Parenting - May 2007

I have a friend, 40 y/o single dad with a 6 y/o son, his only child. He has sole custody and gets child support from his ex-gf. She had 3 kids from other dads, but has custody of none of them; not "mom of the year". He doesn't have any college, and he was discharged dishonorably from the navy for failure to show up for duty. He just got a temp job at $14/hr (never made "two digit" hourly wage before), but he is having attendence problems, because his son frequently gets sick and he can't find a babysitter, and daycare won't take a sick kid. He was told in a meeting with his management that his son's doctor excuses don't excuse him personally from missing work, even when he explained that he was a single dad. They gave him a warning, but fired one of his co-workers the same day for attendence issues. Since he is a temp, he gets no sick/vac, but he is paid directly by the company, a union shop. He is not working through a "temp agency". How can he keep his job & care for his son?

2007-05-23 18:49:09 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous

I have a 4 year old son who lives with his mom, and basically her mother watches my son and other kids during the day, kind of like a daycare. Well I got off work early and went to see him, and basically I said joking around, "go fart on one of the kids" My son has a sick sense of a humor but I was only joking. Well he did it and his grandma (his mom's mother) says to her, "I didn't like him telling him to go fart on another kid! See the kinds of things he is teaching him!"

Basically.. how does she know what I'm teaching him? And why is it a big deal, if he's MY son and I was joking anyway?

Do I say something to her?

2007-05-23 18:28:46 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this controversial topic.

I'm not talking children with Cerebral Palsy, Down's Syndrome, or ADD, ADHD. I'm talking children who suffer from the lifelong effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Shaken Baby Syndrome, including irreversible brain damage and serious mental retardation. In some cases brain damage is so severe, the child would never be able to learn right from wrong, according to a doctor.

If a doctor or another pediatric professional told you not to even spank a child of this nature on the buttocks, stating it would get no results, would you take the advice? Or would you just decide to spank regardless. If you choose not to spank, what special discipline methods would you use? And how would outsiders (family, peers, caregivers, etc) respond to your decision. I've been to websites on this matter and couldn't find anything on this matter.

Additional information will be available upon request in answers. Thanks.

2007-05-23 17:15:56 · 22 answers · asked by Sharon Newman (YR) Must Die 7

My son will be in 7th grade next year and today his English teacher called me to ask if I was interested in having him tested for the gifted program. I told her I would discuss it with him and then decide. In the past, when it was suggested to me that I should have him tested, I always ignored it. But now that he is older, I am thinking he may actually enjoy the challenge, especially because English/Language Arts is one of his favorite subjects. There are a few things that make me think twice about it. One being he was in accelerated math this past year, and he hated it. Halfway through the year, his math teacher told me that he didn't struggle with the actual math, he was just lazy and not interested. Now he says that math is one of his least favorite subjects. The other reason being that I was in the gifted program in elementary school and I lasted for one year. I burned out on it rather quickly and chose not to participate again.

2007-05-23 16:55:26 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

that youll never raise your kids like they raised you...

i plan on raising my kids different so0o0 different ..
who else feels like this?? or opose this??

2007-05-23 16:27:48 · 35 answers · asked by **PrinCess** 2

In Australia

2007-05-23 16:23:33 · 4 answers · asked by ce_ben1 5

I fix great, nutritious dinners, and always ask if everyone has had enough...but more often than not whining and moaning ensue before bedtime about "starving". It's the last thing I want to deal with at that time of day. They sometimes literally break down into tears. I think they're just tired, and they interpret it as hunger.
My five year old and eight year old complain the most often, but even the older kids will claim the same thing.
Sometimes I'm really not in the mood to give in, and just send them to bed, but other times it doesn't bother me so I let them have a piece of bread and milk.
What to do? I would prefer to have a system or rule for handling this annoying phenomenon, because I don't want to be wishy-washy. I need consistency.

2007-05-23 16:09:41 · 28 answers · asked by marymary 2

http://cbs4denver.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_143015827.html

I don't think so. I think people that are financially stable and live in first world countries need to have more children. They can give their children more time, send them to better schools, and give them a better life. In fact, I think its selfish of people in these first world countries to not have children. Their ancestors made sacrifices so that their children and grand children would live a better life. Yet these people who choose not to have children take all the good and don't pass it on to the next generation. I don't have children yet, but I would be mad if my children decided to remain childless.

2007-05-23 16:03:56 · 23 answers · asked by Tomsriv 5

If your child sin't old enough to write do you sign your name where the patient it required to sign or leave it blank?

2007-05-23 15:15:08 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-05-23 15:04:30 · 44 answers · asked by Anonymous

my husband has his son 50% of the time.He divorced his ex when tom was just a baby and i have been in his life since he was 2yrs old so this life is all tom knows.But in the last yr or so tom has gotten very jealous of me and wants his dad to himself.Now my husband is the perfect dad and spends quality time with his son alone and with me.But lately tom does not even want his dad to watch tv with me after he goes to bed he wants him to stay with him till he falls asleep.If my husband trys to talk to me about something tom starts climbing all over us trying to get attention from his dad.now my husband spends almost all his time with tom(we never get a babysitter when tom is over we just go out when we don't have tom) playing and doing what he wants. but when we do talk tom will make my husband feel guilty by saying things like "Its my special time with u do something with her when i'm not here" can anyone tell me why he is doing this?

2007-05-23 14:32:21 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous

My wife and i have 3 girls, Parker who is 4 and Taylor & Jordan who are 2ms. I am an only child and so was my father, leaving me to be the last male Rizzionni. I feel obligated as a father to have a son to carry on the name and my wife and i constantly get the comment, "So when are the two of you going to pop out a boy?" Like the three girls we have are nothing. We usually ignor eit, but has anyone else's husband or yourself go through something like this or get this comment? I would love to have a Vin Jr. running around the house but theres still always that chance we end up having a 4th girl...way too many females in my book.

2007-05-23 14:18:52 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous

Hey just wondering when you put kids to bed to u make them knw that just becasue they are in bed it dooes not mean the world stops? Like let them see that u will still be doing your normal things (cleaning cooking whatever) while they sleep and there is nothing to be afraid of or do the opposite because they might think they are missing out on something when everyone else is awake and they have to go to sleep??

2007-05-23 13:25:07 · 5 answers · asked by ce_ben1 5

Ok so I am working on adopting a 14 year old girl who was abused by both her parents sexually, physically, verbally, and just about every possible way. She was abused so bad that she eneded up in the hospital. While she was there we found out that she has cancer. She has been in the hospital for 4 months and I have been with her 24/7 since then. She is very scared a lot of the time, of people, of sleeping because she has bad dreams, and about me leaving her. This causes her to cling to me a lot because I'm the only person she trusts. I'm fine with that but I'm wondering if I baby her too much. I sleep with her when she is scared, I rub her back, I let her be attached to her favorite teddy bear (she has conversations with it) and her blanky... Like today she is in isolation because she had major surgery yesterday. I wasn't able to see her except for a few short visits. Well this morning she forgot were she was and started getting scared that I left her...
running out of space...

2007-05-23 12:38:59 · 43 answers · asked by Anonymous

Okay, I have a problem and want some advice on what to do. Me and my bf (the father of my baby) have been arguing for the past week. When he gets mad he makes me ask him over and over to buy the things our daughter needs. Like for the past three days I have been telling him that our daughter needs diapiers. He waits till she has none, then buys them and takes them to work with him. (Just to make it harder on me to get) I was at school, so my dad goes to get them. His car doors are locked, and he wouldn't come outside to unlock them, cause he said he was busy. I mean it only takes a second to unlock a door, he was just counting money. So my dad has to leave and my daughter still has no diapiers. What I'm trying to ask is, should I just go ahead and file for child support or do you think I should just deal with the childish behavior? I really don't want to, because when we aren't arguing he buys whatever she needs, but when we are it's like he takes it out on her, too.

2007-05-23 11:45:35 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

One thing that I have a big issue with is people giving advice or criticism to someone about a certain situation, when they themselves have no personal experience or knowledge of the situation. Take some of the major topics on her: stepparenting, working moms, stay-at-home moms, spanking, child beauty pageants. If someone has no first hand knowledge or experience on a subject, should they really be dishing out advice or criticism to others about that subject? It is easy to have an opinion about something, but if you have never personally been in a specific situation, do you really have any real knowlege to offer? Take someone who has never been a stepparent, criticising someone for how they deal with their stepkids. Or someone who only knows about childrens beauty pageants from what they see on TV. Or judging someone for being a working mom, when you haven't been in their situation. SHOULD, not CAN, someone really have an opinion, when they have no real experience with that subject?

2007-05-23 11:43:14 · 14 answers · asked by LittleMermaid 5

I am feeling overwhelmed and although my kids do chores on the weekends sometimes, I feel they can do much more now, like dishes, vacuuming, etc. what do your kids of similar ages do?

2007-05-23 09:51:35 · 28 answers · asked by eve m 2

My 2-1/2 yr old twin boys constantly lock me out (of the car, rooms etc)

Does anyone have a similar experience?

2007-05-23 09:44:41 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

The entire point of being a kid is to learn to be an adult.
That's why we show them how to tie their shoes and cook macaroni form the box. Why do so many people vacuum pack their kids from everything. I understand that kids don't need to know certain things before they mature but if you keep them blind from the world you are setting them up for failure.

2007-05-23 07:35:08 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-05-23 07:24:08 · 11 answers · asked by derejrcar 2

I coach little league baseball and every year I notice more and more young boys being raised by single mothers. These kids throw like little girls, run like giddy male hairdressers and cry like babies for their mommy when they get hurt. Its making me sick. Or what is even just as much of a problem. Kids of divorced parents not being able to play every other weekend because they are staying with their other parents. It is ruining our wonderful sport of baseball and creating more little feminine girlie boys. For God sake....If you are going to have kids, at least be responsible enough and love the kids enough to STAY MARRIED. And if you are selfish and try to raise your kid by yourself....KEEP THEM OUT OF BASEBALL!

2007-05-23 07:21:04 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous

I am in a child protection case due to my son's dad making up stuff about me once I left him and now we have the permanancy hearing next week and hes saying if I dont sign to have my rights voluntarily terminated that they will be terminated involuntarily none-the-less and if i choose to have more kids, those kids will be taken from me from birth and placed into foster care... is this possiable???

2007-05-23 07:10:49 · 7 answers · asked by ☆rebel yell☆ 2

I dont have a job, so all our expenses are from my husbands' income. Is there anything I can do for him that wont cost me any money? I feel like if I put a gift on my CC, he's gonna pay for it anyways...Is that ok? or any ideas on what else to do..
Thanks!

2007-05-23 05:53:33 · 16 answers · asked by Laurellamags 5

Is your life more fulfilling after kids, or just hectic? Do you still have time for your spouse? Are you happy? Are you able to find time for yourself? Is the love you feel for a baby really automatic?

2007-05-23 05:27:57 · 36 answers · asked by Anonymous

Im 20 yrs old and my lil sister is 11. my question is whats the best way to talk to her an advise her about life, sex and boys... she's really young i know but she knows way too much... i mean she's a little adult.. i want to talk to her and explaine that everythin has a time because she wants to grow up fast and i want to keep her little inocense... i dont want to scare her, or make her look at me like i got 5 heads... u understand... kids these days want to do everything to impress others... i just want to be there for her!!

2007-05-23 04:38:15 · 14 answers · asked by [[Simply*Genuine]] 2

in the past I have always had my girls get their real dad something for the occasion. This past year he has become verbally abusive, neglectful and has developed an alcohol and drug problem that he hides very poorly from us all. he has supervised visitation that he can take advantage of at ANY time at all, he just needs to let me know he would be stopping by and not show up unannounced, he takes advantage of this maybe twice a month for about an hour. The girls have a wonderful step dad who is definitely getting some fathers day gifts. On one hand I feel as though they should get something for their real dad, but on the other hand I do not want to reinforce the idea that just because some schmuck has the title of "father" that he deserves respect. Their dad falls into that category. I don't discuss this with the girls and if they express interest in getting their dad something I will get him something, but I don't want to bring it up, i want them to bring it up to me. Opinions?

2007-05-23 04:34:32 · 5 answers · asked by ? 6

My daughter is 4 y/o and plays with our neighbors kids. They're 7 and 12 y/o soft boys. But these kids that are 8 and 11 y/o come from down the block by themselves and start playing with our kids. Now the problem is that I don't know them and the kids cross the street by themselves and almost got hit by a car. Where are their parents? How do I go about telling them they have to go home? Again, they're little kids. I just don't know them or their parents. And I don't want them to go tell their parents where they are cause I don't want them to think its ok to report and come back. I DON'T KNOW EM

2007-05-23 03:51:45 · 13 answers · asked by The Gooch 3

Just wondering. When did yours start to swim? Doggie paddle or underwater? Thanks

2007-05-23 03:15:33 · 5 answers · asked by thezookeeper 4

See for those of you who dont know, I just found out not too long ago that i am pregnant. Well i finally told my job and the receptionist has only had rude comments to say to me. She says that im not ready for a baby, when she was my age when she had hers (i'm 21) and she also says that my husbands not ready either ( He's going to be 28) and that I'm just doing this to act grown up and that hes too childish and such. She is no longer with the fater of her child and when i try to point that out it gets worse and ignoring her makes it worse. I really want to tell her to shut the H**L up, but i rather be Professional about it. Do you think that going to my boss about it is being childish? any suggestions?

2007-05-23 01:34:22 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-05-23 00:59:59 · 12 answers · asked by Michell L 1