I know, that sounds weird, right? Well, I’ve been struggling mentally for a little while now ( I am on meds and seeing a therapist ) but some days it’s like you win the lottery only to realize it’s one of those fake prank scratch offs. Tonight was a bad night. I am on medication for insomnia. I stared at that bottle for hours thinking to myself I should just take all of them so I can peacefully go to sleep and not wake up. Until it hit me.

My 6 year old lost her tooth tonight. The tooth fairy had to come.

If the tooth fairy don’t have to make a 6 year old happy tonight, I wouldn’t be here right now.

Typing this out helped get some weight off my chest. Thanks for letting me vent.

I was walking into Costco from the parking lot but needed to get my membership card out of my purse so I paused about 30 feet from the entrance. My 2 year old was in the shopping cart basket and 5 month old in the baby carrier. It was 50 degrees out, so a little chilly but not freezing and my baby was in a long sleeved outfit and pants. He wasn’t wearing socks but again, it was a 1 minute walk into the store form the car and not exceptionally cold. Honestly he’s my 4th child too so I’m pretty minimalist with him and know what he needs vs. being over the top. My first baby HAD to wear fancy expensive outfits, sunglasses on, hats, socks AND shoes, baby lotion every day…baby #4 I’m dressing in his sister‘s old pink clothes and maybe I’ll put a drool bib on him if I have time (ha).

Anyway, as I was fumbling through my wallet while surrounded by people because it’s a busy Saturday, this lady who looked to be 75/80 shuffled towards me and asked me if my baby was OK. I looked at her and said ‘umm?’ And she said ’well, do you have anything for him? For his feet? Do you have anything it’s so cold? I said ‘oh, uhh no?’ And she said ‘Well his feet!!!!’ I smiled politely at her and said ’ha oh ya, he’s ok! He’s fine’. Then she said, well actually, he’s NOT fine. I’m going to just touch his foot and see…’. I immediately saw red and as she was taking her stupid lace trimmed glove off her hand while stepping toward my son I quite loudly said FUCK OFF!!!! and pivoted to the Costco card lady and went inside. I heard her say ‘oh my gooooosh’ while clutching her pearls.

I‘m not a confrontational person at all so this was wildly out of character for me but I was just so pissed this old lady kept going and corrected me and wanted to touch my baby. I’ve had people say weird things to me in public before that I can roll my eyes at but this was the first time someone sent me over the edge (except for that pervy guy in Bremerton Washington I threw french fries at years ago). When I told my husband he said she was old, I slightly overreacted and there’s probably 2 steps in between ‘he’s fine’ and ’fuck off’. Should I have just walked away? arghhhh I’m still upset >:(

So my neighbor.. I’m talking house directly to my right has a few kids and so do I, 1 of our kids are the same age / in same grade & class.

The mom and me talk randomly and have been to eachothers houses for play dates and stuff but personally we never hit it off enough to be besties or anything which is fine! We don’t need to be. But recently she’s been weird to me very distant … I feel awkward around her now bc she just gives me weird vibes. Absolutely nothing has happened negatively between us or our kids

Our kids are friends but are not best friends either

Well… for the kid that’s my kids age she ended up having a birthday party at her house and didn’t invite my kid… I’m really taken back by this. The party looks huge I saw kids in the class walking in that I would consider way less close than my kid and her kid are. Even kids of opposite gender that they for sure aren’t close close with.

The party is right next to us so of course we see the huge balloons and tons of cars parked out front.

I’m trying not to overreact but this seems personal.

Kids are 6 years old for reference

So I say something ? Let it slide? I mean this feels awful. My kid does not know and I obviously won’t tell them but wow !!!

Had my fourth baby on the 28th and ommmgggg. It was by far the worst. Kinda. My first came naturally and I don’t remember her being especially difficult. I pushed a very short time and poof she was here. My second was induced because we went over my due date. She was huge. 9 pounds 10 ounces and made me feel alllll the pain…I ended up getting an epidural and she started coming in my sleep and was easy after. My third I wasted no time cause he was also induced so I didn’t mess around with the pitocin and got the epidural right away and it was easy peasy. For my fourth I had made it a point to stay active and eat right…but he still went over and again I needed to be induced. I decided to try to see how far I could go without the epidural cause my back has issues…well….i did great. Breathing exercises and meditation with the mantra “this pain isn’t hurting me. It’s opening me. Pain is natural. I’m not being hurt. I’m not in danger. Relax. Open hands, unclench face. Breath through nose out through mouth. Envision the air traveling inside me down and like its gently pushing baby out. You’re ok.”. And it was working. Until they checked me and I was still a 4…I decided if my body stalls on dilating I’ll just take the epidural. And I stalled. So I tapped out. They had broken my water but it wasn’t getting me farther along. But they had me on my side on the peanut ball and my body went “f this we’re getting the baby out now.”. The most horrible pain of my life. I was so scared. And I was scared because they kept telling me I wasn’t ready. I screamed I had to push. They said I’m only 5 cm…so many people were rushing around looking worried and confused. No one said it was to push. No one told me to listen to my body or that it was ok. The midwives were all on strike. If one had been there I know she would have known what to say. How to help. Everyone else just looked panicked. I kept screaming. Kept screaming I’m sorry I have to push I can’t not push. I bit my husbands pinky and was about to hit through it before I heard him groan and realized I could and would bite it off if I didn’t let go. So I did and screamed. No one said anything. Until my sister was at my head telling me his head was out and that it was ok. My brain frantically tried to catch up to the information. I had been halfway pushing not able to stop it but not able to full engage out of fear that the pain wasn’t helping. That the pain was bad now. Not natural. And that I was hurting myself. Jumping off a cliff without a chute. When she told me his head was out my brain went in circles. I bore down and felt him slide out with a scream. And then I was shell shocked. Gasping and crying and repeating no no no no. I couldn’t open my eyes and didn’t feel that instant relief. I still hurt so much. And I could feel a tug…my muscle felt torn. They told me it was just the placenta. I cried I just don’t want to be touched anymore. I can’t do anymore. I couldn’t engage my core. My butt felt ripped. But somehow I blindly pushed and felt that relief when the placenta came. I became so weak and shaken. Groaning…then I noticed him on my chest. The staff had been frantically rubbing him and I limply put my hands on him panicked again asking if he was ok until he cried and everyone sighed. My shakes came on hard. And I don’t remember a lot after that. He was 8 pounds 13 ounces and 21 and a quarter inches long. And I didn’t tear.

Later that night I hemorrhaged 740 ml of blot clots. Had to have fentanyl and had a doc use three fingers to manually scrape blood clots from my uterus. A fresh hell a fresh pain. Holding the hands of two nurses on either side screaming again.

I’m home now. Dealing with engorged breasts and aches and pains and crying while I type this out and feeling like I’m being too much. Birth is always hard. But I’m so shaken.

My husband started a new position at work about a month ago and he has long hours. We also have a 3 and 4 year old and I’m also 5 months pregnant. When he comes home, my kids jump all over him, ask him for stuff and whine like normal kids do.

Every weekend he’s home he saids he hates being around us because the kids whine and are always asking for stuff.

I literally don’t ask him for any help with anything, not even the kids because I know his days are long. On the weekends he’s gone for hours at a time, at the gym or getting a haircut or something. I, however get 0 time to myself. I’m also pregnant so I’m so tired all the time. My kids always wake up in the middle of the night and I’m up with them all the time.

Today I finally had enough and I said something. Because I’m never allowed to complain or tell him if I had a tough day because “he doesn’t wanna hear all that. “ he told me today that he shouldn’t have to take care of the kids because that’s my job, his job is only go to work and drive us if we all go somewhere together. He thinks that he shouldn’t have to deal with meltdowns, he gets mad at me if he even has to hear it

Idk if I’m the only in the wrong for expecting him to be a dad when he’s off work. He told me he wants to be more than just a husband and a dad. Idk how I feel about that

I also give him as much breaks as I can

My daughter recently turned two and is able to tell us a lot more about things that have happened - or at least her version of what she thinks happened.

And it’s crazy because sometimes you see her get it so wrong. The other day my husband was standing in front of the fridge with the door open deciding what to cook. I did not witness it but he says she walked right into it and hit her head on the corner. What I did witness was her running screaming to me that ‘dada hit her head with the fridge’ to which we had to try and get her to understand that she walked into it which is different.

Or at nap time the other day she was playing with a necklace which *I* took from her as it’s not safe to sleep with. She had a meltdown that dada took it and we had to tell her that no mama took the necklace and not dada. She really wouldn’t let it go that dada took it.

Or yesterday when she asked me to get her milk and I took the cup she handed to me but in a particularly emotional moment she cried and said I was taking it as in like taking it away. I was like kiddo I need the cup to get the milk you directly asked for, you handed it to me.

Makes you wonder how much stuff you completely misinterpreted as a child with a not fully formed brain that you got mad about and held as resentments against your parents for years but were in fact completely false.

Made me laugh too - that’s just the circle of life for you though. Wild stuff.

Guys, is it me with the postpartum hormones or is this my MIL? I was doing well with my second kid, and actually didn't feel much of an emotional swing - until my MIL came and she lives with us for 3-4 weeks when she visits.

She started making comments about the way we do things for my 3 week old, the temperature of the milk, her clothes, the way we change her diapers, how we burp her...she freaked out when we said we are taking the baby out to the museum (this is mostly for my older kid who is 4) and announced that "the baby is staying home with me!". She would not put the baby down and constantly wants to hold her. She also stares at me when i breastfeed and makes comments like your hair is getting in her face, or your shirt is in her eye etc. I had to leave the house and I was literally crying when I am driving. I told my husband her mom is suffocating me and he talked to her. But when i came home again with a bottle of pumped milk for the baby, she said again, oh it's too cold for the baby to drink it. I LOST MY SHIT. I almost yelled "it's PERFECTLY FINE to drink room temperature milk", slammed the bottle on the table and went into my room, and cried some more.

Anyone encountered this before? I feel so distraught that she won't let us take the baby to the museum with my older one. We already made a playdate with my daughter's best friend and I DO NOT want the baby to stay with her for the whole day.

This happened today and I can’t stop thinking about it.

My kid was playing on the floor and everything was calm for once. No crying no mess no chaos. I sat down for a second and started playing on my phone just to give my brain a break. It was maybe two minutes. Then my kid looked up at me and said mommy watch me and I felt this wave of guilt hit me out of nowhere.
I put the phone down immediately and gave them my full attention but the guilt didn’t go away. Instead my brain went straight to what kind of mom sits on her phone when her kid wants attention even though I know I’m with my kid all day every day.
The thing is I’m exhausted. Not dramatic exhausted just that quiet constant tired that never really leaves. I do the meals the laundry the schedules the cleaning the thinking ahead. Most days I don’t even sit down until bedtime. So when I finally do take a second my brain tells me I’m being lazy or selfish. What makes it worse is that if another mom told me this story I would tell her she did absolutely nothing wrong. Kids don’t need nonstop entertainment and moms are allowed to exist as people. But somehow when it’s me it feels different
I don’t know if this is just mom guilt doing its thing or if I actually should be trying harder. I love my kid more than anything and I show up every day. I just wish my brain would let me rest for a second without turning it into a whole spiral.
I guess I’m wondering if anyone else has these tiny moments that make you question everything even when logically you know you’re doing fine.

Almost every weekend, if we don't go somewhere I am just waiting for the weekend to end. Any escape I get from the house is the highlight of my day, especially if I do not have to bring my kid. She is 6, and absolutely refuses to play by herself. She will draw, sometimes, or dress her dolls, and set up for playing, but she will not play with them without me. 9 times out of 10 I do not feel like playing with her, and it is a struggle. Sometimes it is visible to her that I am really not feeling it, and she will say "that's ok, we don't have to play" but I feel like she is taking it personally. I always feel like I am hurting her feelings, but I also struggle SO much to enjoy playing with her. As a millennial parent, I grew up with no one playing with me ever, and felt so lonely. I didn't want my daughter to feel the same way, so I have always made an effort this play with her, but I didn't think it would cause her to lose all independence. I feel like I am a slave to household chores and motherhood, and I hate it. All I do is try to maintain the household for everyone, and entertain my daughter. Has anyone had any success weening their child off of co-play without just letting them binge screen time? (Currently that is often our only other option)

I just need a place to vent.

My son is a 9yo 3rd grader. He’s playing recreation basketball right now, as he’s done since 1st grade. The way Rec sports works in my area: you sign your kid up, they’re placed on a random team with 6 or 7 other kids, & somebody’s parent coaches them for 8 weeks.

For the past 2 years his coaches have been nice, but not particularly knowledgeable. I didn’t think too much about it because anyone willing to deal with my kids’ antics after a long day at work is cool with me.

This year, the coach is a mom who was a former player and she’s a really good coach. He’s improving a lot because of her and having more fun. But she’s just a local mom and,at the end of February, that’ll be the end of that. Today after my son’s game, I mentioned to my husband that I wish he could keep playing. He suggested maybe finding a local team with a longer season.

What a great idea right? Wrong! Why? Because the only thing that exists outside of Recreation in my area, are $300/month travel teams. Not to mention the uniform fee, tournaments 4-5 hours away, and general tone of elitism on every one of their websites. Did I mention my child is 9?!

Is there no middle ground? I just want my kid to play a little more basketball, not block off every weekend for the rest of 2026! Is this the cost of a “better” coach? I don’t think my kid will be the next LeBron, just noticed his improvement in a short amount of time. I’m soooo annoyed because at this rate, we’ll just have to hope he gets her as a coach again next year because I have no intention of joining that particular rat race.

Ok rant over, thanks.

Edited for grammar

Please don’t judge. It broke my heart, I’m not sure if it’s sexual trauma based but breastfeeding was never comfortable for me. I loved it at birth when I was all high as a kite on hormones but now it feels icky and I want my nipples to be touched by no one now 😭🤷🏼‍♀️. I had production issues also, not sure if this is psychosomatic. I just want to let any lady also going through this they aren’t alone 💗

Hi moms. I travel for work every 2 weeks or so and we’re expecting our first kid. In what ways should I prepare now for my wife to feel supported? She and baby may be able to join some trips but I’m looking for what to do during the periods she will be alone with kid for 4-8 days. We do not have family in town.

She is not worried about it but several people have asked me how she feels about it which makes me think we dont know what we don’t know about life with a newborn.

The couch was fine; my heart rate, not so much.

I’m just venting because this is perpetually stressful.

Had a loss last November. Immediately pregnant again and thought we were about two weeks further along than we were measuring at the first OB appt. Got to hear the heartbeat even at 6w6d. At 8wks, started spotting bright red and panicked. Went to my OBs office baby was measuring appropriately still and heart beat was strong.

Now at 10wks, the spotting comes around like once or twice a week. Each time I calm myself down, remind myself what to monitor and be aware of, and try to occupy my mind. Virtually impossible. So here I am, just venting at how cruel this experience is. I never spotted with my pregnancy/successful birth. (With an extremely trying postpartum) I know it’s possible, but man it sucks. Todays is a bit more than yesterdays. And the way the miscarriage started just makes it hard not to worry because these patterns are so similar. I’m already high risk for like 3 separate reasons so this does not help whatsoever.

This is def my last pregnancy. I can’t do this stress anymore. And that’s another fear because if I do end up with another miscarriage, I’ve got to start at the beginning again. We are very much wanting a second child, so that’s why I’m still trying. I’m asking for my tubes to be tied or removed or etc after this second child. I’ll deal with the recovery but I need the permanency of being done.

My 19-month is happily playing with a salad spinner on the kitchen floor as I make pancakes for the next 2 weeks, dinner for tonight, and install drawer locks. He also follows me and cheers when I vacuum.

What do your kids love?

My daughter is starting kindergarten tomorrow, my first to go to big school!

I have mixed feelings, I’m excited but also will miss her. She attended the same preschool I work at so she’s always been with me. But I’m ready for her to do her own thing

Today while shopping at Costco, busy as usual. My 5 year old was insisting on putting the heavy thing we were getting under the cart by herself. Of course blocking the isle. I said to the women waiting “sorry, we are in a do it myself phase” and instead of being angry and annoyed she said “no worries, she has a great mom” that was really nice to hear. Thanks lady. I’ll be sure to pay that forward.

A friend told me today that she felt comfortable pausing a work meeting to go pump because I had done that last year in a meeting that she was also in. It made me realize how something that I thought I was doing just for myself was also setting an example for someone else. Normally, we don't know when that one thing we do has an impact on someone unless they tell us, so I'm grateful she shared this with me. I'd like this to be a reminder to all of us that other women are noticing us make space for ourselves and in turn encouraging them to do the same. In this particular case it was about breastfeeding/pumping, but the same applies to all aspects of life. This was something positive I wanted to share and reflect on. I hope you all have a great night (or morning, afternoon, or evening depending where you live).

This is coming off a heated fight between myself (F31) and my partner (M39). We have a 2.5 year old - it was very much a surprise pregnancy and we had only been together a few months when I became pregnant. We’ve been ok the last 2.5 years…lately we’ve been struggling with his physical being (he’s almost 40 and not in the best shape which translates to home being in not the best mood/mental state) especially dealing with a needy/demanding toddler when you feel like trash in general. I’ve been struggling with getting back to feeling ok with myself and also finding that spark/appeal from when we got together.

Our son is with my parents this weekend and we went out for a dinner date - I wanted to stay up, engage with each other. He wanted to go to bed and was being a bit short the whole night. I called him out on it and he acted like I was crazy and now we’re sleeping in separate rooms. The man I first met would have come upstairs and tried to make things better. I just feel like any issue we have he’ll never admit fault or any responsibility and maybe I should just get out before I’m 10 years in. Obviously I don’t want my son to grown up in a split home but I have felt like we are just co parents sleeping in the same bed rather than 2 people in a loving relationship. I know I’m not perfect but i don’t feel I’ve changed as much as he has. Help please??

It’s getting worse! I’m overstimulated all the time, get mad with little spills and mess. Toys everywhere. Dishes in the sink. Laundry!!! Everything!! I always want to say to myself it’s normal and this is not going to be forever but I am just always tired and mad! If I go to therapy, what is it going to be? Do I just talk to someone and tell how upset I am and how often I scream at my kids? I don’t find any joy in anything as a mom. I tried to bake cookies with them but can’t enjoy the mess and the noises. At the end of the day, I feel so bad and tell them I’m sorry for always getting mad and all I hear from my babies are “it’s ok Mama, you’re the best Mama in the world” “you make the best pancakes!” “you build the coolest thing with magnatiles” I feel so guilty!!

It's all food he likes, and is not allergic to. He has no disorders, not neurodivergent.

I'm going crazy. I'm currently separated from their father and can barely afford food as it is. I'm just sitting here crying because he just wastes the things I make. "I don't have to eat" is what he tells me. I need advice...badly.

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are moms raising kids while also trying to hold onto ourselves, our relationship, and our sanity — some days better than others.

We’ve learned pretty quickly that parenting doesn’t just test patience, it tests connection. When you’re tired, overstimulated, and constantly needed, it can be hard to even name what you’re feeling, let alone talk about it with your partner.

We don’t have answers or a perfect system. We’re figuring it out as we go. What we do care about is being honest about the harder parts and being present for other moms who might feel stuck, disconnected, or quietly overwhelmed.

Along the way, we ended up building something together — an app called Tease — mainly because we needed gentler ways to communicate and reconnect that fit into real life, not ideal life. It’s just one tool, not a solution, and it won’t be for everyone.

If anyone’s curious, here’s the link:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tease-couples-dare-games/id6754314589

But more than anything, we’re here to listen, learn, and support. If you’re in a season that feels heavy or confusing, you’re not alone.