I know there are a lot of parents, so it would be good to have a thread to discuss parenting issues, questions, fails, etc.
Here is a story from this morning:
My extraordinarily sweet 3.5-year-old daughter J was being an extreme terror this morning. After I finally get her to use the bathroom and start dealing with her 1.5-year-old brother, she lies down on the floor and tells me, “I’m dead.” At first, I treated it as a joke: “Oh, that’s very unfortunate! Did you die from being SO SAD?” She said, “No, I’m like the squirrel!” Flashback to about 6 weeks ago…
We live in a townhouse complex that’s built on the site of what used to be a landscaping nursery. There are some ruins of the old greenhouse in the common areas (much less dramatic than it sounds, basically just a depressed rectangle with some two-foot high walls that used to be the foundation). I took her down there because a week or so beforehand, she told me that she wanted to try going “really far away” from me on her own. So I asked her if she wanted me to stay at one end of the ruins area and let her go off on her own. She eagerly ran off to play around on the walls.
But then barely a minute later, there’s a scream “DADDY THERE’S A SQUIRREL!”
I run up to her and there’s a very dead squirrel lying on the ground. I was too busy trying to get her away from it to examine it closely, but its head was bent back at an extreme angle and its head and neck were covered in blood. I assume it was killed by a predator or something, although it hadn’t been eaten. It felt like the first creepy discordant event in the early parts of a Steven King novel after we moved to an idyllic new house. Like my wise old neighbor with a thick Maine accent was going to tell me, “Some vicious wounds on that squirrel. Mighta been a hawk or a ferret, ayuh. Summat odd though… a ferret always eats it prey, but there weren’t a mark on that squirrel other than it’s neck. Like it was killed just for the pleasure of it.” We talked about it some and she seemed to be fine, and when we came back a few days later, the squirrel was gone.
So it’s gotten real now
Me: “I remember that squirrel.”
J: “I think he was just sleeping.”
Me: “No, I’m pretty sure he was dead.”
J: “But he moved when we came back.”
Me: “He didn’t move on his own. One of our neighbors probably buried him.”
J: “His face was red. Squirrels’ faces normally aren’t red.”
Me: “No. I think that was blood from where he got hurt on his neck.”
J: “What happened to him?”
Me: “I think another animal hurt him really bad and that made him die.”
J (long pause): “Another squirrel?”
Me: “No, probably a coyote or an owl.”
J: “Oh.”
J (long thoughtful pause): “Was it chasing him?”
Me: “Probably.”
J: “I don’t think the animal hurt the squirrel. I think the animal was chasing him and he fell down and got hurt.”
Anyways, post your stories, questions, pearls of wisdom and other assorted parenting content. One thing I have been struggling with is interactive electronic content. I’m basically fine with my kids watching TV, subject to some common-sense time limitations. Over Christmas, though, my dear mother-in-law introduced my daughter to some random-ass F2P Google Play store game that, from a brief exposure, seemed to consist of tapping repeatedly on squares of dirt to “dig up dinosaur bones,” then being periodically reminded to upgrade to the full game. I’ve also put a soft ban on her watching kids YouTube videos, but I feel less firmly about that. It’s easy now, since she doesn’t have direct access to any devices other than an Echo, so it’s just a matter of refusing to let her watch songs on my phone. I’m not sure whether I can or should actually institute a youtube ban. I also have no idea how to handle interactive content. I love both video games and youtube (after reading books, my main iPad leisure activity is watching esports on youtube!), but I’m also extremely leery of all the skinner-box monetization/engagement tricks. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine turning anyone under the age of maybe 14 fully loose on the internet. Not because of porn or child sex predators, but because of Instagram and twitter. That’s not realistic though. Any guidance here?
