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I have a very vivid childhood memory of my friend’s babysitter taking us to the local county fair. Before we left she safety pinned a tag to my shirt with our names and my friend’s mom’s name and contact info. Later as a kid, I got lost at Sesame Place. Prior to entering, my mom showed me the uniform of the people working there and said, if you get lost, tell a person wearing this. Good thing she did, because I did get lost. These are bands that you get when you enter a museum or fair, but I like the idea of using them for personal use — you can write your cell phone number on one and have your child wear it. They are waterproof and removable by scissors. The wristbands are $6.99 for 200 at Amazon. Tyvek Wristbands This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!
Anonymous says
A bit of positivity for Friday – So..trick or treat last night was pretty much the best thing ever. 2.5 year old DD lost her mind (in the good way) with excitement. We have a very good neighborhood for trick or treat (we had about 100 kids stop by our house) and it was so fun. She was so proud for collecting candy from each house but didn’t argue with having one piece. We had to go home because of the baby but then she sat out front handing out candy which was just as fun. We’re in the DC area so it was warm and windy (spooky!) and she played in the leaves in our front yard. I love reliving childhood through my children!
Anon. says
Great Halloween here too. My two year old tried a Starburst for the first time ever after my trick-or-treating. My husband and I are bad parents and could not stop laughing watching him try to chew it. Also confirmed that he still hates chocolate (“Not yummy. Yucky!”) – which I cannot fathom, but seriously makes my life so much easier. (So many chocolate candies are a no go for peanut allergies.)
rosie says
I shared some little snacky/treat items with my kid that I got from work (some candy, and then popcorn, cheese crackers, etc.) and she kept saying “what’s this? I like it!” It was super cute.
Buddy Holly says
We had a great night too. Another mom saved the day when she mentioned that they always get a toy and have the kid buy the toy from them with lots of candy, leaving a reasonable amount of candy left to eat. My daughter is gluten and dairy free this year to help with her allergies and asthma (much to my dismay, it is working). But that left her with so much candy she couldn’t eat. Having her “buy” a new doll with the candy worked out so well.
We were also that house that didn’t hand out candy last night, we just had goody bags with stickers, bubbles, and bouncy balls for the little kids and popcorn bags for the older kids.
EB0220 says
We had a great time, too! Had a group of 4 kids from the neighborhood and it was fun to chat with their parents while the kids RAN from house to house. Everyone slept well.
EB0220 says
Favorite story – one house was passing out juice boxes. My 5 year old and her buddy were super thirsty (see: running) and didn’t want juice, so they asked for cups of water. Bless the neighbor who fulfilled their request.
Anon says
My 5 year old had a great Halloween. She went as a zombie princess and was pretty scary! Which she loved. We had a good number of kids, given the weather. Our skeleton decorated front yard was a hit. My favorite was the little girl who thought our flaming skeleton was hysterical. I over-bought though, so was pretty generous to those who were out.
Only regret – I didn’t have enough time between getting everything ready to put on my Halloween gear!
So Anon says
The torrential rain stopped for a magical few hours last night! My daughter was very excited and needed to be “first,” which led to some running over of littler kids. As a result, we had to have a talk about behavior in the middle of trick-or-treating, which wasn’t fun for any of us but she did manage not to run over 3 year olds and be a bit patient after that. It was also our first Halloween in the new house and in an actual neighborhood. It was so much fun! My kiddos loved seeing their friends and being part of a little crowd. My poor dog did not understand what was going on, and could not understand why she was not allowed out of the house to greet her adoring fans (they were all there to see her, of course).
anne-on says
Our dog haaaaates Halloween as a super friendly (but large) black lab. She desperately wanted to warn us about the strange people on our porch and was then upset/sad that she was confined to the kitchen and could not come out for the fun walk with treats and people.
SC says
We had a great Halloween too! My favorite part happened at one house that was handing out toothbrushes and toothpaste. My 2-year-old niece gave back the toothbrush and said, “I don’t want this.” The older kids accepted it politely, but then at the next house, my 4-year-old said, “Mom, that guy doesn’t know what ‘candy’ means.” Later, in the car, he talked for 5 minutes about how silly that guy was for handing out toothbrushes and toothpaste on Halloween.
FVNC says
Our night also turned out really well, despite a not-great afternoon! I took a half day off work yesterday to attend my first grader’s halloween parade and 2 yr old’s class party. The 2 year old came home with me early, for what I thought would be a nice bit of one-on-one time, but he was just in a terrible mood (couldn’t have been the giant cookie he ate…). Anyway, despite running late even though I’d taken the afternoon off, and 25 degree weather, the kids had a great time with their neighborhood friends, and even accepted the limit of one treat before bed. It was the first time they’d trick or treated in a neighborhood (in our old college town we went trick or treating at the university, which was adorable but super crowded), and they had a blast running between houses. Not so great on the “thank yous” but, maybe next year!
Anon says
Glad everyone had so much fun! I’m honestly a little bit sad this morning. We didn’t take our 17 month old twins truck or treating, though we took them to a Halloween party a few weeks ago and our nanny took them to two parties this week. I knew they wouldn’t know the difference so i thought i didn’t care about whether or not we went but now I’m kind of sad i didn’t get to experience it with them at this age when it would have been very cute to watch them toddle up to a few houses in their costumes
Anonymous says
They will be super cute next year too, and they will be able to say trick or treat, which is even more adorable!
rosie says
+1. My kid is almost 2.5, so just about a year older than your twins, and we did trick-or-treating (light version) with her this year and it was perfect.
Anonymous says
17 months is too young for them to do more than two or three houses. Next year will be a cute year.
Anon says
Don’t feel bad for not going this year! We didn’t take my 23 month old! We brought him to a friend’s house to hand out candy together. My kid spent all night taking candy from the bowl, running away, then running back for more. Next year they’ll understand it.
Anon says
I’m sad too. We couldn’t go trick-or-treating due to weather (I mean, we could have, but it would have been miserable) and we didn’t have any Halloween parties to attend, so the costume I bought went unworn. My 21 month old obviously didn’t know what she was missing and didn’t care, but I had a Facebook newsfeed filled with cute kids and costumes, trick-or-treating or at least getting together with friends, and felt really guilty. I’m a Halloween grinch to begin with and I think I’m even more grinchy about it now that I have a kid because there’s so much pressure to make this is magical, amazing experience for your kids.
anon says
My twins just turned 3, and this is the first year we took them trick or treating! They honestly did not know or care what it was last year, although they enjoyed wearing costumes to preschool.
Anonymouse says
My 17 month old “helped” me hand out candy but had a total melt down before we were done … if we could have waited til next year (without locking ourselves in a dark house and ignoring the bell) we would have.
Anonymous says
The thunderstorm waited until everyone was back inside, and my kids had a blast. Daughter (4.5) dumped her candy all over the kitchen table, and said, “mommy, on this night, I feel like my life is *finally* beginning.” I do not know where she gets her sense of drama from.
Redux says
This made me LOL!
Anon says
We had so much fun. We had a small Halloween party at our house with a few friends and family and then headed out to take two toddlers and a baby trick-or-treating. I thought they’d be over it after a few houses but we ended up making it to twelve! My 22-month old had an absolute blast and kept asking to go to more houses, even though she’s never had candy in her life and still doesn’t understand what they were giving her. She’s pretty shy, so it was great to see her be brave to knock on doors and go up to new houses on Halloween.
I’m absolutely exhausted today, though. Worth it!
Katarina says
It was cold here in Texas. My 3.5 year old did not have fun. At least my 6 year old had fun, although he did not go to as many houses. Last year the rain stopped just at trick-or-treat time, and the weather was perfect, not too hot or cold (either is a risk here). We got a lot fewer trick-or-treaters than last year, and there were a lot fewer that we encountered.
Pigpen's Mama says
I’ve also just written my cell number on my kid’s arm in pen — I keep telling myself I’ll do it in sharpie before we leave, but then forget and use a regular pen, so it’s messy, but it works.
So Anon says
I think pen actually works better. Words written with sharpie on the skin tend to bleed (the ink), making it tough to read.
Pogo says
+1 I saw regular pen used this year for the first time on another toddler and I was like, that’s genius. Especially now that my kid’s a runner, I get it.
Anonymous says
I have done this with sharpie and with regular pen. When we arrive at the event, I always show my kid what uniforms or name tags the employees are wearing, and I have her recite the emergency procedure for separation: stay where you are, look for an employee nearby to help you, if you can’t find an employee find a parent with small children, don’t go anywhere with anyone or get into a vehicle. When she was really small I used to quiz her on her last name and our names too. Much easier to ask for help finding “Jane Doe” than “Mama.”
DLC says
The last time we were at the Building Museum in DC, they offered us blank stickers to write our numbers on and stick to our kids. at first I thought it a little presumptuous and was taken aback, but then I realized that it was actually a great idea- this was during the Lawn exhibit and the place was truly a madhouse.
Spirograph says
They give out wristbands at Hershey Park for you to write your name and phone number on, and I loved it. Same as anon 10:42, we always start off an event with pointing out uniforms and telling the kids whom to ask for help if we get separated. The trickiest place we’ve been to is a renaissance festival… no uniforms, people dressed in all kinds of outlandish, potentially scary costumes, no way to tell staff from other festival-goers. I wish I’d thought of wristbands for that!
Anonymous says
I never think to do this when we are out and about (and I live in NYC!). Sometimes we make a plan for where to meet if son gets lost, but rarely.
LadyNFS says
I found a company online awhile back that does temporary tattoos. Similar concept as the phone number, and could work for longer trips (like multi days at a theme park).
anon says
I forgot to do this before going to a professional baseball game, so I stopped at one of the many police officers who was standing around and asked to borrow his pen. He looked at me strange, but handed it over. Then I wrote our phone number in big numbers up both kids’ arms. He chucked and said “Thank you, I appreciate you doing that.” My kids thought it was pretty funny.
Anon says
My toddler has lots of words that she says not very well (orange is “eesh”) or that she has her own word for (bunnies are “hop-hop”s, washing hands is “bubbles” because they sing a song about bubbles at school when they wash hands, etc etc…there are a lot of examples, it’s like she has her own little language). I imagine this is very normal, but I’m wondering how much effort we need to put into correcting her? If we just continue using the normal words, she’ll figure it out eventually, right? We don’t need to say “The word for this is ___ not __” …or do we? I mean, I don’t want her to go to kindergarten talking about hop-hops but it’s so cute.
anne-on says
This is super common (and adorable!). Enjoy it while it lasts – and some may become your own cute family shorthand – we still say ‘destructions’ for ‘instructions’ after my nephew coined that one as a little guy.
I will say that we left a list of ‘toddler vocab translations’ for sitters/grandparents around that age when we went away so that there wasn’t a meltdown when kiddo was asking for ‘eesh’ and grandma had no idea what that meant.
Anon says
Ha yes I did think that when her grandparents stay overnight with her in a few months we will need to leave them a “Toddler-English translation guide.” I admit we sometimes call pillows “boppys” since that’s what she calls them. She picked that one up at daycare I think, they have infants in her room who are always sitting up with the assistance of actual Boppys(TM).
FVNC says
My unscientific opinion is to enjoy the cuteness now because your child will naturally grow out of it in a few years. We may or may not purposely mispronounce words (“handleburger”, “refrigidator”, “musaseums”) to try to preserve the adorableness.
Lyssa says
I love these. My son said “han-ger-ber” until he was about 5. And the best place to get a hangerber? “Old-McDonalds.”
Boston Legal Eagle says
Our now 3.5 year old used to say “bah-boo” for bubbles and “minty” for music, among other different pronunciations. He can say both words fine now. We found that once he got to the preschool classroom of daycare (age 2.9), his vocabulary exploded and he started talking in full sentences and using the right words and everything.
Anonymous says
Yes, we definitely never corrected this because it was so darn cute. It happens pretty naturally at preschool/daycare.
Anonymous says
My younger brother used to say “comfortable” instead of “comforter” (as in, duvet/blanket), and it was the cutest thing ever. I’m forgetting some of the things our son used to say, which makes me sad. Oh yes, lello instead of yellow. I miss it!
Anonymous says
And chip squirrel instead of chipmunk. The whole family uses that one now.
Anon says
Hahaha I love chip squirrel
Pogo says
that’s friggin precious, omg.
octagon says
It will self-correct. I was just lamenting the other day that kiddo can finally say his F’s so fish are no longer “pish.”
Irish Midori says
Yep, don’t worry about it. Every kid does this, and even in Kindergarten there’s a lot of it still going on. I was deeply, deeply encouraged yesterday when I went to my son’s 1st grade class party and realized that his speech is not as behind as it seems to me (because I tend to compare him to his older brother rather than his peers). They ALL have their little quirks, and it’s super cute.
Anonymous says
My third grader (who has been in speech therapy most of his life) still can’t pronounce the word pretzels. He calls the prentzcils. It’s hilarious
Anonymous says
My kids call them prentzils, too! Oldest is in first grade. He also calls scissors “zizzers.” He’s outgrown strawbellies and heli-tacos (helicopters) and parade-os (pierogies), though. And we got rid of pacifiers, so they are no longer “ba-ba-bees.” We all call garbage trucks “trash can trucks,” now, though.
OP, enjoy the cute turns of phrase. They will outgrow them.
FVNC says
I love this thread! This comment reminded me that my six year old also says “zizzers” and my two year old says are “straw-betties” his favorite fruit. I realize it’s common, but my six year old also cannot pronounce “r”, and sounds like she has a thick Boston accent at times (Actual sentence: “Ah we gonna drive our cah to fahm?”).
Anon says
I’m the OP and my daughter can’t pronounce r’s well – car is cahhh and sounds very Boston, which is hilarious because we live nowhere near Boston now but her dad and I lived there for a while before she was born, so we get a kick out of it. Rhino is yee-no.
Anon says
My 5 year old was so excited about the prentzils at the cafeteria. It took me a minute to figure out what she meant!
We had (have? I think it’s gone now) merote controls (instead of remote controls) and callapitters (caterpillars, still have this one).
I’ll be sad when they are gone.
In House Lobbyist says
This almost makes me cry! My 6 year old doesn’t really have any funny pronunciations left. I loved “crocker -gator” for either crocodiles or alligators. Enjoy it while it last.
anon says
I love the funny pronunciations and many have made it into the family lexicon, well after the kids outgrew them.
The latest iteration? My 3-year-old niece is currently calling n!pples “whipples.” It is HILARIOUS.
DLC says
The speech pathologist who works with our 2.75 year old always phrases it not as “correcting” but rather as “modeling.” So, the tactic is to repeat things correctly to your child as part of the conversation, but not beat them over the head or make them feel like what they said is wrong. For example, when they say, “I want an eesh”, you respond by saying brightly, “Of course, here is the orange. Shall I peel it for you?” Also, she recommends that you can have the child look at you/ your mouth when you say things because kids can often learn to say things correctly by copying the shapes your mouth/ teeth/ tongue makes. This works sporadically with our child- he will correct his words at the moment but then go back to the incorrect pronunciation the next time he uses the words. I do want my child to be clearer when he talks, but it’s really not a huge deal, for us and I agree all the toddler-isms are so cute!
Pogo says
Yes, I think the hardest part is not giving into to the toddler lexicon entirely because it’s so darn cute. I do try to use the correct words so that he learns, but not be overly corrective when it’s legit confusing – there is a picture in a book of a slice of red waxed cheese that does in fact look exactly like an apple. He always says “apple!” so excitedly that I stopped telling him “technically that’s cheese”.
My current favorite pronunciation is “memato” for “tomato”. He marches his little self down to the garden, opens the fence, and picks his own cherry tomatoes. After pounding a few he’ll offer me one: “Here you go, mommy – memato!”
Anon. says
Agreed. We do a lot of the modeling/repeating just because that helps me process/translate what he’s saying and to help ‘correct’ him. But it will from now and forever be Nana Bread (banana bread) in our house; I will not let that go, it’s too cute.
Anonymous says
My coworker whose kids must have been around 2 and 4 once commented “I don’t know why I’m so hungry, I had a nana this morning…” I laughed at him at the time (pre-kids of my own), but now I get it. :)
AwayEmily says
Tomato must be a tough one…our 3.5 year old still calls them “pomamos.”
Ashley says
I definitely don’t correct, though I try to force myself to model the right things. Sometimes I adopt his way though. All snacks/granola bars are “snack tookies” in our house (snack cookies, no idea why he says both together). Or sometimes it’s “brekish bar” (breakfast bar) or “bish” (goldfish). It’s so cute to me!
Ashley says
Oh and “boo-bashes” (blueberries)!
Mary Bellamy says
I let the kids keep saying “armadildos” without correcting them. Because I am that mom. They figured it out and say it correctly now (not that they have much reason to say armadillo in the first place).
Anon says
Omg! For a while my kid could not say “l”s but knew the word “clock” so…
Anonymous says
I still have a very distinct recollection of my daughter, standing in the busy street, listening to the church bells chime, and yelling, “Mommy, it’s a big c’ock! Where’s the big c’ock?! I want to see a big c’ock!”
Coach Laura says
We still say “gort car” for sport car in my family and my brother is 50. :)
My daughter didn’t speak in more than two word sentences until she was 3 and was very slow on words in general, so dogs were “woof”, cats were “meow” and neighbor’s horses were “neigh-neighs”. But that stopped before kindergarten.
Other things with my own kids were “parking fot” for parking spot, “cheap size” for value-sized items in the grocery store (teaching them to read labels and cost per use), and we still use those too.
Elena says
I miss “rhinosaur”, like dinosaur. That lasted the longest of his fun pronunciations.
Anon says
My friend needs surgery on her toe due to a problem with her joints related to her pregnancy earlier this year. I lost a tooth in my pregnancy (it just fell out…apparently this is pretty common when pregnant). Another friend’s hair started growing a different direction out of her head and also turned curly. Whats the weirdest thing you have heard about pregnancy/labor doing to women’s bodies? I love my baby (and plan on having more) but wow did it wreck havoc on my system and recovery path is a weird one.
K. says
My sister lost her sense of smell, so basically she can’t taste anything either. As a huge lover of food and cooking, this would break me. I think it has her as well.
LittleBigLaw says
That’s so awful!
Anon says
I had six cavities when I went to the dentist for the first time postpartum (admittedly, it had been a few years since my last trip to the dentist but these were my first ever cavities). My dentist said it’s an old wives tale that pregnancy damages your teeth but I have sooooo many friends who had tooth problems during or immediately after pregnancy (no one completely lost a tooth though, yikes!) that I don’t really believe him.
Pregnancy also triggered an autoimmune thyroid disease for me. It’s genetic, but my doctor said it might never have been “activated” if I hadn’t been pregnant.
And I had a really “easy” pregnancy with no morning sickness, good energy levels, etc. I feel like pregnancy is so much harder on our bodies than most people who haven’t been pregnant realize.
Anon says
I developed alopecia and straight up had nickel and dime sized holes of missing hair in my head. When it grew back, it came in super tight, spiral curls. The rest of my hair is wavy/ straight at best, so these patches stick out and are very difficult to tame. So that’s been fun.
Anonanonanon says
I had an entire wisdom tooth basically disintegrate during pregnancy, as well as the tooth next to it. I had never had a cavity before that.
Anon says
I had 8.
Pogo says
I started getting tonsil stones. I actually hacked two up when I was pushing my son out. I g00gled extensively and I guess it can be related to the same thing as the cavities – the changes in your saliva and morning sickness etc. So disgusting.
A coworker got tons of warts on her hands, but luckily they went away after. Something about your immune system changing w/ pregnancy makes you prone to them is what her doctor told her.
Miracle of LIFE!
Anon says
Gallbladder had to come out at 6 weeks PP – apparently it’s super common in postpartum women. My autoimmune disease also flared for pregnancy and about 9 months thereafter.
anon says
My eyesight has gotten worse each pregnancy (we have three kids).
Also my belly button is no longer in the center of my body.
Other more serious stuff too, but those are the big ones I can think of right now! My husband, who is my best advocate, always describes childbirth as “barbaric”! (Meaning he hates seeing how much it puts women through – he could definitely come up with a better term)
Anonymous says
My sense of smell never went back to normal. It is torture.
I also developed an aversion to the color brown, mostly in textiles. Pre-pregnancy I had a lot of dark brown clothes in my wardrobe. A few months after I had the baby, I realized I would never wear them again and got rid of them all.
Anon says
My natural hair color completely changed. I used to be a dirty blonde/light brown-ish color naturally and during my last pregnancy, my hair turned brunette and never went back, almost 2 years later. I color it back to my more “natural” color because it weirds me out so much. That hair color just doesn’t feel like me.
Also, I’ve developed an allergy to alcohol. If I have more than half a glass of wine, I pay for it the next day in a way I’ve never experienced before. I know hangovers get worse when you get older, but my reaction is totally out of proportion to the amount I’ve consumed. I suppose it’s better for me to only drink a half of a glass anyway.
ElisaR says
i had severe pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome. I could’t hold a fork and it was awful!
In House Lobbyist says
Eyesight and my eye doctor did confirm that pregnancy makes your eyesight worse! How is that even a thing?
Anon says
Interesting – mine was worse while pregnant, but in the year postpartum returned back to my pre-pregnancy levels (i.e., same glasses prescription). Someone told me it’s related to all the extra fluids changing the shape of your eye.
Anon says
Yeah my doctor told me your eyesight gets worse while pregnant but should return to normal. I never heard of a permanent change.
EB says
I grew a wart on my thumb! 3.5 months pp and it has gone away. With my first, I noticed that my skin took forever to heal if I got a cut or a bite. I actually hit a bug bite on my foot that didn’t go away for months. And I have always had sensitive teeth, but they are much more sensitive now. As in I cannot really eat or drink anything too hot or cold without it hurting, in spite of using toothpaste for sensitive teeth.
Anon says
While we’re on the topic of Halloween – how do you guys handle candy afterward? We have a 2.5 year old, so she could only toddle to a few houses, but I’d expect in future years we’ll make it further. Do you only let them have one piece the night of? What about days after? When I was growing up, my parents let us eat whatever we wanted, which was not ideal.
Spirograph says
I let my kids eat a bunch last night, but the rest of it is in a bowl on top of the refrigerator (except Reese’s cups, those are in the freezer for me), and we’ll dole out a couple pieces at a time for dessert for the next couple weeks. At some point, I will get sick of having it in the house and we’ll take the rest to work.
Grown up kid says
My parents did this and I used to sneak up the refridgerator with freakish kid climbing skills (with the help of chairs and tools) to sneak them out a few at a time so my parents wouldn’t notice.
Anon says
My 2 YO went to town on her haul from her school party and what she pulled out of the bucket while answering the door. The rest came with me to work this morning (to much tears – surprising from a kid who had not had candy prior to last week) to restock the candy bowl that has been empty for a few weeks. In future years I think it will be the same approach – gorging the night of, then some significant portion goes to work with mama and the rest stays to be doled out as treats.
Emily S. says
We let them have as much as they want the night of and the day after and then put it away in a cabinet. If they ask, they can have a piece or two, but they usually forget about it after a few days, and then I sneak the leftovers into work. Mine are 4 and 2, though, so while it has worked for the past Halloween, Christmas, and Easter, I suspect that as they get older, “out of sight out of mind” won’t work anymore.
Anonymous says
We also put ours up and away after 2 days. I’m always shocked that the “out of sight, out of mind” trick works, but it still does with my 7.5yos.
Anon says
My parents let me have what I wanted that night, but after that it was limited to one piece/day after dinner. That’s probably what we’ll do.
CPA Lady says
This is what we do, except we let her have her daily piece of candy as soon as she wakes up in the morning, because if it is tied to a meal time it turns the meal into a hostage negotiation setting.
Redux says
We do one piece a day after dinner, too, and last year’s candy lasted until August this year!
DLC says
So we didn’t get to do this since we stayed inside because of the weather this year, but my husband made a deal with our 7 year old daughter that he would hold on to the bag of candy. Every day he would hide two pieces in the house, and if she could find them, she could eat one and give one piece to her brother. (The part he didn’t mention is that if she doesn’t find them by bed time, I could look for them and eat them.). I’m actually really disappointed that we aren’t going to get to try this tactic out.
Anon says
I love this!
Buddy Holly says
My child doesn’t eat gluten or milk, which eliminated a lot of her candy. We had previously told her she could keep 10 pieces and eat 1 a day. By luck, she only had 10 pieces left after all the gluten/milk pieces were removed (basically, all the chocolate mpieces had milk). She turned in the candy she couldn’t have to us in exchange for a fancy doll that she had previously picked out. It worked out well since it was otherwise upsetting to lose most of her candy immediately after getting home, and I’d rather she have a doll than a ton of candy.
anon says
I like the recommendations from the Feedling Littles intagram. I feel like she has a really good approach to it.
EB0220 says
My kids are 5 and 7. They each had the number of pieces for their age on Halloween (5 year old got 5, 7 year old got 7). Then we usually give them a piece or two each day if they ask. Usually they’re into it for a week or so and then mostly forget. At Thanksgiving, I pitch or donate the rest.
BabyMom says
When I was growing up, my mom used to let us eat as much as we wanted for the first two or three days after Halloween and would confiscate anything left after that. (I think she ended up with a bunch of SweetTarts and Dots.). Back then, she wasn’t so much concerned with the sugar as she was with the wrappers that were left around the house. I think I’ll try something similar when my kids are old enough.
SC says
We let Kiddo have 5 pieces last night–2 immediately after trick or treating and 3 after dinner. We’ll let him have probably 2 pieces for dessert on nights we don’t have anything else planned. I won’t get rid of what he collected, but I’ll bring candy that we didn’t hand out to work eventually (hopefully sooner than later).
Ashley says
Check out both Kids Eat in Color and Feeding Littles on instagram. Both are kid nutrition accounts that had (what I thought were) great posts about this!
Mary says
My husband thinks it’s a bad idea, but I held an auction last year. I pulled out all the little toys and gifts I’d been buying for them and let them trade candy for new socks and dolls and such. I just counted, and they’ve got about 70 pieces of candy each. I want to cut that in half, and will price this year’s auction toys accordingly. (Technically, it’s not an auction, but it’s just fun to call it that)
My oldest doesn’t like candy, so it’s easy for her to give them up. Her younger sister is a sugar fiend.
Spirograph says
I love this. My husband would also love this, except he would definitely want it to be a real auction where the kids bid against each other. Maybe we’ll try it next year!
Butter says
Trying very very hard to follow the Ellyn Satter guideline discussed here in the link below, but do have a hard time with it. Did basically free reign last night until it was time to go to bed, will try again tonight, then limit to snacks after this.
https://parenting.nytimes.com/feeding/halloween-candy-rules
SC says
The first paragraph reminded me that last night, on the way to trick-or-treat at my in-laws, Kiddo saw contrails in the sky. He was 100% sure they were from a rocket or a space ship, and we made up a fun story together about how aliens must really like candy and were visiting Earth for Halloween so they could go trick-or-treating.
Anon says
I know this is a much better problem to have than the opposite, but lately our 20 month old has not wanted to leave with us at daycare pickup. She will smile and wave at us and then go right back to playing. At first it only happened when the class was doing something especially fun for her (she loves the gross motor room) but now it’s happening more and more regularly. We’re thrilled she’s so happy there, but it’s getting tiring dealing with tears every day. Any tips? I already try to talk to her about the fun things we’ll do at home (“we’ll see daddy! we’ll take the dog on a walk!”) and she’s usually fine as soon as we leave the classroom, but I still hate having to drag a sobbing kid out.
Anon says
Do you arrive at the same time every day? Could you ask the daycare to help give her a warning you will be showing up to ease the transition before you start to show up? Like mommy /daddy will be here in soon/5 minutes so lets pick our last thing to play with today.
Does a peer also leave at the same time? Could they put on their coats together?
Anonymous says
I usually let them keep playing right up until immediately before we have to leave. So I arrive and say hi to kid, then pack up their bag/sign any forms etc, get out boots and coat, then pick up kid and put on coat and change shoes, then carry out the door. Transitions are hard at this age.
Pogo says
I use a few tactics:
-“Let’s see if Daddy is home yet!” (I know he’s not, typically, but kiddo gets all excited and runs to the car, then forgets by the time we get home that I had semi-promised Daddy)
-“Do you want to go ride bikes/go to the playground?” On days we have leftovers or a low key meal, I can spare 30min of playtime. He doesn’t have a playground at daycare or the kind of bike he has at home, so these typically work.
-“Do you want to listen to Baby Shark or Elmo in the car?”
-If all else fails, offer a snack. It’s timed appropriately anyway, as he gets his yogurt at 4 and when I pick him up at 5 he needs something to get him to dinner time. I tell him he can have crackers if he gets in the carseat, and that pretty much always does it because he never gets crackers otherwise.
Pogo says
Also, solidarity. There is almost always a struggle of some sort. I have in no way solved this problem.
Anon says
Thanks, it makes me feel better to hear I’m not alone! Food, especially crackers, is good idea. I think she’s hungry by pick-up time and she lives for crackers at the moment and doesn’t get them that often except when traveling.
anon says
Definitely snack! My son runs up to me at pickup and asks, “What are we having today?” meaning what snack did I bring. He isn’t allowed to open it until he’s strapped into the stroller. Bribery works. ;)
Ashley says
Snacks! My toddler loves asking for his “brekish bar” (breakfast bar) or “bish” (goldfish) as soon as I arrive at daycare pickup.
Biglaw NYC says
A finance question for pregnancy. I am going to have my first child next May. We will have Anthem BlueCross health insurance. Does anyone have any estimates of about how much I should be planning to spend out of pocket or know of resources that have that information? I am doing some financial planning for next year. thanks in advance!
Ashley says
It varies a lot depending on your plan. I had good luck with asking someone I worked with (same insurance plan who delivered at the same hospital I knew I would use) what I should expect to pay.
Anonymous says
Co-sign. But also had Anthem in the DC area, so in case it’s helpful, I easily hit my deductible, spent my FSA set aside of 2500 on co-pays. My payment due to the hospital, after insurance was about $1K. My mom, an insurance agent, is always telling me that all medical bills are negotiable, so I called and asked for a discount. The hospital gave me 20% off, literally just for asking and saying I would pay it right away instead of in installments.
Anon says
+1 to asking for a discount. It’s pretty standard to give 20% off medical bills for paying in full as soon as you receive the bill. You don’t have to insinuate any financial hardship or inability to pay (which I wouldn’t be comfortable with). You can literally just call and say “Is there a discount if I pay the full sum today?” and I bet you they will say, yes, 20%. That’s what happened to me also.
Anon says
You have to know your deductible, co-insurance rate and OOP pocket maximum, and they can vary hugely even within the same state and insurance company. I delivered in February so pregnancy costs were spread firmly across two years (almost all the ultrasounds, prenatal testing and appointments in one year, and the actual delivery in the next year). I hit my $2500 deductible both years, but I did not ever reach my $5k OOP max. I believe the hospital stay (including anesthesia and visits from doctors in the hospital) was around $15k and I have 20% co-insurance so I would have owed something like $3k for that, and honestly I think I spent at least $3k the previous year, thanks to all the prenatal appointments and testing (ultrasounds were $500+ each and my doctor charged around $1k total for regular prenatal care like appointments and bloodwork). If it had all been in one year, I would have hit my $5k OOP max.
Anon says
Oh and I have Anthem BlueCross, fwiw. But not in NY and obviously I’m on a high-deductible health plan.
Anon says
We’re in open enrollment now and one of the documents they provide for each of our different plans is “what do I pay if XYZ” and in our case pregnancy is one of those scenarios – so you might check your open enrollment materials. HR or the insurance company could probably walk you through also. Under our open access HMO plan, routine prenatal care is covered at 100%, delivery for a hospital admission is a $240 copay (this included my c-section), and our regular deductible was $200 (probably applied to lab testing, ultrasounds, etc. – I don’t really remember). I had multiple hospital admissions throughout my pregnancy (what fun), and I’m pretty sure my total came in around $500 for the year. Made me really glad we were in that plan and not the PPO which has all sorts of co-insurance.
Anonymous says
We called our insurance provider when we were in your situation and they were able to pretty accurately tell us and were super helpful about it. I’d just call and ask.
Anon says
Just as a counterpoint to all of the above awesome insurance. On a BCBS PPO, I had an induction, labor, and then emergency csection followed by complications that required a longer hospital stay for me. That was a total bill of $50K+ and we paid around $6K of that out of pocket. My second was a scheduled csection but with extra monitoring given the issues the first time around, and with complications for baby that didn’t require a longer stay. That was a bill of $30K and we paid maybe $5K out of pocket. (And then we had hit the family oop max for the year so DH got a “free” vasectomy between Christmas and New Years.)
Colette says
Hi – I am expecting our first child due in May.
My husband works in medicine and will be moving to a two day a week schedule to be the primary care giver for our child.
My question is how does day care work with this? He will be consistently working two days a week but they are not always the same two days each week.
Will they just charge us for two days or will the charge us for all five days to “hold” our spot every day since our needs change week to week?
The daycare facilities are not connected to the hospital he works at.
Thanks!
Anon says
Unfortunately I think you’re going to have a very hard time getting a 2 day/week spot at a daycare unless you can consistently tell them which two days it will be…and honestly, even then it might be challenging. Part time daycare is just not a thing in my area. There are enough people that want full-time spots that any quality daycare doesn’t need to accept part-time families and doesn’t want to because of the difficulties of pairing up families perfectly to ensure they don’t lose any tuition. Eg., if they accept a TR family then they need to find a MWF family and will have to turn away all the families that want 5 day/week care. If they can’t find a MWF family, then they’ll lose that money. With long waiting lists for 5 day/week families, it’s just easier to turn away anyone who wants part-time tuition.
Is a nanny/nanny share an option? That might give you more flexibility, although the total cost of a 2 day/week nanny might be pretty comparable to 5 day/week daycare.
Anon says
Meant to add that I think it’s awesome your husband is going to be your child’s primary caregiver!
Colette says
Thanks for the reply. That’s what I was worried about!
I will start looking for a nanny share now. That sounds like it could be a good fit.
Maura
Buddy Holly says
I agree that it will be very difficult to find a daycare center that will do a rotating part-time schedule. More realistic options might be:
*Find a stay-at-home mom in your neighborhood or near work that might be OK with doing childcare on a rotating part-time schedule for fair payment
*Check with in-home daycares that might be willing to add a child part-time if they normally run under-capacity
*Call a nanny agency to place an ad for families with existing nannies to do a nanny share, or talk with nannies in your area to try to find families that might be open to a part-time nanny share
*Find your area’s facebook moms group and join it (ask moms at the playground or out at Target or wherever). Then, make a post to propose splitting a full time spot with 1-2 other people with infants a similar age to yours. So you get 2 days (you pay more to get first dibs), and the other people split the other days for their infants. The daycare center would also need to agree to do this and you might take the risk if the other parents don’t make payment. It would be a pain to coordinate the logistics, especially at first, but I know there are a ton of stay-at-home parents that would love to have 1 day of care a week. You might also meet parents in the hospital or at b-feeding groups where you could try to propose this.
*If your husband has colleagues with similar schedules with kids, have him ask them what they do for childcare. You might find an arrangement that works that way (for example, if they have a stay at home parent, see if that parent might want side income watching your kids too).
This will probably take some legwork on your family’s part, but that is the topsy turvy world of childcare.
Spirograph says
Day care doesn’t work with that. Sorry, I want to be more positive, but your options are likely going to be very limited unless you’re willing to pay for 5 days of care and only use the days that you need.
You might have better luck with an in-home daycare, or a nanny share… although you would need a nanny and a share family that are OK with the flexible days; I can think of a lot of ways that could get difficult.
How far in advance will your husband know his schedule? If there is a chance it could change on short notice, it might be best to just get a full time daycare spot anyway, and think of it as a childcare retainer.
rosie says
Yeah, I think it could be tough even setting up a nanny share for this. Your best bet might be to find someone who has a solid nanny arrangement for their kid and is open to adding you as a part time share. You would pay for 2 floating days a week, so the nanny would get more money on those days and the other family would have their costs reduced.
I’m in an area (DC) where I don’t think part time daycare is really a big thing and nanny shares seem to generally be 2 families full time, not 1 family part time and 1 family the other part (which I don’t think would even work for you if you could find it, since it’s not consistent days).
Anon says
My pilot husband has a similarly variable schedule, although his days off can be more varied (some weeks 3 weekdays off, some weeks none, and all the in-between) and can sometimes change last minute with weather or other delays.
We decided to pay for 5 days/wk care and put the kids in every day. He used his off days to take them in later, get errands and housework done, maybe take one to the doctor/dentist/etc, and then picked them up after naptime. This lets the kids adapt to a routine during the weekday and lets our weekends/evenings be actual family time. And it gave him a bit of downtime to recover from sleepless nights or hectic days so he could have enough energy to be primary caregiver on the nights and weekends.
Coach Laura says
I’ve seen people with schedules/spouse’s with unpredictable schedules like this (my RN sister, a girlfriend who was an MD and a firefighter with a full-time working spouse) not equating to full-time.
The firefighter’s family found a SAHM who they knew through day-care (she was a former caregiver who was pregnant when they were) and she was flexible enough to cover any day, bringing her same-age kid along. The SAHM wanted the money but also had the flexibility of caring for her own kid. The caregiver also watched their older kid on in-service school days and with mild illnesses.
The MD found a nanny from their temple who also had a same-age kid and also brought the daughter to their house. When her daughter was two, the nanny put the child in half-day preschool because the MD had another kid by then and their older kid went to the same preschool so pick-up and drop-off were coordinated.
My sister, an RN, called me in tears after her first was born saying that she wanted to go back to work but didn’t know how they would afford it and how to schedule around her 12-hour shifts plus 2 hours of daily commute by ferry. I suggested that her husband take off one day mid-week and that she work weekends. It was really tough on their marriage but they didn’t want to pay for daycare. Hubby is/was a therapist with his own schedule. Sister worked Wednesdays and every other Saturday and Sunday, thus still being eligible for medical insurance/benefits. On Saturday night, she stayed at a friends’ houses to lessen the commute. 22 years later, she just stopped this schedule when the youngest two (twins) went off to college in August. I must say I admired her husband, who had a 4yo and newborn twins by himself every other weekend. I’m not sure I personally would be able to cope with that much alone-parenting time for three young kids.
So if your hubby can volunteer for the weekend shifts and/or night shifts (higher pay as a benefit too?) maybe you can work with just occasional baby sitting until your baby is ready for preschool at age 2 or 3. It would be tough on your husband taking care of a baby after a night shift but my firefighter friend did it until their kid went to a preschool with drop-in before/after childcare at age 3.
A part-time nanny share might be good too. Sharing the cost (potentially lowering the other family’s cost while raising the nanny’s pay) might be something a friend or acquaintance might be very excited about.
Anonymous says
These are practical suggestions, but do not underestimate the “tough on their marriage” piece of consistently volunteering for nights and weekends. My dad spent most of my childhood volunteering for night and weekend shifts at the hospital. My mom was a SAHM, so it wasn’t an issue of avoiding daycare, which might be a mitigating factor. Anyway, they didn’t see each other that much, my dad slept during the day a lot so that he could be ready for/recover from night shifts and I don’t remember him being especially present. My parents divorced when I was in middle school.
Coach Laura says
Yes, that’s a good point, which is why I thought it was important. However, since my sister was there on average 11 out of 14 work weeks and both were very involved in childcare, I think they saw each other more than my husband and I did with two full-time jobs and both were “present.” She was careful to give him some time away from the kids and he did the same, much better than some couples do. Plus she had every other Saturday night alone time, which I would have killed for at one point. They are one of the most active couples I know between skiing, sailing, kayaking, hiking and camping as a family.
But yeah, this will only work if the husband is on board with it and they both understand the trade offs.
Coach Laura says
I meant to say – she was home 11 of 14 days in a two week period. So in some ways it was like working part-time but also more tiring than part-time.
Anonymous says
I’m in the Boston burbs. There’s a daycare place here that has a drop in type setup. You commit to X hours/week then book ahead which days/hours you need. It is more expensive per hour than a traditional daycare, and you have to be on top of booking as far out as you can- but something like this could work for you.
I do think that you might be best finding a family who is open to a part-time nanny share, as kids do best with routine.
Anon says
Does anyone have a thin sock recommendation for toddlers? I bought some cat & jack low cut ones per recs from this board but they are a bit thick for my girls. Any recs for a thinner kind?
EB0220 says
The only kind my girls will wear are the hanes no-show socks from Target. They’re thin.
rosie says
I like the Hanes multi-packs from Target. I think the thinnest socks we have, though, are from H&M and Old Navy — they are taller (so I would fold them down probably) but super thin.
Ashley says
Old navy tall socks are pretty thin. The low cut ones (IME) have “padding” on the sole so they’re thicker. This makes no sense to me considering the weather in which you’d choose to wear each type of sock, but there it is.
Anon says
tucker and tate 6 pack low-cut socks. They are thin but still well knit. Only socks that will fit in my wide and tall footed toddler’s shoes. The cat and jack ones are way too thick – those are only used for sock puppets these days.
Emily S. says
I like Jeffries Socks. You may be able to get them at your local shoe store but they are also on the river store.