I have so many of these stories I could tell but there is one that still infuriates me to this day. Many years ago I worked in a video rental store. In addition to renting DVDs and video games we also sold new copies at slightly inflated prices.

In walks a mother with her son who was maybe 10 or 11 years old. They part ways- mom is looking for a movie, son heads to the new video games. The kid picks out a couple and heads back over to his mom.

Kid-“Mom! BUY this for me!!”

Mom-“sorry sweetie, I only brought enough cash to rent a movie.”

Kid-(death glare) “That’s not my problem.”

Mom looks at the games the kid picked out and tells him they were all rated M and looked too violent anyway.

Kid-“I said BUY THEM!!!” And then he punched her in the arm. Hard.

(Please note that at this point I was ready to tell this lady that if she felt the need to slap prince Joffery here, I swear I wouldn’t call child protective services.) Instead…

Mom-“I guess I could put them on my credit card.”

This was the exact moment my faith in humanity began to die..

What are your bad parenting stories?

Has anyone else had their 7-year-old wear a bralette? I mean those single layer, no padding, short cami style bralettes.

My 7YO isn’t developing (at least I don’t think she is) I couldn’t wrap my head around that happening at 7. But we were shopping and she wanted to try on some dresses for school and I noticed that the raised area around her nipples are visible through the fabric. I’ve noticed it a few times with some of the lighter fabric tops she wears to dance.

She is a little chubby so I think that’s why they look like that? I don’t know though, I was flat as a pancake until I was 17, didn’t even get my period until I was 15.

I get so paranoid that some weirdo will look at that and think she has breasts so I am thinking of having her wear them under her tops. I wore camis under all my clothes growing up, and I kind of feel like this is the same thing. So I bought some super lightweight soft bralettes for her to try, enough compression to hide them, but not tight or thick enough to be uncomfortable.

Am I just being overly aware of this or are the bralettes a good idea?

Throwaway account. My son (13) has recently been showing some very lax hygiene, to the point it was concerning. His overall demeanor has not changed, still his happy-go-lucky self, but he has developed a habit of not cleaning himself properly after pooping. After many discussions, taking away electronics (wasn’t sure if he was just not handling business to get back to games), and having him checked for Crohn’s or IBS after speaking with the Dr and everything coming back normal, she referred us to a therapist.

First appointment was last week and during intake the therapist was asking about family. When she brought up his dad and gf, my son’s demeanor changed. I knew he had had a few blowouts with dad and has started to stay home much more often than he did before 2020, but he just said he liked being home more because I’m off when he’s off from school so it’s easier to arrange stuff with friends and such. We’ve always been much closer than he and his father so I wasn’t too concerned and he knows either myself or my husband will take him to dad’s when he wants to go.

He told the therapist and myself about dads gf and how she “does too much.” When asked to explain what he meant, he told us about an instance where she pushed him to the floor and sat on him, holding him to the floor. He wasn’t sure how to handle that and she refused to get off of him after asking repeatedly. He’s a gentle giant of sorts, stands almost 6′ and about 145 pounds, strong kid that helps one of his coaches doing manual labor during the summer. He said he absolutely could have thrown her off but didn’t want to hurt her because he’s so much bigger so he didn’t fight her back.

He hasn’t said anything else about it, but this story disturbed both me and the therapist. His dad has always had a revolving door of gf’s but this one has managed to stick. They were together for a bit while son was younger and she returned about the time these issues arose a little over a year ago. Dad is a complete narcissist and puts gf on a pedestal so when this is addressed it will cause a massive shit show.

And I am left wondering what else she could have possibly done to my son that I don’t know about and feeling some serious guilt because I was unable to protect him.

My partners parents have been fairly absent from watching or visiting my daughter because we live a 30 min drive from them. His step dad works from home for himself so his hours are flexible and his mom doesn’t work. They have driven out to us a handful of times, my daughter is 9 months old. Recently I decided to make more of an effort to go there because I’m going back to work soon and now that my daughter is more active and mobile they’ve been interacting with her more comfortably.

Today is the first day they’re going to watch her for like an hour and a half so I can grab lunch nearby with my partner.

I wake up to a text from them asking if they can take her to their tennis club for a swim. She is 9 months old. They haven’t watched her since she was 2 months old. We also have a history with them of them not respecting my wishes when it comes to our dog that they used to watch – he would come home and throw up the day after being there because they would let him roam unsupervised in their fenced yard and he would eat bark mulch and other things. We asked them so many times to not let him out there and they refused to believe they were the cause of the issue and just felt that we were being overly dramatic. Even after vet visits.

Anyway, I obviously said no they cannot take my daughter to an outdoor adult pool on one of the hottest days of summer. But it just left a bad taste in my mouth now like I just want to cancel the whole thing. I’m so irritated that they would even ask, it’s the first time they’re watching her in over 6 months!!! I’m just concerned that they don’t appreciate how to safely care for a 9 month old. They have no baby proofing and she’s crawling and pulling to stand. Ugh.

My partner just said no and thinks it’s fine that they asked but to me it just shows how unrealistic they are being about what’s safe and ok for a baby.

Quick rundown of my personal situation:

I have two daughters – 4 and 5.5 -, my partner works from home 90% of the time while I’m a support worker for a woman with late stage Multiple Sclerosis and we’re closing on a house after searching for about a year so we’re in the packing and paperwork stage.

Summer break starts on the 1st of July here, we got back from a week abroad about ten days ago and I am just so done already. My children will not grant me any peace. They are stuck to me like glue from the second I get home until they finally fall asleep well past their bedtimes after many tantrums and tactics to stall.

They get up at 6AM at the latest, we’ve tried reward charts, later bedtimes, special alarm clocks, nothing keeps them in bed longer. We moved my youngest into my eldest daughter’s room because she – the youngest – kept waking up in the middle of the night. This helped for a while but ever since our trip abroad, it’s started again.

From the moment I get home – I mean, I’m in the doorway, still holding my bag -, they won’t take so much as a step without my involvement. I can’t pee on my own, I can’t take the trash out, we’ll be watching TV and they’ll both be at least partially on top of me, asking me 700 questions. Bedtimes are a nightmare. My 5-year-old is clingy, she doesn’t want me to go, I have to stay with her forever, etcetera. Same thing when I leave for work; tears, tantrums, tactics. The 4-year-old seems generally happy but seems to be forever wanting more physical affection.

I love my daughters so very much but I seriously cannot live like this anymore. They’re not like this with my partner, they get plenty of attention, I’ve had the same work schedule for a year now, they don’t seem to be experiencing any stress to do with the move… I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I do know that I’m so constantly overstimulated that I’m losing my temper a lot more than I would like. And then I feel guilty and it’s a spiral of frustration and fatigue. Advice?

Let me preface this with a request: please refrain from telling me “you think you’re tired now!” Or “just wait; it gets worse.” Or “wait until they can x, y, and z.”

Save it. I don’t need that right now.

So my little guy started crawling a couple of weeks ago. He had been scooting for a while, but now he has greater mobility. I’m proud, I’m excited (I promise). I am also exhausted. Now that he can go where he wants, I feel a greater need to hover.

Not only does he crawl everywhere-this is fine, the floors are clean, the outlets are covered, there are no choke hazards or breakable-but he is ready (in his mind) the begin walking. He attempts to lift himself up on any platform he can find: tables, legs, shelves, his bouncer, the floor vacuum, etc. The problem there is that HE IS STRONG ENOUGH TO STAND ON HIS OWN, but he is still learning to balance.

We have caught him several times, but he has slipped surveillance a couple of times when I looked away and fallen backwards.

The whole ordeal has me following him around like a helicopter. I am familiar with the term, but I was hoping I wouldn’t become one.

This leads to the big issue: now that he can crawl and stand, that is all he wants to do.

Naps? No! Sleep through the night like just a month ago? Ha. Absolutely not.

He fights naps. He fights sleep. He is in a new stage altogether, and it feels that I am getting maybe an hour here and there to catch my breath before he wakes again.

Tell me it gets better. Tell me this is temporary. Please. I love him. I’m just tired.