This is me too. I get along so well with DH. But he is very easy to get along with. My kids on the other hand... it's harder for me. I saw some meme the other day that said something like "my children's behavior makes it hard for me to be the kind of parent I always imagined I would be." Something like that. Dh has never thrown himself into a flying ball of rage when his "pants feel funny" or thrown away my stuff because he had to leave someplace fun. 😊

I don't have strict rules about anything. But I do plenty of stern coaxing to try new foods, while offering side dishes I know the kids will like. I may tell a child it's "take or leave it" and then choose to ignore a before bedtime snack they get themselves. Thankfully most of my kids are awesome eaters and think I am an amazing cook. It's just the occasional new food that they aren't used to.

She's only 4 so it's hard to say, but I never felt before like she couldn't hear what I saying the 1st time. I know sometimes she'll ask me to repeat what I said if she doesn't understand, like the vocabularly or situation is new. But she does it a lot more often than that too.

I found one place that our insurance covers that appears to be both an audiologist and ENT. I don't need a referral from our family doctor, so I didn't think to ask them who they refer to. But I got an appointment for right away, so that's awesome. If there isn't actually something wrong with her hearing, I may never trust this child's symptoms again. :P She's a spunky one.

UPDATE: Just for reference, DD is rarely sick. Literally this may have been her 2nd visit to a dr, ever. She gets colds and mild things when they go around, but I have not been worried about her health at all. So we get in to see the dr, she looks in her mouth and says her tonsils are huge, asks if she snores or mouth breathes (no, she doesn't, that I am aware of), and then says "she's at the age to have her tonsils taken out." Then we saw the audiologist who did the hearing test. DD did great as far as cooperating. I wish I had asked for a copy of the test results and she explained them to me. One of her ears had one mark below the normal hearing range (so barely barely) and the other ear showed mild hearing loss. She says she has fluid behind her ears causing it. We get back in to the doctor and she's inmediately suggesting we schedule an appt to put tubes in her ears. I was a little aghast at that, and then she said we could wait a month and retake the test first. But she seemed to lean towards tubes. I said I would wait and retest. She said to come back in a month and schedule with the surgeon who would be doing the tubes. Does this seem overly aggressive? Pushy even? I asked if fluid will sometimes clear up on its own and she said sometimes, but didn't sound optimistic. I am definitely a "wait and see" type so I feel a little wary of this doctor's recommendations. Maybe if she hadn't immediately began with talking about tonsil removal... ****************************** My recently turned 4 year old DD seems to have trouble hearing lately. It's a new problem, in the last couple months maybe. DH noticed it as well, that she often asks "what?" and needs things repeated several times. I can't see anything inside her ears, like wax buildup. Should I take her to an audiologist or an ENT? She's been really healthy, besides the minor sniffles that go around the family now and then and never had an ear infection. This is also the child who I took to TWO eye doctors because she kept looking at me out of the side of her eye, and both said her eyes were just fine. (She has quit doing that) So I haven't ruled out the possibility that she is just yanking my chain.

I think this is a skill many women haven't mastered either. (Including myself)

To each their own. But marriage is about forming a brand new family unit. Stuff like this makes it feel like it's all about the parties.

With summer time and open schedules, my kids earn screen time. For every hour of reading they get 30 minutes screen time. My oldest is so excited for screen time he read 4 hours today. 😆

Dh and I were both public school teachers.

Not all young adults are going to listen.

We have had really good service with Life Station over the last couple years.

Now I have to clear my history or I am going to be getting ads for these. B

Multiple people in this thread have also said they don't mind the questions. It doesn't sound like even the majority of people are offended by these questions.

I can tell you have a lot of strong feelings about this. I will tell you that as an introvert, I am not accosting people wherever I go and forcing them to tell me their life stories. For myself, I don't mind when people ask about me. I get asked plenty if I grew up in the area or where I am from. Most of the time, I appreciate that someone else would care to find out about me. Tone, facial expressions and word choice often give away people's intent pretty quickly and I am learning to side-step conversations that I find intrusive. But I am pretty sensitive and paranoid about bothering people, so I am careful about who I talk to, what questions I ask and when.

Not necessarily. Sometimes it's because they also have a big family. I think different is good. I think it's interesting to hear other people's stories and I ask because I would genuinely lile to find out about that. (I don't ask everyone, but sometimes it feels okay) When I ask native Spanish speakers where they are from, it's because I am hoping they are from a country I have lived in or visited. I want to connect on some level.

I understand this some. With 6 kids sometimes the questions and comments about our large family are sweet, sometimes not. And sometimes it's hard to tell what the intent is, so I word things carefully until I can tell how the conversation is going to go. But I don't automatically get annoyed by comments on my family size because often the comments are just fine.

Wow. That is going to end badly.

The phrase "his people" is kind of bizarre. But even asking ethnicity isn't very specific. I've met Guatemalans of German descent and a lot of Argentines of Italian descent. I met one family in Argentina who had recently immigrated from the Ukraine. (I couldn't figure why the man's Spanish was so hard for me to understand until I figured out it was also his 2nd language) I suppose I could go around asking everyone where they were from. But when it's obvious English is not their first language, you're much more likely to get an interesting answer. That being said, my dad is fascinated by people's genealogy and he often asks about people's families. I got asked on a date by a guy who turned out to be my 2nd cousin. He came to pick me up and and of course my dad had to ask about who his parents were. (And no, he never asked me out again and yes, the whole date was incredibly awkward after that)

What does that mean though? Privilege? I got asked all the time while in Central and South America where I was from.

In other threads I have seen a few people say (or imply) that it was rude to ask where someone is from. Is this generally considered rude? Because that kinda makes me sad. I love to hear about where people come from and I only ask when it's obvious the person's native language is not English and it's likely they were not born here. I also speak Spanish fluently and have lived in and traveled to a few Central and South American countries and so I am always curious where people are from. Most Spanish speakers here are from Mexico but if their accent sounds different sometimes I will ask. I have asked a couple check-out ladies where they were from. One said Persia (which made me go home and google that) and another said Iran. I am genuinely interested in finding out about people and their stories. (I really don't ask all that often though) Is this rude? (I don't want it to be rude.)

I have so many questions.

Years ago I read an article about panhandlers in Europe. The author had noticed that often the panhandlers had an infant and the infant was *always* sleeping. Because that was so odd, they did some digging and discovered that often the infants were "borrowed" and then drugged so they would sleep throughout the day. Because women with babies garnered much more sympathy and therefore earned more money. I have never seen that here, but it did make me think twice about giving to panhandlers. If the situation feels right, I have still given money. But, as a pp mentioned, I think it is better to support those programs that offer assistance.

Someone mentioned taking notes whenever a friend mentioned an item they wanted. Years ago when we were first married and really poor DH had been eyeing a specific tool. I found it on sale and stashed it away for his birthday. Shortly thereafter (but before his birthday) he went out and bought the same item. I burst into tears when I found out. I had FINALLY bought him the perfect gift only to have him ruin it. I still hate buying him gifts. Lately I have been buying things like tickets to shows or something we can do together.

I am a terrible gift giver as well. It is so not my love language. I spend too much time worrying over whether it's the right gift or whether they will really want it or use it. (In part because I get anxious about gifts given to me that I know I won't use or display but feel an obligation to keep. Today, in fact, I just got rid of several gifts we were given for our wedding FOURTEEN years ago that I never used but hung on to because I felt obligated) Why isn't food a love language? Because I love to bring meals in for people. Or gift cards? Gifts cards should be a love language. 😆

Amazon.