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Updated: Mar 14, 2023 110 Comments · by

Washable Workwear Wednesday: Ryan Slim Wool-Blend Pant

Machine-Washable Work Clothes· Recent Recs

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A woman wearing a blue top, blue tailored pants, and heels

Year after year, these pants from Banana Republic are a top seller for a reason.

The latest version of their Ryan Slim Pant is made from a machine washable wool/polyester blend from Italy. These classic mid-rise pants have a slim straight leg, slash front pockets, and a flat front with a trouser crease.

I like the model’s monochromatic look, but the rich blue would also look great color-blocked with white, kelly green, or even a dark red.

These pants are $110 full price — today you can take 40% off — and come in sizes 0–20 as well as petite and tall.

Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear.

Sales of note for 9.10.24

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

Kid/Family Sales

  • Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
  • Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
  • J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
  • Old Navy – 40% off everything
  • Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs

About Ann

Ann is a working mom, a longtime reader of Corporette and CorporetteMoms, and has been writing our morning fashion advice for working moms since November 2020! She has a daughter (born winter 2014) and a son (born fall 2019) and is a public interest lawyer in Washington, D.C.

Comments

  1. HSAL says

    Four year old has his tonsillectomy tomorrow. No food after midnight, water/Gatorade until 7am, arrive at 8:30, procedure at 10. He’s usually eats a good breakfast. We’re doing his favorite dinner tonight in hopes of filling him up, but should I try to wake him up and get some food in him before I go to bed? Or with that time frame, maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m leaning towards letting him sleep, but open to other experiences.

    • Anon says

      I wouldn’t wake him up to eat. He should be fine fasting 12 hours, especially if he can drink liquids containing sugar in the morning.

      My child has had ear tubes twice but no liquids at all after midnight (procedure was earlier in the morning than yours).

    • Cb says

      Could you do a smoothie yoghurt pouch as a bedtime treat? Or a milkshake?
      I’m sure he’ll be fine, sometimes we don’t eat until 9/10 on the weekends and T can hang.

    • GCA says

      Split the difference and feed him a high-protein, high-fat snack right before bed? Spoonful of peanut butter, full-fat yogurt, avocado toast with an egg? I do this too when I have to do fasted bloodwork or imaging. Hope everything goes smoothly! It’s a bear (heck, I turn into a hangry bear) when you have to arrive early and wait and wait.

    • Anonymous says

      I vote peanut butter with banana or bread at bedtime, and maybe a little milk. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

    • Anon318 says

      I vote let him sleep. We did multiple colonoscopies around that age range requiring prep and fasting and found if we could start the procedure within 3 hours of waking, he wouldn’t complain about being hungry at all. The one time it went past three hours we had a hangry kid on our hands… So, again, my vote is to let him get a great night sleep and then wake him up in the morning at the last possible moment.

    • Anon says

      I am sitting next to my kiddo, who is recovering from the same procedure this morning, same timeframe (though surgery was at 8AM). We did not wake him up early for Gatorade, just let him sleep. We did do a super heavy snack at a later bedtime last night (protein heavy waffle + nut butter + butter and syrup). He’s fine now, and still isn’t hungry 3 hours post surgery. He’s also a big breakfast eater. Good luck!

  2. Anonymous says

    Folks in government, how often/how much do you take vacation? I’m in my 4th year now of government service and have a lot of days saved up, and was wondering if taking a week in April, a week in July, and a week in December would be too much. We’re always busy but I’ve built up some goodwill over the past few years covering for others and handling some big projects.

    • Mrs. Jones says

      I don’t think that’s too much. I work for local government and that would not be unusual here.

      • NLD in NYC says

        Same here, that plan is very reasonable. Suggest requesting it early in case there’s a need to maintain a minimum level of coverage in your office.

    • anon says

      I work with state government and that’s typical of what I see (even on the low end, to be honest)

    • Mary Moo Cow says

      I’m also in government and I take my full 3 weeks every year. I don’t see any issues with you taking these weeks, especially since they are spread out over the year. I see a lot of people trying to burn leave in December by taking multiple weeks, which is theoretically fine and we’re pretty slow, but it can lead to juggling coverage.

    • DCR says

      I’m in government, and everyone takes all of their leave (or at least enough so they don’t lose days). At a prior job, people would take 1 month off and then maybe another week at a different time of year. At current job, people take multiple one week vacations each year.

    • Anon says

      I’m in public higher ed so technically state government but not traditional government. I get 6 weeks vacation and I use it all, usually as 5-6 weeklong trips and a handful of long weekends. Some people are definitely grouchy about how much I’m off, but I’m not really sure what the alternative is – it’s an earned benefit and I’m definitely not going to let it go to waste. I guess I could take every other Friday off or something but that seems in many ways more disruptive.

    • Boston Legal Eagle says

      Take all of your vacation. Always. Esp in govt! I’m at a F500, so probably make more money given that it’s a for profit, and I take multiple one week vacations, and even occasionally 2 weeks off. Yes, it’s always busy, but their staffing needs are not your problem. I’ve seen far too many people kill themselves for companies, who then get laid off when the business needs require it.

        • Anon says

          This. I’m an SVP at a F500 and get/take 5 weeks. And encourage my team to take all of theirs.

  3. Anonymous says

    I’m supposed to start a contract job Monday. Yesterday, HR contacted me and said sorry for the delay on sending me a laptop; it’s spring break and they’re scrambling to get my client’s contract in place. Would it be weird for me to email them and say I’m fine with pushing my start date one more week? I don’t want to sound like I don’t want the job but they seem like they’re not ready for me. Or just sit tight?

    • Lily says

      I’d sit tight (unless you actually want to delay your start for some reason). If they don’t have a computer for you on time, I’d push to get paid for those days even if you technically can’t really do any work. If they say no, then you can just start later, but might as well see what you can get.

  4. Toddler Sleep says

    Just want to say thank you to whoever recommended “The Happy Sleeper” yesterday! We started doing the Reverse Wave at bed time and the Wave for middle of the night wakeups, and DS actually went to sleep within 15 min without us in the room and DH didn’t have to sleep in his room last night!

  5. Anon says

    What kinds of things did you do health-wise to get ready to TTC? I started a prenatal vitamin, I’m working diligently on my physical therapy for a back injury, we’ve cleaned up some of our routines (filtering our tap water, replaced a nasty carpet that was affecting our indoor air quality, etc.), and I’m riding my mountain bike a lot to keep up my overall health and fitness. I’m also going for a well-woman check soon and I had an annual physical recently. I already don’t drink and won’t start again. What else would be on your list?

    • anon says

      Honestly that already sounds like a lot and I wouldn’t do more beyond just generally eating healthy and exercising.

    • Anon says

      Therapy. That’s somewhat tongue in cheek, but learning to let go of control and be okay with sub-optimal outcomes would have been really helpful as we had young kids in a dual-working-parent household.

      • Anon says

        That’s a great idea. It’s something I wanted to do anyway (due to a family situation I can’t control).

      • CCLA says

        Big yes to this. IIRC we bound life insurance for me when I was pregnant, but it was only doable because I was very early in my first tri and I think they had a rule that they wouldn’t bind later than that. Been a while, but basically, don’t wait on that.

        Also, I made an appt with OB to discuss the “what should I be doing” questions and in addition to recommending prenatals of course, she (1) referred DH and I for genetic testing so we could go in prepared, and (2) ran some titers to check for things like rubella antibodies. If they had come up missing I would have gotten boosted before getting pregnant. None of this is strictly necessary, but if you’re planning, very easy to do.

    • Anon says

      These are all a great start.
      One thing that comes to mind, if you’re a big caffeine person, slowly cutting back early while TTC is a big help. I’m typically a 2-3 cups a day kind of person. Having caffeine withdrawal headaches while in the early weeks of 1st trimester is not fun.

    • Anon says

      I didn’t do anything except start a prenatal. There’s certainly no reason to start drinking if you already don’t, but for anyone else reading, I’m a very light drinker (like “glass of champagne at a wedding a couple times a year” light) but ended up going out and drinking several glasses of wine a few days before I found out I was pregnant. My kid is fine and my OB says drinking before you miss your period usually isn’t an issue. There’s so much time to worry once you’re actually pregnant/a mom, I’d just try to enjoy life now, whatever that looks like for you.

      • Anonymous says

        Your kid is not magically fine. It’s just biology. There is no umbilical cord in the early days, so you and your baby are not sharing blood in the same way that you do later in pregnancy. Please do NOT worry about this.

        • Anon says

          Oh yes I agree, that’s why I was trying to say. If it was just “I did XYZ dangerous thing but my kid is magically fine” I don’t think it would be very reassuring! At least not to me.

      • Vicky Austin says

        Hah, when we found out I was pregnant, I tearily said to my husband, “I had TEQUILA a few days ago!” He reassured me it was fine. (I was three days late.)

      • Emma says

        Yeah our baby was likely conceived on DH’s birthday, which is when I made an exception to my no drinking rule and had a fair amount of champagne. The doctor was like « well oftentimes that helps », ha.

    • Emma says

      Prepare to garden a lot :) I liked ovulation trackers but some people find them stressful. And to some extent I second therapy – I’m a type A planner and took a while to get pregnant and there wasn’t much I could do so it was definitely an exercise in relinquishing control. It sounds like you’re already doing all the right things.

    • Anonymous says

      Everything sounds good (I would not worry about your tap water). You COULD stop microwaving stuff in plastic as some say it affects egg quality? Make sure your DH stops saunas/steam rooms (I think sauna delayed our time to conception, takes 3-6 months to recover

    • anon says

      I think this is a question for an OB. They can assess your health and let you know what to improve (or not bother) prior to pregnancy. Mine actually told me not to bother optimizing few things, and explained why.

      I was happy to already be a strong swimmer pre-pregnancy, because there got to a point where I couldn’t do much else because of pain and contractions on land. It was really helpful for me mentally and physically to be able to pick up swimming once other forms of exercise weren’t comfortable for me.

      • Vicky Austin says

        Swimming has been my main form of exercise this pregnancy and it has been amazing.

      • Anon says

        Absolutely – I enjoy swimming and hope to do more if I’m able to get pregnant since I personally won’t be comfortable continuing to mountain bike throughout the entire pregnancy. It helps me to have a few options in mind BEFORE the hard part starts.

    • Anonymous says

      Read “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” and track your cycle if you aren’t already (I was going to suggest an app to track your cycle but I guess there are legal concerns with that now.) Try to tackle as many home projects as you can. Declutter your house. Review your finances. Get term life insurance (hop over to main site for a discussion on this today). Do plenty of date nights and vacations. Also YMMV but you can see a reiki specialist to do some energy work on you to get your body and mind ready.

      • Anon says

        Why do people recommend this book? All you need is to chill out and buy a cheap ovulation tracker and some Dixie cups.

  6. FVNC says

    Vent/question ahead.
    I saw a primary care doctor at a new practice this morning for a physical. I didn’t care for the doctor or her nurse, who were both brusque and not particularly thorough or helpful. Example: I reported drinking about 4 alcoholic beverages/week and was told “new studies link cancer and alcohol.” When I asked what she would recommend instead of 4 drinks/week based on those studies, she said “I’m just the messenger.” I had to inquire about a mammogram (I’m 41 and haven’t had one) as she was packing up; she hadn’t said anything to me about it. Our appointment lasted for 6 minutes.
    I’m bummed; after moving around quite a bit for my husband’s job, my family is settled and I was looking forward to establishing a relationship with a doctor who got to know my as a person. My question is: is this a reasonable expectation these days? Or should I just be glad to have a doctor with available appointments?!

    • Anon says

      The rudeness is unusual but the short appointment time is typical, at least in my experience. I love my doctor but we’re rarely in the same room for more than 10 minutes and I always feel like I’m taking up too much of her time, even though she’s super friendly and nice.

    • GCA says

      Sounds like they’re really not a great fit for you! I’d be hunting for a new doctor (sorry). Am in the same boat – our insurance abruptly stopped covering my PCP, and we’re probably going to move states in a few months…

    • Anonymous says

      It seems too common. I waited over an hour for a gynecologist appointment in a crowded waiting room during the pandemic. My appointment took five minutes. Right after that I switched out many of my providers. My primary is now a nurse practitioner but she has the patience and time to meet rather than flying through an appointment. I would rather meet with someone that actually listens even if they have less training.

    • Anon says

      I’m glad to hear that more doctors are mentioning that alcohol is carcinogenic (something I never realized until the last few years), but that brusque manner/inability to answer questions would probably make me find another doctor.

    • FVNC says

      Thanks for the feedback. I have been extremely fortunate not to have serious health issues and have primarily relied on a patchwork of various specialists (ob/gyns; derms) plus urgent care to be my PCPs over the years. So I genuinely don’t know is reasonable to expect from PCPs. My kids have had fabulous peds (including their current provider who is a nurse practitioner – love her!) but I have not had luck finding that for myself. Oh well, the search will continue!

      • GCA says

        This is a great point – I’d consider a nurse practitioner as a PCP. They often have more time to interact with you.

      • Pogo says

        They usually are less attentive than Pedi’s for kids, but they should still listen and take your concerns seriously.

        I think it is counterproductive for them to just throw guidelines at patients (re: drinks) because it just encourages people to lie about their diet, exercise or substance use. It seems like it would be more productive to support increasing behaviors positively associated with health rather than just focusing on the negative (this always annoys me about BMI – I get a handout every time because I’m sliiiightly over 25 BMI, but I also eat a vegetarian diet and run 3-5/week. All they ever focus on is that I’m fat). But every single PCP ever has had the same convo or thrown the handout at me, I think because insurance tells them they have counsel you about diet/exercise/substance use at every visit.

    • Anon says

      If you’re doing fairly routine care, it was a real light bulb moment for me when I found out I could use a midwife team at my OBGYN Office as a PCP. For my annual physical they do all the normal routine care things and billed it to my insurance like an normal clinic. My last physical was easily over 20 minutes of discussion. We discussed things like drinking in a very rational and thorough way. My midwife was quick to suggest additional test (ex. have you had your thyroid levels checked? (Answer: No) We’ll let’s do that so we can start to build up a baseline of values in early thirties…etc.).
      I thought they’d be annoyed to see women not pregnant. But my midwife said she enjoys doing routine PCP care as well. She likes to see women taking care of themselves.

      • FVNC says

        Interesting, this wouldn’t have occurred to me. I’ll keep that in mind if I like the gyn I was referred to. Glad you found a great solution!

    • Anon says

      I would refuse to stay with them because of the rudeness. The appointment time seems a little short to me, but I also switched to One Medical a few years ago so my memory may be wrong. With One Medical, I have to pay a $200 fee a year but my annual exam easily lasts 30 minutes with the doctor. Heck, even my appointment to check my blood pressure last 15 minutes with the doctor. So, since I like my doctor and actually get to see her, the fee is worth it to me.

      • Anonymous says

        I’m also a satisfied One Medical customer. Not super happy that they’re now owned by Amazon, but the only change I’ve noticed so far is that I’m getting more surveys about my care. I recommend joining, if you’re game for the annual fee. The on-demand video calls with nurses make it worth it (you’ll never go to urgent care for illness again), and then the actual in-person care is great as well.

    • anon says

      I think this kind of behavior exists due to pressure on doctors to see many patients in some clinics, but it’s not desirable or all that helpful. I wouldn’t settle for it if I had other choices.

      I get plenty of time to ask questions during a physical, receive practical, kindly given, advice, and I don’t have concierge care. However, I am in a place with a lot of privilege, which eases some strain on practices. I go to a clinic in an area where I expect most people have Medicare or employer-provided health insurance (higher reimbursements than Medicaid = less pressure to fit in a ton of patients), resources to follow the recommendations, reliable transportation to get to clinic, and trust in doctors and medical science is high.

    • SC says

      I saw a new GP last week. She’s been practicing for probably 30 years, and her practice was recently acquired by the largest health system in our area (which is buying up all the primary care practices in our area). My appointment lasted about 20 minutes. She went through medications, asked about family history and medical history and personal life/ lifestyle, made sure I was up to date on screenings, and gave me a brief physical exam. She was really approachable and easy to open up to. At the end, she gave me a hug goodbye, and even though I just met her and am not a hugger, it wasn’t weird.

      So, that may be atypical (especially the hug), but doctors can spend more than 6 minutes with a new patient. I’d switch practices. (Be aware, though, that your insurance may not cover more than one annual wellness visit per year.)

  7. Anon says

    I am a senior associate at a mid-sized regional law firm. I’ll be going out on maternity leave in June (for approximately 10-12 weeks) with my second. I do get FMLA, but I am also permitted to work some during this time. I am also likely up for a vote this fall to become a shareholder next year. I will likely do at least some work during my leave (entirely my choice) because I manage our estate administration practice group (comprised of several other attorneys and five paralegals). Several shareholders will be taking over my matters and most client contact while I am out. I do anticipate some level of involvement. I will be properly compensated for any work I perform while on leave and receive applicable prorations on any of my merit-based associate bonuses.

    If anyone has any tips for practice management while on maternity leave, boundaries, and any other related tips, please let me know. TIA.

      • Anon says

        +1. 10-12 weeks is not a long maternity leave. You can fully check out for that length of time, I promise.

      • Boston Legal Eagle says

        +1 Don’t set yourself up for failure if your baby turns out to be high needs/you have a tough recovery/all the other things that are unexpected. You don’t want to have to manage work on top of this. This is why a lot of the world looks at Americans like we are crazy for our leaves (which are beyond most of our control, but at least take what you can get!)

    • anon says

      Will anyone really remember that you pitched in a bit while you were supposed to be out? And will you have the supports in place to do very high quality work (someone taking nights so you can sleep, someone taking care of the baby so you can be on calls without crying coming through)?

      I would worry that no one will remember fondly that I was able to help a bit, but they would totally remember if I had to reschedule calls at the last minute, made mistakes, etc. It’s often easier to have someone fully out than pitching in a bit, but without great availability. However, I don’t know your group.

      • Clementine says

        Yes.

        People remember I had reduced availability, they forget that I skipped my leave to keep the trains running.

        Honestly, it would have been better to log completely off.

      • Anon says

        This this this. Unfortunately they’ll only remember the bad stuff like rescheduled calls, not the fact that you were working on mat leave. Don’t do it!

    • TheElms says

      Another vote for don’t do it. My first was an easy baby, second had colic and generally only napped on me and didn’t do longer stretches at night until 12 weeks and even then it was fairly inconsistent. There is no way to know what kind of birth/baby you will get in advance. I would plan to be fully out for 10- 12 weeks.

    • Anonymous says

      This will not end well. You probably assume that you will be appreciated for going above and beyond to do some work during maternity leave. What will actually happen is that people will see that you have some availability but it’s limited, and instead of being grateful that you have any availability at all, they’ll be angry that you aren’t back at work full time. If you don’t work at all during leave, people will actually be happier with you. I have seen it happen over and over.

    • Piper Dreamer says

      Controversial opinion but I worked on my maternity leave and was made partner the year after (one year before I was otherwise scheduled to be put up). One of the reasons they told me is my “dedication to the firm”…
      That said, I think if I had not worked, it would likely still work out except I might have to wait one more year and who knows what the economy will be like in that year.

    • startup lawyer says

      My take on this is you should underpromise and overdeliver. i.e., i wouldn’t tell ppl you will make yourself available because then people will have expectations that you will and if you fail to meet that expectation then that’s what they will remember. Instead, just take the leave and if you find that you have time and want the distraction, check in, and you’ll be exceeding expectations (because people had none)

    • Anonymous says

      I wouldn’t plan to work while on leave. You don’t know what your physical/mental/emotional recovery will be like or if your baby will be high needs in any way (ex: mine had feeding issues which required extra ped visits and OT visits, also didn’t sleep more than about 30 min at a time until probably 10 weeks). People are going to remember if you promised to be available and weren’t – they’re not going to remember that you willingly gave up some of your leave.

      Plus, if this all goes smoothly for you, you’re going to be setting a standard that others at your firm might not be able to meet when they have babies or other family emergencies.

    • CCLA says

      You’ll get lots of advice to unplug completely, which is valid and great if you can and want to. It sounds like you want to stay in touch a bit, which is how I felt. I will say I struggled with PPD and for me it was helpful to get out of the house to keep lightly on top of what was happening at the firm (I recognize that this is not the best example for other attorneys coming up through the firm, and I struggle in retrospect with whether I did them a disservice). But it was right for me. I was promoted to equity partner about halfway through leave, which I knew was coming, and I went in weekly after that to take my seat at the partnership meeting, and generally hung around for a couple of hours in case people needed to debrief on any deals. This was all totally my choice. As far as boundaries, I did make it clear I wasn’t coming in to draft or do substantive reviews of associate drafts, but was happy to weigh in on things like where I had institutional knowledge about prior deals I’d been involved in. Basically, if they could talk to me for 15-30 minutes instead of digging around the files for a few hours, great, happy to chat. Unusual financing structure proposed and want to talk it through? Sure, let’s talk. But don’t ask me to markup a purchase agreement.

      Agree with the earlier poster about under-promising and over-delivering. You can tell them you don’t plan to be completely unreachable and that you’ll need to assess as the leave goes on. Highly encourage that anything you commit to taking on be flexible on timing, and also highly recommend that you get daytime help for the hours you expect to be devoting to this. You will NOT want to try to fit it in while baby naps. I had 30-40 hours a week of daytime nanny help when I was doing this, which is a crucial piece I should have mentioned earlier.

  8. Birthdayparty says

    birthday party at a local gym from 3 to 5 pm. should we serve pizza at 430? or what else would you serve at that time for a 4 and 6 yr old birthday party?

    • Anon says

      Pizza is standard at afternoon parties where I am. I’d probably order it for 4, because you don’t normally do cake until after pizza, it’s not socially acceptable to leave before cake, and you don’t want people to feel obligated to stay the whole two hours. Also it can arrive late, as I learned at my kid’s recent party!

      • Boston Legal Eagle says

        Yes! Nice way to break up the party halfway through. Other snacks we’ve seen are goldfish, chips, fruit, juice boxes. Cake after.

    • anon says

      Where I am, I wouldn’t expect pizza with this timing (and might be slightly annoyed because a late big snack will throw off dinner). I’d just do some light snacks like fruit, crackers, and cheese in addition to a cake.

      If you can have the snacks available the whole time if they’re wanted, rather than having a specific snack time, that would be ideal.

      • Anonymous says

        Whichever way you go, specify on the invitation what will be served so parents can plan whether to give their kids dinner after the party.

    • Mary Moo Cow says

      I would not expect dinner, but definitely snacks (3 pm is our family snack time, tho.) Parties at this time time and for these ages we’ve been to lately have served bagged chips and goldfish and cake; a few also had applesauce pouches; rarely a veggie tray.

    • Liza says

      No, 4:30 will be too late IMO. I think in a two hour party, the best timing is: play/activity for one hour, serve pizza one hour in, serve cake 15-30 minutes after that, then people leave once the cake is done.

  9. Anonymous says

    Next year we’re going to be walking to school. Kids are 4 and 2. It’s a 10-15 minute walk each way. Should we get a side-by-side jogging stroller? I ask because they currently HATE our UppaBaby (no one wants the lower seat). It feels silly to get a new stroller with kids this old, but I know 4yo will be tired, particularly at the end of the day (too tired to reliably bike/ scooter, which I expect we’ll do occasionally). WWYD?

    • Anon says

      Would they fit? We just bought a jogging stroller but they all seem to max out at 44 inches height.

    • Boston Legal Eagle says

      My 6 and 4 year olds would still use the double stroller if we went somewhere with a lot of walking so it’s a good investment.

    • Spirograph says

      If you would also use it for its intended purpose with bikes, maybe look into a 2-seat bike trailer. We have a burley encore + stroller attachment and it would have served very well for this, plus it can be fully enclosed to stay warm and dry in bad weather. They’re pricey, but you may be able to find a used one for much cheaper than new (if you’re in the DC area, I’m planning to offload mine this spring!).

    • Pogo says

      At our daycare a lot of people use wagons for this purpose.

      I am pro-stroller though. I have a 5.5 yo and he still rides in the jogging stroller frequently.

      • Tall Anon says

        Is your 5.5 under 44 inches or do you ignore the height max? Serious question ad we’re trying to plan for future stroller options with a 2.5 year old who is already over 40 inches.

        • Anon. says

          My 5 yr old is 48 inches and we ignore the height max on the Bob double jogger. He has not once complained about discomfort.

        • Pogo says

          I think he’s just about 44″ right now. But it’s not a lifesaving device like a car seat so I definitely would just ignore it. He doesn’t look ridiculously big in it.

    • TheElms says

      What about a wagon? If one kid wants to walk you can still throw the backpack in the wagon. And they seem to have a longer lifespan. I see them at soccer games to haul equipment / snacks well into elementary school.

      • OP says

        I hadn’t thought of a wagon! I do see them around sometimes. Are they annoying to pull for longer distances?

        • TheElms says

          The ones that are more stroller-wagons (the Veer or the Evenflo Pivot and I’m sure there are other brands) have a push similar to a stroller and are fine to push or pull long distances. I also have a more beach style wagon (had it pre kids) and I wouldn’t want to pull that for a long distance regularly.

    • Anonymous says

      We were in this same situation last year. Here’s what we did: On the walk to school, oldest kid rode bike or scooter (has always been fairly stroller resistant, so this worked for them). Youngest rode in the Uppababy Cruz stroller, and then I put the scooter or bike on the handlebars to take it all home. For the walk back, when both kids were pretty exhausted and needed a snack, we bought a side by side umbrella stroller (it was around $80 from Amazon, you could also look on craigslist if you want a nicer one for cheap). Not the most comfortable thing to push but I really didn’t want to buy an expensive stroller when we were basically done with it. We sold it this year (now they both scoot or bike) so I’m glad it wasn’t a bigger investment.

    • Anonymous says

      I’m late to this but would do one seat in the Vista and get the ride along board. One kid sits and one kid stands but doesn’t have to walk.

    • Anonymous says

      I’m super surprised to see people using a stroller for this length of walk for a 4 year old, although you obviously know your kid best. I would try avoid even for the 2 year old but a single stroller or carrier should be fine. I’ve had 2 4 year olds do that walk now, or a longer one at our old school starting at 2.5.

      • Spirograph says

        I assumed the 10-15 minute walk is based on adult walking speed. On a weekend trip to the playground, I’d be happy to move at 2 and 4 year old walking speed (which IME is about half of that an adult who needs to get to work on time), but definitely not on the daycare commute every day.

  10. GCA says

    I’m a bit sleep-deprived and not thinking straight. Help me wean my preschooler off needing us in the middle of the night?
    Kid is 4.5 and does not nap. Goes to sleep fine at 8pm, and is out within about 15 minutes. In the middle of the night, she wakes up to go to the potty. This is ok, but then she needs us to lie down with her or pat her.
    She used to come to our bed at that point (usually sometime between 1-3am). Previously, this was fine with us, but she has grown so lanky and wiggly that parents get much less sleep than we used to with her in bed. So now one of us goes to her room and either sits there till she is out, or lies down & sleeps with her till morning. Either way, the on-duty parent misses out on sleep or sleeps poorly in her bed.

    We have tried a sticker chart with incentives (Lego sets, Calico Critters), but apparently this is not sufficient incentive for her! This child is not externally motivated; bribery did not work for potty training either. I’ve suggested she snuggle her stuffies. No luck.
    What do I do here to get us all more sleep? Sleep wave? Mattress next to our bed?

    Other info – kids share a room. When we don’t go in to get her, big brother wakes up and comes to get us, which isn’t fair to him.

    • Pogo says

      Can you try sleep stories? That has worked wonders with our now 5.5yo. I get a paid subscription to Calm through work and they have tons of good ones for kids. There is a Gabby’s Dollhouse one that he just loves to listen to over and over. So if he is scared in the middle of the night, I will put it on for him after I tuck him back in. It’s Gabby narrating and he finds it very soothing I think.

      I hate to say this but this is also just something she may outgrow. I feel like we went through a rough patch between 3.5 and 4.5 with needing to be tucked back in but it has gone to basically zero – only if kiddo has a serious nightmare. The post-potty resettling need is gone now.

      • GCA says

        I think it might wake the big kid, but that is so sweet for your kid! Here’s hoping DD outgrows the resettling neediness soon…

    • Anon says

      We are doing this with our 2 year old and are having success with Sleep Wave, but he’s still in a crib and doesn’t share a room… If that’s too disruptive to brother, maybe try the mattress near your bed? I’ve actually heard of people getting dog beds for this purpose.

    • Anon says

      We had a rule starting around 3.5 where DD is not supposed to wake us up but can pull out a sleeping bag we keep folded on the floor next to our bed. Even though I often do wake, it’s much easier for me to fall back asleep if I don’t get out of bed and being in the same room is often (not always) good enough to get her back to sleep and prevents our bed from becoming a WWE ring due to all the elbows, knees and wiggles.

      • Anon says

        yes, this is what i would recommend. if she wants to be near you she can sleep on the floor. you could also try a weighted blanket or weighted stuffie

    • Anon says

      I don’t have a good solution but I think this is fairly normal. My kid is 5 and still wakes us she needs something in the night. Thankfully it’s not often. When it happens we bring her into our bed because we put a really high value on sleep for ourselves, and that’s the easiest way for us to get back to sleep quickly.

      • GCA says

        We did this, but these days it’s hit or miss with how fast DD falls back asleep after she gets into our bed. Sometimes she conks out right away, other times it feels like an hour of wiggling and elbows. Alas. She’s my last baby and I like snuggles, but I can’t deal with the 2am party. I don’t mind her being in our room, so we might try the mattress on the floor.

        • Anon says

          That makes sense. Mine has always been a deep sleeper, so no wiggling, and if she starts talking or intentionally being silly, we can shut it down fast by threatening to send her back to her room.

    • AwayEmily says

      Another alternative is to put a mattress on the floor of the kids’ room. We have one in our kids’ shared room (they have a bunk bed). If one of them needs us in the middle of the night my husband sleeps in there on the floor mattress (he is on kid night duty since I am on getting up early with the baby duty). The rest of the time they use it for gymnastics and jumping off the top bunk. it has honestly been a game-changer for us.

      that being said, we’re fine with sleeping in there every once in awhile because it doesn’t happen all the time, but if it was every single night for weeks I would probably take another approach.

    • Anon says

      Around this age was when we had great success with the dream pee. Right before you go to bed, around 10 or 11, you quietly and no lights carry them to the bathroom, help them sit, wipe, and pull up pants, then carry back to bed. Mine often half-slept through the process and it was enough to help them sleep until 5 or 6, which is fairly close to our normal waking time. Mine were also AWFUL sleepers who could outlast sleep consultants in CIO, so I was hesitant to disturb them once they were asleep, but it worked out and the longer chunk of sleep was worth the risk.

      We also did a scoop of peanut butter with honey before bedtime brushing because sometimes they woke up hungry. Maybe it was placebo but I think that helped them sleep deeper so they didn’t feel the hunger pains as much.

      • Anonymous says

        YES!!! We did this for two years 4-6 because otherwise kid would wake up between 4-6 am to use the bathroom and wake us all up (just by walking down the hall, not intentional in our case) and have trouble falling back asleep. Just took him to the bathroom 75 percent asleep when we went to bed and then he’d sleep through till 7!

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