Great post on the “War on Moms” by David Vienna. Want to do something about the injustices parents face? Support MomsRising and become one of their members.
thedaddycomplex:
Dear Everyone:
It seems parenting has re-appeared as a hot topic in the news and not for reasons I would have liked. One stupid comment from a pundit and suddenly there’s a “War on Moms.” One muckraking cover from a magazine and everyone’s parenting style comes into question. One …
Yes, so good! But what about “party here”? One of our favorites has always been to have folks over for dinner and drinks. We invite them over pre-bedtime, let them spend a half-hour or so with the kid, and then we have dinner after the boy is in bed. Allows for both some time to get to know our son, and some adult conversation time. Win-win (and we can have a second drink, because we don’t have to drive!)
thedaddycomplex:
I don’t remember who posted it last night (I went back on my dash early this morning and couldn’t find it), but someone said there should be a list or manual for people who’s friends just had a baby.
Lo and behold! I created one some time ago. Get the PDF, print it out and give it to your friends. Or send them to thedaddycomplex.com/howtohangout. Or just tell them not to be such dipshits.
(NOTE: I just found the post from last night. It wasn’t about how to hang out with baby-less friends… it was late, my mind was foggy. It was misadventuresofbeingamom’s post about how there should be a manual for potential visitors who want to see the newborn. Coincidentally, I kinda wrote one of those, too.)
I’m not parent of the year (close though, I know that’s what you’re thinking) but tooth brushing is a big deal in my house. Last night, for the first time in literally years I went to bed without brushing my teeth (and the awful feel of fuzzy mouth this morning reminded me why I brush every morning and night. Ugh.)
I’ve also always brushed my son’s teeth. But we haven’t been 100% perfect. Some mornings we forget to brush his teeth, and we haven’t yet switched to fluoride toothpaste (he still swallows a lot of toothpaste.) By and large though, we’re doing pretty well.
That said, we’ve been pretty lucky that he hardly frets about having his teeth brushed (he still won’t really do it himself). He went through a pretty difficult phase where he fought tooth brushing seriously. That’s when I asked his dentist for help. Here’s the big tip he gave:
- Let your kids name their teeth: Our son’s teeth are (surprisingly) named Elmo, Oscar, Cookie Monster, and as of tonight Garry. If I say “Garry is dirty” even at his worst, he’d still open wide and let me brush. Our dentist says that kids have an innate sense of social justice, and if they understand that one of their “peeps” is dirty, they’ll want to fix that.
That said, a lot of parents and kids struggle with tooth-brushing. That’s why this article freaks me out! I’ve heard about three-year-olds having five or six cavities, but I honestly thought that was a fluke thing and never expected it to be a trend across the US, and across income groups. I know that tooth brushing can be unpleasant, and I’m all about creating a loving and supportive home environment. That said, a little struggle with tooth brushing seems worth suffering if it means avoiding the drill.
My kiddo has his second dentist appointment Friday…I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he’s remains cavity free!
This video is priceless. I found it after reading this Babble story about a kid who crawled into one of those claw machines and started giving out toys. It isn’t the same kid, but look how deftly she just climbs right into the machine! I must admit that has a kid I used my lanky arms one winter break to fish toys out of one of these machines. Just stuck my arm in the hole and fished ‘em out. A kid’s going to do, what a kid’s gotta do.
Now that the little guy is getting bigger, I’m starting to plan for his first bed. Mind you, he’ll stay in that crib for as long as possible. But, when it is time to get him a bed, I want get him a bunk bed. Maybe it won’t be his first bed (he might sleep on the floor for a while.) Eventually though, he’ll have an awesome bunk bed (or loft bed) like one of these. To follow my bunk bed obsession, check out my Pinterest board.
It has been a while since I last posted. My best excuse (and there are several bad ones) is that I’ve been preoccupied with potty training. We’ve cloth diapered since almost day one of the little man’s life, and part of the reason we did so was the rumor that cloth diapered kids potty train earlier. Based on our experience, this may be true. But, then again I think it really depends on the kid.
While it is nice to have significantly less laundry, let’s not kid ourselves about potty trained toddlers: it is still a ton of work. Our lives still revolve around the bathroom, it is just easier to clean.
Now that I’m officially an “expert” at potty training. Here are my top five tips for helping your kids ditch the diaper:
- Introduce the potty early. We had one in the bathroom for him starting at about 15 months. We’d praise excessively every time he sat on it (regardless of whether or not he did anything.) We’d have story time on it (especially potty themed books) and talk about it all the time.
- Lots of diaper-free time. As we were exposing him to the potty early on, we tried to let him spend as much time as possible without a diaper on. Sure, he had a few accidents on the floor (only pee) but he quickly understood that if he had no pants on, he went in the potty. The trick was then getting him to do the same with underwear on.
- Skip the training pants (for the most part). Our little guy read them as diapers. So even though they were thinner and lighter than his regular cloth diapers, he still would just pee in them over using the potty. While we were in the “bootcamp” phase of potty training, we had a few occasions in which we had to go out. We used the trainers then, but otherwise they really aren’t worth it.
- Let them watch you. When you are trying to get your kid to use the potty, it is critical to give up a bit of your own privacy. We’d let him in the room while we used the potty. Both mom and dad (so he could see how we use it differently.) And for, um, both. We’d talk about the fact that we needed to go, sometimes even saying such ridiculous sounding things as, “I feel the urge to pee, so I’m going to go sit on the potty.” Even if he was to young to feel or understand the “urge” at least he could learn the concept.
- Follow their cues. When we first started the early potty training he loved it and would sit on it all the time, he even had a few happy accidents in which he happened to pee in the potty. But about a month or so in he decided he hated it and would scream if we tried to sit him on the potty. The minute he started doing that we stopped potty time and gave him a break. We didn’t want him to have any negative associations with going to the bathroom. A few weeks later it passed, and we were back to our slow introduction to potties. After several months of just “playing” at it, it was clear that he was ready to go cold turkey (hiding when he did #2 in his diaper, telling us he’d peed/pooped, using the potty regularly). Only then did we decide to do a modified bootcamp: no diapers for three days, and locked ourselves in the house. It wasn’t easy, but two weeks later and he has hardly any accidents.
While we are still frequently tethered to the bathroom, it is so nice to be entering the diaper-free zone. Now if we could just figure out how to stop him from using “I have to pee” as an excuse to get out of time-outs!
Here’s a great explanation from the Daddy Complex on why their family avoids juice for their kids. We are in that camp too. I’d rather our son get his nutrition from food and hydration from water. If you’ve got a juice addicted kid (or you are!) I find that dropping some whole fruit in water helps give it that “juicy” taste. A slice of orange, a few blueberries, or some lemon are all great flavor boosters to help you kick the juice and drink more water.
thedaddycomplex:
A few people asked me to explain my “no juice” thing. To be honest, the boys have had the occasional cup of juice, but:
- We only give them organic or freshly squeezed juice;
- We usually cut it with water; and
- We don’t kid ourselves that it has any measurable nutritional value.
Orange juice,…
My son just informed me that he took a “great big poop” on the potty. I guess it is official: we’ve entered the phase of potty talk. Based on his father, I think this phase will last at least thirty years.
