Regret

I love my baby and would give my life up for him if anyone had a gun to my head. Not even a second thought. But I'm 24, gonna be 25 in just a couple months. I didn't get a chance and will never get a chance to experience my 20's. I regret it. I got married at 19. Had my baby at 20. I'm just done with everything. My toddler disables me. Any time I want to go out, or I'm invited somewhere.. I just think "what should I bring for him. Is he gonna be okay? Is he going to tire out or be overwhelmed? Should we bring something to entertain him? Will he be fine sitting there? (Probably not but it's a nice thought). He'll probably break something while we're there. What am I going to do if he breaks something? What if he wonders off without me noticing??"

I don't leave my house because of him. My husband thinks I should get out more and that I shouldn't let my fears stop me from leaving the house.

But every time I leave with my son... I immediately get anxious and am ready to go home.

I don't like having a child near me. At all. I don't like children. I can't stand to be around them. And children piss me off. But I have a little 4 year old boy. I love him more than life itself... I just wish I had waited...

But I know, that if I had waited.. I wouldn't have gotten my little Micah 🥹

My husband tells me that I need more female friends but it's hard when all the people we know don't have kids. Plus. It's hard for me to get along with women. (I was raised as a tom boy.)

In the end.. I'm just having a hard time. I feel so alone. I need help.

Please... Can y'all help me???

in our community

MIL - what would you do?

My MIL and stepdad spoil our 2.5 year old. My partner has told them multiple times not to but they don’t listen. It’s got to the point where if my daughter gets given a gift and it’s not in the right colour she’ll ask for a different colour, if she doesn’t get it she will have a strop or ask for it in the colour she’ll wants.
She gets gifts every week, I mean bikes, trampoline, playdoh, football, you name it. But we never get consulted about it. I feel like she wants to be there all the time and I’m less than. She is turning into a bit of a spoilt brat if I’m honest 🫠 we’re always bad cop at home saying no.
His MIL has her twice a week and has done since I went back to work. She wants to come round either Thursday or Friday night to see her and on a weekend as well, but now I don’t really want to be around them or limit the interaction because it’s excessive.
She doesn’t seem to want to see me or her son or our newborn, just obsessed with toddler.

My mum also recently passed so I’m in a real difficult position in regards with what to do/ not seeing her as I feel bad.

How often would you see them/ what would you do?

Grandparents not following our no screen time rule.

Our little boy is looked after by my in laws once a week whilst I’m at work. I was initially going to put him in nursery for my 2 working days but my in laws insisted that they have him for 1 day. He is their only grandchild and wanted to spend extra time with him.

I am very grateful that they have him and they are excellent grandparents to our little boy. However we do not allow our 2.5 year old to watch any TV at home. My in laws have started to show our son TV shows whilst at theirs (Peppa pig, Paw Patrol and Bluey etc) I have asked them to stop as it’s causing issues at home. Our little boy is getting upset when I tell him that he cannot watch these shows at home. This is leading to meltdowns and tantrums. Prior to this, we had none of these behaviours.

I have tried speaking with them multiple times but they keep letting him watch these shows at theirs. They have said that he gets upset when he cannot watch them.

Should I put my little boy in nursery for 2 days a week and not with his grandparents? How can I make them respect my parenting choices?

For context, my husband had also been involved in all of these conversations.

Working in childcare

Calling all people who do/have work in childcare, how do you go about getting started in the career? I have no prior qualifications or experience relating to childcare apart from I have 2 of my own kids haha but it is my dream job honestly. I would start an apprenticeship but the issue I have is that my kids are 2.5 years and 6 months and neither are in nursery currently 😅. I’m due to go back to my current job in September but I’m hoping to get into the childcare sector by then or at least by the end of the year, can I start at a nursery part time without an apprenticeship or qualifications? I’m so eager to get started but idk where to start 🤣

What would you do?

I live in a small town and one of the shops has recently put a golliwog doll in their shop window. I went in and explained to the woman who owns the shop how offensive they are. She basically laughed, called me a snowflake and told me to get out.
What would you do?

Going out

What should I do if my boyfriend is always wanting to go out late at night drinking with his friends but I can never go do anything because I am home with my daughter. There has been an incident where I let him go out with friends, and I told him to be home by midnight, but he didn’t come home till 6 AM and then one night he was working till like 9 o’clock and then left me on red and went to go hang out with friends and drink again didn’t get home till one and now tonight at 11 o’clock. He asked if he could go out drinking with friends and I told him I really didn’t want him to go, but he said he would be home by 12:30 and he’s always saying you’re just getting mad really for no reason but I’m always stuck at home and can’t go out with friends because I’m either at home or I’m working

Are my feelings valid?

I am 25 days postpartum with my first. My husbands job normally has him traveling but I thought when we knew we were due he would try to not go out of town in the first month. Tomorrow he leaves for a week to another state. Am I over reacting by being upset and overwhelmed?