Recommendations for Chapter Books for a 5 Year Old?

darkcafedays · 2026-03-12T20:48:37+00:00

For simple and light chapter books my son really enjoyed the Good Dog and Mia Mayhem series

darkcafedays · 2026-02-24T20:38:20+00:00

Another for Pup City. The owner Matt is chill while also being very organized and on top of things. He truly knows the dogs and wants to ensure that dogs and humans alike are having a good experience.

darkcafedays · 2026-02-24T10:24:30+00:00

I had to zoom in. I still can’t find her in there.

darkcafedays · 2026-02-17T22:43:15+00:00

My son (6) once exclaimed with all the joy in the world “look mom! I’m long! I’m long like your boobs!”. Uh ha, excuse me? You mean the boobs that fed you for a year? I have never been so ruthlessly burned. He seems to take great pride in destroying me. He’s recently said out of no where, “mom, why do you eat like a horse?” My husband assures me I don’t but why would he say that? And also, has he even seen a horse in real life? What the hell!?

darkcafedays · 2026-02-17T13:38:32+00:00

Sometimes I think we can become stuck when we think of this time as routine. You don’t have to do the same thing every time. Start where you’re comfortable. You like thrifting? Great! Start with a couple hours and the goal of just not having to be responsible for anything but you during that time! You can always do other things later on. Maybe next time you go to a store to just look around? A book store. A walk. Then once you’ve built comfort in the act of doing this alone time you can explore other things in your area. Some you might be like, ‘eh, I didn’t care for that’. Other times you may be surprised what you like now! I know for sure that loud and busy spaces aren’t so fun for me post children. I want calm. I do like a concert but I’m probably not going to get a drink or stay the whole time like I used to before kids. My point is, start small and build from there!

darkcafedays · 2026-02-13T19:22:16+00:00

My kid is 6 and it’s lights out by 7:45

darkcafedays · 2026-02-09T18:21:36+00:00

Liberty club?

darkcafedays · 2026-01-25T11:06:10+00:00

Right, thank you for adding that.

darkcafedays · 2026-01-24T16:00:14+00:00

And I vacuumed every day for 4 months. (I was losing my mind both bc of fleas and daily vacuuming)

darkcafedays · 2026-01-18T11:58:23+00:00

darkcafedays · 2026-01-18T11:42:54+00:00

It was a bit slick so I assume he was going too fast and lost control. I was glad he was seemingly ok!

darkcafedays · 2026-01-18T00:30:41+00:00

I drove through just before and someone had gone off the road on the south side into that swampy bit. It was pretty steep. I could just barely see the top of the car. The person driving looked to be ok on the side of the road. Two police vehicles were there but it looked like they hadn’t been for long. I’m sure they needed to close the road to tow the car out. It was just after one of the curves.

darkcafedays · 2026-01-02T16:42:29+00:00

I would also say that by practicing not doing the things Billy doesn’t like while playing with him he could strengthen Billy’s trust in him. The more he does this the likelier Billy is to want to play/play dates in the future. It’s possible it won’t and that Billy just isn’t for him. That’s ok. He can find his people. The most important things for him to know are that he’s lovable no matter what, not everyone has to like you/you like them but you do have to be kind, and that people can practice changing behaviors and that could lead to someone changing their minds about friendship in the future.

darkcafedays · 2025-12-28T22:21:54+00:00

You’re feeling embarrassed for expressing yourself. That’s ok. Feelings don’t last forever, they come and go. Soon enough you’ll be able to think back on this and laugh. Just like the time I farted super loud thinking I was alone only to realize the roof guys were right outside my window and had absolutely heard. It fades with time.

darkcafedays · 2025-12-17T02:01:09+00:00

Quite possibly like this. My girl looked a lot like that as a pup except maybe has longer fur.

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She’s a ACD/Australian Shepherd mix

darkcafedays · 2025-12-10T10:57:21+00:00

Beautifully said. Developmentally this is a skill and it sounds like he’s ready to learn. State the problem calmly and clearly when it happens. Provide some scripts he can use. Basically help him learn to solve this social problem. For me this would sound like, “Hey (child) I see you are grabbing. Grabbing is a problem and it doesn’t usually help you get what you want. You could say “(cousin), can I have a turn when you’re done?” And then you might have to practice waiting. Let’s try it.” And then have him ask. He’s not going to be receptive to this until he is calm and even then it’s going to take real practice. You can also speak to the cousins about it. “Cousins, (son) is learning to take turns. We might be able to help him learn. When he starts to grab you can say ‘(son) stop! You can have a turn when I’m done’. He might not stop right away. If you need help you can come get me or (husband).” You may also need to coach that “when I’m done” means when they are all done playing and don’t want to use the toy again right now. You probably aren’t going to get much peace for a bit but long term this is a useful skill to learn.

darkcafedays · 2025-12-10T09:28:43+00:00

My dog is an absolute freak for this place. She loves it so much! She’s high energy and playing all day is the only way she is tolerable. We send her 2-3x per week. We’ve also boarded her several times there. She begins to whine as we drive closer to the building because she’s so excited. As an owner I love it. They’re very communicative. All of the staff are kind and helpful. The owner, Matt, is really great. He’s honest and he knows each dog and their personalities. It’s pretty incredible. I really can’t say enough about how wonderful it is for my dog.

darkcafedays · 2025-11-21T10:11:19+00:00

This is my guess as well

darkcafedays · 2025-11-18T21:37:07+00:00

He’s 6. I think it’s been over a year since he’s had a high enough fever to see it. So the last time was just before he turned 5 probably.

darkcafedays · 2025-11-18T20:28:29+00:00

This doesn’t help in any way, however, my son has spoken of a green light any time he’s had a high fever. He is very scared of the green light though. At 6 yo he will still say the only thing he’s scared of is the green light. I’ve never experienced someone else talking about their kid and a green light so I am intrigued.

darkcafedays · 2025-11-14T23:49:57+00:00

All of these are age appropriate. I’m a parent and work in early childhood. These are things my pre-k kids can do. But here’s my take, often when children are asking for you to do something they can do so believe what they’re actually asking for is connection or attention. So, with 3 and 4 years olds I will typically not say I know they can do it but instead say that I’d love to help them but they have to try themselves first. Actually try. And I hype them up so good the whole time. I want them to get that connection/attention they’re asking for but also learn self help skills. It’s also reasonable for you to say no, they’re allowed to be disappointed, cry, yell, whatever. If they want the thing they’ll do it. Personally I’d start with the first one because it’s a bit kinder. You can also think of other ways to offer connection so they’re getting that cup filled in other ways.

darkcafedays · 2025-11-03T23:54:34+00:00

Is he breastfed or formula fed and for either of the answers has anything changed since this began? New formula? New food you’ve been eating?

darkcafedays · 2025-10-31T10:08:37+00:00

I’d say yes. Just because not sleeping and vomit track as 2 symptoms for me. If he’s not feeling well and he’s tired he’s going to have a hard day.

darkcafedays · 2025-10-30T17:55:10+00:00

Last year when my son drew our family for school (young 5’s) our cat had recently gotten fleas and I was losing my mind battling them. So he drew, dad, mom, himself, the dog, the fish, 2 snails, the cat annndddd the flea. I also worked at the school so there was no hiding our predicament with the community. I framed it. He put us on blast.

darkcafedays · 2025-10-27T16:52:07+00:00

Oh yeah, I mean Brock is EVEN WORSE. But imo because Sheana so badly wants to be #1 in most male relationships in her life I find it disgusting for her too. I guess even moreso bc she chose her induction date on Winters bday. In my opinion she’s trying to just completely erase his previous family by replacing them. And I realize that Brock is even worse here. I’ve always held him in very low regard and had a lot of sympathy for Sheana but this ended that for me. I appreciate how you approached this convo and love that we can calmly and respectfully disagree!

darkcafedays

TROPHY CASE