My husband is a frequent flyer for work. He is tall and he never says anything if someone reclines and reclines all the time himself. He told me to recline when I was resting on the recent trip we took but I didn't feel the need. I never really even thought that it was wrong to recline. The seats are made to recline so people can chose to recline them. I don't find it rude.

I have two redheads with dark brown eyes. They do have a lot of Italian and Irish heritage. I see that trait pretty often now that I have kids with it. Redhair isn't linked with eye color like blond hair is because the mutation occurs on a different gene but it occurred most often in places where light eyes are common. There is so much mixing now it isn't super rare.

My dd is tiny but I had her in a booster before she hit 40 lbs when her car seat expired because I felt she was ready age wise and maturity wise. She was mature enough to sit still and the booster fit her fine with how the shoulder strap and belt buckle fit. There is no evidence a 5 point is safer unlike with rear facing vs forward facing. In Scandinavian countries they actually say that boosters are safer because the whole body moves in an accident rather than the head in a 5 point seat. There is car seat forum I went on with lots of parents who are CPST and really into it all things carseats. They also felt that at a certain age even with a small child a booster is fine if they fit properly. I even took a picture of how she fit in the seats and posted there. She fit fine in both the Graco Turbo booster and the Evenflo Deluxe version. The Evenflo was easier to buckle in my vehicle so I went with that. Ds hit 40 lbs faster but he was less reliable with sitting still so he is in carseat longer.

Not true. We live in a 50% custody state (AK) and alimony is rare. I have watched friends go through it and they were left with nothing not the former husbands.

That isn't a big deal to me and I wouldn't be asking to change it if was happening with my dc. I think the kids in dd's school line up in order every day and some kids were probably always in the back. It definitely would not be a battle I would pick. My kids can be very sensitive but even so I don't think everyone has to change for them or be on eggshells nor do I think it is good for them. Life is disappointing and unfair sometimes. Kids can learn to deal with those feelings. Bending to their every whim is not good in the long run. That said I would acknowledge his feelings and talk to him to see if there is another underlying reason for the strong feelings about it. I am guessing he is a little anxious about a new class with all new kids and a sudden change.

Brainpop has a lot of good short science videos. I like Popular Mechanics for kids and Disney Imagineering like others have mentioned. I also like David Macaulay the Way Things Work videos. Each video is really short but my ds loves them. I get the Disney and the David Macauley videos from the library. There are a lot of great documentaries on Netflix. I like the David Attenborough ones. We also enjoy watching Cosmos. Peter Weatherall makes really informative dvds where hard concepts are set to catchy songs. I got them from his website but they were pretty affordable for what you get if I remember correctly.

My ds looked at the picture and said wow that women can jump really high. Can she really jump that high mom? I wouldn't do one like that but the kids are totally faking pouts. They are just having fun and goofing off.

That is a very yucky disgusting thing to say. I am an atheist but I don't believe like that at all. I am horrified by it.

I would night wean first. I night weaned the 2 of mine that were waking a lot at night. It didn't solve one of my babies sleep issues though. I didn't have dh's help for night weaning. You don't need someone else to do it for you for it to be effective. I gently taught one baby to sleep on his own by gradually reducing what I did to get him to fall asleep. Instead of nursing to sleep I started with rubbing his back and signing to him and picking him up when he got hysterical and then putting him back and going back to rubbing when he calmed. Eventually he just needed my presence and then finally he would put himself to sleep. When he woke in the night I comforted him but didn't nurse him. It didn't take long for him to not need nursing but he still wanted comfort when he woke. For my other baby that needed night weaning I just held her when she woke instead of nursing and after 3 nights she no longer woke at all.

Wasting on buckets worth of clean water that actually is helping raise awareness for a charity is nothing compared to most people daily use of water. Wasting water in main town USA has nothing to do with precarious water situations elsewhere. It isn't a big deal if you get tagged for something and don't do it for whatever reason.

I have been enjoying watching the videos. Some are funny. I saw a video recently from someone who just found out they had ALS who has a mom and grandma who had it and they said they actually were glad that the bucket challenge is raising awareness for it. They are getting lots of donations since the challenge started so it is raising awareness. I am not worried about the loss of a buckets worth of water. That can be less than a toilet flush. Most people waste lots more water in daily life ;) Plus water is the one environmental issue that is very local so it isn't hurting poor nations. Agricultural and Industry uses way more water than personal use. I wouldn't worry about the waste of water from this challenge and I am a very much a environmentalist.

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My kid's lists aren't too crazy and most stuff can be found really cheap. They each had like 1 or 2 items like paper towels or tissues on their list. I remember having stuff like that on my list when I went to school. We do have to buy them gym shoes that stay at school though and that can be expensive for families. We have an event where they give away school supplies and coats to kids in need but I heard that people start showing up super early and they run out fast. A facebook group has been collecting backpacks and supplies too but they had more people in need then supplies too but they were able to help most people that needed it. Since my kids go to an alternative public school their list is a little different and it probably varies in neighborhood schools too which makes it hard.

I don't think it is cowardly, weak, selfish or brave at all. I think in most cases it the result of severe clinical depression and is an act of desperation because the person sees no other way out of their situation. You can't just snap out of depression. No person would choose it. It doesn't come from life choices.

I think kids can survive bad teachers and even develop resilience from it but I want my kids to have a good kindergarten teacher so they develop a good attitude about school. I also think that isn't true when it gets to the abusive level like it might be. My dd had a strict 1st grade teacher who wasn't really warm but she did not lose control in anger or have other teachers reporting her. Dd enjoyed school and enjoyed going so I was fine with it. I wouldn't worry about the common core or the perfect curriculum in kindergarten at the public school. The common core is a set of standards not a curriculum. If you don't like the curriculum you can supplement at home. Supplementing is easy in kindergarten. I hear you on the other kids. My biggest issue when my oldest was going into kindergarten was the kids in the school she would be exposed to but you don't know for sure there will be issues with that. I wouldn't pay to send my child to an abusive teacher that other people are speaking up against. I would trial the neighborhood school, find a babysitter and do kindergarten in the evening, do preschool (your dd is 5 right?) and after school and send her to 1st next year. I had a really bad kindergarten teacher. I did survive but I didn't enjoy school and lost a lot of confidence.

No it is true. I did a research paper on this in college when I had access to journal articles. It is rare for people to move several tiers.

Yes poverty itself has a huge impact on the crime rate. We have more people per capita in prison than in other industrialized nation. A huge cause of that is the fact that we have much more inequality and a higher poverty rate. Some people manage to escape obviously but there is nothing defective in the people that don't as a whole.

Poverty itself has a huge impact on IQ from the stress and the literacy gap. Even if this was an IQ problem (which it isn't) people who are lower than average IQ still can be taught to read and do math. Kids from all types of incomes have executive function issues.

I think that is pretty normal. I would say no and then tell them not to ask again if they keep doing it. It is an annoyance but it happens. I don't like sleepovers.

Not at all. Teens were for sure obsessed with fashion when I was a teen which is part of the reason I didn't relate. ;) It actually seems like it is better now but that is probably location related.

My kids like Mercy Watson and Bink and Gollie. Once she gets a little more practice more will be open for her like Beverly Cleary, the American Girl Series etc.

I do too Sadie. You just articulated what I am also going through.

My son loves the way things work videos. Each one is very short though. We get them from the library but it sounds like they are on you tube. Brain pop has some cool videos too.

I am not sure why breastfeeding can't be discussed around men. We had a mainstream hospital group with parents of new kids and a lot of time was spent talking about breastfeeding newbies while gasp some of the parents there were men. It isn't talking about how beautiful breasts are. It is just talking about how baby eats. I mean me discussing how baby must be in some sort of growth spurt because they nurse a lot right now isn't exactly something a mans ears can't hear. If their wife breastfeeds they can even contribute to the conversation. There are some things I share with only women but then I save that for later. We code switch regardless of the genders of who is there. Not all conversations are steared around topics that are personally interesting regardless of if there are men or women present.

That isn't odd to me. There are a lot of SAHDs since more women are working. What are they suppose to stay holed up in the house by themselves never getting socialization for their children. I belong to a few meetup groups and it is for parents not moms. Dads show up all the time and it has never been awkward at all. Not even a little bit. Males need adults to talk to too.