave which was going to be 100% covered by his company, and he was unable to sign up for disability because he had been with the company for only 10 months. These events put us in a place of uncertainty and I didn’t know how we were gonna pay the bills.

My son came into this world at the end of July and I just got some of the medical bills. On the low end we were going to owe over $6000, which we really have no way of paying. I decided to call the hospital today to ask for an itemized bill and to see if they had any payment plan options. While the representative on the phone was helping me look up payment plan options, she asked me if I wanted to see if I qualified for financial assistance. She told me it was possible that I could get 60 to 100% of the medical bills covered. With my luck I didn’t think I was going to receive any kind of help. The next thing she told me on the phone is, “you’re covered.” We had been joking around, so I thought maybe she was playing some sort of evil prank, so when I asked her to clarify, she said your hospital bill is 100% covered and you don’t owe us anything. I cried right then and there and I’ve pretty much been crying all day. This was a huge burden, lifted off my shoulders and I feel so grateful.

The moral of the story is be an advocate for yourself and sometimes good things can happen 💕

I have a 6 year old and 4 year old both boys and they are ready for a shared room. They want a bunk bed and I like the idea of space saving with one but I worry they might not use the top bunk. They want one with a slide especially and I want to know if anyone’s kids really used theirs? Hard to commit without knowing for sure because they’re so expensive.

My 7 y/o nephew broke his collar bone falling off a bunk bed and I want to get him a get well gift. He’s really into sports cars and trucks but most of the toys would require two arms so I’m blanking. Any ideas of books or one handed things?

Side note: I also tore my labrum falling off a bunk bed so plz don’t buy bunk beds unless it’s an absolute requirement for space 😭

Hey mum's really need a virtual
Hug and some reassurance that we haven't just ruined our kids lives !!

We have recently relocated from Australia to the USA. My husband has been working for a US company from
Australia, he's now accepted an east coast position and we've relocated about a month ago to Boston and we are currently in temp accomodation in rhe Belmont area.

We have 4 kids our Twins are 6 and did prep in Australia last year and have started school in grade 1 here in the us. They are struggling so much and it's breaking my heart!!

They've come home every day crying, saying the kids are all so mean, they are getting picked on for "talking funny" the kids pick on their clothes (our kids even at that age where uniforms to school in Australia). We've never had an issue getting them to school or kindy but every morning they are carrying on and don't want to go anymore..

They even told us that they hate us for ruining their lives !! They said they want to go back to Australia. Now I know this isn't true and they are just having a hard time adjusting, but it kills me seeing them so unhappy, this is the first time as a parent I feel like I'm failing my children and we've made a terrible decision.

We're looking at some houses and we're hoping that when we get into our own house, they can have their rooms and stuff, and feel like somewhere is homes things will be better.. my husbands company is contributing significantly to housing costs so we have what we thought was a good budget but I'm surprised at how different the housing is here

I'm amazed at the number of 4-5 bedroom homes, which don't even have a full laundry room, we have four children now the hell are you susposed to do laundry for a family of 6 from an upstairs cupboard with no bench, no sink and no storage? Open plan seems non existence, pool fences don't seem to exist and for some reason many of the houses don't seem to have attached garages?? Is this normal in Us housing or just around here in Boston??

Probably does t help we built a custom
House in Australia so it was exctally what we wanted

I think just seeing the kids so unhappy is making me find faults in everything, I struggle to imagine us living in any of the places we are looking at ..

Anyway I just hope it's just settling in and things get better, I am just really questioning our decisions at the moment!! And of course my husband as amazing as he is, has been back and forth for the last few years but hhe's visiting all the east coast offices at the moment, so I'm dealing with being on the other-side of the world, away from
Our support, on my own with our four kids..

I knew it would be an adjustment but I never anticipated our kids being so unhappy..I'm just crying now at nearly 2am.

Anyway fellow mums, thanks for letting me vent and cry

My daughter is a great friends, she has a wide variety of friends but a close group of girls. She started a new school last year and is thriving. Another girl has joined her school, same class 5th grade. She was talking about her nonstop the first 2 week of school. We even went to a playdate at her place. Now my daughter is saying she is annoying and clingy. I feel like that is not how my daughter feels but has to say it because the rest of the girl's in her group think that. Ive told her to give her some grace and just be kind becausr she was the new girl last year too. I know my daughter is kind but her group is icing the other girl out and I dont really know if I should ask about or guide her or even say anything. I know this is a life long thing- sometimes you don't enjoy someone's company but I dont want her to ghost people. And I am still suspecting that she is in peer pressure saying she is annoyed by this new girl.

Getting my first grader ready for school this morning, and it’s been a little chillier so she wears a jacket in the morning but takes it off by noon. The last few days at pickup it’s been tied around her waist, while it’s 80 degrees out. So this morning I tell her it’s fine to just put it in her backpack. She doesn’t want to, okay no big deal. But I tell her it’s easier to play and go to the bathroom without it around her waist. This is where she proceeds to tell me that she just takes it off and puts it ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR whenever she goes potty. Moms, you should’ve seen my eyeballs pop out of my head! I learned she’s been doing this since kindergarten. Lord help me! I don’t know about you guys, but jackets don’t get washed daily in our house. So yea, she’s been wearing pee jackets for days at a time. And now I know that I really do need to tell her everything until the common sense part of her brain kicks in.

Curious, what have you had to tell your kiddos that you would’ve assumed they should just know? I need to make sure I have my bases covered from now on!

My son is 20mo. We have finally reached a point where I feel pretty confident, we have a good routine, and (no one tell my toddler this) motherhood is honestly pretty easy right now!

We know that we want more kids and that we want them to be 2.5 - 3 years apart, so we've started trying for #2. I feel confident in this decision, but I'm not excited. I'm so happy with our life right now and it feels crazy to do something that will shake that all up.

I was so excited to get pregnant and have a baby with my first, but now I know too much to feel that. Mostly I am just dreading being pregnant and postpartum again, this time while chasing a toddler around. I think in two years, I will be glad that we had another baby when we did, but two years is pretty far away and a long time to be miserable.

I'm not really looking for anything other than commiseration, I guess. Has anyone else felt this way?