19
votes
6answers
1k views
What is the best way to respond if my child is picked on by other children?
What can I do if other children pick on my children? Obviously I can't perform any disciplinary actions. Reprimanding might make my child look like a "mama's boy" and doing nothing might look like a ...
19
votes
10answers
713 views
How do you address sibling rivalry?
My children (7&9) always seem to be trying to get each other into trouble. The frequent sniping, digs, put-downs, and exclusion cause me concern. Many times the fighting comes down to a control ...
18
votes
13answers
1k views
How do my wife and I stop our son from learning to swear from us?
My wife and I both tend to have... colorful language (for me it tends to be far worse when driving). Our son just turned one, and is starting to become more verbal. He's not quite at the point where ...
18
votes
10answers
915 views
How do you feed a picky eater?
Dinner with my 5-year-old is an ordeal. I do not want to cook separate meals. How do I stop the fighting at dinner and get them to eat?
18
votes
8answers
973 views
Why do kids always do things which we tell them NOT to do?
This is the kind of behaviour which I have seen in lot of kids including mine (2 year old).
When I tell him NOT to hold a knife, he will make sure he does it. If I tell him not to spill milk on the ...
18
votes
10answers
598 views
How can I help my child handle peer pressure regarding television?
I feel there is a conflict between these two aspects:
Kids talk about current trends, and they talk about what's on television right now. I'm guessing that if a child can't participate in this, he ...
18
votes
6answers
3k views
How much should I interact with my newborn?
I have a 2 month old baby. My wife and I take care of him collectively. As he is growing, his sleep time is reducing. Sometimes, due to our schedules, we want him to sleep, but the baby is still ...
18
votes
3answers
263 views
Is it reasonable/common for a daycare to show TV shows during the day?
My son is 18-months-old and he is in a daycare room with kids 16-months to 2.5 years. Most days when I pick him up they are watching TV. The shows range from somewhat educational (Dora, Sesame St.) ...
18
votes
12answers
1k views
What are some tips for making an international flight with a toddler?
We're traveling from SF to Paris (direct) with our 20-month old soon. What are tips for surviving the flight and not having everyone hate us?
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 ...
18
votes
3answers
1k views
How do you handle poor behavior by other people's children?
I believe that interacting with a variety of other children at social functions is an important part of childhood development. However, there seem to be a lot of children who are... how shall I ...
17
votes
7answers
971 views
Is punishment necessary?
I'm a young parent, and still have a lot to learn, but I have been wondering a lot about whether punishment needs to be a part of parenting. Maybe I'm being too optimistic here, but are there any ...
17
votes
7answers
909 views
Why are parents so concerned about profanity around their children?
I've spent some time around parents of children in the 2months to 6 years range. And both were quite diligent about having me watch what I said, in particular around profanity.
Why the concern?
For ...
17
votes
8answers
485 views
How do we teach a pre-schooler about money and shopping?
When I go to a store with my four year old son he wants to buy a lot of stuff he sees. Also he constantly claims that he needs a new toy. How do I explain to him that we can't buy everything we want?
17
votes
8answers
379 views
How do you manage free time when you have kids?
My problem is I have almost zero free time. I have two young kids 3 and 2 when they where young my wife didn't want to let them fall asleep by themselves so now I take the 2 year old and my wife ...
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 ...
17
votes
4answers
684 views
What are the psychological impacts of a split-religion household?
This is quite related to THIS question about how to deal with a non-religiously-participating child when both parents are Christian. My situation is a bit different, and while some of the answers at ...
17
votes
4answers
3k views
How much pressure should I put on my kids to learn?
My wife just started reading "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother", a book written by a Chinese mother who talks about the pros and cons of the high-pressure and rigid parenting style of some Chinese ...
17
votes
4answers
536 views
How to deal with others' children who do not respect my authority?
What are good strategies to deal with children (not my own ones, but children I'm meeting in the kindergarten) which
do things to me or to my son which they should not do like throwing things etc.
...
17
votes
3answers
4k views
How do you potty train for overnight?
My three year old is well on her way to being potty trained. She rarely has any accidents, , at least during the day. My wife and I put her in pull ups to sleep at night.
My question is, whats the ...
17
votes
5answers
769 views
How do you handle unsupervised, poorly behaved children in public play areas?
This is closely related to this question. However, that primarily deals with interactions at relatively controlled, private functions. This question is more focused on the feeding-frenzy style chaos ...
17
votes
5answers
685 views
What to do when parents disagree regarding their parenting
My husband and I often find that we parent differently. We know that up to a point that is why every child (hopefully) as two parents, so they can learn about difference in people, their approaches, ...
17
votes
5answers
342 views
How do you determine when to start a child on music lessons without pressuring them?
I have a 5-year old who has shown some interest in music. We started him with some very basic piano lessons (30 min/week) from an instructor who specializes in teaching children and got him a keyboard ...
16
votes
12answers
504 views
What is a good strategy for getting our 5 year old to finish dinner before expecting dessert?
More and more lately, I'm finding that our 5-year old daughter starts asking for dessert before she's finished her dinner.
Obviously, I'd like to find a way to manage this without it ending in a ...
16
votes
13answers
844 views
How do you teach morals and values in non-religious households?
There was a similar question to this one on moms4mom.com but I had trouble finding it earlier.
My husband and I were raised Catholic, but neither of us believe any more. We have two daughters, and ...
16
votes
7answers
1k views
How to avoid corporal punishment?
I know that beating and spanking is no good, but there are situations sometimes when I'm unable to maintain control over myself.
We have two boys, one's five and the other's two.
Due to their age ...
16
votes
9answers
3k views
We're looking to get pregnant - what can we do to optimize our chances?
We've heard of some couples taking a long time to get pregnant, from the time when they decide to start. We're wondering what we can do to make the process faster.
16
votes
5answers
1k views
Why do parents refer to themselves in the third person?
Can anyone explain to me the reason why parents tend to refer to themselves in the third person, when talking to their young children?
E.g.:
"Hold Daddy's hand while we cross the road"
as opposed ...
16
votes
5answers
3k views
How can I potty train a 12 month old?
I want to potty train much earlier than is common, when my son is 12 to 14 months old. What's the best way to go about it?
16
votes
11answers
6k views
What is the least problematic age difference between siblings?
We have one young toddler daughter and are pondering when (and if) she should have a younger sibling -- and what age difference might work best for both of them.
For many (most) parents, what works ...
16
votes
10answers
3k views
How and when should I teach my children how to swim?
I personally want to teach my children (all under 6yo) how to swim. What readiness guidelines should I use to determine if they're ready to start? What things should I teach them first? Are there good ...
16
votes
7answers
648 views
What are some milestones a child should reach before learning programming?
I am going to buy a PC for my kid as a birthday present, so I'm thinking how to use it educationally. Of course, an obvious choice is teaching him how to program.
I'm not asking what age should a kid ...
16
votes
8answers
774 views
Which breeds of dog are safe to have around a toddler?
Which breeds of dog are safe to have around when raising a small child?
16
votes
3answers
1k views
How should a parent react when their child comes out of the closet to them?
Several of my good friends, including my best friend, are gay/lesbian/queer. All of them have told me that coming out was one of the most emotional and difficult things they've ever had to do. Their ...
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 ...
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 ...
16
votes
10answers
1k views
What would be a effective way to explain pornography?
With the availability of the internet and also the video mobile device (PSP, ...) our children will face pornography at an earlier age than we have. So I want to face this problem and explain things ...
16
votes
3answers
916 views
When should you start talking with your children about sex?
In a recent episode of Super Nanny (a UK and US show on parenting), I noticed that Jo Frost was openly talking to the parents and older sibling of a family about sex in front of a 6-7 year old.
My ...
16
votes
6answers
791 views
breaking my rejection of christianity to my parents
I know this isn't exactly appropriate for this site--I'm not a parent, I'm a son--but I think it's still applicable to the community here. I would prefer feedback from actual parents concerned about ...
16
votes
3answers
446 views
How to raise a child between agnostic parent and believer relatives?
Few months back I turned agnostic.
Don't have children yet.
Other family members are believers, I am not.
My mother tells me to pray to God and ask him to increase my salary/happiness/safety ...
15
votes
7answers
735 views
How can I negotiate with a toddler successfully?
Recently our 2.5 daughter started being really annoying about doing simple daily things, like brushing her teeth, dressing, undressing, putting on shoes to go out, etc. Often we need to negotiate up ...
15
votes
11answers
4k views
Is an expensive stroller worth it?
Strollers seem to come in all ranges of prices. From $100 to well over $1000 (sorry for the US-centrism, but I'd guess it is the same in other places).
Given that this will probably be something that ...
15
votes
10answers
1k views
What can I do to encourage my 12 year old son to enjoy productive activities?
I have a 12 year old son who if completely left up to his own devices, will spend almost all of his free time doing one of two things, playing casual computer games, and watching TV. I would like to ...
15
votes
5answers
887 views
Is it okay for both parents to be asleep at the same time?
It's day 2 and we've been trying to always have 1 of us awake at all times watching the baby so that we're never both sleeping at the same time. Does a newborn need to be watched 24/7 or am I just ...
15
votes
4answers
1k views
How many toys are enough/ too much?
My husband and I have decided to minimize the number of toys for our daughter for a variety of reasons... we have a small house, I am unemployed also we see how greedy many children who have ...
15
votes
11answers
4k views
How do I deal with a child that refuses to do a chore or task?
How do I deal with 7 year old kid who refuses to do a chore or task? He's not listening and ignores my request.
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, ...
15
votes
5answers
701 views
How do you stop a child from talking back without discouraging them from asserting themselves?
Our 3.5 yo is starting to talk back to us in the typical futile yes/no/yes/no pattern of opposites. The other day it was hooking his straps on his car seat; I asked him to put his arms in (like we ...
15
votes
4answers
724 views
At what age should a child stop accompanying a parent into the “wrong” public toilet?
When you're a Dad on your own you take your small girls into the Gents with you. Mums take their sons with them to the Ladies.
At what age should we stop doing this? I guess the answer changes ...
15
votes
4answers
347 views
Why do kisses stop a child from hurting?
Whenever my son gets a minor injury (scraped knee, stubbed toe, bumped head, etc.), the fastest way to get him to stop crying is to kiss wherever he got hurt.
It almost always immediately stops the ...
