My daughter said that she can't come for a number of reasons. One of them is the theme of the party. She thinks T will take over because T wants to be a fashion designer (the girl is 9).

This year, we are doing a fashion challenge... kind of a silly competition where they make their own outfits. I bought shirts, fabric, hats, boas, and costume jewelry. It won't be serious... hopefully, they'll come up with some laugh-worthy get ups. There won't be a prize for the best one. I'll have awards for everyone with silly titles, like "Most likely to be worn while juggling popcorn"... "Best outfit for Kinect character"... "Most likely to be worn by Lady Gaga"... "Most likely to be worn by Michelle Obama" (and, yes, I welcome suggestions if you have ideas for titles).

It is time to send out the invitations. I don't know what to do. Her friend is our neighbor. Our houses are 12 feet apart. I told my daughter that she needs to invite her. She insists that it is going to be a disaster. Ugh. I don't know how to make this better.

What are your thoughts?

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

TIA!

Not sure what to do. We have tried talking to her, taking things / activities away, and it continues to happen,

We've been working with her pretty much everyday since school started (sept.6th) to get her to understand and remember that she needs to be quiet and behave during school hours when they are in the classroom. She's brought home numerous orange and yellow cards.

We tried timeouts, taking away priviledges, the possibility of rewards, early bedtime and nothing seemed to work.

I guess today she remembered on her own that she needed to be quiet and was able to participate in some additional activities that the other kids were able to do. When she called she was so proud and excited for herself.

I just thought id share!

I have noticed when we do letter/numbers at home--he still switches hands to write.. Sometimes he uses his left and other times his right.. he does the same when eating w/ utensils...   I asked him if he switches hands at school? He said yes and Miss Tammy tells him to pick one hand.. So my questions are if this is normal-has anyone else had this?  What did you do? Will he figure it out by Kindergarten?  Anything I should be doing? 

Thanx, Ruthy

Well last night we all went to Buy Buy Baby to look around and with so many things... I mean baby stuff galore!!! (I have never been in there till last night) So as we were looking everywhere I guess maybe too many oohs and aahs she started to get teary eyed and said to me "you only care about Noah"  ugh it broke my heart   

I have been through this already with my oldest, she was 12 when I had my 6yr old, but I was able to handle it much easier since she was at an older age. I have been including my 6yr old in so many things having to do with this pregnancy, she even got to see a sonogram and she loved it

WWYD?

He has an 8.5 year old daughter that lives with us full time, except for summer, christmas, and spring break.

She pees herself .... constantly.  Mutiple times per week, if not daily.  We have tried to be encouraging about it, and we have shown her that she gets in BIG trouble if she lies to us about it, but no trouble, just told to go clean up, if she tells us the truth.

What do we do?  Her room stinks, her laundry stinks, and when I wash it and put it in the dryer, the house stinks.  (Any time we know which clothes were peed in, I wash seperatly, and wash twice).  Even her clean clothes stink because they get washed with the pee.

We have tried punishing, we have tried rewarding, nothing works.  She doesn't care.  She shrugs and gives us typical 8 year old attitude when we question her.  Twice last week she told us it was because her bus comes earlier than the rest, so she couldnt get to the bathroom before the bus... I have already spoken to her teacher about it, and her teacher is aware to let her go to the bathroom the *second* she asks to.  She doesnt speak up and ask, and she doesnt seem to even CARE that she is doing it. 

She is in grade 3 - I know when I was a kid, other kids were MEAN... I know mean kids would be a QUICK motivator for me to change... but it doesnt seem to affect her.

Sometimes he'll let me help him and I do my best to explain how words fit together when they're spelled different from how they sound.

Sometimes he's 100% adamant that he wants to do it himself and doesn't want my input.

I think I remember reading that when they're at this stage you should leave them alone about spelling, right?

Here's the catch - his name is Dylan.  He's been able to spell and write it for some time now.  However..... now that he's sounding out words he wants to write his name DILIN instead of Dylan.

I need to leave him alone about this and let him do it his way for now, right?

I could care less how he wants to spell his name... I'm just curious how his teachers will handle this so I can be on the same page. 

The budget for the party is $60 assuming everyone turns in their money. So far only three chilren have and DS is one of them so the available budget is $15 right now. I'm ok with spending some of my own money on the party if I have to. The money has to come from somewhere and the school's budget is unbelieveably low.  I'd rather it not be from the teach who already spends her own money to fill in the gap.

Before getting the list of parents I went to Walmart  and priced everything. To do 4 games, a useable craft project, and have nice prizes and treats will cost around $85. I'm paying for this even if the budget doesn't end up being more than what we have now. I'm fine with it but don't want to spend more.

Here is my question. Do I call and ask parents to help with specific things to throw the party I want or do I ask them for imput and ideas? I'm worried that if I ask for ideas that people will be offended if I don't use them or it will cost more if I accept other ideas. Only two out of the twelve parents who want to help have sent in money so I'm not sure asking them to chip in will work very well.

What do you ladies think? I'd prefer to just ask for help with specific things but I don't want to seem rude or bossy. What is it normal for a head room parent to do? DS is in K and I've never done this before.

I have a daughter in third grade--She pulls awesome grades, is well behaved, does her work and gives her best effort in classes.

Today she came home with a homework assignment that the gym teacher had given her and her entire gym class because, whule learning about football, some kids in the class were acting up and as a result, apparantly, none of the kids were able to come up with good football plays.  The homework assignment was that every kid in the class needed to go home, watch Monday Night Football and then come in with a note from their parents proving that they had watched it.

Okay.  We don't even have network television anyway--Just televisions with Netflix--but besides that... Doesn't this assignment seem a little ridiculous?  Am I out of bounds in thinking so?  Other parents have said 'oh, just lie and write the note and say she did it', but I don't want to set a precedent of lying to a teacher in front of my child AND having my child lie for me/herself, also.

Should I talk to the teacher?  Principal? 

And if so, here is another story my daughter told me (trying to translate from 8 year old gossip here) about that--I guess her friends' father has called the principal last week to complain because his daughter told him that the gym teacher was being harshly mean to her.  The principal apparantly told the gym teacher about the call, and the gym teacher pull the girl aside to talk to her during class.  My daughter doesn't know what was said except that her friend left the talk crying.  So...  I don't know.  I know the parent that talked to the principal, but I won't see him for a few days yet to ask what's behind that story.

Any advice is appreciated.

He is 45 lbs and 44.5 inches tall.

Like did you get angry with them to the point where you would say that you would stab them, not to them but thought it to yourself or said it to yourself out loud.

My DD sees a psychiatrist for ADD meds (short med appts) and doesn't currently go to therapy. Her psychiatrist suggested we put her into therapy to help her deal with anxiety issues and she agreed to try it out. She  has an appt with her therapist on the 20th.

I am not sure if last nights episode warrants an immediate call to the psychiatrist or not. Her bio father has mental issues and I think she may have some of those also, but then again I don't have a PHD.

Our encounters with her tend to be negative because her ADD is so bad and when she is home we try not to medicate her (she is off school all week). I think not medicating her may be making it worse. Raising teens is not easy, ugh.

Do you have any very memorable birthday moments?

But, I realized today that they probably need to learn it in elementary school (as opposed to high school like me).  They have computers as a special, but I know they're not learning typing yet (nor do I think they should, since they need to work on handwriting first).  I do know that some of the K homework was a picture of a computer keyboard and they'd have to color in their name or whatnot.

Also, does your school still teach cursive?  I know some schools are stopping, which I sort of understand.  But what will people use as a signature?

Thanks

https://everythinggoeswithpink.blogspot.com/2011/09/raising-readers.html

Right now, grounding doesn't work very well because we're so busy during the evening that they don't really have time to watch TV and they don't, yet, have friends in the neighborhood that they'd want to play with. I have told them that they are grounded from playing with my daughter (whom they LOVE to play with), but that backfired because the 21 month old didn't understand why her new big "sisters" wouldn't play with her.

ETA: These children have not come from an abusive situation, but they haven't had the most stable parenting for a majority of their lives.

So, what are some of the effective discipline methods you've used with your older kiddos? TIA!!

ETA: DD just turned 3 in July. We didn't notice any symptoms until August and then seemed to come on rather suddenly.

Her teacher stopped my husband yesterday and said that she was on orange all this week so far. Nova (my daughter) doesnt remember why she got her card changed when i ask her.

Im having her tested for ADHD, since there is history of it on my family's side and her dad's side but everything that ive looked at online doesnt sound like her.

Anyone else dealing with this? How do you talk to your little one about it?

DS is 9 and his skill level is beyond a rec team (basketball) and we think it is time to have him try out for a competitive team

a friend thinks we are doing harm because what if he doesnt get picked

I dont see it as a big deal...but i am also over the everyone gets a trophy rec league...not everyone is an mvp and sometimes you dont get picked

what are your thoughts on the topic?

Her vocabulary and comprehension are very good per her teacher, so I think this is an issue with written words.  I have been told it is too soon to have her evaluated by professionals by educators, but I also want to make sure she has the support she needs.  I don't know that she is learning challenged, or just on the tail end of the "curve" when it comes to understanding written language. 

Does anyone have any experience with this?   I did not learn to read until I was 6.5, so it seems early to worry, but at the same time, I see that her classmates are miles ahead of her in this area and it seems to be the main focus of kindergarten. 

If it was your DC, what would you do?  I'm thinking maybe having him cut choice time short to go back and work would be better or at least worth a shot.  Although, he wouldn't be able to concentrate well with everyone else doing choice while he's supposed to be working either. 

He started full day public 1st grade on the 6th, I thought all was going well until DH received a call home that Friday to set up a conference call for Monday, there were several "serious issues" that needed to be discussed, and the teacher would not give DH any clue as to what they were.  He set up a call for after school on Monday (which was the earliest they could do) and we were left all weekend to wonder what could have gone so wrong in 4 days that we had to have a conference call.

On the conference call (to make a long convo short).  They basically said that he wouldn't do his work, and he is a defiant child.  They got him a new desk (apparently he fidgets when he is sitting) and started a "behavioral modification plan" in which he gets a sticker for doing something when the teacher asks the first time, and if he gets 5 stickers he gets a reward.  They would be starting a communication log that went back and forth to track his progress.  They also want to get him evaluated for speech, OT and PT.  OK, you've known my kid for 4 days, made a whole bunch of judgements and changes with out consulting me and my husband, WTF?

Fast forward to "back to school night"- we saw that in his communication journal that he earned his reward, so trying to be positive, I went up to the teacher and said "so today was a good day!" Her response "not really" .... not really?! then why did he get his reward? She didn't have one nice thing to say about him, she just informed us that the meeting to get the testing scheduled was for next week.  I had asked the day before (in his communication log) if I could make an appointment to observe Dylan in school (since the way he is acting is completely uncharacteristic of him), and she completely ignored that I said it. I brought it up to her again in person and she said NO, there is a parents day in November, you can come see him then.  Are you serious?!  Then she said "we tried your suggestion about taking away privileges if he does not follow directions and he had a meltdown"  Really, when, because that was NEVER mention in the communication log, and I'd think that would be something worth mentioning.

Have any of you guys had your child bumped up after missing the cut-off date by a few days?  If so, what was the process like?  And if there are any teachers here, I'm wondering if you believe missing the cut-off date by 5 days warrants an extra year or a promotion?  I'm open to all opinions and thoughts.  Thanks! 

 Has anyone chosen to or not chosen to give ths vaccine to a son?  Could you share your reasoning.

 I am usually pro-vaccines but for some reason this one is bothering me.  I think is because of the big advertising campaign for it when it came out for girls and then all of a sudden a few years later it is now being recommended for boys.  Why wasn't it released for both boys and girls when it first came to market?

Plus, our doctor almost seemed relieved when we told her we wanted to look into it before starting DS on it.  Since I've never turned down a vaccine in the past I don't know what their normal reaction is.

 Any good suggestions for research on this would be welcomed as well. 

We can't pack in her lunch anything with peanuts so that rules out pb sandwiches. She won't eat any meat except hot dogs. I made her a sunflower butter sandwich and she took one bite and wouldn't eat the rest of it.
So we got to thinking that maybe it is behavioral and if she got hungry enough she would eat the school lunch. We were wrong. The only thing she "ate" for lunch today was milk. She also wouldn't eat the snack that they had today. Sigh.

My question.....What should I do? I can work around this and get a thermos and send mac and cheese or find a few things that I can send to school just to get some food in her tummy but then I wonder if she will ever learn to eat. The problem is is that she just won't try anything. We had tears the other night when we ordered pizza and we got her cheesy bread since she doesn't eat pizza. She always eats lots of cheesy bread from Pizza Ranch but this was a different brand. She never touched it.
(She has been tested for sensory processing disorder and they didn't tell me for sure that she had it or not. They just said that " she could benefit from food therapy". We did therapy for about 3 months and had to quit because we couldn't afford it. So we had her tested through the school system and she didn't qualify for therapy because you need "2 special needs" to get it covered. )

So my question is... Would you get the school lunch and have her not eat anything some days in hopes that one day she finally tries something or would you pack her lunch and hope she outgrows it just so she has a full tummy.

My DH is also a picky eater and to this day will not touch fruit or vegetables. At all.