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Wojtek posted:Any constipation tricks for a not-quite 7 month old? I'm going through that today as a matter of fact. My son is one constipated little guy. My dr suggested prune juice by itself (a full 4 oz) when he was that age but always check with your dr first. I had good luck with applesauce too. I wound up switching his formula as well to Gerber Protect from Sensitive when he was around that age and it seemed to help alot. I had to rush off to Walgreens today to get glycerine suppositories for poor Carter, and then manually clean out his...well...you get the idea.  Edit: More awake now...I shouldnt write anything on the internet pre-coffee. almightyerin fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Dec 26, 2012 |
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Dec 26, 2012 02:17
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AngryRobotsInc posted:I do that allllll the time. I have a pretty foul mouth, and I usually manage to control it, but sometimes I slip. Our most memorable "gently caress" incident was one time I stubbed my toe. The next few days were spent stopping the kid from going "gently caress! gently caress! gently caress!" all the time. Any advice on managing to control swearing? Some years ago I made an effort to stop using any religious swears, and was pretty much successful... but I seem to have just replaced whatever I would have said before with "gently caress," "poo poo," "shitfuck," and/or "fuckshit," and I hadn't realized how much I still swore until my son was born and I started listening more closely to myself. 
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Dec 26, 2012 02:59
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zonohedron posted:Any advice on managing to control swearing? Some years ago I made an effort to stop using any religious swears, and was pretty much successful... but I seem to have just replaced whatever I would have said before with "gently caress," "poo poo," "shitfuck," and/or "fuckshit," and I hadn't realized how much I still swore until my son was born and I started listening more closely to myself. Really it just came down to watching myself. I had to make myself consider more what I was going to say before I was going to say it. I still curse way more than I probably should within his hearing, but I've got it way way down and getting less all the time.
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Dec 26, 2012 03:02
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Tricks for getting kids to just eat their dinner?
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Dec 26, 2012 06:20
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Oxford Comma posted:Tricks for getting kids to just eat their dinner? Are they just not eating anything? I think you need to give more details. Make things they like, cut them into fun shapes, make the plate fun, try different things, give them small portions, have them help prepare the food, let them pick things out at the grocery store, give them options.
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Dec 26, 2012 06:47
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Sometimes it's just textures. My six year old son is a super picky eater but it comes down to textures for him. Too crisp or too chewy/meaty is a sure way to get a refusal. He'll now eat ground beef, which is a new and welcome thing, but he won't eat any other type of beef. Same for poultry. However he'll eat fall-off-the-bone ribs no problem. Along the same line he won't eat fries but he will eat mashed potatoes. We've tried many things to try to help him to eat but forcing him to eat was no good. The poor tyke would try to eat something and you would see his body shivering with disgust while he tried to make us happy. We just let him develop his preferences naturally and they're slowly maturing. That said, we still put food on his plate that we know he doesn't like and challenge him to eat a bite or two in exchange for some dessert or screen time.
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Dec 26, 2012 12:35
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I swear all the time in front of my kids. I did cut down quite a bit, putting in substitutions most of the time ("shoot" "dangit" "friggin") but sometimes it just slips out. The first time my oldest mimicked me, I sat her down and had a talk with her. I told her that words like that were rude, and lots of times people didn't like hearing them because they were rude. I never called them "bad"; to us bad words are words that hurt other people's feelings, and that's something you can do perfectly well without cursing. Curse words are rude, and the constant fart/poop jokes are called uncouth in our house. ("Stop being uncouth" is probably something I say at least once a day now that they're in 4th and 1st grade.) So having established that these words were rude, I told her that I sometimes use them when I'm frustrated. However, that doesn't make it OK, so I gave my daughter permission to tell me to stop using rude words just the same as I would tell her to stop if I heard her. She did call me out a few times after that, and I always apologized for my rudeness. I think I only had to call her out once after that.
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Dec 26, 2012 14:37
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Wojtek posted:Any constipation tricks for a not-quite 7 month old? What formula are you using? One main thing is to make sure you are mixing the formula correctly. I can't tell you how many times I've seen parents just wing it when mixing formula, but the problem is that if you don't get the ratio of formula to water right, it could cause constipation (if the baby is getting too much powder versus water). You may be mixing it fine (or be using pre-mixed formula), but just some tips I've learned: 1) Measure the water in the bottle first, then add powder. (DON'T put the powder in first, because if you do, you'll have no way of knowing if you've measured out the correct amount of water). 2)Make sure you put the bottle on a level flat surface, like your kitchen counter or a table. If you just hold the bottle in your hand and eyeball it, you could be off by as much as a half ounce or so, which can make a big difference to the formula versus water ratio. 3) If the directions say to use an UNPACKED level scoop, just scoop the powder to the top, level off with the flat end of a butter knife and put into the bottle. DON'T tap the scoop on the side of the container to fill in empty gaps. Doing this will result in you putting too much powder in the bottle. This article explains this: http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/astudentatmamauniversity/baby-formula-blunder 3)Make sure you really shake and mix the powder and formula well. Hope this helps.
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Dec 27, 2012 03:45
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johnny sack fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Dec 28, 2012 15:12
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Perhaps it's her bladder that's waking her up? Is she still in diapers?
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Dec 28, 2012 15:25
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Canuckistan posted:Perhaps it's her bladder that's waking her up? Is she still in diapers? That's my wife's theory as well. She's in pull ups but truthfully doesn't really need them anymore. We cut off her liquids before bed and make sure she pees before bed, too. I don't know what else we can do, if it is because of having to pee.
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Dec 28, 2012 15:29
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Why don't you just take her for a pee before you go to bed? That's what we do with my daughter, who's 3, and she sleeps until we do.
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Dec 28, 2012 19:11
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Any advice on getting a seven year old boy to stop wasting shampoo/soap in the shower and generally wasting time when he's in the bathroom? I realize that, to some degree, you just have to accept that a seven year old is going to play, but it's something that's always bothered my wife and I. Like, we don't mind if he plays as long as he gets washed and doesn't take too long, but we've noticed that unless we literally time him (and tell him "we're timing you and if you're not done in [x] minutes you'll be punished) he spends way too long in the bathroom. Like, we'll tell him "go brush your teeth and take a shower" and he'll disappear in there for 30 minutes...and when we go to check on him, he's still "brushing his teeth" but has clearly been playing with the water/toothbrush/toilet/whatever. Short of micromanaging his bathroom time, is there anything we can try? He was wasting liquid soap pretty bad, so we switched to bar soap thinking that it'd be harder to waste...couple days later we find that he's somehow been taking chunks out of it (guessing with his fingernails) and it's almost gone. We've talked to him about it tons of times before, telling him repeatedly not to waste time in the bathroom, but that doesn't seem to get through to him. We've tried punishing by taking away toys and priveleges and that never quite seems to work. It's not always a consistent problem...sometimes he'll get in and out in a reasonable amount of time. But it seems like most nights one of us has to pop our head in the bathroom to yell at him to hurry up or to stop messing around. Are we just going about this all the wrong way?
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Dec 28, 2012 19:50
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Shnakepup posted:Any advice on getting a seven year old boy to stop wasting shampoo/soap in the shower and generally wasting time when he's in the bathroom? I realize that, to some degree, you just have to accept that a seven year old is going to play, but it's something that's always bothered my wife and I. Like, we don't mind if he plays as long as he gets washed and doesn't take too long, but we've noticed that unless we literally time him (and tell him "we're timing you and if you're not done in [x] minutes you'll be punished) he spends way too long in the bathroom. Like, we'll tell him "go brush your teeth and take a shower" and he'll disappear in there for 30 minutes...and when we go to check on him, he's still "brushing his teeth" but has clearly been playing with the water/toothbrush/toilet/whatever. Is your son one of those kids who absolutely hates "baby stuff" or anything associated with being a "little kid"? And/or does he take pride in being a big kid and doing big kid things? Because if so you could always say, "If you can't stop messing around and wasting time in the bathroom, we're going to have to come in there with you and help you brush your teeth, and help you bathe, just like we did when you were a little kid." If he's not the type who hates baby stuff then this could backfire horribly and he might wind up being like "Sure mom and dad just do it for me all the time." But I've had some success with the 6-to-8-year-old crowd just giving them the ultimatum of "if you can't prove to me that you can do this task by yourself like a big kid then I will have to you it for you as if you were a little kid." edit: Also is there any motivation on his part to finish his bathroom activities within a certain time frame, aside from the motivation of not being punished? Does he respond to rewards? Maybe you could set the timer and tell him "If you are done in the bathroom before the timer goes off then you can have (whatever little thing he responds to; an extra TV show, an extra book before bed, a cool sticker)." Budget Bears fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 20:25
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I was just like that when I was about that age. Honestly, and I remember telling this to my parents at the time too, it was because I couldn't focus. I would say "I'm sorry, my mind was wandering" and it was true, my playing with the soap and shampoo and toothpaste and bubbles and toilet paper and everything was pretty much just absent minded play. It was a little worse if I was tired, because it was even harder for me to focus. Anyway, I eventually grew out of that phase. I would suggest rewarding him with something he would look forward to so that he'll be more focused on hurrying up to get to the fun thing. I still liked being read to at that age.
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Dec 28, 2012 20:33
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Budget Bears posted:Is your son one of those kids who absolutely hates "baby stuff" or anything associated with being a "little kid"? And/or does he take pride in being a big kid and doing big kid things? Because if so you could always say, "If you can't stop messing around and wasting time in the bathroom, we're going to have to come in there with you and help you brush your teeth, and help you bathe, just like we did when you were a little kid." Yeah, this could backfire. Backstory: both his mom and I work during the day, so my wife's mother takes care of him during the day. Nowadays he goes to school, but before that she was his "daycare". She was always kind of bad about doing everything for him and never making him clean up his own messes or anything. To this day we still have problems with her swooping in and "fixing" things rather than telling him to do it himself, mostly because she's a neat-freak who would rather do it herself because she doesn't trust him to do it right/correctly/completely. So, yeah, he's already pre-disposed to just stepping back and letting people do stuff for him. quote:edit: Also is there any motivation on his part to finish his bathroom activities within a certain time frame, aside from the motivation of not being punished? Does he respond to rewards? Maybe you could set the timer and tell him "If you are done in the bathroom before the timer goes off then you can have (whatever little thing he responds to; an extra TV show, an extra book before bed, a cool sticker)." Yeah, this might be it. Usually he goes to bed right after, so he might be stalling just to stay up longer. Another thing we've worried about is that we've been too harsh/strict on him lately (he's always in trouble at school) so he plays in the shower because that's his only "free" time where he can screw around without (immediate) consequence. We tried giving him more play time lately, regardless of his behavior in school, with the theory that if he's given the chance to play and have fun earlier in the day, he'll be better able to focus and stuff later in the evening. So far that's not really bearing out. Knockknees posted:I was just like that when I was about that age. Honestly, and I remember telling this to my parents at the time too, it was because I couldn't focus. I would say "I'm sorry, my mind was wandering" and it was true, my playing with the soap and shampoo and toothpaste and bubbles and toilet paper and everything was pretty much just absent minded play. It was a little worse if I was tired, because it was even harder for me to focus. One thing that we've always been paranoid about is that maybe he has ADHD. What's frustrating is that we're never quite sure if a)it's a genuine problem or b) we're overreacting and blaming normal childhood behavior on a disease that he doesn't really have. Complicating the matter was the fact that we only just recently discovered he needed glasses. After getting them, he started doing much better in school, so we figured "oh, that must've been it"...but lately these problems have been surfacing again, in school and at home. More backstory: he had a speech delay when he was young; he didn't really start using words until he was 3. Since then he's always seemed to be behind kids his own age, at least in terms of his behavior. Like, behaving more like a 4 year old when he was 5, or like he's 5 when he was 6 (relative to other children, that is). Aside from that delay, though, he's a normal kid academically. No real major deficiencies, as far as we can tell. Then again, a lot of this might just be lashing out because he has a new baby sister. Possibility? Even if so, what can we do? quote:Anyway, I eventually grew out of that phase. I would suggest rewarding him with something he would look forward to so that he'll be more focused on hurrying up to get to the fun thing. I still liked being read to at that age. We might try this...frame it as "take your shower now...if you take too long you'll go to bed but if you're quick then you can stay up for another hou". Then again, I've always heard "bribing" kids to get them behave better can be a bad thing? For example, we've always tried to avoid doing that with regard to his behavior in school, since we don't want him to expect to be rewarded for what should be a baseline expectation, you know?
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Dec 28, 2012 20:54
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Shnakepup posted:
Could you frame it more as "you have half an hour before bedtime, go for a shower and brush your teeth now and the quicker you're out the more time you have left out of the bathroom"? That way it's not exactly reward or punishment.
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Dec 28, 2012 21:02
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hookerbot 5000 posted:Could you frame it more as "you have half an hour before bedtime, go for a shower and brush your teeth now and the quicker you're out the more time you have left out of the bathroom"? That way it's not exactly reward or punishment. That could work. I think we've done something similar before but not consistently. I'm afraid his thinking, though, is that it's more fun to play in the shower until bedtime compared to whatever he might do in the 15 - 20 minutes he'd probably have out of the shower before bedtime. Anything we can do to try and get him to waste less? I'd rather not be having him go through multiple bars of soap and shampoo in the time most people have barely gone through a third of theirs.
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Dec 28, 2012 21:08
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Maybe you could measure one dollop of soap on the washcloth when you run his bath?
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Dec 28, 2012 22:20
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Ben Davis posted:Maybe you could measure one dollop of soap on the washcloth when you run his bath? This is a good idea. I'd get some sample sized bottles and when they are empty, put small amounts in at a time so he doesn't have access to entire bottles to waste. As for wasting time, I think that's just kind of par for the course. I'd try doing brush teeth/bathe an hour before bedtime, that's enough time that if he actually gets it done expeditiously, he could still have 30-45 minutes of something fun. If you start that whole process only 30 minutes before bedtime, then yeah, I don't really see much motivation to finish early - 5-10 minutes is the most he's going to get out of it, so why not just waste those 5-10 minutes in the bathroom? I love to read but if someone told me I'd get FIVE WHOLE MINUTES to read before bed, I'd be like "ummmm, how about no cause that sucks." but 30-45 minutes to read? Sold, man. Shnakepup posted:We might try this...frame it as "take your shower now...if you take too long you'll go to bed but if you're quick then you can stay up for another hou". Then again, I've always heard "bribing" kids to get them behave better can be a bad thing? For example, we've always tried to avoid doing that with regard to his behavior in school, since we don't want him to expect to be rewarded for what should be a baseline expectation, you know? Also, does he know what your definition of "too long" IS? I remember when my brother was about 7 or 8, he had NO internal clock. He took some test where he was told he had 1 minute to answer each question and he would flip out and start throwing answers out, because he had no real understanding of how long a minute was. What about a kitchen timer? The old school ones with a dial. "Go brush your teeth and take a shower. I am setting this for XX minutes. I expect you to be done by the time it dings, you can take it with you and have it on the counter in the bathroom to help you budget your time." No punishment of reward there, just a concrete way for him to actually SEE how much time he is taking on these tasks.
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Dec 28, 2012 22:41
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My partner has younger siblings and her parents make great use of a simple kitchen timer. When it rings you need to get out. Or you've got 3 minutes of teeth brushing then reset it for 5 minutes of shower time. Get one of those ones that ticks down and shows how long left, put it somewhere your kid can see it. That's probably how I'll do it when my kid is old enough to shower themself. Either that or pop them in the bath, the beauty of a bath is it can be as long as they like because they are not wasting water - if you make them have it earlier in the night it won't cut into sleep time either. That's if you have a bath though. Baths are fun as heck though, I had a billion bathtoys as a kid and some toys that weren't bathtoys but were commandeered into the bathing fleet. My little 4 1/2 month old got her schedule all messed up over Christmas. Was worried it would majorly throw her out like the last time we travelled and stayed with relatives to show her off. She seemed happy most of this time and she got back to trying to crawl today. She's getting up on her knees now but her arms/back aren't quite strong enough to get up on her hands and knees so she sort of does a weird butt in the air, drag herself along the floor thing. Whatever, it works. She's been "crawling" around from Christmas toy to Christmas toy having a great time. "Crawled" right off her mat and into a washing basket, because she's a much better climber than she is a crawler. Fun to watch. She'd pause between her constant frustrating whining to look up at me and smile, giggle, then go back to screaming as she pulled herself around. I want to get her a little army outfit and pretend she's been shot. 'Meeeedic, Meeeedic!'
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Dec 29, 2012 17:17
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Shnakepup posted:One thing that we've always been paranoid about is that maybe he has ADHD. What's frustrating is that we're never quite sure if a)it's a genuine problem or b) we're overreacting and blaming normal childhood behavior on a disease that he doesn't really have. Complicating the matter was the fact that we only just recently discovered he needed glasses. After getting them, he started doing much better in school, so we figured "oh, that must've been it"...but lately these problems have been surfacing again, in school and at home. It isn't a made up problem thing. ADHD kids' brains work differently from those of neurotypical kids; it's visible through brain scanning. He might just be a normal kid who likes soap a lot, or he could have ADHD and get bored brushing his teeth (I do. Yes, really. I listen to podcasts.). It won't hurt anything to get him evaluated. Even if he does come up with a positive diagnosis, he doesn't have to go on meds or anything- that's a whole second conversation to have with his doctors (although meds can be really helpful and you shouldn't discount them if it comes to that). If he does have ADHD, just getting educated on how to work with how his brain works would be a huge help both at home and at school. Again, it can't hurt and it might help.
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Dec 29, 2012 18:54
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My son started Adderall XR at the end of the last week, and I'm finally seeing a huge improvement in his general behavior (less violent outbursts and better focus on things), which I'm hoping carries over to when school goes back in session. He got through Christmas almost entirely without meltdowns, only one toward the end of the day at my grandmother's house, which I think was just the result of being overwhelmed. We've gotten super lucky with psychiatric meds with him. I'm on constantly shifting prescriptions trying to find things that work and keep working, but the three my son are on have all worked on the first try for the things they've been prescribed for. Clonidine for tics and insomnia, Abilify for self-harming behavior, and now Adderall XR for the violent outbursts and focusing. I'm hoping this is it, because I don't want to have to put him on a thousand and one medications just to get him to the point where therapy can start getting through.
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Dec 29, 2012 19:32
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johnny sack posted:My 2.5 year old daughter keeps waking up earlier and earlier. Just some thoughts... I am not surprised in the least that the holiday stretch when she didn't get good naps that she woke up earlier and crabbier each time. This is just how little ones work; bad sleep begets more bad sleep. Bad naps makes bad nighttimes. Keeping them up late does not make them sleep in, cutting off naps (when they're not really ready) does not make them sleep more at night. I would try rolling back her bedtime a bit, honestly. Try putting her down 7:30-8. It doesn't seem like much, but could make all the difference. (I think that advice is in the No Cry book. If the little one wakes up to early, try an earlier bedtime.) Make sure she is up from her nap by 3-3:30, so that she's ready for bed when earlier bedtime comes. When we have things going on, like the holidays, and my boys (4.5 and 21m) get to bed later than normal (normal being 7-7:30 for the little one, Liam, and 8 for the big one, Tim), it all but guarantees they will wake up extra early. Tired and pissed off, no less. At least if you rolled back bedtime, and she woke up at 6, she would still have an additional hour of sleep in her. We use one of the programmable sun/moon nightlights for Tim. We have it set to switch over to the sun at 7:15. He's had it since he was about your daughter's age to keep him in bed until at least 7. We've told him that if he wakes up and sees his moon, he should roll over and close his eyes and lay quietly. But, if his eyes feel really awake, he should get a book and look at it quietly until his sun is on. Then at least, he's having quiet time if he's not sleeping. It has worked well and he sleeps until 7-7:30 consistently. If you think it's having to potty, try giving her a potty seat in her room. We did that for Tim, so he could get up and pee if he needed to, and go right back to bed. No need to wake us, or wander down to the bathroom. We enforced that you get up, you pee, and you go right back to bed. That's what Mommy and Daddy do; that's what big boys do. (We used to keep him "locked" in his room at night with a doorknob cover because we didn't want any midnight rambles for any reason. So when he nightime potty trained, we gave him a frog potty chair in his room. Now, he can leave his room when he pleases and use the actual bathroom, but he still prefers to pee in his frog potty during the night. And he still doesn't get up and leave his room, even though he can; if he's sick or needs me for anything, he stays in his bed and hollers. Fine by me!) So if she wakes up at 6 because she needs to potty, you can lead her right back to bed afterwards. Tell her it's still night time. Or if you get a sun/moon nightlight, show her it's still moon time. It sort of harkens back to when they're night feeding still. When the baby wakes up for a feed at 4:30, you don't need to get them up for the day, even if they've been asleep since bedtime. Treat it just like it's midnight and put them right back down after they eat. Then their little internal clock learns that it's not daytime yet. If 6 is too early, treat it just like if she got up at midnight. Quickly fix what's wrong, and right back to bed until an acceptable time. Good luck. Tim was an early riser until he was two (5:30-6am) and Liam has just recently been sleeping until 6:30. But I leave him to play in his crib (unless he starts crying of course) until 7, regardless of when I hear him wake up, to show his internal clock that 7 is the wake up time. Getting them on a 7-7, (more or less), night of sleep is a miracle for the household! They're well rested, and finally so am I. 
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Dec 31, 2012 03:14
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AngryRobotsInc posted:My son started Adderall XR at the end of the last week, and I'm finally seeing a huge improvement in his general behavior (less violent outbursts and better focus on things), which I'm hoping carries over to when school goes back in session. I'm glad to hear that the meds are working out for him. We tried Adderall with our son but it didn't work nearly as well as the Ritalin. Ritalin has been a real help to our family. Eggplant Wizard posted:It isn't a made up problem thing. ADHD kids' brains work differently from those of neurotypical kids; it's visible through brain scanning. He might just be a normal kid who likes soap a lot, or he could have ADHD and get bored brushing his teeth (I do. Yes, really. I listen to podcasts.). It won't hurt anything to get him evaluated. Even if he does come up with a positive diagnosis, he doesn't have to go on meds or anything- that's a whole second conversation to have with his doctors (although meds can be really helpful and you shouldn't discount them if it comes to that). If he does have ADHD, just getting educated on how to work with how his brain works would be a huge help both at home and at school. Again, it can't hurt and it might help. I agree. Taking forever in the bathroom was one of the earliest tells that our son had attention issues. As for the difference between our son and neurotypical kids, my wife and I have almost a mantra now to help us through trying times... "that's our boy." Just a simple reminder that we have to adjust our thinking to take his way of thinking into account.
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Dec 31, 2012 14:32
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I am not looking forward to the possible eventuality that my daughter will end up with ADHD; both my husband and I have it, and we're both severely inattentive rather than hyperactive (though my husband's sister has it and is primarily hyperactive and impulsive). There are pretty compelling arguments for genetic predisposition of ADHD, and our household is already hard enough to run with the both of us forgetting everything ever. My husband is medicated but Concerta is mega-expensive so he conserves it for work days only, and I have a follow-up appointment following my diagnosis last month at the end of January that will likely result in medication. Argh. I think the difference will be that, if my daughter does have it, we'll be a lot more understanding than our own parents were. My husband's parents' had him diagnosed as a child but didn't know what to expect since neither of them knew anyone else with ADHD, and despite being my diagnosed with it recently by medical professionals, my parents still think it is an imaginary disease and would rather think I'm lazy and horrible. Either way it'll be less of a struggle for her to develop coping mechanisms because I've got almost two decades of strategies to pass on. Still, fingers crossed that she miraculously doesn't end up with it. :/
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Dec 31, 2012 16:37
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Interestingly, my husband has terrible ADHD and our son has a syndrome which results in more than 90% of patients having ADHD and as of yet he's shown zero signs of it. (No signs of the crippling anxiety that is comorbid with more than 95% of people with Willams Syndrome either).
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Jan 1, 2013 03:07
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My sister just doesn't get it. They have a fenced in back yard and don't live in a great area, so my m got really pissed when she found out my two young nephews play outside in the front. My sister says she watches them but both my mom and I have our doubts that its as carefully as she says. This wouldn't bother me as much if she didn't swear we were being overly paranoid, but two kids were almost nabbed on the campus of my university last summer. The guy was never caught, either. Am I really being over protective and paranoid? I just don't see why she wouldn't have them somewhere that's fenced in when the option is available. The boys are 5 and 6 for the record.
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Jan 4, 2013 18:28
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I think you're being overly paranoid.
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Jan 4, 2013 18:39
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I wouldn't let my kids play out front at that age if there was a nice safe back yard available. But not a whole lot you can do about it when it's someone else's kids.
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Jan 4, 2013 18:52
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Chickalicious posted:I think you're being overly paranoid. Yes. Stranger abductions are VERY VERY RARE. You and your mom need to stop being obnoxious about your sister's parenting choices. If the kids were 2 & 3 I would think differently.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:09
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dreamcatcherkwe posted:Yes. That's comforting. My mom is more anal about it than me, I guess it's just easy to get scared when you love someone so much.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:34
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Toriori posted:My sister just doesn't get it. They have a fenced in back yard and don't live in a great area, so my m got really pissed when she found out my two young nephews play outside in the front. My sister says she watches them but both my mom and I have our doubts that its as carefully as she says. This wouldn't bother me as much if she didn't swear we were being overly paranoid, but two kids were almost nabbed on the campus of my university last summer. The guy was never caught, either. Am I really being over protective and paranoid? I just don't see why she wouldn't have them somewhere that's fenced in when the option is available. The boys are 5 and 6 for the record. I would worry more about cars than strangers, but it depends on the business of the road etc. I used to live in a pretty bad area and it was probably the best place I've lived as far as the kids went. Everyone knew each other and whose kids were whose - if they were playing out and anything happened (like a bump or a scraped knee) you knew about it almost as soon as it happened.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:45
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I too would worry more about cars then abductions. Abductions are super rare. You're probably more likely to have a car plow into the front yard actually... not 100% sure about that statistic though. If the kids know not to leave the front yard and to run inside/yell for help if anyone comes into the yard or try to take them out of it then let them play. I used to play out front all the time as a kid, heck, we used to play cricket and hockey in the street.
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Jan 4, 2013 20:02
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Five and six years old shouldn't be an issue playing out front, as long as you feel safe about the traffic. Kids can sometimes surprise you with their own protective instincts. My daughter and her friend across the street were playing outside one time when they were about 6, and they came in suddenly and unexpectedly to tell me that a strange guy was walking around through the neighborhood. The guy hadn't approached them at all, they just didn't feel safe with him around. "He might be a robber" was what they actually said. It turned out to be a utility guy checking the easements, but it sure made me feel pretty good to know that they did the right thing when faced with a strange situation. Of course, we live down towards the end of a dead-end street where the only people who drive down regularly are neighbors- many of whom have kids/grandkids themselves. So cars aren't a big worry for us.
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Jan 4, 2013 21:50
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I remember that a lot of the kids I went to school with were walking to and from school on their own in grade 1. Playing in the front yard is pretty normal I would think.
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Jan 4, 2013 23:05
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ChloroformSeduction posted:I remember that a lot of the kids I went to school with were walking to and from school on their own in grade 1. Playing in the front yard is pretty normal I would think. Well, those were the days. Things aren't as safe anymore. My husband told me a story once about this guy who tried to kidnap him when he was a child. Apparently the would-be kidnapper used the old "Your mom sent me to pick you up" line. So kid hubby ran away. Unfortunately his parents didn't believe him.  Just talk to your kids about Stranger Danger and what's not cool (like running off without telling you or something) and you'll be okay.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:08
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foxatee posted:Well, those were the days. Things aren't as safe anymore. My husband told me a story once about this guy who tried to kidnap him when he was a child. Apparently the would-be kidnapper used the old "Your mom sent me to pick you up" line. So kid hubby ran away. Unfortunately his parents didn't believe him. I can't work out if you're joking or being serious. Things are just as safe as they were in those days. Actually, they're probably safer in some regards. The only reason they don't seem as safe is because the media and the internet make any child abductions so much more known about. If your child is going to get abducted, it's more likely to be someone they know. Just keep an eye on them and teach them how to be safe, children should feel safe to play in their neighbourhoods.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:21
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Konomex posted:I can't work out if you're joking or being serious. Things are just as safe as they were in those days. Actually, they're probably safer in some regards. The only reason they don't seem as safe is because the media and the internet make any child abductions so much more known about. If your child is going to get abducted, it's more likely to be someone they know. Completely agreed. Kid abductions by strangers are not more common. That's a myth. Also you shouldn't teach your kids 'stranger danger' but instead focus on rules about not going anywhere without first telling a parent/guardian. People talk to strangers all the time so it can be confusing to a kid. "Don't talk to strangers but say Hi to this person you don't know because I'm telling you to! Mom talks to strangers all the time!" It's a weird mixed message. Tell your kid that you won't ever send a stranger to pick them up without first telling them about it. Teach them to run to an adult woman if they need someone to help them because adult women are very likely to stay with the child and help figure out how to find their parent if they're lost.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:40
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| # ? May 11, 2024 23:21 |
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This could probably use reposting. “Tricky People” Are the New Strangers
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Jan 5, 2013 05:55
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