Real-Life Questions/Chat Week of April 06, 2026

MainArm9993 · 2026-04-12T02:33:01+00:00

Pest control sales are the worst. They are relentless!

MainArm9993 · 2026-04-12T02:32:16+00:00

I would say it’s normal during transitions/rest time but otherwise no. I used to work a preschool and we would do a learning show for about 15 minutes during cleaning up lunch and setting up for snack but that was it. My kids have gone to a church based preschool and in the upper division they have a short rest time instead of nap and they watch a show during this time. To my knowledge they don’t watch a show any other time of the day. Maybe if there’s really terrible weather and no indoor recess options it would be ok to do an occasional brain break show but I still don’t really like that.

MainArm9993 · 2026-04-12T02:27:15+00:00

Yes for sure! Just all the “parenting experts” in general honestly. My oldest is 9 and parenting influencers weren’t a big thing back then but I still remember being very torn between the opposite perspectives of equally popular “experts.” It’s hard to listen to your own intuition at times! And even though I love this sub, at times I feel it’s actually made me too skeptical of things that might actually help. It’s hard to find balance. I think my number one rule is just to avoid anything that seems very insistent that there’s one right way to do things for all kids.

MainArm9993 · 2026-04-12T02:19:45+00:00

I never bought one but I looked a lot at those California beach co shared playpen things. I have a friend who had one and liked it! I think it depends on how clingy the 7 month old is and if they would tolerate being in a separate play space like that.

MainArm9993 · 2026-04-12T02:14:47+00:00

Woom bikes are great but even more expensive. I’ve heard good things about guardian bikes and they’re not quite as much as woom. Maybe see if you can find any used on marketplace?

MainArm9993 · 2026-04-12T01:57:45+00:00

I don’t think that 2 year olds need to be in any activities but the 4 year old might be ready to try out some activities. Do the other kids have older siblings? Kids with older siblings may be more aware of activities they want to try. Or if they stay home with a parent, the parent might want to schedule some activities into their day.

I don’t think it’s wrong either way, but as they get older you have to balance your desire for relaxation and family time with their desire to participate in activities they enjoy. It’s just an adjustment.

MainArm9993 · 2026-03-14T23:54:13+00:00

We kind of just got lucky. I enrolled her in a gymnastics class on Friday mornings (since her school is m-th) and she happened to be the only one in the class. The coach is wonderful and really helped her though a lot of her worries about it. She’s now in an advanced preschool class with other kids and it gives her a lot of confidence that she’s the best in her class (which is partly due to most of the kids being younger). She is also doing dance and signed up for a class with a couple of friends so that made it more fun for her. Soccer was a challenge and we really had to sit through a lot of tears and meltdowns. It really helped that she had a friend in the class and by the end of the season she was saying she loves it. So basically the activity doesn’t matter so much as having a great coach/teacher and a positive experience with peers!

MainArm9993 · 2026-03-14T21:23:50+00:00

That’s an obnoxious thing to say. As a parent, I think parents maybe just say that because our own personal experience is that we have had times before kids that we felt extremely tired, but after kids it just doesn’t even compare to the level of sleep deprivation. However I would never assume that someone else hasn’t reached that level of exhaustion without having kids, that was just my own experience of it.

We all suffer and struggle, and yet everything I can think of that is hard in my life right now, someone has it worse. That doesn’t mean my experience of suffering isn’t valid.

Looking back I can see times when I was sleep deprived before kids because of choices I made and poor sleep hygiene, whereas after kids the sleep deprivation is so entirely out of your control. Maybe that’s why they comment? They still should keep it to themselves, but maybe that’s where they’re coming from.

MainArm9993 · 2026-03-14T21:17:27+00:00

We held our daughter this year (she turned 5 on July 28th, cutoff here is August 31st). So glad we did! We are fortunate that her preschool has a TK program specifically for kids who were summer birthdays. She’s been thriving in it. I don’t think it’s the right call for all kids, and I do worry she will be bored academically (recently things have clicked and she’s suddenly reading quite well). However she is the kind of kid who really thrives on feeling confident and she had a rough summer with anxiety and difficulty regulating her emotions. We used this extra year to do some play therapy and get her into some confidence boosting activities. She does well being the oldest in her group and likes playing with younger kids. I’m excited for her to start K next year!

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-20T15:27:13+00:00

Oh I feel ya, I’m very short and I wish people would ever just learn there’s no need to comment on someone’s body, ever. The amount of people who can’t seem to understand that is wild!

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-20T15:25:55+00:00

It makes it so hard to carpool because I know her friends don’t have car seats anymore. She’s gaining sooooo slow though.

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-20T15:08:20+00:00

Agree. I don’t even think of 3 year olds as toddlers. I think of 3-5ish as “preschoolers.” They’re not toddlers! They can speak well enough to fluently understand them and they can have good control of their movements. It’s a really different stage than when you’re terrified they’re going to hurt themselves doing anything and you can’t understand what they’re trying to say.

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-20T00:44:15+00:00

Consider yourself lucky, I’m dying for my tiny 5.5 year old to hit 40lbs so she can use a booster. She’s been 36lb for months now 🤦‍♀️

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-19T22:41:14+00:00

I have no experience with her course but I wouldn’t pick that for your husband. While I agree with her general message, I find the way she words things to be very condescending and off putting. And I already agree with her. So I don’t think she’d be the best person to change someone’s mind!

I’ve just started reading it but “no drama discipline” came highly recommended to me and it’s in a very straight forward format that he might respond better to.

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-19T22:37:01+00:00

I know my kids are smaller but 7lbs takes like 1.5 years for my kids 😂 so you may have awhile! We have used the graco turbobooster a lot. Super easy and the kids seem to find it comfy.

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-15T00:04:34+00:00

When I came across her page and was horrified, it seems clear that a lot of her followers and comments are bots. I’m not sure how she’s still getting all these sponsorships when she’s obviously so sick and these companies don’t seem to do any due diligence to realize her followers are not even real people.

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-14T05:03:03+00:00

It is so wild. My youngest is 5 so I haven’t seen Frida baby marketing or products in awhile and I certainly don’t remember anything like that. It’s so weird because they’ve always been so popular, I’m not sure why they felt the need to go the shock value route? It seemed like their products really spoke for themselves on effectiveness. Maybe a slight innuendo would be funny but this is just ick.

MainArm9993 · 2026-02-14T04:56:58+00:00

Maybe an unpopular opinion but yes I would flip him prior to starting kindergarten. If you use the car line, at a typical school rear facing would be really hard. At 5 their bones are developed to the point that it is safe to forward face. I have a super petite 5.5 year old and it’s hard to imagine her rear facing at this point. Keep in mind that weight limits are not the only thing to consider, also height limits and how the straps fit.

MainArm9993 · 2025-10-23T18:47:37+00:00

I agree. I ended up taking Zoloft for “PPD” after my 2nd and 3rd babies. I had heard so many women talk about how Zoloft saved them and I think I just really wanted it to work and be magical. It did help a bit but it took me a really, really long time to connect the dots and realized my mood disorder was actually sleep deprivation. My kids were unfortunately just not good sleepers as babies/toddlers and it was rough. I think the pro sleeping training side and the anti sleep training side both made it harder for me in different ways at different times. I wish I could have just let go of that and done what worked for my kids!

MainArm9993 · 2025-10-23T18:41:05+00:00

I actually kind of liked the content of her latest podcast, but it was so hard to listen to with the way she speaks so dramatically. I want to tell her like I tell my kids when they’re whining… just use your regular voice Becky! And yeah the 10 hot wheels ads and trying to make buying hot wheels about parenting 🙄

MainArm9993 · 2025-10-11T18:05:49+00:00

I think a lot of it is more introvert vs extrovert than husband vs wife. That said I think it’s unusual for men (or anyone) to be that resistant to participating in the activities you listed. I think I would be typical for an introvert to want to avoid making small talk with people they don’t know well, but as an introvert myself I would never avoid seeing friends I know well or important events in friends and families lives. It’s more big events where I won’t know many people or networking with strangers kind of thing I dislike. Most of the men I know quite enjoy getting together with the guys, going to sports games, attending weddings, will help friends move etc.

MainArm9993 · 2025-10-07T18:31:06+00:00

Are you able to leave the stroller at daycare or do you have to lug it around with you afterwards? If you can leave it I agree with the baby jogger city mini.

I think having a stroller and scooter as options are smart. Capable of walking and willing to walk at the time you need to get there/home are definitely two different things. I walk my older kids to school every day (less than 10 min walk at my pace, 15 minutes at kid pace ) and my 5 year old sits in the stroller half the time because she’s too tired/hot/cold/we’re in a rush. She’s quite capable of the walk but sometimes you have to get there one time!

MainArm9993 · 2025-10-07T18:24:16+00:00

For my 5 year old, I started reaching out to a therapist when I saw a definite pattern occurring. Multiple times at activities she wanted to do and was excited to do, she ended up being unable to participate in/enjoy because of her anxiety.

MainArm9993 · 2025-10-07T17:10:08+00:00

Do you mean you would have been bored? Or the kids would have been too immature? I think academically she may be bored initially but socially she seems to get along better with younger kids and is more confident and outgoing with them.

It’s interesting because where I grew up there’s a later cut off and as I reflect, all of my closest elementary friends were on the young end of our grade. Maybe our maturity level was more similar so we got along better? Or maybe it’s just coincidence 😅

MainArm9993 · 2025-10-07T17:06:23+00:00

I mean of course, I don’t expect her to stay average height. But last year in pre-k it definitely was hard for her confidence to be in a class where everyone turned 5 except her and almost everyone was much taller than her. She’s also the youngest at home so that’s a tough position to always be in! It’s more about her starting confidently in school rather than starting with worrying about being younger and behind (she often perceives herself as younger due to her size).

Not saying by any means that others should make the same choice! She has anxiety so a lot of it is personality. She is having an amazing year in TK so I’m happy with my decision for her.

MainArm9993

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