Articles & Expert Guides on Toddler & Child

Medically-reviewed expert guides, tips, real-life stories, and articles on Toddler & Child

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From the community

I don’t think my BD is my person and I’m terrified

We met a few years ago and got pregnant about 6 months into dating unintentionally. But when i was pregnant we were still doing good and everything was fine. However, I feel like post partum everything feels different. He doesn’t really talk to me about much anything, I don’t feel like he’s attracted to me since gaining pregnancy weight, he makes snooty comments about money and how I need to pay off my student and car debts before he would marry because he’s not marrying debt (everything in his life was fully funded by his parents who seem to always come before me). And maybe my biggest beef is he just isn’t that into being a dad. He’s attached to his phone 24/7 even when our son is trying to get his attention and it really just grosses me out. How can you not want to interact with this hilarious little man? He doesn’t do activities with us like go on any outings, the pool, the zoo, etc. I just go alone. My sons not missing out on life on his account.

All of that to say I am so confused and terrified and I don’t know what to do. I am heartbroken and terrified of the idea of my son having split parents. I never wanted that. But I also don’t feel like we are the right match at all.

I’ve tried talking to him about the things that I don’t like or that feel hurtful to me and he goes on the defensive. Ive brought up therapy (i go every 2-4 weeks) and he said “why would you even ask me that? Because I’m just the f***ed up one and need therapy because IM the problem?” I don’t know what else to do but my soul hurts a little more every day. He’s not always terrible we have some good times but our priorities and wants don’t feel aligned at all for what our life looks like.

Has anyone been there? Do you regret staying so long? Do you regret leaving? Is your baby still fine and happy with separate homes? Do they mature at all and it gets better? Our son is 18 months.

Does this schedule sound too full for a 7 year old?

School starts the 10th or September, season for dance and gymnastics starts after the 14th.

Monday - theatre/puppetry class
Tuesday - therapy
Wednesday - gymnastics
Thursday - open~
Friday - choir practice
Saturday - dance 9-3pm
Sunday - church/choir

Am I wrong for wanting my husband to back me up with his daughter?

My 9 year old stepdaughter is becoming quite the challenge. She is very rough with my 14 month old and I’m constantly telling her to stop doing things that could hurt my toddler. Yesterday, my toddler did what toddlers do and playfully hit my SD & her reaction was to headbutt my toddler. I corrected her immediately. We had guests over when it occurred and they just looked at me like woah that was crazy. After they left, I mentioned it to my husband in front of sd and she responded “no you saw wrong” to which my husband pretty much just shrugged and said nothing. I replied I’m not about to do this and got up to walk away since it’s absolutely disrespectful of a child to basically call me a liar at something I witnessed.

While I was upset my husband looked at me and said say something to her, which is what I was doing when I mentioned it.

Am I wrong for feeling like the moment she tried to say I saw wrong was when he should’ve stepped in to correct her and set her straight? He ended up doing so only after he and I argued about it.

It’s almost as though he just wants me to parent her and that’s not cool. I have my own bio son who is 14 and would never allow him to think it’s ok to lie and disrespect my husband. He thinks it’s because he bonds with him more than I bond with her. But it’s like no, I’ve parented him to know better. And I do bond with her. I do her hair, I just bought her a period kit to bring to school just in case as she said her peers have started theirs. But it’s truly hard for me to get close to her since she’s constantly lying about things I see her doing, doesn’t listen and makes me repeat myself a million times and is unsafe towards my toddler.

It’s creating a wedge in my marriage and I truly feel the drift.

My husband changed his phone passcode

He changed his passcode in his old phone, which is very strange. Never once I have I ever changed my passcode. I tried to check his laptop history and it was all deleted.

iPad for a 2 year old?!

I’ve just found out that my MIL has just bought an iPad for my daughter for Christmas. She hasn’t asked us if it’s ok or if we would want her to have an iPad. I’m absolutely fuming because I don’t want her to have an iPad yet but my partner is being very unbothered about it. He agrees she should’ve asked but said she can just use it to watch movies like she does on our phones. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to give her an iPad at age 2 and that we weren’t consulted.

What do you think?

I've talked shit about my husband on here before so let me shit on me as a partner for a minute.

My husband always has to go in to get the families slurpees because I get nervous holding a drink tray (I dropped a drink tray as a kid).

He always takes out the garbage because I gag.

He cleans out any food in the fridge that isn't brand new because I will gag.

I'm the only one who has ever clogged our toilet and he had to unclog it because I somehow couldn't.

I make him call places because I worked on the phone for a living (so I hate it), I get really nervous, talk too fast and no one ever understands me. (I called somewhere the other day and they thought I was saying shoes when I was saying tooth).

He usually reads paper work to me and I also read it for myself because it stresses me out and I convince myself I'm too dumb to understand (even though I read perfectly fine). He also fills out paper work.

What else should I add?

I have a 11 month old daughter who is a chunker she loves to eat and idk if this is enough 😩

Anyone else just losing it with their partners??? Mine gets frustrated when our baby cries and obviously needs him when he’s gaming sometimes. I get that we all need our own time but I am in the literal toilet and he’s getting grumpy -

Because she’s crying and he can’t play his game?? I fucking hate men. What is it with them?! Why are they all so selfish. I’m 3 months PP and I just feel like I’m so unhappy and grumpy all the time now. When does this get better???

SPINACH

My 16-month-old boy didn’t like spinach today—it was his first time trying it. 😅 I just boiled it and served it with sweet potato and lentil sauce. He happily ate the other two but gave the spinach a big NO! 😂

Of course, I’ll keep offering it to him, but I’d love to know how other moms make spinach more enjoyable for their little ones. What recipes or combinations have worked for your toddlers?

Thank you! ❤️

advice (long one)

there’s a lot of things that my partner says i don’t do like he said yesterday when have i ever considered him before making a decision, to which i answered i don’t know, what kind of decision.. what decision requires me to consider him only if i go out somewhere.
he says i don’t care if i let him sleep or not when, (he sleeps in the afternoon when the kids are awake we live in a flat which means they’re confined to one room for most of the day just so he sleeps which makes no sense to me and for them is impossible they wanna play in their bedroom where their other toys are they wanna run up and down🤷🏽‍♀️)
he says i don’t respect him, he says i don’t love him i only love what he does for me,
he says i’m selfish and inconsiderate because he might ask me to do things for him and i dont do it or i forget because i am forgetful..
i dont cook food for him that he likes to eat(he eats african food).. he says i dont do anything for him,
ive been bleeding for a while from contraception but sex has always been a problem where he says i dont always do it when he asks, but when i want to do it,he does, even if he doesn’t want to (which i say he doesn’t have to)
i feel like there’s a lot of times where in a relationship the man is the problem, but I feel like this time it’s mainly me and I’m not sure exactly how to fix it. like maybe i am the problem maybe i’m too young maybe i don’t know how to love and respect and care for a man but surely not, i just am confused
am i with the wrong person or do i just need to love him better, does he need to love me better so im return i will change too.
maybe its because he works so much maybe it’s just that I don’t feel like I’m getting enough time from him enough support and care from him but he could say the same too, i think we prioritise different things like he prioritises work over everything and making money i prioritise family, and quality time spent together, or with our kids and he would rather not and would rather do those things “when he’s rich”