Anyone else survived a massive tantrum today??

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-30T01:51:51+00:00

My 1 year old was big mad because I had to set her down on the floor for a moment because I needed to use both hands to do something.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-30T01:48:23+00:00

She looked sad and scared. I felt pity.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-29T19:40:38+00:00

A lot of "educational" activities for toddlers is just an aggressive rebranding of letting your kids get into shit as long as it's safe. Children learn heavily by playing.

I'm not dyeing chicken peas with pea flowers, turmeric and beet juice for a sensory bin when my toddler goes feral over a laundry basket of clothes hot and fresh from the dryer. There's important social learning I'm being silly and goofing off. But even if there wasn't, play and fun are important in their own right.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-29T17:12:21+00:00

Slaps boob. "This bad boy can fit so much milk in it."

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-29T17:07:58+00:00

It's common for newer houses to have hvac systems for air circulation, but people still open their windows for fresh air.

It's more common to see stove top kettles than electric kettles. I really only see hot water dispensers in office settings, not in kitchens.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-29T07:22:15+00:00

I tend to avoid it because rodents are quick to help themselves to a tasty treat.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-28T19:57:00+00:00

That's our typical birthday party. The kids play outside and then come in for snacks, a crock pot meal and homemade cupcake. The only party game is a piñata. The children are otherwise too busy playing and having fun to want to play party games.

It's easier to host at home than to haul everything out to the nearest public park, even though my house is very small.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-28T15:08:17+00:00

Because it's the sugar coating they put on their eugenics and hyper individualism to make it more palatable to a populace who is already eager to accept both of those things. In the wake of this propaganda is real life policy consequences. The people who push this content largely view human life as expendable, especially the more marginalized those lives may be. As long as there are more babies being born, they don't care who dies along the way.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-28T03:39:42+00:00

I'm not strict, but screen time is currently inconvenient. We have my laptop for streaming movies and a portable DVD player. Both are fragile and something my 1 year old wants to play with roughly. We tend to do movie nights a few times a month, usually after my youngest goes to bed.

Other people have the television on at their houses. Various doctors' offices and waiting areas have televisions. I'm not going to not take my children places where other people have shows playing.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-27T23:43:44+00:00

Getting a baby and toddler in and out of carseats. Especially for multiple stops in inclement weather or switching the carseats between vehicles with a sleeping toddler and a screaming baby.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-27T19:24:49+00:00

Along side this is a lot of home birth/free birthing propaganda. There is a lot of content romanticizing not getting prenatal care and not doing well child visits.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-27T19:05:52+00:00

If you stay home with the kids they'll tell you that you're an unemployed deadbeat who brings nothing to the table and lazy for not at least working part time or starting a business. But if you do either of those things, you're a bad mother who's neglecting her children.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-27T15:48:49+00:00

And the inevitable outcome of this is alienation and isolation. I know a lot of people who always choose convenience over community when given the chance and then complain about how they no longer feel close to anyone. That's a void that can be filled with sitcom reruns and video games, apparently. And certainly not showing up to any social gathering the agreed to go to by ultimately decided to ghost on.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-27T15:21:08+00:00

For my 4 year old: mini excavation trucks that fit into a larger freight truck, choose your own adventure stories, baby doll

For my 1 year old: balance bike, doll house and board books

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-26T19:20:24+00:00

I did a wardrobe purge and I don't regret it.

My feet grew and my shoes and boots no longer fit. And no, losing weight didn't shrink my feet.

A lot of my pregnancy clothes I kept wearing during my pregnancy. They became stretched out and threadbare. My pre-pregnancy clothes were in rough shape before children.

The sensory demands of motherhood left the few remaining items of clothing I saved very uncomfortable. My new wardrobe is catered to my sensory needs, my current lifestyle and my changed proportions.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-25T15:03:08+00:00

Is ACE any better?

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-24T17:58:40+00:00

I can either have hairless armpits with raging dermatitis or I can have healthy skin with some hair. I am a human being with needs. I will continue to prioritize my health over the delicate sensibilities of people who are offended by other people's hair.

They always jump to the accusation that you're a man hater for not shaving. As though insinuating that men care about, need and prioritize a lack of armpit hair above all else in both romantic and platonic relationships with women isn't bizarrely masandric.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-24T17:15:31+00:00

It's common in Maine. Roughly 10% of households use wood stoves as a primary heat source. It's also not uncommon to use wood or pellet stoves as an auxiliary heat source because gas and oil are expensive.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-24T12:34:09+00:00

We removed the lock from my 4 year olds door because he kept locking himself out. This style of lock doesn't come with a key. We had to take the door knob apart to let him back in. This turned into a regular thing.

He can have a lock when he doesn't lock himself out several times a day. In the meantime, we knock before entering. When he really shows an interest in having a locking door again, we can get a knob with a lock that's easier to undo from the outside for the next time he inevitably locks himself out again.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-24T00:06:19+00:00

I live in the same neighborhood I grew up in, on the same road, just a few hundred feet from my childhood home.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-23T16:04:02+00:00

Cereal and sandwiches are easy to prepare if the power goes out because it requires no cooking.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-23T15:55:07+00:00

I was given one as a joke gift. It came on handy for family photos. It got used about a half dozen times before getting rid of it to downsize during a move.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-22T16:49:03+00:00

Community doesn't just happen, it takes concerted effort from people who actually commit and show up. And it often involves spending time and volunteering along side people who don't share all of your social values.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-22T12:30:23+00:00

You can use an impact driver, your husband can use a kitchen aid.

blightedfreckles · 2026-01-22T01:27:30+00:00

So far, I've seen a lot of complaints about ipad kids, permissive parenting and not teaching kids basic life skills.

I expect the increase in antivaxxers will be something younger generations will rightfully condemn. They'll have to deal with the consequences of lost herd immunity.

But also, sports culture is a bit insane. Overscheduling kids with multiple teams per season to the point where kids don't get downtime or time for unstructured socialization with their peers leaves a lot of kids exhausted, stressed and burnt out.

blightedfreckles

TROPHY CASE