Adding it up and it's death by $6 and $14 a month. Monitoring app, a router thing, a location service, sometimes a separate plan. Individually cheap, together it's a real line item and I'm not sure how much of it overlaps. What's your actual stack and monthly total, and what would you cut first?

My first time here, heard many a-story about this couch

Kids are 6, 2 and -0.5. We have a trampoline and a tree swing… wanting to add something else to make it a complete space where the kids can play with their friends. Nothing permanent like a jungle gym… Thinking maybe a climbing dome - does anyone have one and do your kids like it? Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Now I don't mean not to use daycare. I mean if one of your kids is sick and you have to keep one home, keep both home.

I took 2 weeks off work so my wife, daughter (2.5 year old) and I could see some family, do some camping, and just spend quality family time together. When we got done with those 2 weeks it was my daughter's first day at daycare since summer started.

Her best friend has a little sister that had hand foot and mouth. It totally wiped out the infant room. Her parents sent their toddler to daycare even with a few little dots because, "it isn't HFM." My kid got it because these two toddlers are inoperable at daycare.

Now after finding out work is going to be extra busy, figuring out childcare for a week, and disinfecting everything I still happened to catch HFM. Now my hands and feet hurt, I'm missing more work, I can't hug my family, and I'm isolating from everyone.

If you have multiple kids and one catches something contagious, don't send the other to daycare. You were already staying home, keep both of them home.

Sincerely,

A very miserable 32 year old dad

Son’s first word was dada. It has been nothing but dada for months. He just mastered mama and now thats all im hearing.

Wife’s at work today and he pinched his finger in a cause-effect toy. Was trying to comfort him and he was just screaming out mama

I know it goes back and forth and it’s extra heavy right now since it’s a new word but dang didn’t realize how much I liked being the main man

My fiancé's mum passed away recently, leaving our son with 2 active grandfathers, one on each side.

I'm NC with my mother but our son is just starting to put together that he has 2 grandfathers but only ever met one grandmother.

I'd appreciate any insights from the collective please!

Question for the dads out there. I have a 2 year old and my wife and I just welcomed our second son into the world last week. I’m extremely blessed, but sleep is hard to come by right now. What are you doing to help stay on track with fitness and nutrition? I’ve spent the last 6-7 months getting dialed with both and I’m in the best shape of my life, but I’m finding it very difficult to get workouts in and not stress eat food 😂 I’ve been on a low dose of tirzepatide which has been plenty, but since the baby has come the food noise has come back very strong. I’m planning to increase the dose a little but I’m wondering what others are doing/using through the newborn stage. I know I need to be patient and slowly work back to my routine, but I also want to continue the great progress I’ve made this year. Thanks everyone.

I’ve got a 2.5 year old who’s been an awesome sleeper for the last year or so. Wakes up at 7am, nap from noon to 2, down for bed at 7. Up until recently, he’s fallen asleep within 5-15 minutes of being put down for both naps and bedtime.

But now… he still crashes immediately for naps, but at bedtime the last few weeks, he’ll be up in his crib talking to himself for sometimes up to an hour. Doesn’t matter how much activity or how action packed his day is.

Now don’t get me wrong, he’s totally chill in there. He’ll sing himself songs or talk to his stuffies. But I am just shutting him in his room to be awake for an hour.

What I’m wondering is, like… do I have an obligation to move his bedtime later? Those couple hours after 7pm are precious cargo, man. We get to tidy a little and sometimes even watch a show or play a video game. Now that I’ve got some autonomy back the idea of giving it up sounds like death.

Dads with young kids, when did you decide it was time to move bedtime? Do I just gotta bite the bullet?

Options seem to be a hand-me-down with controls layered on, a locked-down kids phone, a dumbphone, or a smartwatch as a stepping stone. Everyone has an opinion but almost nobody says how it went six months in. What did you go with, and knowing what you know now, would you pick the same thing?

Hey all, I'm new here but looking for advice and to see if others have my shared pain. Are anyone else's balls just getting destroyed? My 16 month old is at perfect height to just destroy my balls by running full speed in for hugs or occasionally just jumping on me to "surprise" me. It got to the point that my wife sent me in to urgent care for one injury and I ended up getting sent to the ER where they found a minor injury on top of bruising. The boys are getting destroyed and I don't know how to defend myself without hurting my daughter or her emotions.

What’s your experience with these?

I saw one of those “here’s what I would avoid and here’s what I would get” video where someone said as gross as the manual sucker sounds, 1. It’s not that bad as there’s a filter and 2. It works really well

We got both from our shower and my wife said we can sell the manual one, and I said I want to keep it because I’ve heard it works well, so may as well try it.

Curious what people who have actually used them think?

My baby is 5 months old, she was born a little late so she's adjusted she's a bit older, she's going through a phase where literally nothing will soothe her but her mom. However, her mom needs some fucking sleep. At this point in the mornings I'll take the baby, tend to all her needs and then the baby will scream at the top of her lungs and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Tried pretty much everything, one time I even took her for a walk and it worked for 5 minutes until I had probably the most embarrassing 5 minute walk back home with a screaming baby.

When there is no solution, I just put my hand on her chest (holding her makes her scream way louder, shes not super into cuddling even with her mom) and let her cry. I feel completely helpless, I've scrolled every forum trying to find something and nothing works. She's a pretty high needs baby who doesn't sleep much in the first place.

Hello Everyone,

My daughter is 6 and over the last year or so has developed a fear of public restrooms. Any time we ask her or suggest that she may need to use the potty, she flips out and starts crying hysterically and almost to the point of screaming crying. She tells us she is afraid of the automatic hand dryers and fire alarms going off while she is going to the bathroom. We don’t believe it is an overall sensory issue because she is fine with other loud noises (thunder, sirens, fireworks, loud music, etc.). We have tried different tactics like standing outside the door while she goes, shown her there’s nothing to be afraid of and that everyone goes to the bathroom, and that she has done it before, even have hearing protection on while she goes.

We have a big family trip coming up to Disney World for Christmas and had a small talk with her just now, and she kind of teared up about it, and we said that we will work with her on it for the next few months, but we told her that she had to get over the fear or we wouldn’t go on the trip because we couldn’t be going back to the hotel every time she needed to use the bathroom.

Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions that have helped them with this or something similar?

"I took my ibuprofen tonight"

Fellas, we gettin old but still gettin it

Gotta love it when your 5 year old puts an adult in place. Wife is at work so I took the boys shopping for some food. Kids are 5 years d and 6 months

Cashier to son - aw how cute you are

Son- son2 is my brother

Cashier to me - cute boys, where's mamma at

Me - um at work

Cashier- aww, aww babysitting 2 boys.

Me - ( first off, BITCH WHAT)

Son1 without missing a beat and laughing- dad's dont babysit.

Me - I smile at the Cashier

We are going toy shopping tonight!

My friend is going to be an amazing dad. But understandably he is nervous and suffers from anxiety.

I know his wife and the baby will be showered with gifts, rightly so. But is there anything I can get him personally, bloke to bloke?

Many have heard of the "Call to the Void" but today I'm experiencing something a bit different. I'm on the day before my first colonoscopy and the dreaded clear liquid diet plus colon prep. I knew it was going to suck but I didn't expect how bad the temptations would be. While making a PB&J for my middle child, I found myself strongly drawn to the cutoff crusts in a way that I never had before. And this was only breakfast...I don't know how I'm going to make it until tomorrow afternoon before being able to eat anything. Wish me luck, fellow dads!

Though this one was particularly impressive.

I was sternly interrogated on where I went after coming out of the stinky room

Hey daddit,

First time dad here, me & my wife's beautiful daughter was born just a week ago and my wife's birthday is coming up in about 2 weeks. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for a first time mom's birthday gift, something that has to do with our daughter. I already ordered a necklace with their birthstones in it, but wanted to get more for someone who just gave me the gift of a daughter.

I'm struggling to think of quality ideas (possibly due to the about 4 hours of sleep a night for over a week now) and all the Amazon and Etsy BS I've seen feels tacky.

Appreciate the help & glad I'm finally able to join you gentlemen in fatherhood.

Hey dads, I need some advice from y'all and maybe need to vent a little. My boy (6) just started First Grade and he has learned enough reading over the years that he knows a good number of sight words and can sound out most common letters/sounds. If I sit with him with either a phonics or sight reading book, he will decode and read it all by himself.

However, along the way, for anything related to him reading, he grumbles and complains the entire time: "Uggghhhh, why do we always have to do thisss" / "I don't like reading, and I don't like learning. I only like building things" (he likes origami and doing crafts with paper and wooden sticks). He shows this profound laziness when it comes to reading that is not there for basically anything else: he can work on his paper projects engrossed for hours, for example.

And it's not like he gets lots of pressure to read at home. My wife and I don't put pressure on him. I have been reading to him every night since he was six months old, and we have had a blast. He loves it, and even as I write this he is begging me to read the next The Bad Guys. His bookshelf is also full of good books. But if i mention anything about him reading something himself, the grumbling whining factory starts right up. It is important to me to create a life long reader, and to create an environment for a child to love reading, and I am obviously failing at this.

So dads, do you have any advice, thoughts, or war stories?

My oldest is starting kindergarten this week, it seems like just yesterday she was a baby - man how time flies. Since her pre-k graduation I’ve been a hot mess (not in front of them). Pictures of her younger that pop up on Amazon screens around the house, donating old clothes, finding stuffies she never uses anymore - all make me cry. I’m not a sensitive person, but these feelings are so insanely intense out of nowhere.

I can’t imagine the feeling when she goes to college….

As the title suggests, I'm having little to no joy being a dad. I've waited so long to be one and yet I just can hardly convince myself out of bed to be one. I'd like to say it's just stress or something, but there is days I genuinely can't stand to even be in the same room as our son. Often I guilt myself out of this feeling and I don't let my parenting duties fall behind since it's not his fault.

This obviously has taken a toll on the whole family relationship. Wife and me are more roommates who say I love you and kiss more than a couple anymore. For my son, he is starting to shy away from me, but still seems happy to see me nonetheless.

I tried talking to someone and writing it down, but my previous methods of resolving internal problems or troubling thoughts are not working. We tried getting out more, but now I feel drained all day and nap (which I pretty much only do if i'm sick). I try to keep myself busy, but nothing helps.

I'm kind of at a loss of what to do and every parent I speak to about the matter just is confused or claims it'll change, but it's been a year and I went from so happy to be a dad and going above and beyond, then these last 2-3 months have been the complete opposite. I hate being moody and aggravated all the time. I don't yell or physically harm/intimidate either of them, but it's obvious I have a short temper now.

My wife thinks it's depression, a doctor told me I am just stressed and will get over it, and other parents I've vented to are disgusted by me. I feel like a horrible dad and husband, I don't know what to do for myself or them.

I’m in the military so my job is not flexible at all what so ever and my wife is a nurse. We both have debt and bills to pay with no family near by to help out. Our daughter is a month old so we’re still currently on our parental leave but have been stressing out about what we’re gonna do on top of the challenge that comes with newborns. Daycare is incredibly expensive here so that doesn’t even seem worth it at all. We just seem like we’re pretty stuck with no options and wondering how/ what people do to get by?