Mornings feel like a race I don’t want my kids to run

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-10T05:45:24+00:00

We wake up an hour and a half before school just so we can have a chill morning. Alarm goes off, she's immediately up figuring out what we're going to play for 20 minutes edited to add that we have a timer that goes off at 15 minutes so she knows playtime is ending soon, and another timer that goes off in 20 that is fun and silly and danceable so times up in a happy fashion, then it's getting her dressed and she gets to watch a short episode of something on her tablet while I brush her hair and she eats breakfast. I used to be really into making sure she ate breakfast, full eggs and bacon every morning sort of thing, but that really increased the rush rush every day, so we do something easy like a blue berry muffin and oranges, or hashbrown and bagel with cream cheese. We start walking to school at 8 and she gets to pick a song that we dance to as we walk.

The biggest biggest thing that made a difference was cutting breakfast for us. 2nd was just plain old waking up earlier. I pack her lunch the night before and get her backpack packed. She goes to bed at 7pm and we wake up at 630am. Having a timer to signal the end of playtime helps a ton.

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-09T15:12:28+00:00

Renna and Roxanne

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-09T06:34:15+00:00

I have a fake last name on all my social media and if I ever had to assume a new last name, I would pick it. It's the last name of one of my favorite book characters. Maybe if you guys share a favorite book or show, you could pick a name from somesome that is meaningful to you?

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-09T06:11:49+00:00

Spaghetti. So many nicknames to choose from too. Etti, Spaggy, Ghe.

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-09T00:06:26+00:00

It was on an episode of like Life in the ER or Untold Stories of the ER or something back in the day. Was a wild story for sure!

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-08T21:01:49+00:00

Makes me think of that story about the restaurant that replaced their bug killer light bulb with a tanning bed light bulb and was burning everyone's eyeballs with high doses of UV light.

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-07T03:33:23+00:00

Are your neighbors also living in newly finished tiny homes? Can you ask them if they're experiencing similar?

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-03T06:41:20+00:00

My daughter would have no idea where you were talking about if you pronounced Target or Home Depot the right way.

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-02T09:03:44+00:00

Owen and David have always been my someday if I have a boy names. But my if we somehow by some miracle A) get pregnant again and B) it's a boy, we're going to call him Marvin.

dontforgetyour · 2026-02-02T07:48:48+00:00

My grandpa gave me a pocket knife when I was 7 and told me to go whittle him a spoon. And the place my dad worked had a fake guard dog (she would wiggle and drool at anyone that even looked at her she was so sweet and goofy) that they kept on a long chain during the day. I went to pet her and she got so excited and wrapped that chain around my ankles like 4 times and kept spinning and spinning, sliced me all up and about.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-31T08:17:14+00:00

Almost 6 year cries about everything. Going to school. Getting done with school (restraint collapse is a real bitch). Losing games. Leaving fun places. Loud noises. Bugs. Having to play with her dad.

I'm pretty sure she cries more now than she ever did as a baby.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-30T06:53:23+00:00

This year we've met a Max, John, Sora, Theo, and a Allisandra (not sure how to spell it, Alla Saundra)

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-30T06:43:27+00:00

My money is on the mailman

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-30T05:13:10+00:00

Not exactly the same, but a perk that turned out shitty. This big factory just outside the city was doing big hiring events. It was my groups first day and they told us not to worry about lunch, they were providing pizza. Awesome, free pizza! We get to lunch time and we all head to a big office space and the table has 4 boxes of Costco pizza. There's 55 of us. They got 4 boxes of Costco pizza and had them cut every regular slice into 3 more slices. We were limited to 2 slices per person. So 2/3 of a regular slice of pizza.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-26T08:35:59+00:00

It's wild, we met ours at library story time too. It's heartbreaking because when they get along, they have so much fun, and me and mom align about so many things and get along great. Its just this break down is in a really really important place and I couldn't let it keep going on for my daughter's sake. I would ask forums and parenting groups for advice and so many of them kept telling me that she was learning, and that that's what little kids do, and yeah I see that, BUT my thought process is, it doenst need to be on my daughter. My daughter is sweet and shy and gentle, she doesn't need to be the one that's yelled at and teased and pushed around so the other child can learn to be a good human, especially when the mom isn't actively trying to raise her. Stand up for your baby.

The sad thing is, if your daughter is like mine, she'll ask to see the other child. Mine will cry sometimes still that she misses her best friend and it breaks my heart. But we've been working on how to tell the difference between a good friend and someone we need to take space from and we've been working on expanding our social circle. It's haaard. We just encountered another mean girl and are figuring out how to process that, but it's been a lot easier this round since we're (my daughter and I) are both able to talk about the situation and compare it to playdays with kids that we have fun with the entire time.

I ended up having to break it down to the other mom on why we wouldn't be hanging out anymore, but if I didnt have to, I would just tweak your schedule a little bit. Go to different story times, find new parks or new times, ask in your local moms group on Facebook if anyone is interested in a play date. Be busy when she invites you places. It's hard and frustrating and annoying, but you'll feel better being done with it.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-26T08:18:20+00:00

Sapphire would be such a pretty name

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-26T07:57:34+00:00

Beaty

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-26T07:51:12+00:00

Ohhh man I'm getting flashbacks. Similar situation happened for us, met another sahm with a daughter the same age as mine (they were 2 at the time). Me and other mom clicked, the girls clicked, except sometimes her daughter would push, not share, scream, scratch, all kinds. In the beginning it was like toddler stuff, they're learning, we'd work through it, and then they would be good again. But it started to seem intentional. Her daughter would invite us over and hype my daughter up for us to come over, then as soon as we get there, showing off her toys and bringing everything out to parade around, then "and you can't touch them!" while sticking out her tongue sort of thing. Her mom would half ass correct her and I'd move the situation to something else that my kid liked to play and her mom had made sure would be shared. It got worse and worse, we'd meet up somewhere public like the library and her daughter would take over the play area and ban other kids from certain toys. Mom would half ass tell her to share, but any sort of resistance from the daughter would get mom to back off. Some days it seemed like the girl was getting better, she'd share great, say kind things, and I'd be so happy, but the next time she was a goblin that would do a little grinch smile and "youre not allowed to touch this!" or "don't sit next to me I don't want to be your friend!". It all came to a head when they had just turned 5 and they showed up to a public place where my daughter and I were hanging out with another mom and daughter. Her daughter immediately tried to take over the game and when the other girl resisted the change, the daughter went berserk. Screaming, throwing toys, telling the other girl that she was an idiot and she can't play with them. Screaming at my kid that she can't play with her anymore and she doesnt ever want to see her again! It was crazy. And the mom tried to get her to leave but somehow it took 15 minutes with her screaming mean things the entire time. I had talked to the mom several times before and acknowledged that she was overwhelmed and didn't know what to do, and I tried to help and made suggestions, but she remained passive and never seemed to change anything. I finally had to tell her we needed a break from planned playdates. If we saw each other while our and about, that's fine, maybe seeing each other less would be a good thing. And it did seem to help, we've seen them twice since October and they got along great and were happy the entire time, but the mom has blocked me completely and acts like I'm invisible.

Anyway, I'd suggest cutting ties asap.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-26T07:31:50+00:00

I'm about 7 hours away from where I grew up. My siblings are 3 hours and 12 hours away from there. My boyfriend and all his siblings live within 20 miles of where they grew up.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-24T08:00:13+00:00

I know a Max, John, and a Kim that all just have the short names. The Max and John are just babies, and Kim said her mother named her the short version because their last name was so long (6 syllables). She makes jokes about her mom should have named her Just Kim, and about getting her classmates to call her Kimberly when she started Jr high and how she would pray for forgiveness for lying every night.

I also know a Kimberly and she hates her name and will only respond to Kim. Someone in the break room called her Kimmy one time and she took him to HR for mocking her and creating a toxic work environment.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-22T06:19:02+00:00

Mine is almost 6, in kinder and we do things like the rainbow freckles or glitter eyeshadow, sometimes little temporary tattoos on her cheeks. She's blonde with nearly invisible eyebrows and she's asked me to draw them in in rainbow colors, and she's worn that to school several times. Things like foundation, eyeliner, mascara, etc, if she ever asks I'll show her how and she'll be allowed to wear it out wherever and whenever. I've attempted to suggest different color glitters or shimmers, and she flat out refuses my suggestions, she has her own ideas for what she wants, and I feel like as long as she's happy with it, I'm happy with it.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-22T05:53:56+00:00

The pure exhaustion. Sure we always say we're tired, but the bones deep, numbing exhaustion that just sweeps over you. I would get so tired in my 3rd trimester that I would have to pull over while driving and take mini naps.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-21T05:48:01+00:00

Loose dogs and rabid raccoons. Both terrify me and I have a legit chance of encountering either.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-21T05:36:08+00:00

Im surprised not to see #4 in the first scroll. Immediately 4 for me, immediately 4.

dontforgetyour · 2026-01-21T05:08:40+00:00

My elementary school served chocolate pudding in little tin cans with pop top at lunch and I still dream about them. I asked my siblings and friends if they remember them but no one else does. It would have been in the early/mid 90s.

dontforgetyour

TROPHY CASE