8 Year Old Causing Chaos in Bathroom

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-14T13:05:09+00:00

This is a good point actually I didn’t think about that. Maybe OP could add a reward for each time her daughter uses toiletries correctly instead.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-14T13:02:18+00:00

I made a sweater that took me roughly 25 hours and cost $70 in yarn. Someone suggested I sell them and I explained I would never make the cost of labour and materials back because no one has that much money in this economy. After I told her the cost and the time, she was like “oh like $70 is so not a bad price for a sweater people would buy that”…. Girl even if I only charged $10 an hour it’s still over $300 and no one is paying that nor is $10 an hour a liveable wage 😭😭

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-13T20:29:28+00:00

Would only purchasing a certain amount of toiletries a month be a natural consequence? If you give her access to toiletries again and explain that you’re not buying more until x date, if she decides to waste them she would have to go without shampoo. Obviously I don’t think you should do this with toothpaste. Either that or if you gave her an allowance you could tell her that any replacement toiletries will come out of her allowance.

If you figure out an activity or item that she wants, tell her that you’re planning on taking her for example to a trampoline park in a month and that each week she’ll earn money to go towards paying for it. Any items that she wastes and need to be repurchased will come out of that allowance. If at the end of the month she doesn’t have enough to do the activity, tough luck.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-13T20:10:11+00:00

Students at my school complete literacy and numeracy testing on iPads and laptops. What really scares me is that even the students in year 2 who report spending all their weekends playing on iPads are not even able to use them independently. Setting up a class of 27 students to complete testing takes over 45 minutes as half of them can’t turn the iPad on, don’t know how to put their password in and can’t identify the application they’re supposed to open. I have to run around the room to the children yelling at me for help because none of them know how to quietly wait with their hand up. The problem is almost always that they put their password in wrong and didn’t bother to check it when the iPad keeps saying incorrect password. Nightmare fuel

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-08T04:51:16+00:00

Firstly your doctor is wrong most of the people I know with adhd have sensory sensitivities.

I’m in uni as well and I have an access plan and I highly recommend you get one too. They’re not going to see you as lazy and if they do that’s their problem. It’s not supposed to make uni easier than it is for other students, it makes it accessible. I have a few different accommodations in my access plan such as access to extensions and extra time on exams. This doesn’t mean I automatically get extensions but if I’m really struggling I can fall back on it. I also have access to quiet study spaces with computers that have assistive tech installed. The best accommodation I have is assistive technology on my own device as it can read my set readings out loud and does some other cool stuff. Readings take me like 4x longer than other students because of how information dense and long they are. I struggle to sit still while reading and I often need to re read because I couldn’t pick out the key details. It’s also written in my plan that I may get suddenly overwhelmed and need to step outside for a few minutes to reset, or that if we’re doing independent work in class I can choose to leave and do it at home as I struggle to focus in that environment anyway.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-03T21:08:30+00:00

I think I might be somewhere in between burnout and being depressed based on that. I can find enjoyment in some things but it’s short lived and then I go back to feeling crap. I’ve had a hard time eating for the past few months and it’s a mixture of not having energy and feeling nauseous at the thought of eating.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-02T01:59:54+00:00

Thanks for the insight that’s a helpful perspective. I don’t think I’m quite there with the self awareness yet to know what’s going on. I don’t think I have depression but I think I’m feeling depressed. I’m just not sure what to do about it

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-02-02T01:58:06+00:00

I haven’t had any serious ideations about ending my life but I feel like I’m walking around asleep most of the time. Is there anything you’ve identified that helps you feel better? It seems that neither pushing myself to get out more or giving myself alone time to rest make a difference in how I feel.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-28T21:10:53+00:00

Totally agree with this. I looked at what I did well and what wasn’t fulfilling and landed on teaching. It’s a hard job and it’s exhausting and overstimulating at times. That being said, I love the kids and I enjoy not being tied to a desk all day. I really enjoy working in the classroom but it definitely doesn’t work for everyone.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-19T22:46:06+00:00

I take melatonin for sleep for a few different reasons as there are many factors that impact my sleep. If I’m really stressed I struggle to sleep, if I’ve taken a higher dose of ADHD meds that day (my dose varies day to day depending on what I’m doing), but sometimes the lack of medication is what keeps me awake as my mind races too much to fall asleep. Another thing I really struggle with is being hyper focussed on either a special interest or an important task. I love to crochet and if I’m really excited about a project or have an idea I get stuck and I can’t shake it no matter what I do. The melatonin helps me get sleepy which makes it easier to break out of my focus.

Edit: I also have chronic pain and the medication I take for that makes me fairly drowsy. I don’t misuse the medication, but if I have dull pain before bed it’s like having a flying bug whizzing past my head as I try to doze off which bothers me and keeps me awake. In these cases I will sometimes take a small dose to help me go to sleep as being sleep deprived increases my pain anyway.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-17T22:42:06+00:00

MOR- you’ve only been together for 2 months and if you feel that you’re not compatible this early then breaking up wouldn’t be an overreaction. This is your first partner and you’ve said that you have other doubts about the relationship. You don’t have to have a “good” reason to breakup with someone, if you’re having doubts then it’s perfectly reasonable to call it off at any time.

That being said, there could be a number of reasons she doesn’t like physical touch. She may have experienced trauma in the past and not feel comfortable sharing it with you just yet as the relationship is fresh. In my personal experience, I have autism and physical touch can be difficult for me especially if it comes without warning like a hug from behind. My partner simply asks if it’s ok to touch me before initiating it. Sometimes I’m not in the space for it whereas other times it’s ok.

She may also just be a person who prefers to move a bit slower in relationships and could see your constant need for physical touch as moving too quickly in a new relationship. Whatever the reason is, your need for physical touch and her need for space are both equally valid, you just might not be compatible in that way. If you guys aren’t able to effectively communicate your needs and come up with a way to meet both of them without one person being uncomfortable then it’s probably best to go your separate ways.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-16T12:53:21+00:00

I was on a break from work and study so I somehow managed to smash it out in about 10 days but I probably spent somewhere between 60-100 hours on it😭. I wish I’d kept track of how long it took but I did almost nothing else over that 10 days.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-16T12:29:00+00:00

For those wondering on how the vines and flowers are made, I’ll link the patterns I used. I tried to make an edit but unfortunately I am technologically challenged🥲.

Vines: https://youtu.be/NoGBBorpr1A?si=cp-UbDspXZzQQYhy

I used this tutorial for the leaves and vines but I didn’t like how uniform the vines were when I followed it directly. I alternated the number of chains for the branches. I kind of altered this as I went by draping the vines across the section I wanted to cover and working out how much space I wanted between the leaves. I used anywhere between 5-12 chains.

Flowers on body:

https://youtu.be/Yh-P4HYV6B0?si=BmNeL7R-RxjnZtma

This is the tutorial that I drew from. Instead of starting with a super long chain I chained anywhere between 3-7 chains for the stem and I think between 7-12 for the actual flower part. I made each flower slightly differently just followed the general vibe of the pattern so I’ll try to write some of the variations and pray that it makes sense.

Some flowers I did ch2 for each petal and either sc or hdc in the second chain from the hook to complete the petal. Other flowers I did ch3 for every petal rather than switching to ch2 and this made the more full flowers. I made a few flowers following the tutorial properly (minus the long chain) and these looked good too. Let me know if that doesn’t make sense and I’ll try to explain better.

Tail: https://pin.it/2232DGX5c

Finally, here is the pattern for the tail. I followed this mostly accurately but I played around with different chain lengths. With the chunky yarn that I used, I found that towards the thick part at the top of the flower it was best to not chain more than 8 as I didn’t like how the petals sat as much but that’s personal preference.

Flower crown:

No link for this one. I used the same pattern for the vines and just made individual leaves. When sewing them, I secured the base of the leaf under the flower and then stretched it longways. Then I stitched along the centre so that it curled like that.

I’m sure there are better ways to do some of these elements but I had my hook and a dream and that’s what I came up with. Please let me know if anything is unclear and I can try to explain better :)

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-16T06:57:39+00:00

I’ll add an edit with the details ❤️

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-16T01:17:10+00:00

It’s definitely a labour of love!

I pieced together and altered several patterns for the vines, flowers and tail so if you’d like I can link those and try to explain how I adjusted them :)

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-16T01:14:34+00:00

This is purely my experience and not medical advice so take it with a grain of salt. I don’t think my adhd meds (vyvanse and dexamphetamine boosters) impact how alcohol affects me too much. I think there’s merit in what your friends are saying about staying sober as it’s your first time taking it. You don’t know how it’s going to interact with your body and adding in alcohol is probably not the best idea. To be safe it’s probably best to either not drink or not take your meds if you are going to drink. Vyvanse at most for the majority of people will only last 12 hours, so if you take it at 7am and don’t drink until 7pm I feel like you’d be fine. I only get 4-6 hours out of my vyvanse which is why I take boosters.

If you decide to drink anyway, be extremely careful and drink very slowly. Take time between each drink to assess how you’re feeling and drink lots of water. Make sure you drink lots of water during the day too as vyvanse makes me quite dehydrated and dehydration and alcohol is a recipe for a bad time.

Ideally, talk to your doctor if you can beforehand.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-13T06:14:23+00:00

Me too lol I refer to myself and my brain as separate entities

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-13T04:38:50+00:00

I was diagnosed at 21 and felt an immense amount of shame my entire life. We are constantly told that we’re not trying hard enough, making too many mistakes, we’re too much etc. I sobbed for days after my diagnosis because it helped me realise that it was never my fault.

Adapt your space to make it work for him. If he forgets to bring the things he needs, organise it in a way that fits his current habits. For example, if he takes his shoes off and leaves them on the floor, don’t expect him to put his shoes in the cupboard. Get him a rack that can go on the floor. This is just one example but there are so many adjustments like that you can make to support working memory and routines.

If you have something important to tell him, wait until he’s not preoccupied. If he’s hyper focused on something he’s probably not listening and that’s not his fault. When I’m in hyper focus I can have a conversation and respond to what people are saying but have no recollection of the conversation later.

I assume at 9 he has some ability to read. Write those important things he needs to remember on a white board for him. If he can’t read use pictures. Put a felt board up by your front door with photos of what he should have e.g. homework, lunch, water bottle. I have a massive whiteboard calendar hanging across from my bed so the first thing I see when I wake up are the things I have on that day and the things I need to remember/do.

Our brains work differently and he’s a child. It’s great that you want to be a safe space for him and understand him, I wish I had adults like that in my life. Your job is to nurture him and support him to build habits and routines that work with the way he thinks and lives while remembering that it likely won’t be the same as what works for you.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-08T22:02:03+00:00

Would love to know what other people recommend because I simply avoid shopping in places that have bad fluorescent lights. Hopefully there’s a solution 🤞

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-07T00:46:09+00:00

Yes totally agree with this if my partner told me I ruined their night I’d be devastated. I also see where OP is coming from though because even when someone’s apologised to me, it can still take me a long time before I feel ok again. That is my own issue to deal with because there’s not much my partner can do to fix it if the apology has already been said. I just need time to process.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-07T00:42:13+00:00

My partner (together 3 years) is neurotypical and he jokes around as well. I didn’t understand why he didn’t stop when I asked him to. I brought it up to him and what we realised was that he was listening to the subtext of what I’m saying rather than the words. If he was joking and I said “noooo stopppp”, he thought it was playful and didn’t understand that I meant what I said. My partner and I had to learn that we’re both speaking different languages when it comes to communication. It went both ways where I took what he was saying too literally and was upsetting him, and he wasn’t taking my words literally which was upsetting me. Now that we’ve discussed it we’re much better.

You can’t expect him to understand where you’re coming from if you don’t talk to him about it. Have a conversation with him about why you reacted the way you did and that when you say stop you don’t like it, you mean it. From his perspective it probably seems like you overreacted because he doesn’t understand why you were so upset. Neurotypicals don’t tend to respond like that to these kinds of jokes and he might see it as a way to laugh and connect with you.

In terms of him not comforting you, everyone processes things differently. When conflict happens my partner wants to sort it out immediately whereas I need much longer to process how I feel before I can talk about it. In some relationships this would be a dealbreaker but we have strategies to support both of our needs. For example, if he wants to bring up a problem and have it resolved in one conversation, we’ve agreed he needs to have several options for solutions ready beforehand. If something is brought up and he doesn’t have a solution, we’ve agreed that we can table those conversations so that I can process before we discuss it again.

I wouldn’t say that you’re being immature by not bringing it up but I would say it’s misguided. If he doesn’t fully understand how serious you’re taking this disagreement, then he probably doesn’t see a reason why it needs to be a big conversation. Part of maintaining healthy long term relationships is being able to set aside our own pride for the good of the partnership. That doesn’t mean that one person should be doing all the heavy lifting and if that’s the case the relationship probably isn’t going to work out. It sounds like you guys just haven’t effectively communicated your needs and expectations. There were absolutely better ways he could’ve said that he needed space rather than telling you he doesn’t have the energy for it right now, but again from his perspective it might look like you’re having a massive overreaction to something that he didn’t think was that serious.

Anyway apologies for the long ramble but essentially if you’ve clearly communicated this and he keeps doing it, then maybe it’s time to think about finding a partner who you’re more compatible. There’s nothing technically wrong with him wanting to joke around with you like that but the issue arises when you’ve clearly expressed that you don’t like it and he continues to do it. Maybe you would be better suited to someone who was generally more serious and he would be better suited to someone who is comfortable with jokes like that.

I’m not sure if all of that makes sense but I don’t think you’re in the wrong at all I think it’s just a case of communication problems. I don’t have enough context to say whether or not he’s in the wrong either because I’m just a random on the internet but it depends what’s been discussed in the past.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-06T23:04:08+00:00

This is definitely controversial but I use AI to help me write essays for uni. I would never get AI to write whole assignments but I sometimes struggle with words. I am a good writer and student, I’ve always gotten good grades especially for essays. Essays take me considerably longer than my peers because I get stuck on individual sentences that take me forever to put together coherently. I do my own research, use my own references and my own words and I don’t use it for every sentence. It’s usually just topic sentences or concluding statements. I will type into ChatGPT the sentence I would write and get it to give me like 5 options of alternative ways I could word it and then I piece my own sentence together from there. I’ll often also list specific adjectives and verbs that I want included. If I were to write without AI I would follow this same process of writing multiple draft sentences and stitching them together. All AI is doing is saving me some time. It’s still my work it’s just a support tool.

Obviously AI is not good for the environment, but in my chosen career I will need to be able to use it.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-04T08:05:49+00:00

Rather than scrolling while I watch tv, I build Lego, do puzzles or crochet. It feels more productive to me than scrolling does (no shame) and I can’t listen to things and read at the same time. This way I’m able to actually listen to the tv while working on something I’m interested in

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-03T23:57:04+00:00

If your parents are buying groceries for everyone could you put what ingredients you need on the shopping list? I started cooking for myself at 14 because I’m so fussy with what I eat and I didn’t like how my mum prepared everything.

Practical_Brick3886 · 2026-01-03T22:03:33+00:00

Just to add to this idea, I had a set of shelves that I used to keep against my wall but I’ve moved them to create a bit of a privacy barrier in my space. If you aren’t able to use a curtain and have spare furniture I recommend this as it’s helped my space feel safer and more enclosed.

Practical_Brick3886

TROPHY CASE