108
votes
How to tell my 4-year-old son not to get hyper with his uncle or anyone except parents?
Kids are going to be kids. There is a lot of social etiquette and nuance that they will learn as they gain experience. Four years old is not the time. You should not place this burden on your child at ...
- 2,522
49
votes
Too many presents from Grandma - is this bad for my child?
I think that having a lot of things for your baby or kid is not a good thing, like toys or any other distraction (ipad, presents, bad food with sugar). This could create a behavior of only doing ...
- 531
43
votes
At what age should I tell my daughter that her real mother is dead?
I cannot really give first-hand advice, never having been in a similar situation. However, I would think the basic approach should be the same as for an adopted child. Basically:
don't push ...
- 2,758
37
votes
Accepted
Is it potentially harmful to a 2-year-old to still sleep in a room with her parents?
Hamad, I think that many children around the world sleep in the same room as their parents -- some for most of their lives. Most of these will/have become perfectly normal, healthy adults.
I'd say it ...
- 17.5k
36
votes
Which is more important for a baby: keep the baby happy or keep the baby healthy
There isn't a cut and dry answer to this. Both are important. And part of parenting is striking the right balance there. Given your situations above:
Baby wants to be held to sleep: well, keeping ...
- 13.3k
35
votes
Is it normal for a child just turned 3 to be able to read and how do I develop and nurture his intelligence?
Speaking from experience1, your child is advanced, very likely gifted - but it happens. Remember that “normal” is just a statistical distribution and doesn’t imply any value or sense of wrong or right....
- 18.2k
34
votes
Accepted
14 year old stepson wants to wear boxer shorts
Almost all of the arguments that you give for forcing your stepchild to wear briefs sound like reasons to let your kid wear the underwear he wants.
You (a woman) have no personal experience with ...
- 455
32
votes
Accepted
7 month old can sit, but doesn't want to
Is sitting a mandatory part of development?
Yes, it is. And your child has passed it. You put it quite well:
Sitting apparently does nothing for him.
It's not that he can't do it, it's that he ...
- 69.8k
29
votes
Accepted
How to help my son improve without being discouraging?
The root cause of your child's frustration is expecting to make complex things perfectly without a long process of trial and error. I suggest that the best long-term solution is to offer the child a ...
- 5,158
27
votes
At what age should I tell my daughter that her real mother is dead?
Your second wife is your daughter's mom. She's all that your daughter has ever known. She's just 3 years old, and this stability (mom & you) is important to her. You don't have to be the ...
- 712
26
votes
How to tell my 4-year-old son not to get hyper with his uncle or anyone except parents?
This definitely seems like an issue for your brother in law, not for your son. Kids just don't adapt to changing circumstances that quickly; even much older children would have a problem handling ...
- 61.8k
22
votes
At what age should I tell my daughter that her real mother is dead?
My biological father died when i was an infant, and my mom remarried before I knew any difference.
They told me about this when I was somewhere between 6 and 8 years old. I might even have started to ...
- 321
22
votes
How should parents handle dominant behaviour of toddler towards other children?
When a child does something that makes another child feel bad, whether violence or just selfish behavior (which is basically what you're describing), my go-to at any age is to show the child how the ...
- 61.8k
21
votes
Are playpens (playards) physically or mentally damaging?
First off, relax. You sound like you're doing the New Parent Thing and assuming that every potential mistake is a potential disaster! If you're sensible and careful, things will be fine.
Putting a ...
- 1,112
21
votes
Is it potentially harmful to a 2-year-old to still sleep in a room with her parents?
No, on the contrary there is even an indication that this reduces stress for your child. This
study on co-sleeping in 101 infants concludes:
At 5 weeks and 6 months, the long-term co-sleeping infants ...
- 219
20
votes
Too many presents from Grandma - is this bad for my child?
At that age, there are pros and cons to having lots of toys, generally they're very superficial. For example:
Pro: Very easily bored baby has lots of variety
Con: Parents have lots of picking up to ...
- 311
19
votes
At what age should I tell my daughter that her real mother is dead?
A little about myself...
My Mom married my Dad when I was 5. At 12, she revealed to me that he wasn't my biological father. It was absolutely traumatic and devastating. It felt like my life was a lie....
- 290
19
votes
How can we reduce the likelihood of repeating our parents' mistakes?
If you're aware of the mistakes, and conscious of when you make them, that's a big step already. The next step is to develop alternatives, and have them ready, so that as soon as you recognize a ...
- 2,376
19
votes
Separated parents. As a dad, how do I exercise tough love without being the bad guy?
I am going to comment and answer each paragraph.
(Keeping it civil and not fighting in front of your son is absolutely the way to handle it. You aren't 'fooling' your son, but you are modelling how ...
- 17.5k
17
votes
How to stop my 8 year old son from doubting and/or speaking against the existence of God?
Explain it to him as it is, in such abusive environment where they rip the childhood out of the children you have no choice but to be honest as the damage has already been done.
You should explain ...
- 1,984
17
votes
How can I deal with adopted son who promised to the god he believes in to never to speak until he sees mommy again, when mommy is dead?
Short answer: be assertive and gentle at the same time. Gently let him know that you love him and understand his pain. Assertively (and gently) let him know that he can enjoy life, that he can be ...
- 491
17
votes
14 year old stepson wants to wear boxer shorts
Let's take a moment to break down what happened here, from your stepson's perspective. You come home and all your underwear has been replaced. This is underwear you were comfortable in, underwear ...
- 13.3k
16
votes
From what age onward can we see that a child is homosexual?
At the age that the child tells you. You don't "discover" another person's sexuality, that is something each person finds for themselves.
- 664
16
votes
Accepted
Why am I so scared to become a parent?
I think you're scared because you're perfectly sane.
Who isn't a little (or a lot) afraid of being responsible for keeping another human alive and well in a world filled with total insanity? You may ...
- 4,568
16
votes
Is it inappropriate for young teens to cuddle and sleep together if there is no sign of it being sexual?
I wouldn't worry too much, and I definitely wouldn't suggest doing anything about it.
First of all you don't know that the two of them meant to sleep in an intimate manner. They may have fallen ...
- 3,886
15
votes
What benefits does using "baby talk" provide, and how do you maximize those benefits?
While there have been studies comparing infant preferences between "baby talk" and "regular talk", finding that "baby talk" was preferred, I'd probably lean more towards the results presented in this ...
- 965
15
votes
How should parents handle dominant behaviour of toddler towards other children?
This feels like very normal behaviour for an only child of 17 months; and the paediatrician is right that socialisation will solve most of the issues.
That said, you're the parents, so while it's the ...
- 10.3k
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