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[ValiantUK91]

Any recommendations for baby monitors? We are about 2 or 3 weeks away now before baby satan is here we have everything else sorted apart from baby monitors which won’t be needed for a while but with Black Friday around the corner I’m wondering what to get.

 

[itsallaboutyou]

We e always had BT ones. With number 4, and a broken camera, we bought some cheap knock off and it’s atrocious. Only really use it as a sound monitor now.. especially as our 15 month old can escape his cot and we normally hear the gate rattling now..

 

[uncle_rufus]

Motorola one here, the cot end of it looks like a streetlamp almost which gives a great and safe overhead view. But also the camera bit detaches and has a tripod mounting thread on it which we've used quite a few times when travelling away from home. Has always worked great

 

[ChrisD.]

BT here, no issues.

 

[dlockers]

Tapo. No issue unless internet down then mass panic.

 

[Devrij]

My daughter has officially lost the plot. She's 6, and suddenly she has just started flipping out in a really worrying way. I don't mean tantrums. That would be normal. I mean she hits and kicks and bites, and laughs the whole time and says whatever she can to make us angry. Tonight she decided to try swearing on. "I can say ****, it is the best thing to say. **** this, **** that."

Now, we are not of the punitive parenting type, which doesn't come easy when she is hitting and kicking and calling my wife a ****box and laughing the whole time. It sounds, on the surface of it, like she is testing the extremes of our boundaries, but it also feels like a defense mechanism. She isn't really happy when she's doing it, it's more like she is scared and WANTS us to flip out.

It's really messed up and I don't know what to do. I ended up having to pin her down until she'd stop hitting a few times. A large part of me wants to come down on her like a tonne of bricks, but I feel like I might be missing something serious under the surface that is causing all this behaviour. She won't talk to us about it, just puts on a baby voice and says "I don't know, I'm just a stupid kid", and she knows she is smart. She's top of her class and we are always telling her how proud of her we are.

I am at my wits end and she's had my wife in tears all week doing this.

Just needed to vent a bit, soz!

 

[subbytna]

My daughter has officially lost the plot. She's 6, and suddenly she has just started flipping out in a really worrying way. I don't mean tantrums. That would be normal. I mean she hits and kicks and bites, and laughs the whole time and says whatever she can to make us angry. Tonight she decided to try swearing on. "I can say ****, it is the best thing to say. **** this, **** that."

Now, we are not of the punitive parenting type, which doesn't come easy when she is hitting and kicking and calling my wife a ****box and laughing the whole time. It sounds, on the surface of it, like she is testing the extremes of our boundaries, but it also feels like a defense mechanism. She isn't really happy when she's doing it, it's more like she is scared and WANTS us to flip out.

It's really messed up and I don't know what to do. I ended up having to pin her down until she'd stop hitting a few times. A large part of me wants to come down on her like a tonne of bricks, but I feel like I might be missing something serious under the surface that is causing all this behaviour. She won't talk to us about it, just puts on a baby voice and says "I don't know, I'm just a stupid kid", and she knows she is smart. She's top of her class and we are always telling her how proud of her we are.

I am at my wits end and she's had my wife in tears all week doing this.

Just needed to vent a bit, soz!

Perhaps "punitive parenting type" is needed to see if it works, if not, revert back to placid parent and hope for the best. Your child is not your best friend, they are there to be taught, nurtured and shown how to live. You need the parent child relationship as the primary one to be on.

 

[alchal]

My daughter has officially lost the plot. She's 6, and suddenly she has just started flipping out in a really worrying way. I don't mean tantrums. That would be normal. I mean she hits and kicks and bites, and laughs the whole time and says whatever she can to make us angry. Tonight she decided to try swearing on. "I can say ****, it is the best thing to say. **** this, **** that."

Now, we are not of the punitive parenting type, which doesn't come easy when she is hitting and kicking and calling my wife a ****box and laughing the whole time. It sounds, on the surface of it, like she is testing the extremes of our boundaries, but it also feels like a defense mechanism. She isn't really happy when she's doing it, it's more like she is scared and WANTS us to flip out.

It's really messed up and I don't know what to do. I ended up having to pin her down until she'd stop hitting a few times. A large part of me wants to come down on her like a tonne of bricks, but I feel like I might be missing something serious under the surface that is causing all this behaviour. She won't talk to us about it, just puts on a baby voice and says "I don't know, I'm just a stupid kid", and she knows she is smart. She's top of her class and we are always telling her how proud of her we are.

I am at my wits end and she's had my wife in tears all week doing this.

Just needed to vent a bit, soz!

Obviously you need to put boundaries in place but like you said, she seems to be hiding something, so cracking down hard could be counter productive, it be worth getting someone professional to talk to her like a school counselor etc?
Sometimes kids will open up to others, I've seen it happen myself.

 

[ci_newman]

My daughter has officially lost the plot. She's 6, and suddenly she has just started flipping out in a really worrying way. I don't mean tantrums. That would be normal. I mean she hits and kicks and bites, and laughs the whole time and says whatever she can to make us angry. Tonight she decided to try swearing on. "I can say ****, it is the best thing to say. **** this, **** that."

Now, we are not of the punitive parenting type, which doesn't come easy when she is hitting and kicking and calling my wife a ****box and laughing the whole time. It sounds, on the surface of it, like she is testing the extremes of our boundaries, but it also feels like a defense mechanism. She isn't really happy when she's doing it, it's more like she is scared and WANTS us to flip out.

It's really messed up and I don't know what to do. I ended up having to pin her down until she'd stop hitting a few times. A large part of me wants to come down on her like a tonne of bricks, but I feel like I might be missing something serious under the surface that is causing all this behaviour. She won't talk to us about it, just puts on a baby voice and says "I don't know, I'm just a stupid kid", and she knows she is smart. She's top of her class and we are always telling her how proud of her we are.

I am at my wits end and she's had my wife in tears all week doing this.

Just needed to vent a bit, soz!

Where on earth does a 6 year old learn language like that??

 

[theone8181]

Where on earth does a 6 year old learn language like that??

I'd imagine parents or friend generally.

 

[neocon]

I'm going on a holiday for 4 weeks during term time and my daughter will miss reception during that time. We are visiting family abroad. Is it best to write a letter to the head to explain?

 

[Azza]

I'm going on a holiday for 4 weeks during term time and my daughter will miss reception during that time. We are visiting family abroad. Is it best to write a letter to the head to explain?

You'd have to write to the headteacher anyway to gain 'permission' otherwise it'll go down as an unauthorized absence.

 

[Devrij]

I'd imagine parents or friend generally.

bingo, there is a girl in school who has taught a few other kids this language. We were aware she knew the words, but she had never used them before because she knew they were rude words.

We made a bit of progress after finally coaxing out of her that she just wanted to spend more time with both my wife AND I present playing together with no phones or screens. We have been super busy and mostly tag teaming on parenting, so we are making an effort to give her as much of our time together where we just play with her, and she has been much more her old self. We have had a few flare ups, but nothing like the major outbursts from the last week.

We certainly tried the taking priveledges away, punishments etc and it only made her push back harder, so I can categorically say that was counterproductive and that this positive approach is working much better. She has gone into school with no hassle the last two days now since we started making time for playing in the morning.

 

[godinman]

Oh man, I feel for you. We've had issues with our 7 year old on and off for most of his life. I know that at about her age they go through a pretty major developmental phase, so having more issues now is perfectly normal.

People always jump to parenting styles etc, and while boundaries etc etc are obviously important, kids are not all the same. I've got two, a 5 year old girl and a 7 year old boy and she is a completely different personality with such minimal issues, despite us parenting them in the same way.

We're on the verge of getting some outside help for the boy, he's a really nice kid but gets so frustrated and lashes out, completely loses the plot in certain situations.

Our boy learnt the F and S word from primary school in the last few weeks, unfortunately despite it being a small village primary school there are some right scummy parents who bring their kids due to issues at their last school.

 

[dl8860]

Wife is looking at getting a tablet for our 4yo for Christmas. The idea of him having his own smart device doesn't sit hugely well with me, but the caveats are that it will be kid specific, with locked down content and we can also put a usage duration restriction on it.

Was just looking to get some feedback from any others who have got one for their similar age kids and if you now see it as a good thing or a curse.

 

[ci_newman]

Wife is looking at getting a tablet for our 4yo for Christmas. The idea of him having his own smart device doesn't sit hugely well with me, but the caveats are that it will be kid specific, with locked down content and we can also put a usage duration restriction on it.

Was just looking to get some feedback from any others who have got one for their similar age kids and if you now see it as a good thing or a curse.

My advice is don't fight the inevitable, but set healthy boundaries instead.

 

[dr_volki]

Wife is looking at getting a tablet for our 4yo for Christmas. The idea of him having his own smart device doesn't sit hugely well with me, but the caveats are that it will be kid specific, with locked down content and we can also put a usage duration restriction on it.

Was just looking to get some feedback from any others who have got one for their similar age kids and if you now see it as a good thing or a curse.

mine is about to turn 3 and already has the kindle fire kids tablet. reasoning mainly for us was, he goes to nursery just outside my work (i'm the only driver in the household) and travel can take 40mins-1hr each way. keeps him entertained on the car journey as he can watch netflix / or their video app or play some easy games with it and it's less distracting for me since he won't keep throwing toys around in the car . At home he uses it every now and then and some days he doesn't at all.

 

[subbytna]

Wife is looking at getting a tablet for our 4yo for Christmas. The idea of him having his own smart device doesn't sit hugely well with me, but the caveats are that it will be kid specific, with locked down content and we can also put a usage duration restriction on it.

Was just looking to get some feedback from any others who have got one for their similar age kids and if you now see it as a good thing or a curse.

IMO, 4 is too young. Regardless of what's locked down. It'll create a desire to play on it instead of exploring the real world. Just my two cents. My twins are 7 and they aren't getting anything until they are 11 at the earliest. They get game time on my laptop and gaming PC for 2 x 2 hours every week (Tuesdays and thursdays) and that's their limit. They play networked WobblyLife game in my LAN on the PC and laptop. They do chores to earn the right to get "gametime" and they enjoy it more as they have earned a go on the hardware.

They also have to do MathsSeed homework on the laptops too (wife also has a work laptop) and they view it as fun time too, even though it's maths homework.

I think your initial "gut instinct" is right about being too young, again just my two cents, your child, you're the parent, your call.

 

[theone8181]

So my daughter is tall enough to not need a car seat, how's this look?

 

[a1ex2001]

So time to pick the collective wisdom of the forum dads! MY two boys (5 and 8) want lightsabres for Christmas and Santa is happy to oblige but it is such a mind field, I'm looking for something decent that doesn't cost the earth but won't break the first time it makes contact with anything, neither of them are the violent type so I don't see them needing a full on combat jobby. Anyone got an recommendations?