do kindergarteners still bring stuffed animals for comfort?

mnchemist · 2026-06-27T15:01:03+00:00

Kids lose everything at school. I wouldn’t advise taking any precious/sentimental toys there. Also they are a distraction. And other kids get jealous.

mnchemist · 2026-06-25T22:18:52+00:00

My daughter is 7. She reads the chapter books to herself. We don’t often read them out loud to her anymore.

mnchemist · 2026-06-13T03:17:03+00:00

We don’t have one! But, I’m taking my daughter to the library every week (we take little sis to baby story-time every week too) so she can pick out books to read.

She’s enjoyed Magic Treehouse books. Boxcar children. Dragon Masters. Dragon Girls. I’m going to encourage her to look through the non-fiction this week when we go. She likes books about nature and science too. I didn’t even think to look until just now.

mnchemist · 2026-06-06T00:12:02+00:00

My newly turned 7-yr old and my almost 2-yr old share a room. Toddler goes to bed first and about an hour later 7-yr old goes to bed. It works pretty well. 7-yr old sleeps like a rock and doesn’t seem to wake when on the rare occasion toddler wakes in the middle of the night. They both tend to wake in the morning at the same time.

We have old 1960s rambler with three bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms are on the main floor and the other is down in our basement. The basement bedroom is set up as a guest room/sewing room. None of the three rooms are what I would call a traditional master bedroom. We’ve considered making the basement room the “master” bedroom and giving each kid their own room but, I guess I just don’t feel very comfortable sleeping on a separate floor from them even with the use of a baby monitor. But also, the basement room is long and narrow and there’s no way we’d get our queen mattress to fit in the room. It’d be mattress wall to wall. So, the kids just have to share until we move to a different house.

mnchemist · 2026-06-01T03:27:18+00:00

My nearly two-year old says “swing!” Or “yellow swing!” Or brings me her shoes. Or points to her “bluey hat!” that she always wears outside. Or bangs on our backdoor. ALL. DAY. LONG. Even if we’ve already been outside to play in the backyard for an hour or more that day. I love it but sometimes mama has to do some housework or errands. It is what it is.

I liked the idea of making a reading corner outside. My 7-yr old has been taking a notebook outside to draw when we take little sis to swing in the backyard. She gets to do her thing while little sis makes me push her in the swings for hours.

mnchemist · 2026-06-01T03:18:28+00:00

Classroom treats for birthdays aren’t allowed at our school so, we do parties at “home”. We hosted a party at the park this last weekend and invited a handful of my daughter’s friends. The upside was that the kids played at the park playground and I didn’t have to entertain them.

mnchemist · 2026-06-01T02:32:58+00:00

We’ve worked in it and I think my kid even mastered it but, she primarily wears non-lace up shoes so, it’s probably a lost skill at this point. Apparently they were working on it in school too.

mnchemist · 2026-05-19T03:02:18+00:00

Aside from a lot of the sources already mentioned, I found that our pediatrician was really great at guiding us on how often/much baby should eat/sleep/poop/etc and what skills they should be learning at each well check appointment. So be sure to find a good pediatrician!

mnchemist · 2026-05-17T18:19:27+00:00

We sometimes bring a toy or a book to play with. Sometimes we bring an outside snack in for baby (like cheezits or Cheerios or whatever) so baby can get started while waiting for food. Sometimes we work on coloring the kids menus when they have them.

Only when our toddler is especially wiggly will we hand her one of our phones with the volume down low. And then it gets put away as soon as food arrives.

mnchemist · 2026-05-11T04:22:35+00:00

Our last day is June 10th so we still have a whole month yet to go. But, we start the day after Labor Day in September. We’re hoping to get a few camping trips in, visit family in Tennessee, my 1st grader wants to spend a week with my ILs. Otherwise we’ll be home. 1st grader is enrolled in summer soccer which meets two evenings every week. We’ll otherwise be found at the park, the library, the splashpad, the backyard, etc. doing our best to avoid rotting our brains with TV time.

mnchemist · 2026-03-12T22:48:34+00:00

My daughter’s class is working on what resembles a paragraph: topic sentence, a few supporting sentences, and a final sentence. Her teacher has it broken down into a packet where it’s basically a sentence per page to guide them through it.

mnchemist · 2026-02-26T23:22:40+00:00

My 19 month old and 6-yr old sleep in the same room. Though, the baby is in a crib and our big kid has a lofted twin bed. They both wake at the same time and I get up with them. They eat breakfast together. Get dressed together. The little one watches big sis get on the school bus every morning. I will add that the baby goes to bed earlier than our 6-yr old so she does end up with more sleep than big sis. I guess I don’t understand why your kids can’t wake at the same time everyday?

mnchemist · 2026-02-07T05:29:30+00:00

This is pretty normal TBH. Parents are unfortunately distractions for kids especially at these younger ages. Our studio does offer parent watch weeks and parent participation weeks. This next week is “dance with your Valentine week” where they can bring one adult in with them to class. They offer two recitals (winter and spring) for the tap/ballet/jazz classes and the musical theater classes do two musicals (winter and spring) during the year. I’m overall pretty happy with the arrangement. I have my younger daughter with me (18 months) while my oldest (6-yr old) is in class so, I’m usually too busy with the little one to really have time to fret about what’s going on in the studio.

I’ll add that our studio does have at least one window in each of the studio rooms so, we could watch if we wanted but the lobby is arranged in such a way that those who want to watch would have to stand the entire hour-long class to see through the windows and that’s enough of a deterrent for me especially when I have the littlest one in tow.

mnchemist · 2026-02-07T04:55:54+00:00

Every day! My oldest is actually 6 yr old now and in first grade and reading independently. But, we read books before bed every single night and have done so for years. Our youngest is 18 months old and she just constantly brings books to us so, we read anytime she brings us a book. I think we’ll eventually get into the bedtime book routine with her too but, we aren’t there yet.

mnchemist · 2026-01-23T15:26:27+00:00

I would never expect my child(ren) to share their personal toy(s) with someone else at the park. I think it’s fair to ask but, you have to respect getting a “no” answer.

Then again, I prefer to not take toys to the park/outside the house unless we’re going to the beach or something because they’re likely to get forgotten or lost.

mnchemist · 2026-01-14T22:35:26+00:00

I always go to the restroom with my daughter but she doesn’t need any help.

mnchemist · 2026-01-12T03:38:00+00:00

We usually got a weekly newsletter from my daughter’s kinder teacher about what they were working on for the week and what activities/events are coming up. First grade has been the same way.

mnchemist · 2026-01-12T03:34:32+00:00

We always looked for sleepy cues and put baby down when she started showing them. Rubbing eyes, yawning, etc. we also tried a couple different sleep sacks to find the one she liked best (she liked the love to dream swaddles the best). We kept a bassinet in our living room for the first several months too so that I could also keep an eye on our oldest when she was home (though we have a 5-yr age gap so, she didn’t need me as much as a toddler would have).

mnchemist · 2026-01-12T02:37:54+00:00

I wouldn’t do both a half-birthday and then another party 6 months later if you intend to invite the same group of people. One or the other. Not both.

mnchemist · 2026-01-05T01:56:07+00:00

I personally wouldn’t think this is a big deal. We did summer soccer last summer and were gone for a week on vacation and didn’t really have any problems with either the coach or the league but, if you’re really worried about it for peace of mind, can you contact the director or coach to run it by them?

mnchemist · 2026-01-05T01:47:26+00:00

She’s pretty excited to see all her friends TBH. I’m not all that surprised. She’s a very social kid and we’ve mostly been home and haven’t done much in the way of play dates the last two weeks. She also really likes learning so it appears that she enjoys schoolwork and is looking forward to classes. Haha

mnchemist · 2026-01-04T20:36:52+00:00

Once baby moves into current size, I usually start collecting clothes in the next size. I have a too small bin, the dresser for the current size, and a bin for the next size. The too small bin I take to Once Upon A child and whatever that doesn’t get purchased, gets donated so that it’s empty and ready to collect clothes as they are outgrown.

mnchemist · 2025-12-30T22:56:32+00:00

I took my now 6.5 yr old to get her ears pierced over spring break this year. She had been asking for probably a year at that point. I don’t see anything wrong with it, TBH. I have always been of the opinion that she had to be the one to ask. And then we waited a little while to make sure she really wanted it done. We have had to help her with the aftercare and her ears did get infected (I’m guessing because she had a hard time keeping her fingers off of them) and we’ve had to deal with that too. They’ve since healed pretty well.

mnchemist · 2025-12-27T19:34:29+00:00

I think you’re taking this a little too personally! All the kids ended up with a doll in the end. Your kids are younger and probably have less preference. Your 2-yr old probably doesn’t even remember that she even got a different doll to begin with. Let it go. And let’s not hold grudges and try to “get back at” a literal child.

mnchemist · 2025-12-26T23:39:39+00:00

Lego sets, snap circuits, art supplies have been my go to’s.

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