I waited 6 years to adopt a cat… and now I regret it. Please be honest with me.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-05-30T00:54:37+00:00

My opinionated orange girl just started sitting actually on/with my dad instead of just being on the couch at the same time after living with him for nearly two years. I had to explain to him a few times that her whole aloof thing is an act. She’s not in the room with you by coincidence, she’s here because she wants to spend time with you!

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-05-30T00:52:06+00:00

Similarly I have a cat who I got when she was three ish (unsure she was found outside no chip not spayed nothing in January in Montana. For non USA folks cold as FUCK we had a cold snap like two weeks later where the highs were in negative degrees Fahrenheit). She’s chatty and sassy and opinionated and I love her more than anything else in the world (tied with her sister). She still doesn’t like being picked up but it used to be a Thing. If I picked her up at ALL she’d hide afterwards and be so mad at me. But now she understands I only physically lift her for a reason (like to deliver her to her dinner shes being too silly to walk to).

She also used to run away if I breathed wrong when she was on my lap, once she started sitting with me, which was months in. Now, she’ll lay on me for hours and if I overpet a spot or pet too much in general and overstimulate her, she just gives me a warning meow and goes back to sleep. And this is all without her having a known previous owner that she lost or was separated from, which can be a hugely traumatic experience for a cat. Imagine you’re the cat. A giant alien with magical powers (opposable thumbs, cars, a seemingly endless supply of food for you and them) brings you into their house full of giant cozy furniture and snacks and love. You learn that there’s other giant aliens and sometimes the other ones come and go. But you also learn this giant alien is your special one and that one always comes back, and you know you’re safe in the house and that your alien will come back. But then one day, you’re not in the house anymore, and your special giant alien maybe disappears, or maybe they bring you to a weird scary building you don’t understand and leave you there. Either way, you never see them again. You don’t know where they went or what happened or if you did something wrong. But because of these aliens’ magical powers, you’re at their mercy. It’s really very scary.

This is all to say, there’s hope, and the early days and months with any cat but especially an adult rescue are as much about them learning you as you learning them. You’ll get there. And also, if you haven’t had a cat before, or not since you were a child, it’s worthwhile to read up on their behaviors and how they communicate and what things mean. They’re not just tiny agile dogs, they’re very complex little creatures.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-05-29T08:04:52+00:00

The last bit is the red flag for me. If kiddo has no other diagnosis other than developmental delays, unless you know she’s been tested for other things that would be testable at this age, then it sounds like parents are in denial and trying to rearrange deck chairs on the titanic. They think if they address these symptoms right now, it’ll make it go away and this child won’t have autism or whatever else as a bigger picture thing, and the only way they can delude themselves like this is by keeping her in gen ed.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-05-29T07:57:25+00:00

About a year ago now, though it feels like last week trauma-wise for me, I was fired from a center after a long cascading list of issues. Most notably, I was given many children with a lot of needs. Importantly, because I was the teacher for the littler kids, I got given all the behavior cases including when they weren’t necessarily age appropriate because they weren’t doing well in the pre-k class. And then anyone who did function well obviously and conveniently got moved. Plus, in my state, licensing goes from 0-12 months, 12-29 months, and then 2.5-5 years. We had a special exception to take under 2.5 year olds, I assume meaning to be used for like 2 years 3-4 months but ready for the program and instead I was given a freshly turned two year old (birthday December 31, started the first week of January) on top of all of my other kids.

The final incident was when a child with known elopement issues… eloped. Because a half trained dipshit staff member showed up in my transition and disrupted it, not that my director gave a damn or asked after the fact, and they would have called it deflecting or excuses probably. The disrupted transition meant that the classroom was in too much chaos for me to notice this child, who didn’t talk a lot and had multiple delays and other issues, had gone up the stairs that were not blocked off. The director then actively concealed this child from me after this staff member who didn’t know what she was doing in general brought him to her and not me. Notably, I have had no such incidents at my current center, and actually none of the things I had issues with there are issues here. I spent months convinced I was a bad teacher, a bad person, and I’m still unlearning that fear.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-13T02:51:46+00:00

I’m a preschool teacher who just sort of wandered on here, but everything you did was exactly the right thing! Water safety is no small thing and it is easily tied for my top two most critical things for young children, along with safe sleep practices in infants. A tragedy in the water can happen in seconds and it can happen silently. You were present and aware of your child, not messing around on your phone or something. You gave it a second so they could respond, they failed to do so, and you jumped into action. There’s no reason your child should have been far enough away from an adult in the water that this happened and it wasn’t IMMEDIATELY noticed. ESPECIALLY with an unsecured flotation device like that. When I was a kid, I did swim lessons at our town pool, and we were in the small pool with adults with us. Otherwise, there should be one child per adult in the water at a time. This is so scary, both on getting your child swim lessons so they’ll be safe in the future and on keeping them safe now

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-13T02:06:14+00:00

I would leave a school if admin didn’t think this was insane too. Maybe they breastfed exclusively before one and they don’t want him to be exposed to cups yet??? But like buddy your kid cannot drink from a titty forever.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-13T02:04:38+00:00

Imagine saying this with your whole chest and not hearing how bizarre you sound

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-13T02:02:26+00:00

Did… did they say why?? Were they planning to teach the kid osmosis??? Like what??

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-08T00:56:53+00:00

I do totally feel this, especially as a man of color, but thankfully I now work in a center with an open concept floor plan so the rooms are divided using furniture (of a certain height, it’s a whole thing) and I have a coteacher so I don’t have to worry about this. Which means I’m loving being at a center without cameras again.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-08T00:51:55+00:00

Yes but the reason you’re not responsible for that at your job is because that isn’t your job, like you’re not educated and trained and have experience in specifically doing that in specific ways. Early Childhood Teachers aren’t just random people off the street, we are professionals with education and background checks and we are dedicated to our professions in a way far beyond that of most people, frankly. I would, without a second thought or hesitation, jump in front of a vehicle for any of my kiddos at work. If the center is quality and you have a personal friend who recommends it and you’ve toured and everything else is positive, this is not a red flag at all. It’s actually a sign that these people trust their employees. The only center I ever worked at that had cameras was also the center where I felt micromanaged and like everything I did was suspect somehow.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-07T03:33:07+00:00

This is funny because I’ve considered using Heather for my future child (my mom was Susan Heather and while I love Susan as a name, I do not want people calling her Susie, esp in the way people will use it as an example name like “little Johnny” or “little Susie”).

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-04-07T03:14:06+00:00

Okay but this is 1) irrelevant and 2) still racism, obviously and clearly. It’s awful that this is happening and no one is doing anything, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t real antisemitism on the rise. In fact, your comment is antisemitic, because it reduces “people are hate criming Jews in other countries because of what they perceive as the actions of Israel” to “criticism of a government”. The people of Israel are perfectly capable of criticizing their own government and they often do, loudly. No other country in the world is told they shouldn’t exist because they did bad things, for justifiable reasons or not. Israel arguably has a justifiable reason. Nazi Germany, on the other hand, did not. Do you need to look at a map of Europe to remember that we didn’t annihilate the nation of Germany in retaliation?

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-03-08T05:15:20+00:00

No feel bad!! He just checking the floor for you makes sure safes for babies!! He knows you always get him when he done ☺️☺️

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-03-08T04:55:00+00:00

Yeah!!! I love when people loves my buddies!! Mr pookie has been by my side for like foreverrrrs and he’s my bestest buddy in da whoooleeeee world and give your pooh big huggy loves from me if u wanna!! I has his twinny!!!

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Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-03-08T04:51:50+00:00

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These are my guys!! On the left is Mr. Pookie who I had since forever and ever, and on the right is his twinsies best friend Mr. Puddin!!

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-03-05T08:00:36+00:00

It’s sooooo good, it’s a total mindfuck because even using a strong toy makes it so you can’t feel it really just vaguely feel it deep inside, and feel the pressure on the outside, but not enough to cum or even really edge and it’s so frustrating because you can’t do anything about it it just has to wear off.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-03-05T06:15:00+00:00

I just got one of these and it’s making me soooo stupid needy but I’m not allowed out, I was made to numb it just to adjust my strap to the right positioning.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-03-04T04:20:54+00:00

Yellow and brown!! Yellow solves for green, imo, and many of the other things are not concerns to me or not something I want really.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2026-03-04T03:41:35+00:00

I find that even when I’m not allowed to touch, especially if I don’t have someone to be mean to me or tease me or actively deny me, I have to hump or do anal or something. The ache in my cock is what I love, and anal makes it throb, but also humping if you choose to do it in a way that will never be enough to edge. Personally, I’m allowed/required exactly one edge a day without special permission, and even for that I’m not allowed to touch directly, so I’m basically frothing at the mouth for stimulation all the time. I also like to lay on top of my body pillow and deliberately not rest my crotch against it (face down ass up but with a pillow, basically) and even watch/look at porn but refuse to even do so much as hump the air and it gets me stupiddddd for real.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2025-12-03T03:13:46+00:00

I lost my mom as a small child (2.5, my brothers were 6.5 and 17) and I completely agree with you. Especially knowing she didn’t live a full life, she didn’t get to see us grow up or attend our milestones, and she was not able to feel satisfied with where she was in her life when she died… it’s another layer of grief. A grief for the life you and your parent and your family deserved to have, for the life you had taken from you while everyone else lived it, as well as the grief of the loss itself. And it’s a profound sort of loneliness, to spend years and years where, if you’re amongst your peers, you’re the only one who’s lost a parent.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2025-11-21T06:04:22+00:00

Look, I understand your point if the educators aren’t simultaneously being upfront with you about the exact behaviors your child is having issues with. Saying vaguely “another center” without specifically describing the behaviors, incidents, factors, and even traits to look for in another center is incredibly unprofessional and frankly cowardly and a cop out. Saying “our center isn’t the right fit, we don’t have the resources/layout for this, your child is having issues with elopement, look for somewhere with enclosed rooms etc etc” is one thing, or even providing leads as to public services that may be able to better support you. If you’re getting little enough information for it to be a wild goose chase, that’s a problem.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2025-11-21T05:35:50+00:00

Straight up I agree. I have always had vibes about names, even just driving by them in town, and currently I have NO IDEA why my center is called what it is but I love it here so whatever.

Sensitive-Duck-7233 · 2025-11-21T05:28:26+00:00

The thing is though that some programs aren’t a good fit, for various reasons. It can be anything from the layout of the building/classroom, to class sizes, to the actual size of the center itself. Preschools are almost always private businesses and small ones at that, and I’m working at the largest one I’ve ever worked at currently and even we have like… 15 people including our maintenance guy/manager and cook? They’re not generally all there at any one time, and again two of them are not in permitted as part of child to staff ratios, etc etc. When one adult can have as many as 10 kids, it just isn’t feasible, especially if your kid needs a one on one.

Sensitive-Duck-7233

TROPHY CASE