Recently moved to Orange!

Looking for a reliable babysitter for my 10 year old son recommendations are greatly appreciated.

in our community

Cancelling Easter…

So my step son (11) lives with us full time we’ve started with an issue of him stealing little stuff from school, taking his brothers clothes from his mums here without anyone knowing ect but now
He’s also got the habit of taking chocolate and crisps out the kitchen to the point of he’s eating all my 1 year olds snacks like the 6month+ wafers and then he’s got no snacks. I’m buying loads of stuff to last us the month and he’s going through them within less then a week 🫠 (he never gets told no to snacks either unless it’s just before a meal then he gets told to wait until after hes ate)
He has now gone through all the chocolate we hid for Easter that was also his two little brothers and he’s gone through the stuff my mum brought round for them. So now iv got just over a week with hardly any money to try and get all the Easter stuff back. We’ve sat and spoke about it and why he feels like need to just take and we get a “i don’t know” or “it’s just snacks”

My thing is should I re buy him Easter stuff or leave it as a “you’ve already had you Easter early behind our backs” he’s not missing out completely because he has Easter at his mums but I feel like there’s nothing more we can do other then put locks on cabinets so he can’t get in them but that’s just stopping him from getting to the thing he wants not necessarily him learning 🤷🏻‍♀️
My partners just in that “can’t be arsed” “just replace it” where we have 1 child together and 2 step children and a baby on the way so just constantly going out and replacing stuff really isn’t happening ☹️ he’s agreeing with not giving him anything for Easter but I feel guilty about it but he has teqnically had his Easter + more…

We have also spoken to his mum about it and she just says she has locks on the doors and she did it as a kid and laughs about it which just feels like shes validating what he’s doing.

Sorry for the rant just wanted to see other people opinions and views as I feel so guilty to cancel Easter for him but at the same time we don’t have the money to re buy everything he’s gone through 🫠

Weaning

My baby girl is almost 7 months old and we've been trying to wean her for a month, but she refuses to eat the food she'll play with the food and maybe if we're lucky suck on some of it. Am I doing something wrong or is this normal

Just a rant

Being a primary parent sucks sometimes.

I love my daughter more than anything but I feel this world is not built for primary parents.

I work from home (thankfully) part time. My partner works full time but he's in meetings or calls all day.

My daughter has a medical condition which causes her to be sent home from nursery frequently. So it isn't unusual for me to be working, parenting, cleaning and cooking all in one day.

I'm exhausted. I can't have any more dependants leave because I'm only a couple of more incidents away from a disciplinary. We aren't in a financial position for me to quit work either.

The world wants more babies, but isn't prepared to support mothers or primary parents. It sucks.

Feeling guilty for resting

This may sound silly but if I ever get a chance to ‘rest’ or have 5 mins to myself i have this guilty feeling that i should be doing something baby related? Am I the only one?

I have always been quite an organised person so when it comes to babies nap time I don’t usually have any tasks to do. For example, he’s having a nap right now and I’ve made myself a cup of tea and sat down on the sofa, and I feel like I shouldn’t be doing this. Am I being silly ?

Is yogurt enough breakfast for a 7month old?

I'm really struggling with weaning and feeling like I'm failing my child.

I've always just been a cereal for breakfast skip lunch kinda person.

If you have advice or easy ideas please drop them below.

I'm also struggling with PPD so I'm really struggling with motivation when it comes to cooking etc.

MIL making me feel like I’m not doing enough

Just wanting to rant/ see if I’m feeling touchy!
Since my LO was born, we have suffered with extreme reflux which is now getting treated and has improved so much. I have massively struggled with PPD/PPA. I feel I’m constantly running on fight or flight (like the most of us probably). However, I’m getting comments from my MIL that makes me feel as if I’m not doing enough for my baby.
Due to his reflux and my personal issues, I haven’t wanted to take him to baby classes/ leave him with his grandparents.
She will make indirect comments to my LO ‘is mummy ever going to take you to a sensory class’
‘You want a sleepover don’t you’
‘Mummy and Daddy need a break from you’
These are just a few comments that I can remember/ stuck out to me.
I take him out pretty much everyday either to the shops on a walk or I’ll go to a coffee shop/ lunch with my friends and own mother. - I feel quite accomplished when I do this as it is quite hard for me to feel up to leaving the house. I do sensory etc with him at home and entertain his wake windows.

Just to add! She is very much involved in his life so I don’t think she feels left out as she will herself take him on a walk, look after him for an hour.
I now feel up to taking him to a class as he seems happy to lay on his back so I booked one for next week and happily said to her today that I have booked one! Which I am rather proud of myself for doing. I was given a comment ‘finally’.
Sorry for the long post! Please let me know if I’m being slightly dramatic!