The how to win friends and influence people did a version for teen/preteen girls too

Well done mama! Sounds great!

We lived in a renovated shipping container for about 4 years...

We have plenty of rules. For us they are based on family values, and some of those values are respect for the things we have been blessed with and respect for other people (including their time and efforts). I don't know, the semantics might be understood better as guidelines or family standards or etiquette or general 'this is what we do when we share space with other humans' or everyone pitches in or don't be a selfish butthead. As for money, no, we don't give a set, regular amount. We look for ways to allow them to make money, we will contribute cash if needed, and they're generally spoiled enough already.

I agree. In situations like that I take a deep breath, pray to remember why I love this man lol, try to remind myself that he's a) a smart guy b) he loves us more than life c) is just as much their parent as I am d) mostly reasonable and is not trying to wreck their lives and e) this isn't a life or death/take a stand issue. And then... yes I'd like to think I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and enforce the stupid rule. He's a good guy, being loved, respected, trusted and taken seriously in this way helps build good rapport in our marriage and makes the possible later 'honey, this rule of yours...' conversation less fraught. ** of course, abusive situations are different. This is the ideal with both partners acting in good faith.

Don't panic. Adding stress to the situation will escalate, not help. How old is he? Is it just reading he's resisting or writing too? I would think about what your goals are with this. Is your priority that he learns/practices the phonics? Then I'd just get a whiteboard or piece of paper and write the words bigger/in colours for him. Those explode the code books can be a bit visually overwhelming, if the goal is the phonics I wouldn't turn it into a power struggle. Is part of your priority to get him used to reading that size text or being able to concentrate on something not-super-fun or something like that? Sometimes that really is a necessary goal but it's good to be honest about it. If so, I'd literally go one line at a time, taking a break between, and build up that stamina slowly. Half a page seems like nothing to you but to his little kid brain it might seem insurmountable. Sometimes changing the scene can help, maybe he would be more amenable to doing it while sitting outside in the sun, in bed at bedtime like a bedtime story, or on the couch with a pillow and juice. Sometimes making other parts comfortable makes the uncomfortable thing easier to handle. I wouldn't be so super nice to a slacking off 9 or 10 year old 😉, but if he's under 7 or so, you really can afford to take a breath. Eta - ESPECIALLY for little boys! I really recommend listening to SWB's workshop on writing with little ones https://welltrainedmind.com/p/a-plan-for-teaching-writing-focus-on-the-elementary-grades-mp3/

Oh no! Praying for them!

Goodness how frightening.

I'm glad to hear that she's in transit. 🙏 Do you know which hospital they're taking her to?

Next Monday. They're just lifting the ban, only allowing up to 50% of capacity. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/elective-surgery-ban-lifted-as-1-4-billion-invested-into-healthcare-system-20220204-p59tr7.html So sorry Melissa, things are a sh*t show here at the moment.

Oh Melissa I'm so sorry! Praying for your sister and family.

No one in my house has had it as far as we know. We haven't been that careful. All of my extended family in the city (all vaxxed, most boosted, except one unvaxxed who had it the mildest of everyone) had it over dec/jan, from the 80+yo cancer patient to the infants, everyone is fine.

Talk to Healthline and MedicalNewsToday and BioMedCentral et al "Some transgender men, transmasculine people, or non-binary people assigned female at birth (AFAB) may find identifying a part of their body with the word “vagina” triggering. In this article, we will be using the term “front hole/vagina.”"

Sperm producers, ejaculators, people with prostates, non-women, one-hole-havers, betesticled-bodies. I'll believe it's not misogyny when I see anything like this in a men's health campaign. 🤷‍♀️

I agree, it's cringe. My daughter says no one says cringe anymore 🤷‍♀️

One pcr test. Just last week. And only because I had a symptom (sore throat) and people coming to stay. If we hadn't had people coming I wouldn't have tested. Eta - it was negative.

I'm going against the grain a bit. I think your tech consequence is very wise. Very. I would double check other things too, the kindle, old phones/tablets, old devices a friend/grandparent might have given etc. 13 is still young and it sounds like she just doesn't have the impulse control to make good decisions, and internet stuff like you allude to is very seductive and goes down a bad road very quickly (btdt *sigh*). Re the books in the bathroom. It sounds like the issue is that she doesn't agree/understand the why of the rule. I'm sure you've explained it, it's just teenage brain not able to care about the big picture from parents point of view lol. Some things I might do: remove the hamper, check the hamper whenever I'm in there and remove any books to a spot in my room (aka, she has to come and ask you for it), call out after 10? 15? mins whenever she disappears into the bathroom (she probably just loses track of time), let her feel the consequence of procrastinating (maybe she misses a loved activity because she has to finish her school work). One thing I *wish* I'd done when my dd was that age was start a standing mother/daughter only time. I wish I'd done more to hold her heart then, because believe me by 14/15/16 it's much harder...

I'm sure it would be easier to give them the benefit of the doubt if they had actually planned for care of their dog, including emergencies, before leaving the country in a pandemic 🤷‍♀️ Dawn is an angel imo.

If they say why, you say 'you are asking me to commit to something that requires a lot of time/effort/expense/whatever from me, I need to balance my own commitments first.' Puts it back on them that they are imposing in your, likely already busy, life.

Waldorf is based on Steiner's theory of anthroposophy fyi https://waldorfanswers.org/Anthroposophy.htm

It's going through my friends and extended family in Melbourne. So far it's been fairly mild. Eta - almost all vaxxed. A couple of unvaxxed in the same houses have no symptoms and keep testing negative. I guess they maybe already had it asymptomatically?

Aww happy birthday to your kiddo, and well done Melissa! 💜

Well, if you want something to do, you could get involved with the group Keep Prisons Single Sex USA https://usa.kpssinfo.org/males-in-womens-prisons/ Or you could support keeping women's sports single sex https://savewomenssports.com/males-in-female-sports-1 Just for a start...

If you don't mind me asking, how did they diagnose hypothalamus dysfunction?

I had a contrast mri and they still couldn't see it, it’s apparently a micro prolactinoma but seems to be responding to medication so far. A friend of mine has the exact same thing, but hers is bigger so they could see it on an mri and even a ct scan. A key symptom was lots of lactation well after breastfeeding finished. Combined with pcos its just a mess lol