Which we do. But it’s not our first choice

Right. They could basically name their price. We want to do stuff the “right” way. There’s just no way.

Our struggle has been the enshittifcation of streaming the games. We don’t live in the market of our hockey team we like to watch. In order to actually get (legally) 95% of the games we would need to subscribe to about 5 different services and still be blacked out for the games against the “local” team, which is 4 hours away from us, unless we also pay for cable/satellite television as well. We used to legitimately pay for the service that the NHL offered where we could get just our team, or all of the games, for one season price. Then they split everything to all the different networks so now we’d need sling, TNT, espn+ (and the highest tier of it), nhl network, prime, Apple TV +, and a cable subscription

I can’t stand bananas. Taste or texture. I can do artificial banana flavor but anything with real bananas is gross. I wish I liked them because they’re inexpensive and generally nutritious.

When the child throws a tantrum for the toy and you try the strategies and they don’t work, the solution is not to buy the toy. That shows the child that if they tantrum, they get their way. When your child throws a combination lock at you that’s not a “don’t do it again” moment. That’s a hard stop. Sometimes it’s best to just completely remove the situation. Leave the store. Leave the pool. Get emotions settled, then discuss. My three year old doesn’t get “time-outs” but if her behavior is unacceptable because she’s unable to manage her emotions she goes to her bed for a reset. She stays as long as she needs to and then she comes out to talk when she’s ready. Sometimes when kids are too hungry or tired or something else is off the strategies are not going to work. Because they literally can’t function on that level without their other needs being met. It doesn’t mean your approach is failing. Nothing a parent does is going to work 100% of the time.

I’m thankful that a lot of early childhood places are really beginning to focus on emotional awareness. There are so many resources for social-emotional learning for kids now. My child’s preschool is SEED certified (https://www.nmececd.org/seed/) and she’s been working on a feelings journal. At our elementary school we have social skills groups where we explicitly teach kids about emotions and also teach them life skills (we have small groups of kids playing board games to handle taking turns, losing, etc). At home and school we have these little “spot” of emotion stuffies and an accompanying book that explain what an emotion is, what it feels like, and what we can do about it. Our school also uses the zones of regulation (pic) to not only help kids understand but to also help the staff understand how our students are feeling.

Out daycare costs were between $205-305 a week, so between $820-1,225 a month. Once she’s 5, school is free.

Being a new mom can definitely be isolating and I’m not a person who does well at being home. I like being active and doing things. I don’t regret having my kid in daycare. I do think the United States needs to do better at giving mothers the choice though. It’s almost impossible to be a single income family, especially with multiple children. But then daycare is so expensive too.

In the US our child started going at 6 weeks old. Daycare (and now preschool) is just as normal to her as being at home. Especially since in her three years she’s probably had over a dozen different teachers. She’s learned to warm up to new people and situations quickly.

I also work in an elementary school. (5 to 11 years old). I see kids that didn’t go to school at all before coming to us. Even some are homeschooled for a few years before starting school. I can usually tell the difference between kids who went to some kind of preschool (3-4 year old program, even part time) and who hasn’t. It’s not always a bad thing but it’s a harder adjustment for those kids.

Using parental controls and not using them can both be valid. But they are not set-it-and-forget-it and let the kid run wild with the device. Personally I’m in the camp of not using them but letting my kid use screens in age appropriate amounts with age appropriate content on devices that are family devices in common areas, plus keeping the conversation going about what she’s engaging with.

I read How to Raise Children Who Aren’t Assholes by her. It was a decent read. I’ll probably pick this up but I feel like so many books just regurgitate the same info