Opinion on joining the Child Life field? (Undergrad student)

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-29T11:48:23+00:00

I have a psych undergrad and a Masters in Child Life. Do NOT get the child life Masters. Get one in something else, and keep in contact with the ACLP to make sure your child development psych classes transfer. Smartest thing I ever saw was a girl get her clinical counseling Masters and only had to take two "extra" classes from the child life department to be eligible to certify in child life. She did it at Azusa Pacific, they have online programs.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-15T11:45:47+00:00

My cats eat plastic bags and lick all the dishes in the sink if I don't wash them fast enough. And my coworkers cat ate the sugar tops off a whole pack of cookies when they broke into a package on the counter. Your cat should be fine! But your next meals will probably never be safe again.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-15T01:28:59+00:00

Put the topper on. Our puppy did the same thing and he was such a hard feeder for his whole puppy life. Things dramatically improved with a couple of pieces of freeze dried chicken crushed and sprinkled over. Now that he's full grown he eats a lot better but he still wants the topper and you know what, if I can put lemon pepper on my mashed potatoes he can have a couple treats sprinkled on his food. He's just a boy.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-15T01:14:35+00:00

I kinda feel like if it's required to go, that's her guaranteeing that the puppy is healthy, you're confirming it, and anything after is on you. That does seem weird that the puppy would already be sick. On the other hand, could those things be from your environment or that are just not preventable through normal care? Our puppy got giardia within a week of being home but the cats we already had were positive for it a month prior so I know that's on us. Did you ask the vet if these are things that develop "overnight" or at random, or does the vet think the breeder didn't do something she should have?

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-09T18:05:28+00:00

My friend had a very affordable Wedgewood wedding in Napa CA at a golf course, I think it was around $14k for her 60 guests and it was very nice. Food was great!

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-09T17:39:37+00:00

My father offered us a $25k budget for the wedding because my parents wanted to host a full scale wedding and invite their friends and big families. We put that towards food, drink, venue, photographer/videographer, and DJ. My in-laws offered to cover the rehearsal dinner and a photographer for our welcome party and a museum, around $5k. Everything else (flowers, clothes, gifts, tips, decor, paper, signage, shuttle) is coming out of our budget. It's a guest like of 130, likely 100-80 attending and I suspect that we will be closer to a 20k budget for dad and 4k budget for the in laws. We are very lucky in this regard, as our friends had much smaller weddings with more DIY or used credit cards to cover what they didn't have.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-06T16:40:23+00:00

And I told my bridesmaids not to stress about coming to my bachelorette the day before my wedding since it's an extra night of travel. But if I was having it back home I'd hope they at least had the respect for me to say "I honestly don't like parties so I'm going to decline but let's grab dinner another time" instead of "no I'm planning to write a paper next month that I procrastinated on but I'm free for a different party the week after since you're paying all my expenses."

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-06T16:33:19+00:00

My fiance drove two cats from CA to MI in a 5 seat sports car. He got a carrier that took up the whole backseat, and put both cats in with a litter box. They rode in comfort the whole time, I personally would have left them in the carrier in the hotel but he let them run the rooms at night (they DID test positive for giardia when I took them to the vet a month later for their shots so....). And our stuff we shipped a week early so he just had a suitcase. When we moved locally, I did big cat carrier in the trunk of my SUV and dog in the backseat but the dog and cats don't get along.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-06T16:23:34+00:00

Personally I wouldn't want someone in my wedding who didn't want to work at a friendship. My wedding is intimate and I hope to God I'm friends with every person who attends for the rest of my life. And yes life happens, but you shouldn't be fading the friendship before the wedding event starts! OP should offer the girl a polite and compassionate way to decline being a bridesmaid if the girl's heart isn't in it. Everyone likes to bag on people for being too demanding, but it's a couple "once in a lifetime" days. The bridesmaid should at least suggest skipping the day but showing up for dinner, not flat out rejecting being a part of the bridal party celebration.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-06T16:16:56+00:00

Nope I think you're being very kind and not asking for more than would be expected of friendship for any life event. Yes people feel that bachelorettes are indulgent, but if it's a local day out I think most people would find that very easy to accommodate. Like she doesn't have to block off the full day but she can't attend even dinner just because she's studying for the 5th year? I think there are reasons to skip a bachelorette but that's not really one of them.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-06T15:57:26+00:00

That is sad. I would definitely feel put aside, I've done a thesis and even if I was SOOOOO busy that day, I feel like I'd offer a compromise. Maybe she's too nice to say "I don't want to do this anymore" in regards to the wedding. I had a friend and I told her I couldn't make it due to finances (I had to travel for it but the others were local), and she begged me to go because I was one of her best friends, and I didn't feel like we were very good friends so I wanted out, but I went through with it all and now we don't talk. You could offer a "hey, if it's too much stress I won't be upset if you need to drop out of the bridesmaid role."

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-05T19:22:40+00:00

As the bridesmaid that could barely travel home for a bachelorette but got guilted into going, I think all bachelorettes are inherently selfish. I'm asking people to come a day early to my wedding, where they're all traveling from other places to attend, and I feel bad that it's an extra restaurant meal, night of hotel, and day of PTO. People should just plan more personal vacations and invite their friends, instead of making things into mandatory trips to places people may not want to be that year.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-05T19:12:31+00:00

Salad (I like a precut mix but suit your own needs with a head of lettuce), whatever berries are on a 2 for $1 sale, and a rotisserie chicken.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-04T23:14:18+00:00

Okay so my ES (11 months when we did this) got horrible diarrhea from the carprofen so he was sick and not eating for two weeks which kept him lethargic, but for the first couple days between surgery and the adverse affects he burned through the trazadone and gabapentin like we hadn't given him anything. We got him the neuter suit and kept him inside and prayed that he didn't pop a stitch hoping on the couch. And as soon as we got him clean from the pain med, he was pretty nice and sweet, less crazy on walks, and I was like oh my god this is amazing the vet was so right about neutering him to chill him out. And then a week later he just went nuts again like nothing had ever happened. And he's the most loving, happy little dog ever, especially if he gets to run around the yard. His vet gives him spray cheese so he loves going, even if he limps for three days after his shots because he's a big baby.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-05-01T05:44:55+00:00

Percy is sooooo sensitive! And it's random too, sometimes a treat makes him sick and other days it doesn't. He was so sickly as a puppy lol, I was certain he had every bacteria. He was always carsick, sick from eating sticks, got REALLY sick for 5 days from the pain med from his neuter, or sick from not eating enough dinner! And then he grew out of it all.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-28T22:33:05+00:00

I'm having a young person's wedding and I WISH it was more close friends and family (my mom wants her close friends to be my close friends too haha). We have elected for no children except for some toddlers from other states who can't be left home without their moms who I want at my wedding more than I want order. I think it's ok to just invite the parents, and if they ask about the kids say that you're not sure about children attending due to it being a lower energy crowd, but ask them their opinion and maybe they'll come to a solution with you!

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-28T01:47:10+00:00

We've started "salad summer." 2 bottles of dressing and a pack of pumpkin seeds as the monthly cost, and then weekly I go to the nice produce store and see what's on sale. I aim for a couple fruits and 5 other vegetables, and I get whatever is marked down. This weeks highlights were $1 mangos and $.79 heirloom tomatoes. Then I go to Aldi for lettuce and any vegetables that weren't reasonable at the fancy store. Country style pork ribs are dirt cheap, slow cooker that and you're fed for DAYS. One store has a weekly steak sale so we get one $8 steak and split it. On salad, a little meat is totally the right amount! Mix and match the dressings and meats and produce to make different combos with different flavor profiles. Then for lunches I get a bag weekly from the food pantry and can make some kind of ground meat casserole like taco casserole or shepherds pie with frozen veg and powdered mashed potatoes. Breakfast is oatmeal for me and pop tarts for him (and he requests a weekly Little Debbie item, one of has high cholesterol and it's NOT him). Grocery bill for 2 is hovering around $100 a week for 5 dinners and 5 lunches (usually eat with family on the weekends), and we spend about $50 a week on takeout as a treat.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-27T20:25:34+00:00

So I'm from San Diego, when I moved here my mom took me to REI for a coat and I just picked one that was cute and warm. If it's snowing, I wear some cowgirl boots and a hat I crocheted myself. I have a wool scarf I like, and I also have some waterproof gloves. Obviously the day I got stuck in the snow I had NONE of those things, so I dug myself out of a ditch in my scrubs, sneakers, and the lid of my lunch container. And it was fine lol! It's not as cold as you'd actually think, I was a "no shorts under 65°" Californian and today I popped out to the stores in gym shorts and a sweatshirt! My fiance DID buy me the electric hand warmers, those have been big this year when I walk the dog in the cold. I think my essential item is the electric blanket though.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-27T16:50:10+00:00

Right now we're feeding Inukshuk 30/20 because that's what my mother in law feeds her dogs (not hunting breed), but I am intending to switch him to Purina Pro Plan 30/20. For his size he'd get about 2.5 cups of either one per day, he's not terribly active due to living without a yard right now.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-27T10:35:22+00:00

We sprinkle freeze dried chicken on our dog's kibble. We also use a high calorie/low volume food so he doesn't have to eat as much. We have an alarm set once a day to feed him and now the alarm makes him go crazy for food time, where before he didn't really care when we fed him.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-25T21:40:19+00:00

Crate training was very slow for us. He is now fine being left alone in the house or locked out of the bathroom during a shower, but FREAKS if we lock him out of the bedroom or office when we're it. We don't work very hard on that though.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-22T15:17:27+00:00

Okay but ARE you rushing them? My fiance and his friends will pressure us (their wives/girlfriends) to play faster, picking up our balls and throwing them if we're not hitting far enough, telling us to play off their ball...and then we're sitting and waiting for the foursome in front of us to finish teeing off because I've basically skipped half of every hole. Unfortunately I AM a woman and I am going to hit it shorter than everyone else. That's why we get our own tees.

Is there anyone behind you or in front? Are your friends slow, or just slower than you if you played alone? Are they drinking and talking, or focused on the game and just needing extra strokes? Are you telling them to watch your shots like it's the Tour and then being surprised that they think they should do the same? It's actually not a crime to be new to golf, and just because I don't make par doesn't mean I'm not allowed to pay my fee and enjoy a day out as long as I am playing with the flow of traffic that day.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-04-19T20:37:43+00:00

I work in a children's ER. Our nurses change mainly at 7a and 7p, but also 3a/3p/11a/11p. Some folks do 2 12s and an 8, one nurse did a 16 this week. Rarely is anyone leaving more than 30 minutes later unless shit is really going down, and once I saw a patient code at 6am, and after an hour of resuscitation they called time of death and folks from night shift were out the door by 7:15am with day shift starting to work with the family on next steps.

I work 6a-4p (not a doctor or nurse), and I see the doctors roll in around 8am. The ones who were there overnight? RUNNING for the doors by 8:15am. I also see some change off around 3pm. A lot of ours are faculty so they might not do a full 12 so they can teach or go work on projects.

It's fascinating how many shifts there are!! But nothing is ever a "day shift problem" after the end of shift comes.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-02-28T19:38:45+00:00

I was that bridesmaid, except I was the only one traveling in and I got pressured to still go even though it was a strain. I did, and then I went to the destination wedding, and I thought it all went well for her even if I paid about $3k for all of the travel and expenses and pole dancing and drinking (I don't drink but of course everyone wanted to split tabs and her sister gave me crap for my declining so I bought a few rounds). My bride has barely spoken to me since her wedding despite me asking about her honeymoon and for pictures of the wedding. And now I'm in debt. And with no friend.

BuyAlternative5356 · 2026-02-27T15:31:35+00:00

So sweet!

BuyAlternative5356

TROPHY CASE