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The more products that Apple makes, the more I seem to buy them, apparently. Personally, I actually prefer a PC with Windows, but since I switched to a Mac at the beginning of law school, I’ve slowly been learning how to use a Mac.
Anyway, all of the Apple products I’ve been accumulating need to be charged, and I like the idea of having a designated place to charge the things I use frequently every day.
Since starting to work from home, my husband and I have a constant refrain, “Where are my AirPods?” Having a landing station for them is essential for not misplacing these darn tiny things.
The charger is $99 at Target. Power Pad 3-in-1 Wireless Charger
Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
Anon says
for those of you with two toddlers – how do you handle when you are solo and both are having major tantrums? last night was the first time in a very long time that i was solo while both of my 2 year old twins were really tantruming at the same time. honestly, they rarely have tantrums at the same time. i last remember them both being so upset simultaneously when they were babies and were hungry and easily appeased with a bottle. i feel like all of the strategies i read about involve talking to a kid individually but there is only 1 of me, 2 of them and they each have different style tantrums about different things
Anonymous says
I just leave them to it! Into their cribs they go for safety and I walk away
Anon says
I don’t have twins but I have a two yo and four yo. They rarely tantrum at the same time, so I try to give myself grace when they do. I usually alternate between them to give them each some love and support. But I also let them work through it more on their own.
I do think this is addressed in Siblings without Rivalry. But I read it awhile ago (and need to reread it now that I actually have two kids that engage with each other).
Anon says
I usually work on getting one kid calmed down first, whoever I think will be easier to deal with. I will sometimes just let them both scream and go on doing my task and usually one will chill and I can then focus on the other one. (This is for things like when they’re screaming about the injustice of having to take off their shoes and wash their hands before lunch, so I choose to keep getting lunch ready and letting them sort themselves out. But my twins are 3.5, not 2.)
Anonymous says
If they’re both having tantrums in the sense that they are being irrational toddlers screaming and kicking about nothing, they’ve just gotten into that self-perpetuating cycle of being worked up….
Tell them each that everyone needs some time to calm down, put them each in a safe place with a stuffed animal or blanket or something (no hard objects, they might get thrown), ideally not in sight lines of each other, and you separate yourself from both of them. Check in every few minutes, and wait for it to blow over.
Anonymous says
We have made the decision to keep our 2 and 4 year olds home this year. This is mainly because we have flexible jobs, family help, and concerns about the health risks. What is killing me is the thought that our four year old will suffer socially and developmentally by missing his pre-K year. For others who have made the same decision (or who just have information on this), how are you handling this? Are the social/developmental losses overblown if the child otherwise has family support at home? Have you thought of any ways to mitigate those harms? We are doing playdates but our options are fairly limited because my mother watches our kids and is high risk.
Anonymous says
I feel like your post implies that pre-pandemic your kids were not at home? If that is the case, I’d think your 4 year old has already learned much of the social development that comes from pre-K. If that’s not the case, I wouldn’t worry about it anyway.
Anonymous says
I disagree. It’s better than nothing, but a year and a half is a long time and social and developmental skills can definitely regress.
OP says
Yes, they were both in daycare since 3m old.
Anon says
so my kids are younger and i am not an expert, but i would try to reframe this a bit. there are many successful adults who did not complete pre-k for a variety fo reasons. i had a friend as a kid who had a childhood illness and had to sit out the entire pre-k year for health reasons, and became a well adjusted kid and then adult. i also know of nomadic families who didn’t start formal schooling until K. your child has a sibling and is learning to take turns, wait, etc. in terms of “academics” I think you could easily take care of that part. your kid is also getting this gift of all of this extra time with grandparents and siblings. i like the busy toddler mentality of that all learning doesn’t have to take place in a classroom. maybe the K adjustment will be a bit more rough for your kiddo, maybe it won’t – there will be no way to know if the adjustment would have been challenging anyway.
ElisaR says
i agree with all of this!
OP says
Thanks, I appreciate this. I think what’s hard for me is that I would have never considered skipping pre-k before, not in my wildest dreams. So this feels drastic.
rakma says
We kept our youngest home from Pre-K, for similar reasons. We also choose full-remote learning for our 1st grader. Here’s my thinking on this–I do think they’ll be able to ‘catch up’ on the social side. When we’re comfortable with it, we can throw ourselves into playdates, sports, and the the other things we chose to put on pause right now. We’ve loosely adapted a Pre-K curriculum, so there is some structure to our days, but it’s a lot of play dough and riding scooters,
Basically, I’m counting on being able to make up for the loss in social or developmental areas, because I can’t make up for the medical ones should we be exposed. I’ve already lost a relative to COVID so I may be more risk adverse on that count than others.
Anon says
We’re keeping our 3yos home for similar reasons. I figure they’re getting some social interaction from their sibling, but their ability to share/interact with other kids has definitely gone way down since they left daycare in March. I’m kind of at it is what it is and hopefully next summer they’ll be able to build their social skills back up again.
ElisaR says
my boys are 2 and 4 and we made the same decision as you. They are now home after daycare since infancy. i share your concerns! we are trying to address by having a regular playdate at a park with another child who is in the same situation. the boys are definitely interacting more as the age and playing together – it is so sweet. like another commenter said, there are plenty of kids who go to kindergarten without having attended preschool. The fact that these children have been to some preschool (even if it’s awhile back) encourages me. we are also trying to get together with cousins who live locally (i am comfortable with the precautions their family takes too). no easy solution…. but commiseration!
OP says
Thank you! Good luck to you as well!
Anon says
Are there any extracurriculars you think would be safe and could sign up for? Outside soccer, for example? That would give a little social interaction (for the older one – for the younger I would not worry at all).
I agree that overall this is a concern that feels big in the moment, but will not lead to any long-term ramifications. They have each other, and they have a lot of time with their parents, and those are HUGE benefits.
anon says
My 4 yo is also home from pre-K this year. I know she’ll be fine because she’s an easy and well adjusted kid, but I’m still sad for her. I know she would have really loved pre-K. She’d have loved her teachers, making new friends, gaining more independence, and trying all the new activities. We do our best to make up for it with home activities, but COVID still sucks.
OP says
Thanks, this really hit the nail on the head for me. I know he would love pre-k, and I guess I’m mourning that loss a bit. Good luck to you as well!
Anon says
My almost 3 year old was supposed to start preschool a few days a week this month (she’s been home with family or a nanny her whole life) and we are keeping her home because we have a new baby. We have two close friends who have similarly aged kids (within a year of her) who are also keeping them home, so we try to socialize with them to provide her with some other peer interaction when we can. It’s tough and I feel guilty about it but I also feel like it’s the right choice for our family right now.
Anonymous says
Between the sibling and the playdates with people in your bubble, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. We went back in large part because of my concerns about lack of social interaction, but my daughter is an only child and we don’t have local friends who want to do playdates, so it would have been basically zero interaction with children for a year and a half which really scared me. Your situation is quite different.
Fwiw, we did outdoor soccer this summer during the daycare shutdown and there was basically zero social interaction between the kids (although the kids were a bit younger than yours, 2 and 3 year olds). The parents were all there helping their kids, so the kids were mostly just interacting with their parents and to a lesser degree the coach. My daughter has had much better interactions with random kids we’ve met at playgrounds, even in the Covid era. I think kids are more likely to actually talk to each other when it’s one on one at a playground versus a coach trying to give directions to a group. There were also a lot of unmasked adults bunched together in a very tight space at soccer. It was outdoors, yes, but still didn’t feel terribly safe to me.
Anon says
Too bad! We are doing soccer and my son already met a new “best buddy.” It was capped at 10 kids with only two adults per kid allowed on the sideline. We are in NY and take masks very seriously (the kids wore them playing)
rosie says
Similar decision here and echoing the expressions of sadness and guilt. It’s so hard.
Anonymous says
No one in my family (husband, daughter, me) attended pre-K, for a variety of reasons. It was not an issue for any of us. Pre-K is designed to provide school readiness experiences that most of the parents on this board are already giving their children: exposure to books, reading readiness, fine motor activities, socialization, and familiarity with routines and rules. I’d be worried about a kid who had spent ages 0-5 at home watching TV with no Sesame Street and no books in the house, but not a kid who had been to day care and had taken a year off due to a pandemic.
Anon says
thanks to you lovely ladies i learned about Lucie’s List when I was pregnant. Now I am at the potty training stage and consulted Lucie’s List again, which has a great write up about different methods – do you think reading the summary on there suffices, or am I better off purchasing and reading the whole book?
Cb says
I read Oh Crap but I think the Lucie’s List summary is just as good and less doctrinaire.
Anonymous says
We successfully potty trained without a book. I don’t have time for that. On a Saturday morning when we thought she was ready (nearly 3), we said no more diapers and wore underwear only for the weekend. She was potty trained by Sunday night. But much of our quick success came from waiting. I’m sure she could have handled it earlier, but we had a bunch of long trips in the months leading up to that, and I didn’t feel like dealing with a newly potty trained kiddo in the car a bunch.
Anon says
This. We just put it off until they were older, read the summary on Lucie’s List, and went for it on a long weekend. I will caveat this was pre-pandemic times so when each kid went back to daycare the following week, the teachers probably did some reinforcement that I never saw. I remember sending a TON of spare outfits, like 7 or 8, and being happy that only a few came home that week.
Anonymous says
This. About 2 months before 3rd birthday. Day and night trained in a week.
Boston Legal Eagle says
I haven’t read the summaries but I’m sure Oh Crap can be summarized fairly well, without some of the repetitions in the book about how you must time everything correctly. Basically it’s a long weekend of naked, taking the kid to the potty, then no underwear, then trained, and repeat as necessary.
ElisaR says
reading a book isn’t necessary…. however for me reading Oh Crap gave me confidence it what I was doing. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE told me i was doing it too young (son was 27 mo) especially bc he was a boy. Guess what, it worked! If i hadn’t read the book I might have been talked out of trying at that age. i’m so glad i did it early. it was empowering for him and saved a ton of diapers (and landfill!)
anonn says
cosign. the book is a super easy read, and you only need to read through chapter 5. extra helpful was that my husband read it too, so we were literally on the same page. before reading it we thought we need to wait until 3, but the book lays our while 22-30 months is ideal. If owned a daycare or was a pediatrician I’d keep a case of copies to hand out to parents.
Anon says
I potty trained without a book and just based on general anecdotal experience and intuition about what would work for my kid. The first try at 2.5 was a disaster; after backing off the second try with a slightly different approach at a month shy of 3 worked like a charm. So I’m firmly in the camp of do what works for you, and internet summaries are probably totally fine.
Cb says
We’re house hunting and debating between some commuter villages and a slightly bigger town, with school size ranging from 150 to 500. Would school size weigh in on your considerations at all? My son is three and is the most lovely little guy. Nursery calls him the little professor. He speaks like a 5 year old, he’s very affectionate and cheerful, but mellow, quite self-contained and sometimes seems perplexed by kids shouting/roughhousing etc. Think ‘The Well for Boys’ SNL sketch. He’ll be exactly 5 when starting school and children start between 4.5 and 5.5 in Scotland.
Anon says
I guess in the long term, you might think about options available in secondary education like high school or equivalent. Bigger schools typically have more choice in terms of classes, specials, sports, etc. Not sure how that would play out in the UK though.
Cb says
That’s a good point, they’d be in the same catchment for high school or one of two high schools which are broadly comparable, one perhaps bougier than the other but both high performing.
Spirograph says
I went to big public schools in the US, so I can’t speak to the advantages of having a small, intimate community… but like Anon at 10:09 said, there’s much more choice at a bigger school. At my schools, this meant more stratification in middle and high school (honors/AP), more foreign language offerings, work-study and trade programs, etc. I tried out lots of things, had different friend groups that didn’t overlap, and enjoyed that anonymity and variety.
I’m not sure it matters very much for elementary school. There, I’d be more interested in class size, and particulars like the instrumental music offerings.
Anonymous says
Nope. Class size mattered to me a lot but school size didn’t.
Anonymous says
I’m not familiar with things in the UK at all, but in the US I think class size matters much more than school size. I would rather a class of 20 in a school of 500 than a class size of 30 in a school of 100. Also, speaking as a kid who was introverted and way above grade level academically, my large high school (600+ per grade) was fine. I didn’t relate super well to my peers or have a large social circle, but I did find some close friends and I have no reason to think things would have been better for me at a small school.
Anonymous says
+1. I only care about class size, especially in elementary.
So Anon says
I went through five different school districts and nine different schools growing up (yay military brat!). There are advantages and disadvantages to each at all ages. In my experiences, as a kid and now as a parent, a larger elementary school is more likely to have a variety of after school or extra-curricular programs (pre-COVID), though I know this can vary based on demographics. For elementary school, I would ask about class size and how many classes are out on a playground at once. For middle and high, I went to schools with a few hundred kids and one with several thousand. I loved the feeling of knowing so many people in the smaller schools, but I loved the variety, diversity and offerings of my larger school (AP Art History, amazing photography lab, etc.).
Anonymous says
My #1 concern would be the availability of differentiated instruction. Not a pull-out or push-in gifted program, because those tend to be only window dressing, but genuinely differentiated instruction in reading, math, and ideally other subjects as well. Differentiation is important to meet the needs of all students, not just gifted students. In the US, this doesn’t tend to happen at the high school level, with the exception of districts that have elementary and middle school magnets.
Anonymous says
doesn’t tend to happen *until* the high school level
Anon says
This is for sure a consideration…but leveling classes in general can have a detrimental effect on kids. Lower income and minority students are shuttled into the lower levels, and the higher income and white kids go into the higher level classes and internalize the bias that they are better and smarter than “the others”. It is also a way that schools pay lip service to diversity without fostering any meaningful inter-racial/class interactions.
As a kid who went through all top-level classes, I’ve done a lot of reading on this issue and my thinking has profoundly shifted. I am way more concerned with the character of my kids than their grades
Anonymous says
I went through academically differentiated, racially diverse elementary and junior high programs in Los Angeles public schools and then high school in predominantly white suburb that did not differentiate. Non-differentiated instruction was highly detrimental to my learning and character development, and didn’t do anything to improve diversity.
Spirograph says
Interesting! Similar experience and subsequent reading, but my thinking on this has not shifted at all. It’s not about character vs grades or achievement for me, it’s about creating an engaging learning environment. The way kids are “sorted” can be problematic and that should absolutely be addressed, and there’s certainly value for everyone in spending time in mixed-ability settings, but imho it’s crucial to provide each child with instruction appropriate to her current skill level, and the best way to do that is with some kind of differentiation. Kids who are struggling deserve to have material taught to them at a speed they can keep up with. Kids who are strong in particular skill deserve to be challenged and stimulated.
In a mixed ability classroom, everyone still knows who’s good at different subjects, and kids still feel superior or defeated based on their own internalized rank. Kids falling behind and kids who are bored because the material is too easy act out for different reasons, but both create classroom management challenges and interrupt others’ learning. I 100% support differentiated instruction, especially in reading and math, but it should be subject-specific since many kids are strong in one but not the other. This is different than a gifted program — gifted is not a synonym for smart, and gifted programs are supposed meet a different need than just providing an accelerated curriculum across the board (although that’s sometimes how it works out, depending on the district’s approach).
Anon says
+1
Anon says
Yes, I agree there is gray area and perhaps the issue is more the method of sorting than the leveling itself, but it is worth a discussion – and likely a reform in many of our schools.
I don’t mean to be judgmental, but many of us wonder how in the world there are so many Trump voters out there and how people can’t be aware of their privilege, and we need to put our own decisions under a (tough, painful) microscope, too. I say this as a person who could have easily been a Trump voter were it not for experiences I’ve had (and personal work I’ve done) in college and beyond.
A lot of my assumptions and experiences in middle and high school have clicked into focus for me as I’ve learned more about all the insidious ways our school systems perpetuate privilege and racism
Anonymous says
Lack of differentiated instruction is what actually perpetuates class divisions. A solid differentiated program that is implemented for all students in all subjects, as long as children are sorted properly, challenges and engages all students and encourages critical thinking. Forcing 100% of students to sit through a class that meets the needs of only 25 to 50% of them is demotivating and leads to disengagement among the other 50 to 75%.
Anonymous says
For elementary, I’m actually in favor of bigger schools and 50 people (unless it’s just one grade) sounds way too small to me. Most elementary schools in my district had 2-3 classes per grade, but there was one (Elementary School X) that only had 1 class and it was INFAMOUS for being a terrible social experience, because the exact same group of kids were together every year from K-6 with no opportunity to meet new people. The kids were labeled early and there was no opportunity to meet anyone who didn’t already associate you with the labels you acquired in kindergarten. When we got to middle school and a much larger mix of people, the Elementary X kids wanted nothing to do with each other. It was a running joke that each friend group could have no more than 1 person from Elementary X because they were all so thoroughly done with each other after being together for seven years straight. My daughter’s elementary has seven classrooms per grade (which works out to about 600 kids in the school, since there are four grades), and I think it’s great that each year she will get to meet some new people.
HSAL says
I ADORE that description. He sounds lovely. :)
Anonymous says
I went to a school in Scotland of around 250 and I don’t think it hugely affected what was offered since the funding is different from American schools. The main thing was only one class per age group so no option to switch to a different class. It also meant we often had mixed age group classes, so I was in a P1, then a mixed P1/2, P3, mixed P4/5.etc The 4-5 kids in the class from a different age group I think did get disadvantaged and often it was older kids in with the younger, not high performers benefiting from being in with older kids.
Anonymous says
I went to a smaller school and hated it for social reasons. I didn’t fit into any of the social groups, and there were no “new” ones to try. I think I would have had a better chance of finding someone like me at a bigger school. This started to be a problem for me in upper elementary school. My school did offer a lot of AP classes in high school, although not a lot of electives.
My son is in an enormous school. He did not know anyone in his first grade class in the beginning of the year (there was nobody from his kindergarten class). I think some of this was due to a lot of kids moving away and other kids moving into the district. However, he does know several kids in his second grade class, even though there are only 12 of them due to covid.
Sources for American Girl clothes and accessories? says
For those with older kids into American Girl, my DD got a doll for christmas last year and loves her (she’s in K). She found the American Girl catalogue recently and I suspect her entire christmas list this year is going to be additional doll(s)/clothes and furniture or accessories. She’s particularly enamored with Joss’s surf bus which is SIX HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS and definitely not happening, but I’m definitely willing to buy her some new things for her doll!
I know about the My Generation line at Target. Are there any other good sources for gently loved AG gear? Or alternative makers (etsy shops you like?)
LittleBigLaw says
I saw some right-sized doll clothes, etc. at Michael’s recently. They weren’t super fancy, but there might be some options that she could use to DIY (i.e., bedazzle) her own creations!
OP says
She would looove that – thanks for the tip!
Anonymous says
There is a huge market for AG on eBay.
Anon says
Walmart also has a line of AG sized items, and I’m pretty sure Kohl’s does too. There are Etsy options but search carefully if you care about small/local vs sweatshops.
I’m not much of a sewer but doll clothes patterns are pretty simple and cheap (less fabric) if you mess up. A simple sewing machine, a bundle of patchwork fabric squares, velcro, and a search for printable patterns will get you far. The nice ladies in the sewing section at JoAnn’s have been invaluable in teaching me the basics.
Anonymous says
My 7 y/o loves her target stuff. She has the ice cream truck. My 5 y/o has the jeep and camper trailer (both hand me downs).
OP says
Which would you recommend between those two? Thank you!
AnotherAnon says
My 3.5 y/o dropped his nap at day care and is a terror when we get home (these events could be unrelated, but it’s the only change in the last week). I bring him a snack at pickup – our commute is about 15 minutes. He just cannot deal with me telling him no. This usually begins by him asking to watch 5 TV shows and me saying “You can watch ONE show when you get home.” Then he screams that he’s going to hit me. It escalates from there and usually ends in a screaming/crying time out at home. Any advice? I try go give choices, offer compromises, and use the How to Talk methods. Nothing is working. DH wants me to ask day care to have him nap again, which is fine but will we just encounter these same behaviors when he drops his nap again?
Anon says
if he naps again at day care you won’t necessarily encounter these behaviors again when he drops it, but does he still sleep at night? one suggestion is on a day/time when he is calm, is to walk through the daycare pick up routine. and maybe make a visual if he is a kid that likes that. so mom comes to pick you up and brings a snack, then we get in our carseat. when we get home we take off our shoes and coat and wash our hands. then we watch one episode of whatever show. when the show is over, i need your help pressing the button to turn it off. and then we eat dinner, etc.
OP says
Part of the reason I asked day care to try dropping the nap was he was getting in bed at 8 and staying awake until 10. I really like this suggestion to go over afternoon routine with him. We’ve been using after day care time for him to decompress and adults to work out, but honestly I think he may just need a bit of one-on-one time with me or his dad as soon as we get home. Thanks!
Anonymous says
Honestly o think there’s no way out but through. Dropping naps is hard. We made same decision at same age (3.5, up till 10 pm if even a 15 min nap). Child was then a holy terror after daycare for a long time no matter what else we did. Moving bedtime at LOT earlier did help some. Like lights out 7:10.
NYCer says
I mean this with all kindness, but you also might want to try moving your workouts to another time (i.e., when he is sleeping, or alternating mornings with your husband). I don’t think you can expect a 3 year old who has been at daycare to patiently do something alone while adults work out.
Anonymous says
This.
Anonanonanon says
Agreed.
Anonymous says
Unfortunately i agree. Focused attention from a parent does wonders for our just three year old post daycare (in fact with decent fall whether dad has been stopping at the park with kiddo). Also – he is now having bigger snacks a bit earlier (at daycare) vs. the snack when we get home with dinner only 20 mins away. That seems to have helped too.
Our guy still naps at daycare, but is a disaster if he doesn’t.
Anonymous says
Put him to bed early. No TV at all because he can’t handle it. And tell him that. If he chills out then he can have tv back. My second kid was exhausted when she dropped the nap. She went to bed early (before or mid dinner, she was exhausted, she wasn’t going to starve) about half of daycare days for a month or so.
Anonymous says
Did he stop napping on his own, or did day care take away his nap?
Anonymous says
If he stopped napping at daycare, you should adjust his bedtime back a ton. For us, our kid was going to bed at 8:45 and we moved it back to (wait for it) 6:30! He was MUCH happier, slept through the night again, and was less insane. But regardless, there’s going to be a hard multiple-month transition when they drop the naps. Usually they’ll be terrors from 4pm on.
Anonanonanon says
Agreed. 8 PM seems really late for a pre-schooler in my opinion, but I’m on team early bedtime for kids. However, I also don’t think it’s realistic for a kid who has been in daycare all day to wait patiently while you and your husband work out. Give them attention, put them bed early, then it’s grownup time.
anon says
Is 8pm that late for a preschooler? I’ve always thought my kids’ 7pm bedtime (waking up at 7am) was on the early side!
NYCer says
I think 7p-7a is very normal.
Anonymous says
It’s not crazy late, but I think 7-730 pm is much more common, especially for 3 year olds. If the “preschooler” is 5 and almost ready for kindergarten then I think 8 pm is more common.
GCA says
Agree on shifting bedtime earlier. In terms of timing, 7.30pm-6am was what we ended up with for my non napping 3.5yo at the time; we did an earlier bedtime for the first few weeks after he dropped the nap, but wound up with a happy medium after that. He was frequently out within 10 minutes, even with new baby sister doing her witching-hour twilight barking. Prior to that, bedtime was past 9 and creeping close to 10pm.
katy says
Legitimate question. How do you get your preschoolers into bed before 8 pm?
Given COVID we are actually getting home a lot earlier (5:30 – 5:45 vs. 6:15 pm?)* – but even with dinners on the table in the time it take to steam broccoli (i CAN’T with frozen veg other than peas/ corn) – it takes 45 mins to eat dinner, our kiddo seems to literally roll in the dirt at school / has some issues with “sharts” so we do bath nearly every night, there is a 15 min poop that has to happen, and suddenly it is 8 pm.
Anonymous says
We don’t do baths every night. It’s usually dinner from 5:30-6, “free play” from 6-6:15 and bedtime routine starting at 6:15, usually getting to lights out between 6:30 and 6:40. It’s definitely a hustle but she really needs her sleep so we power through.
Boston Legal Eagle says
WFH allows us to start everything earlier so we have dinner usually by 5:30/5:40, our kids must eat fast or not very much as they’re usually done 15 min later, then they get some TV, then baths (we also do every night), then toothbrushing and clothes on and in bed for stories by 7, and our 4.5 year old usually falls asleep by 7:20 or so now. In your case, I would aim for a shorter dinner (are kids eating that entire time?) or just skip baths some nights and go straight to the bedtime routine after dinner.
Anonymous says
Yes, if he’s stopped napping he probably needs a way earlier bedtime. Our 2.5 year old goes to bed at 6:30 which I know is very early to some, but it’s what she needs when she doesn’t nap. She used to need 11-12 hours of sleep at night plus a nap and since the dropped nap, it’s more like 12.5-13 at night, so going to bed that early is the only way to get it in.
Screaming Toddler says
Y’all, I am at my wits end. My two year screams at the top of his lungs. It’s so loud and high pitched and immediately raises my blood pressure about a hundred points. He’s not angry, just experimenting I think, but it’s soooo obnoxious.
I’ve been trying to ignore it, but it hasn’t worked. I’ve tried patiently talking with him about it, or whispering in response, but everything elicits more ear-piercing screams. Time-outs have been wholly ineffective. He’s now started doing it in the car and I don’t know how much more I can take. Ideas? Commiseration?
Anon says
one of my 2 year old twins is doing the same, though it is part of tantrums, but definitely something new. i think she is curious to see what happens, and to be honest, i am not totally sure how to respond
Cb says
How long has it been? My son had two bouts of this, one at 1 and one at 2 and they were horrific and embarrassing but ultimately only lasted 3-4 weeks. Do they start at certain times? Can you preempt them with silly voice games or music?
CPA Lady says
Okay this might sound bananas, but go with me.
I was reading this article about fight or flight and how the natural way to complete that cycle is either shaking or crying or being very emotional in ways that are not socially appropriate. So we never get to complete stress cycles and we end up holding onto a bunch of stress in our bodies. There were a few different suggestions of ways to complete the stress cycle, and one of the suggestions was “primal screaming”. So I started doing it while driving. I just sometimes scream at the top of my lungs when I’m driving down the road. Not only does it feel great, I normally end up laughing hysterically, which also feels great.
So maybe join in? Just scream at the top of your lungs along with him? Like I said, sounds bananas.
That said, if you don’t want to do it, it is a phase and it will pass.
Screaming Toddler says
Oh my gosh, I kind of love this idea. Though I’ve probably given too many lectures on “we don’t scream in the car” to try it now … I wish I would’ve thought of it initially.
octagon says
When kiddo was little and melting down and nothing else worked, I joined him! I would clench my fists and shout “Wah! I am MAD! I don’t like this! Are you MAD?” It names the emotion (mad/frustrated/angry/sad/upset) because little ones don’t always recognize what they are feeling. It has helped a great deal — now at almost 5, he will get upset and should “I am ANGRY!” but we have far fewer total meltdowns than we used to.
Knope says
If at all feasible (which I realize it’s not if you live in an apartment building, or if the weather is bad), I’d try taking him outside and say “you are using your outside voice right now, so we had to go outside. let me know when you’re ready to go back inside.”
Anon says
This is what I did with my daughter when she was in the screaming phase(s). I would pick her up, put her outside, say, “You are using an outside voice so you are going outside. You can come back in when you are ready to use an inside voice.” And then I would close the door and leave her alone outside (which was fine because I had an enclosed outdoor area where she was safe). She usually panicked and immediately devolved into a screaming, crying tantrum, but it only took a few times for her to get it.
Anonymous says
Just consideration. My 2 y/o started recently. It’s usually for attention since she’s my youngest. She’s know to start up when someone else is talking.
layered bob says
This raises my blood pressure too. We’ve had some success with encouraging screaming outside… if we ever hear them vocalizing/experimenting outside we say, “Oooh, that was pretty loud, but I bet you can scream louder! Can I hear it?” “Louder! Louder!” “Are there are any other ways you can scream? Higher? Higher!” Usually by the time we’re home from a walk they’ve had enough experimenting and are ready to be quiet indoors. The neighbors probably think we’re the super annoying family who goes around screaming all over the neighborhood but oh well, it’s a phase.
Pants Help! says
For a more frivolous question, please help me dress myself for working from home and chasing a toddler this winter. I’m tired of leggings, but skinny jeans are too stiff and uncomfortable for toddler chasing. (She goes to daycare during the day, but I don’t really want to change for evenings.) For summer I had some linen-rayon blend ankle pants from Old Navy that worked great, but it’s getting to be too cold for them. I tried some Old Navy boyfriend jeans, but they were too stiff and didn’t fit that great. What kind of pants are in between legging and jeans in comfort and casualness? They don’t have to be as cheap as Old Navy, but they are partly for toddler-chasing, so nothing super expensive.
anon says
Jeggings? I have some super stretch skinny jeans that I have no problem chasing kids in.
AnotherAnon says
I really like my $20 AE high waist jegging crops for WFH, but I could see how they wouldn’t be ideal for toddler chasing (mine is in day care, thankfully). Failing that, I’d look at joggers…maybe from Athleta or Target?
Anonymous says
Joggers!
TheElms says
Old Navy Pixie Pants (do they still make them?); I really like the Macy’s INC skinny or slim ponte pants too.
AwayEmily says
For this purpose I have Old Navy rockstar jeggings (tho I have a couple of pairs and they are very different levels of softness) and Uniqlo’s ultra stretch leggings pants (size up).
I would love to find some joggers that could pass as real pants.
Pants Help! says
I think your last sentence nailed my problem. I want the comfort of joggers without feeling like I’m wearing actual sweatpants. Which… probably doesn’t exist. I’ll probably just have to wear joggers and leggings and get over feeling like I’ve given up. (I have some regular rockstar jeans, but the smaller size feels kind of constricting in the legs, and the one size larger pair falls down in the waist as the day goes on. Not sure if the jeggings would be any different.)
lsw says
I have exactly these and I am wearing them right now! But they are from Amour Vert so they are not cheap. I have definitely gotten my money’s worth, as I lived in them in March-May and I’ve already worn them minimum once a week since the weather got cool. They were the Jamie Pleated Joggers and I have them in the olive shade. They are my very fave.
Also the famous Eileen Fisher pants are another (non-jogger) suggestion, but also pricey! I have found them on ThredUp.
Realist says
Fleece lined jeggings from Hue. I already have two pair and am considering one or two more because I might not wear anything else this winter. Link to follow.
Realist says
Link to fleece lined denim legging: https://www.hue.com/ultra-soft-fleece-lined-denim-leggings.htm
AwayEmily says
What’s the sizing like?
Realist says
I sized up from the size chart and found that more comfortable. I have one pair in the size it says I am on the size chart, but those fit tighter than I like. I also wash on warm and dry on regular temp, so that may have resulted in mine shrinking some.
DLC says
These are probably pricier than Old Navy, but I have the NoGa Stretch pants from Duluth Trading company and wear them at least twice a week from fall til spring. I guess I would describe them as thick bootcut yoga pants.
https://www.duluthtrading.com/womens-noga-stretch-pants-15771.html?dwvar_15771_color=BLK&cgid=womens-bottoms&ev3=#start=6&cgid=womens-bottoms
Anon says
Joggers. I’ve worn some cotton linen blend ones from gap all summer. Now that it’s cooler, I’m switching over to leggings. I just tried some colorful koala ones which are very much athletic leggings, but my personal favorites are actually not athletic material and are the cotton yummie Rachel leggings – they are mostly cotton, so feel more like a pant, but enough stretch in them to be a legging. I am between sizes and find the slightly larger size more comfortable, but there is decent compression in the smaller size. You might find you like those better? You could also try a ponte pant or something from the Starfish line at Lands End.
GCA says
Uniqlo ‘leggings pants’ (basically jeggings in non-denim colors) with Heattech? (The rise doesn’t work for me – curse my long torso – but they are otherwise quite comfortable. Size up from your US mall-brand size.)
anne-on says
The Roadtripper jeans at Madewell are the hands down most comfy jeans I have that also still manage to stay up and not bag out in the knees/backside.
Anonymous says
This is the silliest thing, but I was so bummed that we weren’t going to get a school picture this fall because pandemic = no outside visitors. I have one of those dorky picture frames with a space for each year and everything. But we just found out there’s a picture day! I’m guessing it will be a teacher or other staff member taking the photos and they will be a little bit amateur but whatever, at least we’ll have a school photo from this year. Small joys.
Anon says
I also thought that. I was lucky to get a great photo of my older son, but didn’t get a similar one of the little one. I am bummed. But it will be easy to explain (“pandemic”).