I mean there’s a certain age where they’ll answer “do you want a cookie” with “no” and then get mad when they don’t get the cookie.

When you have to over rule their no, be sure to state why. For diapers, “If I don’t clean your bum it will get red and sore and hurt.” “The doctor needs to look in your nose/ear/mouth to make sure you are healthy.” “Shots hurt for a second and then you feel better. We have to get shots to keep us from getting sick.”…

That’s simply too nuanced to have a discussion about it with kids that age. My daughter is creeping up on 3, and is super ahead of the curve from a language standpoint, but she wouldn’t know what to do with the words that are required to get this overall idea across. IMO, you just need to be firm about both stances…

My dad was always one of those ticklers who wouldn’t stop. When my daughter was old enough to understand, we told her (in front of him) “when Grandpa tickles you and you want him to stop, say ‘Stop.’ If he doesn’t stop, you have permission to hit, bite or kick him as hard as you can until he stops.” She never had to…

Yes! This is so important!

That’s unfortunate. As a grandmother in our family, I know better than to interfere in time-out and before-meal snacks. Even at my house I try to stick to the same general rules, because I believe it’s best for the kids to be consistent. Of course, we sometimes bend them, but it’s fun stuff like sleeping in the family…

Cancelling cable does nothing, there is no reason for anybody to associate cable subscription with programs. You cancelling cable didn’t change the rating numbers, you weren’t watching it to begin with so nothing changed. Cable is just the physical media to get something into your house, they don’t set any of the…

If you had, you might not be so uptight.

Stack like plates with like (but absolutely no more than three or four high) in separate stacks, pile paper to the side, lay silverware to the side. No waiter (or busser) is going to give you a nasty look for that. Don’t squish big food pieces or paper in between plates.

A lot of chain restaurants give you a shit ton of plates, though, and a itty bitty table for multiple people. One time I ordered an entree that arrived on three separate dishes and when I asked for a side of some kind of dressing, that came on yet ANOTHER plate. I genuinely thought stacking was helpful, so it’s good…

Nostalgia Chick did a really great video several years ago that analyzed Disney films from an LGBTQ perspective, and her assessment was that the accent was actually part and parcel of turning the main villain into a fop. She found that this was likely accidental, but nevertheless Disney seemed to be relying on an…

I think the point of the study and the point that I have slowly learned about parenting and life in general is that there are no rules. You do what is best for your individual child and self and in most cases if someone puts a hard and fast number on it, is generally arbitrary and meaningless.

With our 3 year old, sometimes we do a lot more screen time than that a day. Sometimes we do almost none. It just depends on what’s going on, how we’re doing, and how productive our son is being while playing. My wife is six months pregnant with a complicated pregnancy and we live two hours from the closest family, so…

I agree with Khukhullatus: if you are carrying around a katana, just don’t get blackout drunk. If there is even the slightest possibility some swordplay might be involved later on in the evening, know your alcohol limits, keep track of how much you’re drinking, and stop drinking before you get anywhere close to…

You shouldn’t force someone to watch you drink tea anymore than you should force them to drink tea. If you say, “Hey, I’m going to make myself some tea, would you like to watch me drink it?”, they always have the right to say, “No, ew, gross, watching you drink tea would make me vomit right now,”. Then either you…

Yeah, I feel like the whole intoxicated thing is a judgement call, but you have to judge on the conservative side.

That tea video is probably the best explainer for consent ever. Period 

The biggest household fight my husband and I ever had was when he asked “do you want me to take out the trash?” Oh no, dear. I’m saving that trash; I was really looking forward to taking it out myself. No shit, I want you to take out the trash.

Probably because this is a stereotype that is VERY often true. I have known couples where the opposite is the case, but they are a rarity. This kind of behavior was a primary factor in the sky-high divorce rate of the 70's: women finally had a way out of relationships where they were treated like garbage.

The issue with that is that so many men put all the emotional labor, social, and household planning on their wives.