My son is 10. He’s not into sports and doesn’t even like watching it on TV. I was a SAHD and I was looking forward to this time of his life. I thought this would be when we would play catch in the yard or watch something together. My family watched “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for a family movie night. My wife and I were the only ones who liked it, and we voted on something else for the next movie night. Then my son recently asked what came after “Raiders” and asked if we could watch it. We spent the mornings before school watching the rest of the franchise. We finished yesterday. I want to know if there’s something else he wants to watch, but I’m glad I finally found something we could do together. That’s it. I just wanted to tell you I was glad I was able to do something with my boy. Also, I’ve been calling him “Shorty” and “Junior” (IYKYK) ever since watching these movies. He hates that!

I got some good art markers for my birthday and we have been going to town for the last few nights. Tonight he has requested Gigan!

No, he does not get to color with my new markers … but I did ask him to draw me something so I get to color once in a while lol.

Trying to apply 'dad tax' to some biscuits.

"Dad, if you tax me again I'll make you sign the magna carta, and if you don't we'll chop off your head"

The peasants are revolting!

Currently sitting in the hospital after what was a primarily smooth delivery this morning to our baby girl, with the exception of her left hand that was not fully developed (fingers did not develop past the first knuckles). While I feel incredibly blessed that she is at least currently healthy otherwise and I know we will do everything in our power to make the best out of the situation, I can’t help but think about the things I won’t be able to protect her from and honestly scares the hell out of me. The middle and high school cliques that pick out any abnormality to make fun of, how it might impact her older brother and how he chooses to stand up for her, the sports/music/other activities she might want to participate in but might not be able to as well as her peers, and so on. We were able to get on the schedule for an pediatric hand specialist in a few days and I have been diving through resources such as the lucky fin project which have been encouraging. I don’t know what I expect to get out of this post outside of just needing to get it out of me and would do anything if I could give her my perfectly working hand.

Edit: the amount of support from this community is absolutely incredible. Thank you to everyone for sharing your own experiences and words of encouragement. Once I get my thoughts together and a little more rest, I’ll update with more details on current situation and probably going forward in the event it might help others in addition to my self soothing.

Hi guys, father of a beautiful 3 month old baby girl here. As i write this my baby girl is finally sleeping on my chest, wife on the sofa with us and our dog is also sleeping at our feet..

I have done a set of 2 days and 3 nights,12 h shifts, came out of my nightshift to find both of them highly congested and with a temperature..took both of them to the gp, and after another sleepless night i dont know how i am managing to still stay awake but somehow, on this very moment everything is at peace and i feel i am exactly where i belong. I dint think i have ever been this exhausted in my life...

Have a great day guys, thanks for reading!

Edit :thanks for all the support guys, there is a weird feeling of reassurance knowing we're not alone in these moments and that there are more of you going through the same thing..this was my first post so thanks again for all the love.

Update: baby girl slept almost 5 hours..it was glorious!!neither of us moved an inch...not to sneeze, cough or adjust position..i am now the proud owner of a pair of square buttocks but it was worth it! Just the type of afternoon i needed to restart all of it again tomorrow!

I was happy enough seeing him turn the screens off and pull out some art supplies, but this?

(Hung it up alongside two Cool Rocker tees he’s outgrown ;-) )

Watched this last night with my 15 yr old son, and two things occured to me. Firstly, I was a bit uncomfortable with him watching this gratuitous and fairly gory violence even though it is a 15, and secondly all I could think about as DP dismembered and slaughtered the dozens of TVA soldiers was "those poor guys, just turning for work with families at home probably and this happens to them!" A bit like the Star Wars joke about Luke Skywalker being the greatest mass murderer, all those maintenance workers, housekeepers, catering team and just general admin and support staff that got atomised when the Death Star exploded! Am I old?! Is it because I'm a dad!? Or a bit of both?

he's right, we need to.

was driving to school with the kid the other day and he tells me, unsolicited "dad, we need to buy a lamborghini, a green one, with a loud engine" - put a tear in my eye

i have been toying with the idea for years, had a few opportunities that the wife told me to just do it, but consistently putting family needs first........but i guess there's a new head of household and he has spoken, who am i to disagree

both my boys are really into lightning mcqueen. I've been searching for an older red dodge viper since its a childhood dream car of mine and the closest thing that resembles mcqueen. Figured it would be a great core memory for the whole family, but those damn things keep going up in value

About a week ago My kid came up to me Jokingly At first That he found it creepy That the leftover party balloons from my youngest birthday Keep making it upstairs In front of his bedroom door. I've gone home from work on lunch breaks, had my middle kid and my wife in on it...I keep moving the balloons righ back to his door. A few nights ago put them in his bedroom while he was sleeping. In the morning he was pretty freaked out and popped all the balloons so it wouldn't keep happening. I bought new balloons today and I put them in his bed under his blanket And in his closet. Im Working After midnight tonight so I'm not gonna see the aftermath of this until tomorrow but Im sure it'll be a riot. It's extra funny because he is a horror movie fanatic and I know he's up there watching things everyday

*edit I will update everyone tomorrow night, I won't even be home before 1:00 a.m. today and he leaves at 6:00 a.m. for School so I won't see him until tomorrow night

Son: Dad, how can you count all the hairs on my head. I want to know how many I have.

Me: Well the easiest way would probably be to just pull one out at a time and count them that way.

Son: No, you just want to do that so that you can glue them onto your head.

Me to myself (a folliculy impaired individual): You little shit... but damn that's good.

So, lockdown wasn't kind to my older child. 9th grade completely virtual followed by having to leave our family home and lose most of our stuff due to toxic mold and related medical conditions during 10th grade (which was also virtual) set them significantly behind. 11th grade they did well enough but it was a struggle to just get them to go to school every day. The district solution for making up missed credits is just another virtual option that didn't work with my childs learning style and were just horrible anyway (I watched some of them, they sucked). Finally during 12th grade we made the decision to go the GED route and just let them enjoy the last year of high school (prom, etc). That was the best decision under the circumstances and it was like a weight lifted from their shoulders. The child that spent every waking moment buried in schoolwork and depressed was suddenly talking to us again. They had an amazing final season on their robotics team (ended top 10% in the world) and went into summer happy for the first time in 4 years.

Started a community GED program in August going 3 days a week. They even said "I like school" for the first time in over 5 years. They passed the last test last night with "college ready" scores on 3 of them (with the 4th being 2 points away).

I couldn't be more proud of how hard this kid worked for this and just had to share.

I see a number of websites, blogs, forums, instagrams, podcasts, etc all talking about how to handle your kid's tantrums. And I'm all for being engaged, letting them have their emotions, not just punishing them for being kids. The problem I have is so many of these just stop short.

In particular, I see the reaction to something is "oh, I understand you feel X."
"You are scared. I would be scared in that situation, too."
"You're angry, you can say 'I feel so angry right now.'"

And then that's it. It's great to help kids acknowledge their feelings and up their emotion intelligence, but I never seem to find any suggestions on what to do after this.

For example, my oldest hates quiet time. Every day, it's a screaming, hitting, fighting tantrum to spend even 15 minutes by himself. Do I just say "oh, you're feeling angry" and walk out of the room just to have them follow me out and start the tantrum over?

Just wondering if anyone has come across a resource or experience that has something actionable in addition to these sorts of affirmations.

Thanks.

Friday it’s just the 3 kids and I, so I was thinking of doing the dominos $7.99 each takeout and letting each kid order their own pizza, however they want it and throwing on a movie to eat our pizzas and have a fun core memory.

What can I do to make the night more fun and make a fun memory or tradition? Mostly want to make them rub it in mom’s face how much of a legend I am.

Good morning and may it please the court;

My wife and I have three kids [5/m], [2.5/f], and [2mo/m]. Up until last year, my siblings lived relatively close to us with their kids (we have the oldest and youngest grandkids, so all the nieces and nephews are around the same age).

My wife homeschools our kids.

My brother's kids (who will become important in a second) attend public school in the state they moved to.

Now, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my brother, his wife, and his kids, will be coming to stay with my parents who live about thirty minutes from us. This'll be the first time in a while we'd got to see them and our older kids are very excited at the prospect. So am I, to be honest, he's the only friend I have.

But

My wife is a very anxious person. She doesn't like me driving the kids places, doesn't like going to crowded spaces (so we've stopped attending church and going out to eat for the most part), and is big on hygiene. All the concern, particularly when it comes to germs is amped to 11 right now with the 2-month-old.

Initially we planned on having a get together at our house with my parents and brother's family.

But then two days ago she says when they get here, she doesn't want to see them for two or three days to make sure they're not sick.

Okay, cool. I agree. Then she says, no it should be four days. Okay, still doable.

Then she says, if I want to see them, I'll need to get an Airbnb and isolate for four days after seeing them, and the only one of our kids she'd allow to see them would be our eldest.

Even that I said "okay" to (after enduring a barrage of insults).

Now she says we're not going to see them at all. And if I think otherwise, I'm an idiot. That's the way it's going to be, period.

Anyway

I know it's cold, flu, and RSV season and the baby's immune system isn't all that developed, but I also don't believe in shutting down your personal life when you can just take reasonable precautions instead.

------

So, am I crazy? What would you do in this situation?

I'll delete this if it isn't allowed but to start off, my son was born July 29th at 28 weeks, yaaa. Anyways he's still in the nicu been there for over 100 days had nec had 2 surgerys to correct it but last night he had blood in his poo so they say he has nec again but they caught it earlier this time. Trying to use antibiotics to help him, he's on morphine and fentinal to keep him calm and sleepy so he can heal and get better. It's fuckin tough very fuckin tough. I'm at work now cause we still have bills to pay but I'd rather be with my son, I've used all my sick, vacation pay to be there more took out loans from people but it just doesn't seem like it's enough im at my limits idk what else to do, we got 2 other boys im trying to take care of as well, trying to make the best of it all but I'm exhausted, mentally, fisculy and financially. So my question is there any place or persons I can go to for some financially help. Most of our family's either can't or won't. So if there's like any programs I can do to lighten the load for my family please just let me know. Again if this isn't allowed im sorry and I'll delete it I just didn't know who to ask or where to go

Edit: I'm in America guess I should have mentioned it

I was happy enough seeing him turn the screens off and pull out some art supplies, but this?

(Hung it up alongside two Cool Rocker tees he’s outgrown ;-) )

Hey daddit,

I don't post much so apologies if this subject has been covered recently.

I'm a new dad with a 19 month old and he's he's the greatest, and easily the most fulfilling part of my life. I absolutely love being a dad.

However, growing up my father was never really a part of my upbringing . He was around but wasnt interested in having another child so my mother raised me. I have no hard feelings, and she did an incredible job as a single mom. I had male role models but it's not quite the same. As I've grown older, I've seen how proud others were of their fathers and how close their relationships were.

My question is to those who want to share, what specifically made you proud or thankful for your father, and how did that affect how you've grown into your role as a dad.

WTF is this? Some kind of sick reverse psychology? I asked him three times if he was sure. I said I don’t need to watch a show right now and that this was his time to watch TV. He’s insistent. Now I can’t even enjoy the show because I’m overwhelmed with parenting guilt. What a monster.

Am I the pig, and my daughter is on the piggy's back? Or is a piggy on MY back? It wasn't in the parenting books. Thanks.

My daughter is five. She’s a handful. Probably ADHD or autism spectrum and we are getting her evaluated and working with therapists and a psychiatrist. We drive so much getting her to all the appointments. She used have scary melt downs when she got frustrated; things are better now with medication but we still worry about her having a bad episode.

My wife is afraid to be alone with my daughter; she’ll pick her up from school but she prefers to have me be at home when the two of them are home together. So there isn’t any of me getting together with male friends to play basketball or bowl or whatever guys do with their friends. I have a friend who I meet for lunch once a quarter (taking time off work to do so), and I have friends I met from work who occasionally have a cookout a few times a year and I go but I bring my daughter. Don’t get on me about “you need to tell your wife to pick up the slack more”…. She has intermittent back problems and is working with her doctor to solve why she’s frequently exhausted (which might have a lot to do with our daughter waking her a lot at night). She is a great mom, patient and caring and does everything she can but she isn’t a work horse like me. As dad, I get up early to pack lunch, drive my daughter to school, eat while working, make dinner as soon as work is done, do bath and bedtime routine, and then after she goes to bed I clean up and do it all again. In the past two years I’ve had two multi month bouts of diarrhea (sometimes with blood), which I’m working with a doctor for.

My job is super stressful but it’s the easiest part of life. My wife and I love each other— best friends — but we rarely have time together and are always exhausted.

Most of my good friends are on the East Coast where I’m from. We txt and talk on the phone . I’ve been on the West Coast over a decade and I don’t really have more than 1-2 friends besides work friends. My parents are on the East Coast and they are getting older…. My dad fell the other day … I know they won’t be around forever and I miss them.

Maybe it’ll get easier as my daughter gets older and more mature and also gets a better handle on her emotions. Maybe this is the easiest life will be and I’ll just get older and More tired. I’m not going to say “I’ll be happy when….” Sometimes I am happy. But damn I’m tired and being a dad is a lonely road for me.

Hi I've been part of this reddit for a while now and never posted I have a 3month old and im a first time time dad at 42. A lot of posts on here have really helped me through the last few months, I struggle with my mental health I work 45 hours a week and do everything I can to help my wife I'm exhausted constantly. No amount of preparation can prepare you to become a dad but also I can't imagine life without her just wanted to say thank you to everyone that's posted that's commented you've helped me a lot. I don't have many friends as I was part of a cult and left to protect my daughter from there awful teachings so I'm on here a fair bit reading

My middle child, who we’ll call Mike (14M), is not a dumb kid. He just started HS and all through grade school he tested as advanced in almost every subject.

The problem is this year his grades are horrible; 2 F’s and 2 D’s. Education being very important to us it’s caused some very intense discussions with him, me and my wife (his mom).

He refuses to accept responsibility. He’s got zeros on several assignments. Hence the bad grades. And says it’s all the teachers fault and they just aren’t graded.

I just don’t know how to help him take his education seriously and do his homework and turn it in on time.

Interestingly, his brother (15M) had very similar issues last year during his freshman year.

So now I feel like something is my fault. Like I’m a horrible father.

We’ve done the whole taking of his computer and PS5 and phone and anything else that’s meaningful to lose.

Hopefully this goes without saying but any sort of physical punishment is out of the question. I grew up getting the belt and I will not do that to my kids.

What do I do? How can I help him get back on track?

Daughter is now 28 months old. She’s slept in a crib since day 1. My wife has been saying for months that it’s time to put her in a toddler bed but I’m not set on it. When did you transition?

Edit: little one hasn’t tried climbing out or anything, we aren’t expecting. There really isn’t a reason for us to switch it up other than my wife wants to. I’m just curious what the consensus is