The kid thread: Planning, pregnancy & parenting

[bean29]

Jul 13, 2018 16:08:19 GMT -5 cktc said:

Jul 13, 2018 15:59:09 GMT -5 bean29 said:

My kids would not speak to me if I acted like that.  Seriously I think you guys are over the top. 

Your kids wouldn't speak to you if you expected to meet their dates? I could see them taking issue if you changed up rules halfway through high school, but dating or hanging out with friends outside of school is a privilege. If you are consistent with rules from a young age I don't see why they wouldn't respect them. Or at the very least pretend to follow them.

No, I’m saying if we made their dates sit through dinner with us a requirement before they could go on a date, they would consider it overly controlling.

We feed everyone at our house, we meet most of the kids friends-even some college friends. I have one through college and one 3/4 done, I must have done OK. 😎. My husband was all over DS about his Girlfriend. We nearly got divorced, DS would have lived with the GF or the friend he lives with now, and probably wouldn’t have finished college.

[NastyWoman]

Jul 13, 2018 16:13:35 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I married both my boyfriends.  I am not allowed to date anymore.

Let"s refine that statement somewhat: the rule is not you may not date. It is that any serious contender will first be vetted by the WIR committee and we do have veto rights    

[zibazinski]

It totally sucks to want to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with you.

[Pants]

Jul 13, 2018 20:20:48 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Jul 13, 2018 16:13:35 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I married both my boyfriends.  I am not allowed to date anymore.

Let"s refine that statement somewhat: the rule is not you may not date. It is that any serious contender will first be vetted by the WIR committee and we do have veto rights    

I feel like our lives would be much better if we could make all decisions this way. 

Having all you ladies with veto power over my life would undoubtedly help steer things in the right direction.

[tcu2003]

Anyone have suggestions for boys’ pajamas (summer styles)? C loves the Disney shorts/shirts sets, but the 8s are super shirt on him. They have one larger size I’ll try, but I’m worried they may be too big around the waist, and regardless, I’ll need to figure out other options when he outgrows that size.

[WholeLottaNothin]

Jul 13, 2018 21:06:48 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

It totally sucks to want to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with you.

It sucks even more to continue on with something that's failing and waste precious time being unhappy.

[geenamercile]

Yesterday ODD, YDD, A, A's daughter, E and I went to the trampoline place.  It was fun, but I so looked like a beach whale getting out of the foam pit and climbing up from the Ninja Warrior.  DH wouldn't go.  Later A and I went out for awhile and left DH alone with the kids.  Today we went to the animal shelter.  I volunteered for ODD and I to go and socialize and help with the animals.  She wants to do it, but she can only do it with an adult.   We also his the 4H farm show and pet smart.  Now we are relaxing at home.  

[Sam_2.0]

Jul 14, 2018 12:30:49 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

Anyone have suggestions for boys’ pajamas (summer styles)? C loves the Disney shorts/shirts sets, but the 8s are super shirt on him. They have one larger size I’ll try, but I’m worried they may be too big around the waist, and regardless, I’ll need to figure out other options when he outgrows that size.

The Walmart near us had a lot of those on clearance. I feel like at that age, though, we just started sleeping in undershirts. Could you get him a pack of shirts a size up from what he wears?

[tcu2003]

Jul 14, 2018 21:34:07 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

Jul 14, 2018 12:30:49 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

Anyone have suggestions for boys’ pajamas (summer styles)? C loves the Disney shorts/shirts sets, but the 8s are super shirt on him. They have one larger size I’ll try, but I’m worried they may be too big around the waist, and regardless, I’ll need to figure out other options when he outgrows that size.

The Walmart near us had a lot of those on clearance. I feel like at that age, though, we just started sleeping in undershirts. Could you get him a pack of shirts a size up from what he wears?

He’s okay to sleep in his regular T-shirt’s and cotton or jersey shorts (he does this when all of his PJs are dirty, or I want him to be quicker getting ready in the morning), so if I can’t find any PJs, I’ll probably just see if he wants to sleep in his comfiest clothes. ;-)

[geenamercile]

Tcu2003- what about boxers?  

Right now ODD is earning phone time by doing math problems.  She finally wrapped her head around the fact that she isn't going to have unfettered access to her phone.       

We are all getting ready to go out for ice cream to say bye to A's daughter who is going back to her dad's today and then on a trip until the start of school.  We are going to miss her.  DH is straightening ODD hair.  He already did YDD.     

I have our trip planned.  It will be just DH, the girls and I.  A will be our house sitter, and keep an eye on E.  The plan is to leave at 8 to head down to Myrtle beach SC on Wednesday.  We will get there and set up camp, stay Wednesday night and Thursday night.  The trip home we are splitting, Friday we are staying over night in Raleigh NC, and visiting the science museum.  Then on the way home Saturday we are stopping at a mine your own gem place.  If things are cool at home we may stop at the ILs Saturday night and then come home Sunday.  But most likely we will just finish the trip home Saturday.  

[Deleted]

Carrot had just been wearing underwear to bed since he was 4 or 5, but, recently he's decided it's a lot quicker to get going in the early morning if he wears whatever clothes he's going to be wearing the next day to bed. 

I just go with it.  I figure he's not really wearing anything that's going to be a wrinkled mess the next day, just a t shirt and athletic shorts most days and he's not wrong...it is faster. 

[Pants]

Jul 15, 2018 11:18:12 GMT -5 geenamercile said:

Tcu2003- what about boxers?  

Right now ODD is earning phone time by doing math problems.  She finally wrapped her head around the fact that she isn't going to have unfettered access to her phone.       

We are all getting ready to go out for ice cream to say bye to A's daughter who is going back to her dad's today and then on a trip until the start of school.  We are going to miss her.  DH is straightening ODD hair.  He already did YDD.     

I have our trip planned.  It will be just DH, the girls and I.  A will be our house sitter, and keep an eye on E.  The plan is to leave at 8 to head down to Myrtle beach SC on Wednesday.  We will get there and set up camp, stay Wednesday night and Thursday night.  The trip home we are splitting, Friday we are staying over night in Raleigh NC, and visiting the science museum.  Then on the way home Saturday we are stopping at a mine your own gem place.  If things are cool at home we may stop at the ILs Saturday night and then come home Sunday.  But most likely we will just finish the trip home Saturday.  

Omg I'm such an idiot. I read this post and thought, "What? You can't to Myrtle Beach in A DAY!!!" 

Of of course you can't. From, you know, my house... *headdesk* 

Hope your trip goes well Geena!

[alabamagal]

One time when I came home from a business trip, I found DS school pants wadded up with his pajama bottoms and underwear. I guess he just decided to make things easy in the morning by just putting his pants over his pajama bottoms.

Another time I came home to find a pair of school pants in the wash with one pant leg totally missing from the knee down. DS said he didn’t know what happened. 😳. Since he still had his leg intact I don’t guess there was any type of accident with an animal biting off his leg.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Does your school district run a FB page or other type of page that has a calendar of events? Does that help you? What are its flaws and what would make it better? 


I'm setting up a FB page for the school district where I work. I'm entering an "event" for each day off of school for this coming year. I'm wondering if it's worth my time to do this. 

[geenamercile]

The county I work at has a Facebook page, but it more for major updates, to be honest I don't check it very often as we normally get the updates in emails or a meeting at the same time/or before it is posted.  I think the school board will post things like the upcoming agenda beforehand too.  Most of the schools have a calendar on their web page for both my work and home district.  YDD school has a Facebook page on their own and have more daily post on it.   

[geenamercile]

I really wish we could just do one thing and not having some type of moodiness/drama happen.  Today 1/2 with having her hair done ODD decided to be done with it and act like a brat.  Well she had 1/2 her head straighten and 1/2 not, it had to be done. Her being a brat put DH in a mood so once everyone else he didn't want to go get ice cream.  He just texted me while I was in the car with the kids waiting for him.  A and her daughter had already left.  I  came in to see what was up, and he made some comment about fine I will come and just be a prop and went and got in the car.  Well when we got to the ice cream place he refused to get out of the car.  So ice cream was kind of blah.  Then we came home.  DH went upstairs to the bedroom.  A fixed a few things on the car we want to take, like the radio, so the trip will be nicer.  Dh and ODD is moping around the house.  A is taking her daughter back, I need to go get the tent and may just hang out at friends house some.  

[Deleted]

Jul 15, 2018 15:25:04 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Does your school district run a FB page or other type of page that has a calendar of events? Does that help you? What are its flaws and what would make it better? 


I'm setting up a FB page for the school district where I work. I'm entering an "event" for each day off of school for this coming year. I'm wondering if it's worth my time to do this. 

Our school is big on social media as a way to communicate with parents.

We have E-News, which goes out once a week by email with information.  Some of this is copied from the district's website, but most is unique to the individual schools.  I think they all have their version of E-News.  Each of the grades has a Twitter account (Class of 2019, for example) that sends out tweets like "Senior Pictures tomorrow."  I'm sure Instagram is in the mix somewhere.

It is interesting that your district doesn't want to use Twitter.  We, the teachers, are constantly pressured to use Twitter with our students in our classroom activities, etc.  Or tweet what our classes are doing with pictures.  The students hate it because they don't like using their personal twitter accounts to do school stuff.  Like when we read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and they were tweeting stuff like "Nothing to drink" or "Gambling for my soul." They swear their parents were going berserk.  Lol.  

If you send me a PM with an email address (school is good since I will be sending it from school), I will forward a copy of E-News to you.  I'll look for an old copy that includes what they do with Twitter Remind.  Remember, though, that we are a huge high school with 2900 students.  

ETA:  Wouldn't you want a calendar for each school?  Do the high school parents care that the elementary school is performing Annie?

[azucena]

Our elementary school uses some kind of calendar app that I can sync to and see the entire calendar. I like that because it makes it easy to schedule things like dr appt etc.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

@bamafan1954, well, someone would have to maintain a calendar for each school. That seems to be something staff want to avoid. Also, we only have four schools, so running one FB page isn't that big of a deal. The district administration is resisting social media and internet access in an absurd and annoying way. Seriously, I can't play videos off of The History Channel website, but YouTube is okay.  This is a big step for them, so I'm trying to do it well enough to show them that the internet is not actually the devil.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jul 15, 2018 16:25:15 GMT -5 azucena said:

Our elementary school uses some kind of calendar app that I can sync to and see the entire calendar. I like that because it makes it easy to schedule things like dr appt etc.

Interesting. I wonder if that would work with a school Google account set up just for that. That's what I was thinking with the FB account regarding parents clicking "going" on the event and being able to know what was happening that day. 

Do you know what the app is called? 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jul 15, 2018 15:28:47 GMT -5 geenamercile said:

The county I work at has a Facebook page, but it more for major updates, to be honest I don't check it very often as we normally get the updates in emails or a meeting at the same time/or before it is posted.  I think the school board will post things like the upcoming agenda beforehand too.  Most of the schools have a calendar on their web page for both my work and home district.  YDD school has a Facebook page on their own and have more daily post on it.   

The principals will send out a weekly email to the staff, but this is more for school-parent-communication. It's amazing to me that the district isn't using mass email through the SIS. I use it out of my classroom to the parents of the 125 kids I teach, but I was seriously the first one to ever do that when I was hired in this district three years ago. 

[geenamercile]

We do have a technology person at each school. My school we have 2. One of them is the testing coordinator too. She does most of the software stuff. The other does more the hardware stuff.

[Deleted]

Jul 15, 2018 16:39:46 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Jul 15, 2018 15:28:47 GMT -5 geenamercile said:

The county I work at has a Facebook page, but it more for major updates, to be honest I don't check it very often as we normally get the updates in emails or a meeting at the same time/or before it is posted.  I think the school board will post things like the upcoming agenda beforehand too.  Most of the schools have a calendar on their web page for both my work and home district.  YDD school has a Facebook page on their own and have more daily post on it.   

The principals will send out a weekly email to the staff, but this is more for school-parent-communication. It's amazing to me that the district isn't using mass email through the SIS. I use it out of my classroom to the parents of the 125 kids I teach, but I was seriously the first one to ever do that when I was hired in this district three years ago. 

Then let me send you E-News.  You could link to it on your district's website.

[WholeLottaNothin]

My son's 1st grade teacher kept us posted on stuff through the bloomz app

[azucena]

Jul 15, 2018 16:37:30 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Jul 15, 2018 16:25:15 GMT -5 azucena said:

Our elementary school uses some kind of calendar app that I can sync to and see the entire calendar. I like that because it makes it easy to schedule things like dr appt etc.

Interesting. I wonder if that would work with a school Google account set up just for that. That's what I was thinking with the FB account regarding parents clicking "going" on the event and being able to know what was happening that day. 

Do you know what the app is called? 

Tandem calendar

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Thank you WholeLottaNothin and azucena!

[Deleted]

Carrot is home safe and sound from his very first scout camp. Despite having to set up in thunderstorms and having ungodly heat and humidity this weekend, he had a great time.  I am so happy!  And I'm so proud of him.  He was the only scout out of at least 50 there that were there that was able to pass the swim test.  I asked what that got him and he said "nothing".  He got a band that said he was allowed in the deep end of the pool, but there is a buddy rule and since nobody else passed...

eta:  This is the kid that was terrified of the water 4 years ago, so being on the swim team and being the only kid to pass the swim test is pretty cool.  Hopefully his intense fear of flying takes the same turn! 

[Pants]

Jul 15, 2018 19:53:17 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Carrot is home safe and sound from his very first scout camp. Despite having to set up in thunderstorms and having ungodly heat and humidity this weekend, he had a great time.  I am so happy!  And I'm so proud of him.  He was the only scout out of at least 50 there that were there that was able to pass the swim test.  I asked what that got him and he said "nothing".  He got a band that said he was allowed in the deep end of the pool, but there is a buddy rule and since nobody else passed...

eta:  This is the kid that was terrified of the water 4 years ago, so being on the swim team and being the only kid to pass the swim test is pretty cool.  Hopefully his intense fear of flying takes the same turn! 

What is the swim test

[Deleted]

Jul 15, 2018 20:39:04 GMT -5 Pants said:

Jul 15, 2018 19:53:17 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Carrot is home safe and sound from his very first scout camp. Despite having to set up in thunderstorms and having ungodly heat and humidity this weekend, he had a great time.  I am so happy!  And I'm so proud of him.  He was the only scout out of at least 50 there that were there that was able to pass the swim test.  I asked what that got him and he said "nothing".  He got a band that said he was allowed in the deep end of the pool, but there is a buddy rule and since nobody else passed...

eta:  This is the kid that was terrified of the water 4 years ago, so being on the swim team and being the only kid to pass the swim test is pretty cool.  Hopefully his intense fear of flying takes the same turn! 

What is the swim test

Before being allowed in a pool/lake at scout camp you have to have been swim tested in the past year.  In order to be categorized as a "swimmer" you need to be able to swim 100 yards not stopping and in reasonable speed.  75 yards freestyle and 25 yards backstroke.   If you can go 25 feet, you're a "beginner".  Otherwise, you're categorized as a "non-swimmer".  

He's got his chips now that are good until next July for any other outings he might go to. 

[taz157]

My DD’s former school has a FB page and also used the ClassDojo app. Between DH and I, I’m the one that used either for DD.

At her new school, her teacher has a FB page and a website. So far, the school itself doesn’t have a FB page but just the school’s website through the county. Otherwise, I think they email things to the teacher if I remember correctly. (We’ll find out more at the end of August during their Open House.)