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The Pit Parenting Thread

So far for me, there are good and bad things about every age (though admittedly we're just at 2.5 yrs). I wouldn't say babyhood was better than toddlerhood, just different.
 
My wife was actively rooting against a daughter too. I would have loved a girl for #2 but the benefits of two boys are fantastic. We don't have to buy clothes. Don't have to buy pink clothes. Just great. I have enough friends with daughters and a goddaughter. I'm fine.

Lol, I'm a girl w/ an older brother and other than things that were gifted to us, I don't think I got many new or pink clothes. I wore a lot of primary-colored overalls...
 
I'm not a parent but bmoney's post about being at a sweet spot age has me wondering what parents would say are the best ages and worst ages. Guessing:
best: baby years (if you like babies, this might be worst for some), elementary school years (can do more, don't hate you yet), high school/college (whenever they grow out of the hating their parents phase and start to appreciate you again, if ever)
worst: toddler years/terrible 2s, middle school/high school (bratty, bitchy, want to be independent but still totally irresponsible and depedent, hate you and embarassed by you)

Without fail if my kids are acting up in a public place some older couple will laugh and say, "Enjoy this age because soon they'll become teenagers."
 
1 yr old has start waking up in the middle of the night and is AWAKE. I want to let him cry himself to sleep, but wife always brings him in bed where he just hits us in the face and crawls around happy. Then he is up for good at 5 am.

Any tips?
 
1 yr old has start waking up in the middle of the night and is AWAKE. I want to let him cry himself to sleep, but wife always brings him in bed where he just hits us in the face and crawls around happy. Then he is up for good at 5 am.

Any tips?

Don't bring him in the bed. It will only end poorly.
 
My son is a terrible 2 right now and it definitely sucks at times. Put on his coat to go outside -- crying and freaking out. Change a diaper -- crying and freaking out. Hand him a cup of milk and not water -- crying and freaking out. But, then he'll have his moments where he's cool and fun and it overshadows the bad stuff. I assume in the future I'll look back and only remember the good stuff and not much of the bad.
 
1 yr old has start waking up in the middle of the night and is AWAKE. I want to let him cry himself to sleep, but wife always brings him in bed where he just hits us in the face and crawls around happy. Then he is up for good at 5 am.

Any tips?

My wife has in the past brought the crying boy down to our bedroom and it never works. Like yours, he's usually too excited by the prospect of being in our bed that he doesn't really sleep, or if he does it's a weird sleep where he's hitting me. Thus, the wife and I have an unspoken understanding now that when he wakes up in the middle of the night, I let him cry unless he's sitting up (if he cries while laying down, usually he'll fall back to sleep on his own, sometimes very quickly, sometimes after a couple minutes). If he's sitting up crying, I go up (not my wife) and comfort him while he stays in bed. No getting up. No going downstairs. No visit from mama. I'm usually successful in getting him calmed down pretty quickly, without the drama if mama goes up.
 
1 yr old has start waking up in the middle of the night and is AWAKE. I want to let him cry himself to sleep, but wife always brings him in bed where he just hits us in the face and crawls around happy. Then he is up for good at 5 am.

Any tips?

Our son did that and it turned out he was just afraid of the dark. We put a nightlight in there and he stopped waking up (or if he did, I guess he went back to sleep and didn't wake us up). After a month or two we yanked the nightlight and he didn't notice it leaving.
 
Thanks guys. He's just 1 and has a nightlight. I think I'll try say hey's proposal to the wife and see how that goes. We may also try taking him to 1 nap instead of 2.
 
That sounds like around the age we went to one nap. Also, having Dad do the nighttime checks made a big difference for us as well. Though now we kind of trade off if he does wake up (and it's usually so we can put his blankets back on and that's it).
 
There is possibly no greater difference between men and women then how we check on the kids when they wake up in the middle of the night. Dads basically just check to see if their head is still attached and then put them back to bed. Moms basically fix a full course meal for the kid, read them an entire novel, and then give them the key to the kingdom(parents bed).
 
Truer words, SC.
 
There is possibly no greater difference between men and women then how we check on the kids when they wake up in the middle of the night. Dads basically just check to see if their head is still attached and then put them back to bed. Moms basically fix a full course meal for the kid, read them an entire novel, and then give them the key to the kingdom(parents bed).
Totally opposite in our house. (hence the mett is a good mom tag)
 
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So a different kind of parenting question. Some friends of ours are looking to adopt and would like us to write a letter of recommendation for them. Has any one done this or have advice on what the international adoption agency might be looking for?
 
nothing worse than a teenage girl

no offense

It's science!

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So a different kind of parenting question. Some friends of ours are looking to adopt and would like us to write a letter of recommendation for them. Has any one done this or have advice on what the international adoption agency might be looking for?

might try PMing IAmThunderbolt...
 
There is possibly no greater difference between men and women then how we check on the kids when they wake up in the middle of the night. Dads basically just check to see if their head is still attached and then put them back to bed. Moms basically fix a full course meal for the kid, read them an entire novel, and then give them the key to the kingdom(parents bed).

That was the biggest problem for us. My wife would go up, and she would never come down -- she'd end up sleeping with him in the guest room bed. If I go up, usually he'll just sort of look at me and be like, "oh man, it's dad," and he'll lay back down and go on back to sleep.
 
Yep. That's why they call "Mommy! Mommy!"
 
1 yr old has start waking up in the middle of the night and is AWAKE. I want to let him cry himself to sleep, but wife always brings him in bed where he just hits us in the face and crawls around happy. Then he is up for good at 5 am.

Any tips?

What time does he go to bed and how for how many hours is he napping during the day? He should want to sleep for 12 hours a day so maybe you can adjust his schedule.
 
Our second kid just turned six weeks old. That first month...woof. Does anyone actually enjoy that period? I'm really looking forward to her hitting three months as I seem to remember life getting much easier at that point.
 
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