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My old townhouse had limited storage. To make the most of my space, I put shelves like these under every sink.
This under-the-sink shelf immediately doubles the storage space in your cabinet. It expands to fit most spaces and comes in three finishes. It keeps cleaning products, paper products, and extra toiletries handy, but out of sight. Heavy bottles are no match for the sturdy steel frame, and the vented design keeps items dry. It’s also easy to assemble — start to finish will take less time than your favorite TV show.
This under-the-sink shelf by Brightroom is $30 at Target.
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ 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 – 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
PK career day says
PK has “jobs grown ups do” over the next few weeks where parents/extended family are invited in to come and share their job, former job, or a hobby that could be a job.
So far they’ve had:
– floral designer (made flower arrangements)
– a dermatologist (“doctor”) (did “checkups” and explored Dr tools)
– an astronomer (looked at the Sun via telescope)
– an engineer (built bridges)
– a former NFL player/team owner (got lots of swag, there a football, colored pics of football players).
Some of these were extended family, but in our house the option is just me and DH. We both have boring corporate jobs.
Do we:
1) Figure out a way to make market research, corporate marketing, business analytics or account management interesting to preschoolers? (If f so, suggestions?)
2) channel my high school job of working in an ice cream shop/ working retail (I can bring in a cash register, bags, and the Melissa and Doug ice cream cart)
3) use DH’s hobby of working on cars, bring in an engine and let the kids explore it (we have lots of car parts sitting in the garage, plus a creeper which would be super fun for kids to roll around on). Would be a mechanic career.
…other ideas??
Cb says
Working on cars. Kids would love that.
Our school really tried to encourage those working in trades to come in. Our jobs are so boring, the only think I could think of is running a mock election with the kids (political scientist).
GCA says
Car mechanic sounds fun!
Also, now I am absentmindedly musing about using the ice cream shop as an example of market research or corporate marketing. All the chocolate ice cream gets sold first, but the butter pecan goes unloved. What should your ice cream shop do? Have the kids vote: go out and try and sell the butter pecan? Or make 3x as much chocolate ice cream as butter pecan? Okay, now what? You rename the butter pecan ‘Vanilla Praline Crunch’ and it sells out. One day a customer comes in and says, I want 50 tubs of butter pecan ice cream for a party…
*I have real work to do today, I’m just avoiding it.
Anonymous says
I completely went through ideas for marketing, but They are better for school age kids (market research on new ice cream flavor, how to design toys that people want, how to write good instructions so what you want someone to build gets built, designing a logo for the school…).
Anon says
+1 GCA, those ideas are amazing and OP you should keep them in your back pocket for later.
But I think that is too much for preschoolers. I would say maybe more 1st grade+ at best.
GCA says
Oh, yeah. I could see my 2nd-grade Scout den totally getting into it. But for pre-K, Elms’ bar chart suggestion below is much better! The payoff after the bar charts (do you prefer chocolate or vanilla? do you like cups or cones?) is that they’d get to stock the ice cream cart with more of the favorite flavor, staff the cash register, and scoop M&D ice cream sundaes.
Anonymous says
I vote mechanic with side of market research. (And when car companies are building cars, they use people called ‘market researchers’ to help decide what features cars need? What features do you like? Did you know if Europe cars have way less cupholders because people don’t drive as long distances every day/don’t use drive thru restaurants as much (or whatever other kid relatable feature you can think of).
The trades don’t get enough play as viable careers. Especially now that a first degree is often not enough to move up in the corporate world. Can talk about how mechanics keep learning throughout their careers – eg more electric cars now.
Cb says
Yep, definitely. I teach first year uni students and half of them are there because they know they need a degree but they have no idea what they want to do.
Anonymous says
1- it’s your actual jobs! Kids are never too young to learn about marketing and advertising they are advertised to all the time.
AwayEmily says
Yes, this!
Anonymous says
you are clearly not a 4/5 year old. Those kids will want to scoop ice cream, eat ice cream, or look at cars and tools.
Firefighters and police officers are always the most popular around me.
AwayEmily says
I am definitely not a 4/5 year old but I have a just-turned-5yo and I think he would absolutely be interested in learning about advertising. He and his friends in preschool play “store” all the time and I think adding an advertising element would be fun for them.
Anonymous says
I think I’ve mentioned before that my kids like the Million Bazillion podcast from Marketplace. They had an episode about advertising in one of the previous seasons and my preK kid liked it!
EDAnon says
I was going to say the same thing about million bazillion and my kids are 6 and 4. They both love it.
Anon says
Actually, the funny thing is, at least in my house we do all ad free streaming for TV so I’ve realized my elementary school aged kids almost never get advertised to, at least overtly. I always think around Christmas how much harder that makes it to know what they want vs when I was kid and had all sorts of ideas from commercials! It’s not like they are reading magazines or surfing the web either.
Anon says
I think they probably absorb a lot more than you realize. Catalogues? Having the TV on while traveling or at a friends’ house? Billboards/highway signs? All of that is advertising. My kid’s pre-K did a whole unit on recognizing corporate logos which I thought was kind of weird but kids are exposed to ads even if they only watch streaming services at home.
Anon says
They have exposure in obscure ways obviously (although they don’t browse catalogs, at their friend’s houses if the TV is on at all it is also likely streaming, there aren’t really billboards on the routes they daily drive around etc. etc.) My point was more like especially at the preschool age they would have had to have had advertising really detailed out for them to even know what was being talked about unlike when we were kids when we could have just been like, hey, you know commercials..
Anonymous says
yes. and product placement, that’s the insidious one.
Anon says
TV shows are basically advertising – the kids want the toys that go with the shows! (And eg, Lego created Ninjago to sell toys.)
Anon says
Yes, but to connect that inadvertent way to an advertiser’s job in a way a preschooler would understand is harder than it would have been when commercials were commonly watched.
Anon says
I don’t think it’s really that hard a concept to grasp. I have a very average non-genius 5 year old and she understands that the Lego movie were made to sell toys.
Anonymous says
But in the context of this post, if a parent had gone into my preschool and told my kid’s entire class that – for example – his beloved Thomas the Train show was being made solely to sell him more trains, that would have kind of bummed me out. Like, yes, he’ll get that eventually but geesh do we really need to instill that level of cynicism on a classroom-wide basis a bunch of three and four year olds (OP doesn’t say age)?
Anon says
OP said Pre-K, so that’s normally 4 and 5 year olds.
anon says
I think a good way to handle ads/marketing would be this:
Bring in some food with characters on it and some food without characters on it and do a taste test or let the kids pick what they want to eat/try.
How do the foods taste with or without the characters?
How do the characters make you feel?
Why were you excited about it?
We did a version of this with my K’er accidentally – she really wanted princess spaghetti-os, I bought them, she hated them. We talked about how sometimes the outside is exciting but inside it isn’t good. The princesses made her want it but the food tasted yucky (to her!).
Anon says
Do you have to do it? When our daycare does this they’re just looking for a handful of people with interesting jobs to present. It’s not something everyone is expected to do.
Anonymous says
No, of course not. But I want to and so does DH :).
Anon says
I mean just another thought, if you and your DH would like to come in sometime. Maybe you could reach out to the teacher and offer to come read to the class or bring in a snack one day, etc?
At my kid’s PK, they’re pretty open to any help from parents that’s offered.
Those kinds of things might be less stressful.
Anon says
+1 this is what I would do personally.
Anon says
My dad is an accountant, and when he went in for K career day, he gave a really quick description of his job and then caught stacks of pennies off his elbow and handed them to the kids. (It’s still his party trick to this day.) Basically, is there some aspect of your job you can pull out and use? Like, marketing for a cool product? Or do “market research” on the kids with some topics they would enjoy (favorite animal, favorite ice cream flavor).
I don’t think you need to impart a full sense of your career to preschoolers…this is just some fun thing the teachers are doing. 99% of them won’t remember.
Anonymous says
This made me laugh because there is a kid with two accountant parents in the class. They brought in her uncle, the astronomy professor ;).
TheElms says
I like car hobby/engine idea, but if you want to do market research I would think of 1-2 polls you could ask the kids (like favorite food or favorite color), you could tally count as you go around the room getting answers and then graph the results as a bar chart on a big sheet of paper (possibly one with gridelines). A simple bar chart would be really good for early math skills (which bar is bigger / smaller) and shows the real world application of math. At the end you could ask them if they were a stuffed animal manufacturing company which animal would they make if they wanted to sell the most. I think the preschoolers would definitely understand.
Anne-on says
+1 – there are definitely ways to make market research entertaining to kids! I do a version of corporate MarComms and it’s pretty easy to explain it using whatever kids are into at the moment. PR is a particularly easy example – for younger kids I’d explain how it’s like being a storyteller for companies/adults. Some grownups and companies are good at talking to people and telling stories and other people need some help – don’t they all start writing stories and reading reports out loud at that age? I’d probably pick a kid to interview me (with a list of questions you give them) and then do a ‘bad’ interview, and then talk about what/how you were going to change and then do it again using your ‘good’ interview skills.
anon says
+1. Excellent ideas!
Anon says
18 weeks pregnant and wondering where the heck my supposed “second trimester burst of energy” is. I got stuff I need to do, and all I’ve been doing is napping and trying to figure out what food I’ll tolerate today.
OOO says
The second trimester burst of energy is a myth. Compared to how tired you were in the first trimester it may seem like a burst of energy, but you are actually just returning to baseline. You are creating a person! Take all the naps!
Anonymous says
I’ve had 3 and I’m still scratching my head wondering…. and there was no nesting burst of energy either!!
Anonymous says
I felt awful my entire pregnancy – queasy for 36 out of 42 weeks. I give you permission to just survive it.
anon. says
Another summer travel question. When traveling with small backless booster seats, do you make your kids carry them, check them (we’re already checking bags), or figure out some nifty way to latch/bungee them on to kids’ backpacks? Thanks!
Anon says
I’d for sure check them if I was checking bags. We go carry-on only, and the kids carry them for the most part. We help if necessary.
Anonymous says
I use the mifolds and put them in the roller bag. We usually travel 2-3 weeks internationally (family visit) so we always have checked luggage but that can be lost or delayed so I want them on hand when we arrive. We travel with a roller bag with stuff to last us 24 hours – a change of clothes for everyone, extra cliff bars and the mifolds, and each kid carries a backpack with ipads/books/water bottle/stuffy for the plane.
Anon says
I’ve been trying to buy a mifold for months based on posts here and as far as I can tell they are sold out everywhere all the time. (Last I checked).
Anonymous says
I make them carry them on and stash them in the overhead bin.
H13 says
+1
More Sleep Would Be Nice says
Okay. Today is the day. I’ve hit my limit at work – goalposts keep moving, boss has really upped their toxic behavior. Send me all the good vibes.
Some comments recently? When she said “Some people keep pinging me to let me know they’re working”, and when I was like “Are you referring to the messages about X?” her response was “I mean check the messages, look how often you reached out.” + Her telling me she was “fed up” with a certain situation that pertained to one of my reports and that “I could go to HR and tell them she said that”, and there are many more.
We’re in a coaching phase where she wants me to work on X skill and honestly it’s not going well and feels nit picky vs. learning-oriented. I asked her how I was doing and if she’s seen a change and her response was “I know you’ve been working hard” (vs. a “yes” or “no, and I’d like to see ___”).
I cry regularly at work, about work, etc. This is not where I wanted to be at this point. My confidence is so low, I barely even contribute at meetings but just listen because I’ve let her convince me I don’t have much of value to say. I have a direct report who is getting promoted (yay!) and will report to her and I also don’t want my boss to think she can just keep going this way.
Today I am going to ask her what the path forward is (I have a few ideas) and tell her the environment is very hard to navigate. I have receipts.
Anonymous says
I’m not sure how many times you want us to tell you to job hunt. Having receipts is not a thing. She is your boss. She’s not illegally harassing you based on a protected characteristic. She just doesn’t like you and you don’t like her.
Anon says
+1 yeah unfortunately this doesn’t seem like a scenario where having receipts will help. You need to look for a new job!
OP says
I’ve started looking – internal and externally – very casually and I actually am not finding anything I’m thrilled with. But who knows.
I also don’t dislike her; I don’t really even know her beyond work (which is fine!). I just don’t think it’s okay for anyone to behave this way at work.
Anonymous says
Oh come on of course you dislike her
More Sleep Would Be Nice says
I don’t know why but this made me laugh.
Anon says
Yeah I would say if you don’t like her behavior at work and you don’t know her outside work it’s fair to say you don’t like her. But I don’t think that’s the point, the point is that the work environment is unsustainable for you.
Anon says
Stop searching casually, start searching harder. It’s not like any of this is going to get better.
Anonymous says
+10000000000000
Anonymous says
This is a sign you are not at the right job. Either you aren’t a good fit, your boss isn’t a good fit for you or your boss is a bad boss- but none of that will change.
Have you started putting out feelers for new roles? I promise there is one out there.
anon says
This is not a salvageable situation. You really need to find a different job. There is no path forward here, and your boss is not going to be your advocate or on your side.
More Sleep Would Be Nice says
Thanks for the reality check. It’s actually helped me feel a bit clearer. Hoping for the best after our chat, but prepared that this could be the start of my departure. Sigh. I actually love the work, and love my team and the department, so this will be hard.
GCA says
Ugh. I’m so sorry. No matter how much you love the work itself, and how much you love your team, it sounds like this work environment is untenable for you, and sometimes you just have to put yourself and your mental health first. In fact I’d be protecting myself by putting up emotional walls now and doing the minimum you can while looking for a different job. Hugs.
Anonymous says
Do not ask what the path forward is. Disengage as much as possible and focus on your job search.
More Sleep Would Be Nice says
In a huge twist, it went really, really well? I’m still processing…but again, thank you all – this was immensely helpful. I’m cautiously (emphasis on that word) optimistic.
Anonymous says
I would be very skeptical and cautious. IME they will tell you what you want to hear but won’t change their attitude or behavior.
More Sleep Would Be Nice says
100% – my very low baseline was “do you guys even want me here?” (which I didn’t say in that way), and to hear that I am valued went a long way…for today.
Anon says
That’s a risky question to ask! I’m glad it went well but it could have gone very badly (unless you’re ready to quit immediately).
Anonymous says
I am in a similar situation. They don’t actually want me to leave because they need me to do the work, but they do want to make me the scapegoat for their own management problems so they don’t have to accept that they’ve failed and fix the problems. Don’t get complacent about your job search because today they are telling you they value you.
Anon says
Agreed. Going through this now with a manager I thought really had my back, but it turns out he’s just very two-faced and tells everyone what they want to hear.
So Anon says
My youngest (9yo) saw the specialist yesterday for mild scoliosis (diagnosed in Jan). Her curve is currently at 15-18% and it is 50/50 whether it progresses to the point that it will require treatment. She will be seen and X-rayed every 4-6 months during peak growth. She is going to have a MRI to rule out other causes; hence my question yesterday about whether to have the MRI under general anesthesia or go without. The MRI will be of her entire spine. She was diagnosed as autistic with generalized anxiety in February. OT is the best route to help with her specific challenges arising from autism. I am exploring PT – specifically the Schroth Method – for the interim wait and watch period for scoliosis. I feel overwhelmed by all the moving pieces for my little girl while trying to juggle work and my other kiddo who also has his own challenges.
On the scoliosis front – given the 50/50 likelihood that we may need to move to bracing, if we do go down that route, I want to make sure she is getting the best care possible. Bracing requires 22 hours of wearing the brace. While the specialist we saw yesterday seemed to be well attuned to the medical aspect of care, there was no discussion of the social/emotional aspect of wearing a brace, which are well documented. Does anyone here have experience with bracing, resources on bracing, or the social/emotion aspects of scoliosis?
Anonymous says
Seems like if you’re overwhelmed doing a deep dive into the potential social impact of something you’re likely to not need to do is maybe not the move
Anon says
+1. OP, I get this impulse – I just went through a really bad family situation and had to walk back from gaming out extensive plans for every twist and turn that we were anticipating. I’m very glad I stepped back because out of the 10 awful scenarios that seemed so likely to me, only one happened and it wasn’t one that advance worrying could have helped anyway. Get the recommended care and follow-up, but don’t make scoliosis a daily topic of conversation or the most important thing in your daughter’s life.
Anonymous says
+2. Also, consider whether your concern will signal to your daughter that she should be upset when she wouldn’t otherwise be.
Anon says
+3 to the original comment, but also this was my immediate thought as well. I think if your kid acts like this is no big deal, other kids are less likely to make a big deal about it, and your attitude will influence her attitude.
Bette says
This is such a good point – I have a vivid memory of my mom breaking down in tears when I was in first grade and the ophthalmologist told her I was extremely short sighted and would need corrective measures the rest of my life. Before that I didn’t think glasses were a big deal but boy oh boy did I think something was wrong with me after seeing her intense reaction!
anonamommy says
I have no direct knowledge, but I can tell you one of my closest friends growing up had to wear a brace and she said it made her a superhero. One boy was picking on her and she dared him to punch her in the stomach. He did, and the look on his face when he hit the hard plastic…. I still remember it. I guess he thought the brace literally was only on her back?
Good luck, I know you’ll be a great advocate for your girl.
Anonymous says
Bracing is no longer what it was in that Judy Blume novel we all read in elementary school. My daughter has several friends who wear braces and it is socially a non-issue. The main issues seem to be comfort and compliance.
Anonymous says
I think bracing is a non-issue. My 9 year old has a friend that uses one. I had a neighbor growing up that had one. It was just not a thing socially.
My kiddo’s friend isn’t into sports, but if yours is I would make sure to understand what she can/cannot do with it on and any limitations on sports (eg. swimming comes to mind, but maybe that’s NBD).
Anonymous says
In my observation they are usually allowed to remove the brace for sports, even 4-hour gymnastics practices.
FVNC says
+1
A good friend growing up had severe scoliosis requiring a brace and she removed it for swim practice. Socially, it was a non-issue for her and the rest of our friend group (I think we were in late elem/middle school at the time).
Anonymous says
My daughter wears leg braces for toe walking. Other than normal initial curiosity from new kids she meets, it’s not a thing at all. This generation of kids is different I think — the bullying about differences is almost non-existent.
Anon says
I was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 8. I wore a brace until I was 13 or 14. I honestly cannot recall when I stopped but it was a few years after I got my period (10). It definitely worked in stopping the increase of the curvature but it never fixed it. I’m surprised they want it for 22 hrs a day, my curvature was more severe than that (not enough for surgery thankfully) and I only wore it outside of school. I’d get a second opinion on how long to wear the brace if possible. I did not do any PT as my orthopedic surgeon didn’t think it would help or change the progression. Im intrigued at the MRI requirement. I obviously don’t know the specifics of your daughter’s medical condition, nor am I a doctor, but if her curvature is not that bad and treatment can wait a bit, can you see another orthopedic surgeon to see if an MRI is necessary?
I was really embarrassed about the brace, but I was embarrassed about a lot of things as a kid (my glasses, my crooked teeth, etc). My friends were curious when they came over or we had sleepovers, and wanted to try it on. Bless one of them who told me I was a bionic woman with the brace.
I’m not sure if braces have improved in 20-25 years but it was not pleasant to wear. It wasn’t torturous or anything but I longed for the day I could sleep without one and eat without one since it was quite restrictive and limited my mobility. It got very hot during the summer so be sure to blast the AC. It gets stinky so wash it well.
It can be scary since you don’t really see that many kids walking around with a back brace, and the need for a full body MRI does sound frightening as well, in addition to your daughter’s autism. I am neurotypical and everyone’s child is different, but as the child being diagnosed with scoliosis and then going through a long period of bracing, I don’t recall being scared about it. It was just something that I had to do, although *very annoying*. My parents also tried not to make a big deal out of it, although later when I was an adult my mom lamented that I had to wear a brace as a kid. With the advent of FB and other social media, I am certain there must be some parent support groups that can help you navigate this diagnosis and treatment—I wish that existed back in the day and I could have met others who also wore a back brace.
If you have more questions I’m happy to answer them.
Teacher troubles says
My 4 year old is in a small daycare/preschool class (one teacher, no assistant). He has a new teacher who I’ve noticed can be really grumpy and short with the kids. She snapped at my four year old today before I’d even left from dropoff (and without even saying hello or good morning to him) for something that I thought was unfair. At the very least certainly could have been said more gently/kindly. I let it go, but ugh.
My son has not been wanting to go to school and generally just seems unhappy, but we have a new baby at home so it’s hard to know what’s school and what is adjustment issues.
This teacher has a ton of experience as a preschool teacher, but ugh. I just miss our previous friendly, kind teacher. How do I know what’s actually a problem vs me being an overprotective helicopter parent?
Anonymous says
Speak to the director
Anonymous says
I would speak to the director. The teacher is probably on their best behavior when parents are around. It can’t hurt to have the director keep an eye on things.
OP says
Thanks. The problem is that the director is also a full time lead teacher in another classroom (which honestly has always seemed really weird to me). So I’m not sure she’s able to drop in much, which also concerns me. But maybe I should talk to her.
Anonymous says
Speak to the director. I’m surprised there’s only one teacher. My kiddo has 10 kids in her class (though they can have up to 16) and two teachers, always. IMO kids should adore their PK teachers.
Anon says
“IMO kids should adore their PK teachers.”
Not sure I agree with this – even little kids are people who have their own personalities and opinions and are going to mesh better with some people than others. My 5 year old currently has three teachers, one of whom she adores, one of whom she likes and one of whom she doesn’t really like and has had a lot of conflict with (and frankly the dislike seems mutual). She’s not shy about sharing the rankings, but we tell her to keep it within our family and not tell this to their faces.
I agree OP should talk to the director about what she observed, and a pre-K kid should generally enjoy going to school and it’s a red flag if they’re crying or being upset about having to go to school. But I think if a kid is happy and enjoying school, it’s fine if they don’t vibe with a particular teacher. That’s life, even little kids don’t click with everyone.
Anon says
I have a comment in m0d but I disagree that kids that age should uniformly “adore” their teachers. Not wanting to go to school is concerning, but kids have their own personalities and are going to get along with some teachers (and peers) better than others. My kid has 3 teachers and has very different feelings about each of them. I think that’s pretty normal.
NYCer says
-+1. My preschool aged daughter definitely prefers one of her teachers over another, and I am not sure I would say she adores either of them. But this is 3 hours part time preschool we are dealing with, not full-day daycare, so the dynamic might be different. She definitely adores our nanny, FWIW.
NYCer says
I should add… My daughter definitely enjoys school overall and is (almost) always happy to go. The teachers are warm and caring, and I am not worried about them snapping or being mean.
Anon says
How does your son feel about the teacher? My toddler’s teacher isn’t my favorite style (she seems quick to physically move the kids to get them to do something she wants rather than ask them) but my daughter clearly still likes her.
OP says
I can’t tell. He used to run up to his old teacher with a hundred things to tell her in the morning. With this teacher, he seems to avoid her (and will ask me to ask her a question etc., saying he doesn’t want to). But when I ask him questions about her at home, he doesn’t really answer.
Anonymous says
Please listen to your gut. This doesn’t sound like a happy environment to me.
OP says
Thanks. I think you’re right and I’m not sure why I’m questioning myself so much on this. I think I’m just not sure how to make the situation better vs worse. There are very few options for care in our area, so it’s tough.
anon says
This is a real problem.
Burnout is a thing in early childhood education, just as it is in many other intense fields. Experienced, previously excellent, educators can just be beyond done and it comes out in their work.
Anonymous says
This. I have a comment in mod, but we found the prek4 teacher was burnt out, ready to retire, and Covid stuff just put her over the edge. I would really trust your gut because we had a friend who witnessed a snappy/odd teacher, and the teacher grabbed and shook her child a few weeks later.
Anonymous says
We had a snappy prek4 teacher last year who was verging on unprofessional, and I wish I had pulled my kid out. The teacher retired after that year. I personally think preschool teachers should be warm and fun, you don’t have to be mean or obviously strict to maintain order in a classroom (Speaking as someone who teaches preschool Sunday school to this age).
anonn says
my daycare has cameras in the classrooms that I watch all day long, I’ve only seen teachers be mean/rough a handful of times in the 5+ years I’ve had kids there, but from teachers I wouldn’t really expect, ones that were super sweet at pick-up and drop off. If she’s being like that right in front of you, who knows what goes on when she’s alone. Not trying to freak you out, but I’d for sure same something.
Anonymous says
Dark horse idea #4, which DH just came up with while on a call. He works for a tech company in the health insurance space. His idea was “why don’t we teach them about the health insurance system. One kid is uninsured, one kid is insured, one is the doctor. Doctor initially refuses to see the uninsured kid, eventually agrees but charges uninsured kid $100, tells insured kid they don’t know how much the visit costs. One kid can be the coder who codes the visit as ‘fall on playground- moderate scrape, bandaid on left knee type = pokemon.’ Then we can discuss if $100 for a band aid seems fair.
(obviously this is a joke, we are both WFH today)
Anonymous says
nesting fail, i’m the career day OP.
Anonymous says
insurance was covered in a recent episode of Million Bazillion. The doctor was a take on doc mcstuffins, and this was basically the plot. It made me laugh that even a podcast for kids captured what a cluster the US health system is.
Anonymous says
Completely unrelated, but I train adults about health insurance, and this episode is going to be super helpful for me.
Gestational Diabetes says
Just got diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I have two kids and this is my first time dealing with this diagnosis. Looking for any/all advice/support! Thank you!!
Anon says
I had this with my one and only child. I was over 40 and it was chalked up to age. There is no diabetes in my family and I was not overweight (but was close to the overweight line bmi wise). At first I felt really sorry for myself but then I put on my big girl pants. I did not need insulin and my baby was 7 lbs and healthy. I only gained 17 lbs while pregnant because of the diet. I did gain a bunch after giving birth but lost it eventually (by going back to a low carb way of eating!).
The key is avoiding sugar and eating a whole grain plus protein. You cannot just have carbs by themselves. I found my morning blood sugar to be trickiest and at the end I basically could only have protein at breakfast (fruit was a no at breakfast but I could have it as dessert for dinner). Even minimal exercise like a walk after a meal helped greatly. I was hooked up with a nutritionist who was pretty helpful as I grew sick of meat (nuts, cheese and Greek yogurt were my protein friends).
You got this. I actually think I learned a lot about nutrition thru the whole experience.
anon says
Hi! I was diagnosed and able to control it with diet, but it took a lot of work. Here’s what worked for me:
First, get the book Real Food for Gestational Diabetes by Lily Nichols. Tons of useful info there.
Ideally your doctor should connect you with a GD dietician. My hospital offered one, and we met weekly via Zoom. She gave me a spreadsheet to track my food and blood sugar values, but you could easily make your own spreadsheet. Tracking is key, and it was helpful to have her review the data. You’ll learn what spikes your blood sugar and what doesn’t. Some foods will surprise you.
If you can’t control with diet you’ll have to go on medication, so it’s important that you keep very close track.
You’ll get used to pricking your fingers. It’s not fun, but you just do it. Prick on the sides of your fingertips (fewer nerves) rather than the middle (hurts more).
I had to go very low carb, lower than most recommend but it worked for me. Rice, potatoes, bread spiked my blood sugar even in very small quantities. Jerusalem artichokes are great and won’t spike your blood sugar! I learned to love them. Otherwise I ate a lot of grilled vegetables and lean protein. It helped that it was summer and I used our outdoor BBQ a lot.
Fruit was tricky. I was craving fruit but had to be very careful. I could eat a handful of blueberries, but just one strawberry caused a spike. I could eat a few slices of pear, but not much. It’s a lot of trial and error.
When I was craving sweets and dessert I would do whipped cream with a few blueberries and walnuts. Nuts are your friend. I also created a GD friendly dessert of peanut butter, a small amount of banana and shredded coconut – mixed in a food processor and frozen in muffin forms. I also ate a lot of keto ice cream and tolerated it well.
They will test your baby’s glucose levels as soon as it’s born. Mine was fine, and is a healthy toddler now. And I enjoyed that postpartum pizza! My blood sugar went back to normal as soon as the placenta was out (it’s the placenta that messes with your pancreas), but you have an increased risk to develop type 2 diabetes in the future so you ideally you should get tested annually. My mom is skinny and active but has elevated blood sugar, so for me it was likely genetic.
Hang in there and it will most likely go away as soon as you deliver!
anon says
Also, agree with the above poster that I learned a lot about nutrition in the process. I’m now much more mindful of pairing carbs with a protein. I could barely have any carbs when I had GD but that’s not the case for everyone.
One thing I figured out was that moving right after a meal was great for my blood sugar. So I would go for a neighborhood walk after dinner.
Anon says
I had GD. Once I got the hang of the diet, it was pretty straight-forward. I gained very little during my pregnancy (~10 pds). Baby was on the smaller side, but has always been very healthy. My blood sugar stabilized immediately after birth.
Don’t feel defeated if you need metformin or insulin to control your blood sugar. It’s not a sign of failure. Lots of folks can eat perfectly and still need medication.
Anon says
Did anyone have a kid with conductive hearing loss? My 5 year old recently started speech therapy (for enunciation, her vocabulary and grammar are normal) and as part of that there was a hearing screening that she failed so then we took her for more in-depth hearing testing and they said she has conductive hearing loss. Basically the inner ear is hearing fine but she has something in her middle ear (likely fluid) preventing low frequency sound waves from reaching the inner ear. We have to go to an ENT although the appointment is not for months. The audiologist made it sound like tubes are the most common solution to this issue. She had frequent ear infections as a toddler and likely would have had tubes but the world shut down for Covid right after her first winter in daycare, and then for a couple years masks and Covid precautions really cut down on illness so she had no ear infections. Illnesses are back full swing this year (as you all know) but she’s only had one ear infection. But I guess the fluid is still there even if it’s not infected and causing pain. Anyway this doesn’t seem like a huge deal and it’s good we know about it, but just curious if anyone else experienced something similar.
Anon says
My one-year-old had fluid in his ears and had mild hearing loss, per the test. He never had an ear infection. But we still did tubes, and at his follow up his hearing loss was resolved.
(TBH I took him to the ENT because of sleep issues, never thinking hearing or fluid was an issue.)
Anonymous says
Same with my kiddo (but we took her to the ENT because of frequent ear infections). Issue is most likely resolved thanks to the tubes – only issue is that toddlers don’t really like to cooperate with hearing tests, ha!
Anonymous says
Have you tried allergy meds? My 5yo had the same situation, put her on children’s Claritin, and the fluid resolved and her hearing test improved.
Anon says
Good to know, thanks. She has no obvious allergy symptoms but she has eczema which I know is correlated and I have severe allergies (and asthma) so it wouldn’t be a surprise if she has allergies.
Anon says
I have a child with SNHL but hopefully can be helpful. Tubes are great! They could also offer a hearing aid but I think tubes are the preferred treatment for this. When my daughter got her hearing aid at 2.5 (she also has a cochlear implant on her other ear) her pronunciation immediately improved because she could . . . actually hear the words! Her SLP was thrilled.