One week 'til Elf on the Shelf is over

Giving up a kid for adoption is extremely challenging for everyone involved – mainly for the child and the parents. It is not something anyone would be able to understand. The decision to give up a child is final and cannot be reversed, so parents who decide to go through with that need to be 100% sure that is what they want, which seems to be almost impossible. For the parents in this Reddit story, it really was impossible, so they gave up their daughter while still fully believing they would…

Until what age is it still appropriate to call someone a ‘kid’ and use it as an excuse for their bad behavior? While it might count as a cute nickname, allowing someone to act like a kid should be restricted to a certain age period, and after that, it should definitely not be considered cute anymore. Picture this scenario for example – A ‘kid’ decided to prank his father by covering all his work and office supplies with duct tape, and essentially ruining important documents that his dad needed…

Giving birth is a major medical event . Sure, millions of people do it, and some people do it with very little medical interference, but it's still a big deal. You're in an immense amount of pain and discomfort, and it takes every bit of energy you've got. Not to mention, it's a visceral experience. Your body is doing things it has never done before. All that to say it's understandable that you would be choosy about who's in the delivery room when you're getting it done. Common sense says it sh…

11-year-olds can't play with dolls now?

Commuting to work is a necessary evil that most of the working world has to deal with. Aside from those lucky remote workers, most of us have to figure out a way to get our behinds to the office and back every single day. If you're especially blessed, you might live within walking distance from your job. But most of us either have to drive or use public transportation to get where we need to go. It might not be a fun part of having a job, but it is a necessary one. And the thing with jobs is th…

Choosing a baby name is no easy task . You want to strike the right balance of pleasing, interesting, and most of all, respecting your child and their future endeavors in the working world. I'm all for off-beat names, but you can only go so far before you're making life hard for your kid down the line. Remember when Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter “Apple” and everyone freaked out? Boy, how far we have come as a culture since then. Now Apple seems like a comparatively normal name compared to…

It's not right, but it's also not legal...

"So if there are any parents reading this story, please keep an eye on your children..."

No free meal this time

Lives change

Family dinners can bring out all kinds of clashes within a family unit

Poor baby

Children need positive reinforcement . If we were never told we're good at something, or that our efforts paid off, we might never follow up on our interests. Sure, there's such a thing as over-praising or infantilizing, where we over-blow our children's achievements, thus giving them a distorted sense of reality. This can be a fine line to walk. But when your child genuinely accomplishes something worth praising, it is our job as parents to praise them. Even if it means putting a little more w…

Parental guidance suggested

"She’s since brought it up multiple times, saying I’m ‘hoarding toys from actual children’ and making her feel unwelcome."