Greatest Hits
13
votes
14answers
26k views
When do kids usually stop believing in Santa Claus?
My 7-year old son treats Santa as a real person. He probably suspects something, but me and my wife always find a way to persuade him.
What is the normal age when children realize that Santa is not ...
4
votes
9answers
10k views
What games are good to play with teens in the car?
I will be travelling with two kids aged 15 and 18 in a car this upcoming month, and I would like to play some games in the car with them.
I know the game where you look for different license ...
21
votes
8answers
25k views
How can we discipline a strong-willed, misbehaving 5 year-old?
My 5 year old son receives and fears punishment but repeatedly exhibits the same unacceptable behaviors. He's always been strong-willed, and is usually the kind to view a statement like "Don't do ...
16
votes
4answers
11k views
What should I be teaching my two year old?
My two year old daughter has never been to a daycare, so everything she knows is something that me, my husband, or her grandparents have taught her. She sees very little interaction with other kids ...
3
votes
2answers
12k views
Is Woodward's Gripe water safe?
We've been given a bottle of Woodward's gripe water? Is it safe? I see a long list of ingredients, such as Sarjkakshara and Bronopol and Methlyparaben
Additionaly, is it useful?
11
votes
6answers
14k views
Do I really need to wake my newborn to feed him?
We have a two week old child. He's eating well during the day, eating at least 8 times a day, and is breast feeding. His weight gain has been 'normal' so far, and he regained his original birth weight ...
9
votes
5answers
8k views
When should you worry about a toddler's loss of appetite and weight?
My 2 year-old seems to have lost her appetite in the last 3 to 4 weeks: she eats very little at meal times (couple of mouthfuls) and definitely much less than she used to. She does not seem to be ill, ...
26
votes
16answers
4k views
Just found out my daughter might be gay. Now what?
I recently came across a photo on my 14 year old daughter's iPod of a letter from a girl friend of hers that expressed her feelings for my daughter. Words like "I do melt in your eyes" and "I can't ...
17
votes
8answers
13k views
What age is it appropriate to start martial arts?
I would like to send my son to learn martial arts as soon as possible as I believe this would help him gain confidence in his early stages of life (it worked for me when I was an adult)
At what age ...
14
votes
10answers
5k views
My 5 year- old daughter is constantly defiant!
My 5-year old daughter is very defiant.
It started getting bad about 6 months ago. She doesn't do what she is told, and any time she hears the word no she throws terribly over dramatic fits screaming ...
29
votes
9answers
2k views
How do you respond to a toddler who endlessly says “why?”?
My wife and I had joked about expecting endless "why?" questions from our son while we were expecting, and I thought I was prepared for it.
In fact, I thought the stereotypical constant flow of "why? ...
16
votes
3answers
15k views
My child has chickenpox, am I infectious?
My 3-year-old has had chickenpox for about 2-3 days, but a close friend has just had a baby and I want to go and help. Is it possible that I am infectious, despite not having the illness? I had it as ...
50
votes
12answers
3k views
Should you let a toddler win?
We've started playing some simple games with my 2-year-old son, including a simple age-appropriate matching game.
He enjoys playing, but seems (to me, at least) more focused on playing over winning. ...
8
votes
5answers
18k views
How long can a 3-month-old go without eating?
My 3-month-old son has started sleeping through the night, with a vengeance. He sleeps for hours. And when he finally wakes up and I expect him to be starving, he's often still ready to happily play ...
13
votes
8answers
8k views
How do you stop a child from using bad language and profanity?
My child has started to use swear words. This is shocking because he is using words that we don't use. I'm not sure how to react! How do I get this to stop?
19
votes
11answers
14k views
How do I get my 6-month-old to sleep better at night?
So our 6-month-old boy still doesn't sleep through the night. He still wakes up at least once and wants to eat.
He takes 3 naps during the day, ranging from 30 minutes to 1.5 (sometimes 2) hours.
We ...
10
votes
9answers
4k views
Baby breastfeeds for only 5 mins before sleeping again
My daughter is 2 months old and is exclusively breastfed. After drinking for only 5 mins she falls asleep again and wakes up crying again after 30 mins. We have tried different things like tickling ...
11
votes
7answers
9k views
Are there any dangers or downsides to white noise as a calming tool
We find white nose to be extremely effective for soothing our 5-week old son. Loud white noise (60 decibels or so) will help soothe him when he is overtired and crying, and if we play soft white noise ...
14
votes
4answers
8k views
Getting a 2-year-old back to sleep in the middle of the night
We have always had trouble with our little boy not sleeping through the night. He will do it in spells (every night for a week, then not at all for a fortnight). But he has recently developed a ...
15
votes
9answers
18k views
How do you know when it is time to take a child to the Doctor?
Our children have recently been sick and I am wondering when is the right time to take them to the doctor. They both have had runny noses with coughs, diarrhea, and fevers off and on for a week, ...
23
votes
7answers
8k views
How quickly do I need to change my newborn with a dirty diaper?
How quickly do I need to jump on changing a dirty diaper? What are the downsides of waiting vs getting right to it?
I have two specific scenarios in mind:
I'm holding my son during the day time, ...
4
votes
5answers
13k views
When is the best time to pump breastmilk, and for how long should I pump?
I have a baby who's just a few weeks old. I try to pump bottles occasionally, so that my baby will be used to the bottle, and also so that I have some mobility if it's really necessary. I'm having a ...
2
votes
5answers
9k views
Why is my 3 month old waking up 10+ times a night?
My 3 month old went from starting on a good sleep trajectory (a five hour and 3 hour stretch at 8 weeks regularly) to waking between every 15 minutes and every 2 hours. What I'm trying to figure out ...
4
votes
5answers
5k views
Is it really that bad to get water in an infant's ear?
My baby girl loves taking baths but, of course, we get conflicting information about how often and how careful we should be of water in her ears. The peditrition said every other day and didn't say ...
5
votes
3answers
3k views
How do I help my 4 month old nap longer?
My daughter is 4 1/2 months old and she only naps for 30-45 minutes at a time. She wakes up happy, but she is tired again after a little over an hour.
I know some babies are naturally short nappers. ...
12
votes
7answers
6k views
Why does my child eat so slowly?
When we have a family meal, the middle daughter will always take her time. I mean up to 2 hours, to finish a meal, especially if its not her kind of food. She'll get very easily distracted, sing to ...
3
votes
5answers
3k views
How do we stop our daughter rolling over and waking herself up?
Our 5 month old generally gets her head down somewhere in the early evening. We lie the sleeping lump on the bed face up, and she snoozes. Then she rolls over onto her tummy and wakes up. She's at the ...
11
votes
6answers
7k views
How to handle a toddler does not want to fall asleep?
My 2½ year old son does not want to sleep, regardless how tired he is. He will do anything and everything he can think of, just to avoid falling asleep. It usually takes 1-1½ hours (sometimes even ...
11
votes
7answers
13k views
How can I safely keep a pacifier in an infant's mouth?
Sometimes the only thing that will keep a 2 month old baby happy is a pacifier, but at that age, baby is too young to retrieve the pacifier after it falls out.
It helps to tuck the pacifier under ...
22
votes
7answers
11k views
How worried should I be about head bumps as my infant learns to get around?
We have hardwood floors in the house, and have made a little "play area" out of foam interlocking "tiles" for our 9 MO to play on. Of course, he's not content to restrict his explorations to the ...
7
votes
5answers
8k views
When are kids old enough for an electric toothbrush?
We are brushing our (nearly) two-year-old's teeth with a normal, non-electric kids' toothbrush. That works well but I am wondering if it might not be more effective (and fun?) to use an electric ...
5
votes
1answer
6k views
How can we get our newborn to sleep at night as soundly as he does in the day?
We've just had a new arrival- a little boy, now 7 days old.
During the day he sleeps like a dream. As I write this, he has been asleep for around 4 hours without really stirring at all.
The only ...
18
votes
5answers
3k views
Sex play in young children
I have a 3 year old daughter who spends a bit of time playing with her male cousin who is 5 1/2. I recently walked in to my daughter's room where they were playing to find my daughter completely ...
8
votes
5answers
9k views
How do you prevent a toddler from waking too early?
My 18 month old has started waking up progressively earlier every morning for the past couple of weeks. It used to be that he would wake up between 6am-7am, which was no problem because I would wake ...
10
votes
5answers
6k views
How do I teach my child to speak in sentences?
My son is 2.3yrs. Right now we keep reading books for him. He pays attention only for some time. We also keep teaching letters and numbers during his bed time or during his bath. When asked he repeats ...
11
votes
4answers
2k views
My son Is 5 years Old and sexually active
I am a 20 years old female student and I have a 5 years old son who is really sexually active. For instance, he kisses girls by force, he forces them to lick his penis, he "fingers" them, he speaks ...
10
votes
6answers
3k views
2 year old still does not (and has never) slept through the night
In his now 26 months of life, he has probably slept all the way through the night 15, maybe 20 times. They seemed to be an irregularity, never happened two nights in a row.
He is a easy as pie to ...
8
votes
17answers
8k views
How do we get our toddler to gain weight?
Our toddler isn't gaining weight, and our doctor told us to fix it. We stopped breastfeeding and she gained a kilo in just two weeks, but since then (soon two months) she hasn't gained anything again, ...
7
votes
3answers
5k views
What is effect of giving sugar to an infant?
Instinctively I try to avoid giving our 1 year old sugar. However, I don't really understand why it is bad for her.
Often when she doesn't want to eat any more savoury food she is more than happy to ...
3
votes
2answers
4k views
What should parents know about “flat feet”?
Our son was flat footed with very little arch. His pediatrician was not concerned.
In preschool, he complained of discomfort when wearing shoes with an arch support. By age 9-10, his condition ...
10
votes
8answers
4k views
How can I help a child who won't talk to anybody at school? Selective mutism
Although I am not a parent, I am interning in social work. I am currently working with a student in an elementary school who does not speak. The parents have explained that she does speak at home (I ...
7
votes
3answers
4k views
How can I keep my toddler from scratching himself when he is upset?
Whenever my toddler gets very upset or throws a fit, he has a tendency to rake his fingernails very hard across his face, often drawing blood. Currently one side of his face is covered with scratches ...
11
votes
7answers
9k views
How can my toddler learn to stay under the blanket at night?
My 2yo son slept in a sleeping bag (see image below) until around 1½ years old, then he didn't like that anymore so we switched to using a blanket. He moves around so much while sleeping that the ...
10
votes
8answers
6k views
Is the “1 2 3 Magic” strategy for disciplining effective?
Has anyone had experience with the discipline strategies put forth in the book "1 2 3 Magic" by Thomas W Phelan?
"1-2-3 Magic" involves counting your child for bad behavior. For example, your ...
66
votes
13answers
9k views
How can I prevent my 8-year-old from spending time with his bad friend?
Backstory: My 8 yr old son is a bright, gentle, etc, kid who attends public school. My wife and I have no TV, we disallow violent games (simulated killing is not allowed), we don't have video games, ...
5
votes
5answers
5k views
Can temper tantrums indicate a behavior problem?
I understand that temper tantrums are relatively normal for many children.
However, some children seem to have far more temper tantrums than other children their age, and others far fewer.
Can ...
9
votes
7answers
7k views
Why won't our infant stop crying when in the car seat?
We have a 2-month-old baby that will start crying as soon as we put her in the car seat and absolutely will not stop until she is out of it. She could be fed and asleep with a new diaper before the ...
8
votes
5answers
5k views
New born seems to be spitting up entire meals. Should I be worried?
We have a baby that is a little over a week old and it seems like after some feedings she is spitting up what looks like her entire meal (breast feeding). I've been weighing her and she still seems ...
29
votes
28answers
5k views
How can I brush my toddlers' teeth when he won't let me?
My toddler doesn't like to get his teeth brushed. How do I get him to be more cooperative?
He knows it's part of the bedtime routine and doesn't try to avoid it. He will happily grab and hold out his ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views
Why is my baby suddenly screaming in the bath?
My baby has always loved bath-time, almost since he was born. He learned to splash when he was only a couple of months old and loves to play around with the water, and over the past few weeks I've ...
