Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
Parenting - Blog Posts
I don’t have children so take this with a grain of salt but I hate when you can tell people like the concept of their children more than their well-being. Parents like the concept of an all-beige nursery that’s photogenic more than they care about the development of their kid’s brain. They like the concept of a cutely dressed kid in designer clothes more than they care about their comfort and personal desires. They like the concept of a child who never eats poorly more than they care about the happiness that can come from a child eating some candy now and then. People need to stop treating their kids like little dolls
A lot of parents shouldn’t be parents. Which is not me advocating for eugenics. Sex ed, abortion and birth control should be free and easily accessible and we should create culture that doesn’t treat reproducing as inherently altruistic and moral and makes it more acceptable to choose not to have kids. It’s an extremely weighty irreversible choice but it should always be a choice. You should have a damn good reason to have a child instead of it being something you do to tick off a box. If you don’t like kids and you don’t want to sacrifice your time and money to your kids, don’t have a kid. This isn’t an anti-parent anti-kid kid rant, it’s just so sad to see how many parents are kind of meh about their kids or straight up open about regretting them and to remember how many of my friends and classmates growing up had shitty parent horror stories.
Currently in the trenches as we speak with this but grandparent addition ….
Yay 😀
A lot of people around me are having kids and every day it becomes more apparent that hitting your children to punish them is insane because literally everything can be a horrible punishment in their eyes if you frame it as such.
Like, one family makes their toddler sit on the stairs for three minutes when he hits his brother or whatever. The stairs are well lit and he can see his family the whole time, he’s just not allowed to get up and leave the stairs or the timer starts over. He fucking hates it just because it’s framed as a punishment.
Another family use a baseball cap. It’s just a plain blue cap with nothing on it. When their toddler needs discipline he gets a timeout on a chair and has to put the cap on. When they’re out and about he just has to wear the cap but it gets the same reaction. Nobody around them can tell he’s being punished because it’s in no way an embarrassing cap, but HE knows and just the threat of having to wear it is enough.
And there isn’t the same contempt afterwards I’ve seen with kids whose parents hit them. One time the kid swung a stick at my dog, his mother immediately made him sit on the stairs, he screamed but stayed put, then he came over to my dog and gently said “Sorry Ellie” and went back to playing like nothing happened, but this time without swinging sticks at the nearby animals.
Wdym people can trust their parents?? Like, are there people who have actually been able to express themselves to their parents without having their feelings invalidated or used to stay in the abusive relationship?
It's a bigger lie than Boss could even make fr fr
Since I am whipping out all my controversial opinions today, I think push presidents are so stupid. You have a president it’s called a child and you’re not even gonna take care of it well so…
𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐎.
only now realizing how weird it is to start self care after taking care of others for so long; I've been taking care and practically raising my younger siblings for years since I was a child and grew up learning how, so having the house empty, siblings all at their school, I started laughing at how weird it is for using a hydrating sheet mask
may get back into writing after enduring the entire thanksgiving break— not much of a break having all of them home, some sick and others just gremlins
The duality of knowing that your parents really did do the best they could by you, and knowing that you needed more than what they could ever give you.
"You're here to look at the werewolves?!" the lady at the counter looks baffled out of her mind. You're already petrified, having had to develop all the courage you possessed to even walk up to her and say that. It's not like your intention to adopt a werewolf was lacking, it was just that your confidence in your own self was diminishing with the stunned look on the receptionist's face.
You nod, swallowing down the panicky overthinking in your brain, clutching your bag strap tighter for help. The lady still looks like she hasn't heard you right.
"Y-you want a werewolf pup?" she asks, face paling ever so slightly.
"It's cub, not pup," you automatically correct, before flushing a bit in embarrassment. You were a journalist, after all. Grammar was your first priority over everything else.
"Why?" she asks, almost incredulously.
"Is it wrong to want to serve society?" you raise an eyebrow at her continued surprise, feeling your sarcasm come out. You weren't eager to delve into the real reason behind your trip with a stranger.
"I-well-alright then, I suppose, I'll show you to the werewolf pup- I mean, cubs' den," the lady says with uncertainty, getting up from her seat behind the counter. Her flat heels click irregularly on the tiled floor as she keeps glancing back at you when you follow her, as if concerned that you'd magically disappear.
"Here it is," she nods, stopping in front of a two-way mirror that offered a view into a room that's big enough to house an elephant.
You really have to give credit to the orphanage management, because for all the fear that humans possess concerning werewolves, they certainly did their best to recreate the little canines' natural environment for maximum comfort. Two large dark faux trees are in two corners, and the false roots made of plaster of paris cover the floor, creating an uneven ground for the cubs to climb and run over. A large rocky outcrop sheds a corner of the room, where blankets that look like leaves and soft mattresses that look like rocks make a sleeping area for the cubs.
"We're not trying to treat them like animals," the receptionist says quickly, seeing your surprised expression, "It's just that, most of them come fresh from the forest, when their parents are killed by illegal werewolf hunters. So when we try to introduce them to human environments, they resist and struggle. It's more comfortable for them to be in this man-made natural environment."
You nod again, understanding the concept. Werewolf hunting has been made illegal decades ago, ever since humans and werewolves struck the bond that decreed that neither species would harm each other. But that doesn't stop certain people of the ancient beliefs from venturing out and hunting them down.
There's about 8 cubs around the room. 2 are cuddled up in a corner, sleeping with their arms tightly around each other. They look like perfectly normal humans, perhaps 5 years old, one in a dress and the other in a shirt and shorts.
"Those are the twins- Toby and Thalia. They're the youngest in the group," the receptionist says, following your gaze.
"Who's that adventurous one on the tree?" you ask, a mirthful smile playing on your lips as you watch one elder cub jump and grab one of the lower-hanging branches, swinging himself up with difficulty.
"That's Alex. He's always been like that. I'm afraid his story is a bit tragic. He's been kicked out of 5 foster homes already," the receptionist says, expression softening. You can empathise with her. Even if humans feared werewolves, it didn't nullify the natural sympathy and compassion that welled up in every being's heart.
"Oh no, he's wolfing out," the receptionist suddenly says in a panic, looking into the room with concern.
You look in and realise that one of the cubs is lying on the floor, curled up in foetal position, shaking and crying. The others are around him, trying to see if they can help, offering him leaves or rocks.
"I need to get the vet," the receptionist says hurriedly, rushing down the corridor, and you really have to appreciate her for being able to run at such speed in heels. You look back into the room, and see the kid struggling, the first signs of grey fur blossoming over his scalp. He's in pain, hands shuddering, face shining with a sheen of sweat, breath coming out in short, rapid gasps. Your heart wrenches as you see the poor boy turning into a werewolf so painfully, and instinctively, you walk around to the door, yank it open, and rush to the cub.
The others make way for you in surprise. Most of them are below the age of 9, but one of them is 13.
"Who are you?" she asks, standing in your way, doubt and suspicion making her voice caustic.
"I'm here to help," you raise your hands in surrender, "Your friend there needs help."
"He has all the help he needs with us," the girl says firmly, folding her arms, glaring up at you with intensity and fierceness.
You sigh in frustration, pinching the bridge of your nose. You were never great at handling kids, having always been overly blunt and awkward. Handling werewolf children seemed out of your territory. You're starting to really doubt if you could handle adopting a werewolf cub seeing your inability to even talk to one normally without getting annoyed.
"He's in pain, isn't he? What are you doing to help him?" you ask dryly, putting your hands on your knees to bend down to her level.
"Whatever it is, it's better than what you humans tend to do," the girl hisses, "All you do is kill our parents and then leave us here to grow up alone and disloved."
"Unloved," you correct instinctively, before realising your mistake and feeling like an idiot. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to correct you-" you try to say quickly, but the girl looks like she's going to burst into indignant tears.
"You're so mean!" she cries, "You humans are so rude and mean to us! What have we ever done to you?"
You wince, wishing you could take back your words and approach this situation more tactfully. But you can see the young cub still struggling behind the girl, and your heart chides your brain mentally for being an idiot.
"Look, sweetheart," you sigh, kneeling down, deciding to be honest, "I have nothing against you. I came here so I could bring one of you home and make that special little cub the most cherished child on the planet. I'm not here to harm you, or be mean. I'm terribly sorry for reprimanding you earlier, but if I don't help your friend now, he could be in serious trouble. Please?"
The girl looks uncertain, and she probably didn't understand half the words you said, but she moves aside, and you sigh in relief as you quickly get up and rush over to the shaking boy.
"Okay sweetheart, listen to me," you say, pulling the shaking cub the straight way up. He's so thin and small as he's wolfing out, he fits in your lap. You sit cross-legged on the forest floor of the room, pulling him properly into your lap and cradling him in your arms. His ragged, warm breath hits your neck as you hug him close, trying to give him comfort.
"Listen to me, can you hear me? I'm here to help. Can you hear me, darling? Just nod, can you understand me?" you whisper softly away from his ear, so that his sensitive werewolf hearing wouldn't magnify your voice a hundred times.
He nods softly, whimpering as the fur covers his arms and his bones start melding and changing.
"Alright, so, can you tell me three things that you can see?" you whisper.
He shakes his head, wincing and shivering as his shoes fall off, claws growing from his small toenails.
"Okay, okay, never mind. I've heard that your hearing is very good. Can you tell me three things that you can hear?" you ask, changing your tactic the second he stops responding.
He's hesitant, but he slowly whispers, "I can hear your breathing. I...I can hear everyone else's heartbeats. I...I can hear...the wind outside the window..."
"Okay, keep going. Don't think about what's happening to your body, just listen. Tune into everything that's going on outside," you say in the hopes of distracting him.
"There's people outside. Two people...are running here...They're still far...the tiles are loud...the human babies are wailing...everything's so loud all of a sudden..." he whines, covering his rapidly enlarging ears.
"It's alright, focus on the soft voices, sweetheart. Focus on our heartbeats. Listen to your friends' heartbeats. Isn't it calming?" you whisper, cradling him closer. He sniffles, fully covered in fur now, yet he doesn't look like a typical werewolf.
"I-It is," he hiccups, snout snuggling into your soft shirt for comfort, "They're regular. They're...nice."
"Then focus on those. They're periodic, 72 beats per minute. Time your breathing with that. One breath in every..um, 15 beats. Can you do that for me?" you say, hugging his head closer and ignoring the in-house vet and receptionist who've just rushed into the room and look as shell-shocked as if you yourself had become a werewolf.
He nods, and you count slowly for him. Gradually, he shifts from listening to his friends' heartbeats to listening to your words. His breathing evens out as the transformation completes.
You'd expected a wolf cub, at the very least. But the little creature whom you're holding in your arms is nothing more than a puppy. He's almost asleep, comfortable in your arms, tired after his first transformation.
You look up at the other children in confusion, not bothering to question the vet. "Are all of you like this in werewolf form?" you ask slowly, not wanting to startle them. The cub in your arms is a little grey puppy. Yes, he has wolfish characteristics. But if anyone had seen this little adorable fluff-ball on the streets, they wouldn't hesitate in petting his head and feeding him treats.
"Of course," Alex nods.
"I thought...werewolves were, you know, werewolves," you frown a bit.
"That's a very outdated notion," the vet speaks up, catching everyone's gaze, "Due to intermingling of werewolves with humans and other species, the original characteristics of werewolves are quite lost."
"So you're telling me that people are afraid of these cute little babies?" you raise an eyebrow, still hugging the boy in your lap close to you.
The vet and the receptionist hesitate. They're clearly not used to such an abnormal response, and you sigh in annoyance, facing the cubs instead.
"So none of you become ravenous or blood-hungry on full moons?" you ask carefully.
"Never," the eldest girl scoffs, "We don't even always turn on full moons. All the mixing of bloods has really messed up our schedules."
"Ma'am, you can give Lucius to us now-"
"No."
The receptionist falters, hands retracting as she offered to take the boy from you. "I'm sorry?"
"I said 'no'," you repeat, a firm look on your face, "I'm keeping him. I'm adopting Lucius."
"Oh, alright then. Should we begin with the-"
"I'm not finished," you interrupt, having no idea where your sudden burst of confidence has come from, although you have a lurking suspicion that it has come from your renewed determination to improve the lives of innocent werewolves.
"I'm keeping Lucius. And Toby. And Thalia. And Alex. And all the others," you say, the glare in your eyes daring her to challenge you.
She looks mind-blown, to say the least, as if her most outrageous dream had come alive before her eyes. The vet looks...concerned for your health.
You almost worry that she's going to stop you, when she suddenly gives a small smile.
"Alright, Ma'am. Shall we begin with the formalities?"
__________________________________________________________
"Mom, mom, mom," Lucius is all but yanking your short burgundy hair, desperate to get your attention.
"If the house is not burning to pieces, I don't want to be woken up," you groan, covering your face with the pillow as you try to fall back asleep.
"Mom, come on, please please pleaseeee, just wake up," Fariah whines, begging you and shaking you.
"Alright, alright, you little tricksters, I'm awake," you laugh, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes as Fariah pulls you up to sit on the bed.
"Mom, come on, we need to ask you something for our school project, " Toby says quickly, and Thalia smacks him upside the head.
"You dunce! You weren't supposed to tell Mom so quickly!" she hisses at him, feeling proud for having learnt a new way to call her twin a stupid person after reading some of your more lazily written articles.
"Thalia, I'm happy about the vocabulary expansion, but we agreed that your twin is not a dunce," you say strictly, raising an eyebrow. Thalia murmurs 'sorry' to Toby, who looks annoyed that she smacked him on the head. Even though the twins are both 13, Thalia's just an inch taller, and she wastes no opportunity in bullying her twin because of it.
"So, what do you need for your school project?" you ask, pulling up your legs to sit cross-legged on the bed.
"I don't need it," Lucius says haughtily, "The twins and Fariah need it."
Lucius has been on Cloud 9 ever since he turned 14 and he got to officially announce to the world that he was older than the others.
"Alright, alright," you laugh, "What do you need?"
"Well, Mom," Fariah starts, nervously twiddling her thumbs, "Our hearing is always a hundred times better than yours. And...we can never hear your heartbeat. So, we were wondering, why can we hear everyone's heartbeat but yours?"
You know that this is not a school project. That was just an excuse for your kids to ask you a question that had probably been gnawing at them for days now. You breathe out heavily, knowing you'd have to answer the question someday.
"I was stabbed once," you admit softly, pulling Toby close to you so he could hear more clearly, "I was in the forest, hiking, and I came across this...madman. Drunk. Raving. Blind as a bat with rage over something trivial. He had a knife, and before I could even attempt to get away, he stabbed me right in the heart."
"It was painful, yes. I couldn't feel anything, and I could sense the life draining out of me. The guy was probably going to stab me again, when someone else burst into the scene. He shoved the guy away and threw him off me. He sent the guy crying for his mama. I didn't even realise what had happened - the suddenness of it was too disorienting. I was on my knees, gasping for breath, when he saved me. I must have passed out, because when I woke up, I was in a cot, wound stitched up and bandaged. He had brought me to his home and healed me. I was forever indebted to him for saving my life. I had to spend some days in his home itself because I still didn't have the strength to walk on my own from all the blood loss. In those few days, I fell for him harder than I have fallen for any other person. He was the strongest and kindest person I had ever met, and he felt the same way. He shared his struggles with me, and I shared mine. We were madly in love, I'm afraid," you give a wry chuckle, "But...his solution to my heart was only temporary. I needed proper medical treatment if I were to live. I told him that I could get to the hospital on my own, that he'd get into trouble if he came with me. But he insisted, and he took me to the hospital as my heart literally failed. He was so scared that I wouldn't make it, and I was so scared that he'd get blamed for what happened to me. Unfortunately, only one of our fears came true," you smile sadly, cuddling Toby's back closer to you.
The cubs are quiet, wondering how this love story was related to your heartbeat. You realise that you'd deviated madly from the topic and quickly correct yourself, "So, I had to get a pacemaker and a whole lot of transplants and transfusions. It took me 5 months just to get out of bed without my heart being overexerted. The reason you can't hear my heartbeat is because the pacemaker is too low for your ears."
"Why did the guy you liked get blamed for what happened to you?" Lucius asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concern.
"Nobody believed him," you shrug, giving a rue smile, "By the time I got out of the hospital, it was too late for me to help him in any way. No one even told me where he was, what happened to him, where they took him. All I know is that he was punished for no fault of his..."
It's been 10 years since it took place, yet your heart always burns in your chest as you recount it. The cubs look sad and confused, so you try to cheer them.
"But in a way, it also turned out to be a small blessing in disguise. Because after that, I decided to visit the orphanage to adopt certain children. And guess who God gave me?" you ask teasingly, grinning.
"Us!" Fariah declares happily, her innocent sweet 11 year old voice making you laugh.
"Yes, I got you little munchkins," you laugh, tickling her so she giggles and falls on the bed on your lap beside Toby.
"But how did his punishment lead to you deciding to adopt werewolves?" Thalia asks, tilting her head and cocking her ear up in the air to hear your answer better.
"Sweetheart," you smile softly, "Even though a human stabbed me and nearly stopped my heart forever, the one who really stole my heart was a werewolf."
When you adopted an orphaned werewolf cub, you expected to end up with a ravening blood-thirsty monster. Instead, you ended up with a fairly normal kid who occasionally becomes an adorable puppy.
Alright so like I used Nonny or Niby for my caretaker when he was going through a transition of not knowing who he was gender wise because I used to call him Mama but he told me he didn't like being called it anymore so I worked out Niby and Nonny and that's what I used until he decided to use masculine presenting pronouns (he's he/they but prefers male pronouns) to which I now call him Appa.
suggestions for gender neutral version of mom/dad? something less formal than just ‘parent’
"bluey sets unrealistic expectations for parents" like we haven't all wondered why our parents don't do things with us like the TV parents do. the expectations are already set higher than they're getting to. they aren't even reaching for the bar -- in fact, they're actively trying to limbo underneath it
"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."
— Anne Frank
(One of the first and best books I ever read. Rip Anne Frank 💐)
this goes out to mothers everywhere: please try not to become deeply emotionally invested in your daughter's hair
Please reblog this for everyone so they will be informed about how to prevent danger for their children!!!
Tips That Can Save Your Kid’s Life.
"You must be strong, Adara."
I did a redesign on Adara and her mother. Her mom's name is now Amber.
Backstory: Fiammetian dragons are known for their strength, bravery, and cruelty. The second princess, Adara, however, is not any of those characteristics. This made many think that she was not fit to the planet's guardian.
my dad taught me how to play with knives today
seems kinda counterintuitive for a parent but all my fingers are still attached so it was fun lol
Alright I need to know.
Did anybody else's parents teached them about period and death at a young age without sugar coating it, or is it just my family?
Cause my mom explained to my sister and I about period when we were like four or five years old. We saw her pads and tampons, asked what they where, and she explained it. Didn't say we'll understand when we're older, none of that junk, she just explained it like. The funny thing is that we didn't care, we were just happy to know what that was.
She also explained to us about death when we asked why we didn't have grandpa's like other kids. She just explained death to us in a way that a five/six year old kid can understand.
And in all honesty, I love my mom for that. She understood that we wanted to know, so she explained to us in a way a child can understand.
But all honesty, were anybody else parents like that? Or are my parents just really good at parenting?
"hormonal"
when I have birthed a child,
when I have slaved away
my time and tears,
dimes and fears,
I hope they never say
that my worth is complete.
my life, obsolete.
I swear it, my
time and tears,
dimes and fears
are not an investment put to play.
I may grow stretch marks and pimples,
may sag in places unseen.
but if past a birth, that word is thrown out-
know that my call for your respect
has always been a thing.
assuming both partners have fully developed frontal lobes, what is an appropriate age gap (i am asking in context of my parents)
Baby Health & Hygiene
I am a student working on a Design project for Baby Health & Hygiene. Please spare a few moments to answer these questions. Your insights will be very helpful! Thank you!
Baby Health & Hygiene
Killing Stalking - Spoilers
The saddest part about Killing Stalking is that until and even after the end of the story, nobody were able to understand exactly through what kind of pain and torture the both main characters [ Bum and Sangwoo] went when they were kids. Nobody from Killing Stalking universe was able to understand what type of torture Bum endured as a child [ except from Sangwoo who unfortunately was too damaged himself to be able to help Bum even just a little ]. Nobody from the Killing Stalking universe was able to found out that Sangwoo actually didn't kill his own parents and that he was also a victim [ which, of course, doesn't justify him in any way because a lot of people go through even worse kind of situations as childrens and still develop a kind type of personality, but is something important which we don't have to forget ].
If they were able to talk with someone about all of this, if someone was there to help them when they were too little and scared to do it themselves, if Sangwoo's parents didn't become a couple in the fisrt place when they weren't ready for it, if Sangwoo's mother just didn't become a mother at all, if Bum's parents were alive, if his uncle wasn't in his life at all, if just the world and society they lived in were kinder and more understandable,...then damn it, everything would be different. They both wouldn't end up the way they did....
I think the exact same thing can be said about the modern society we live in. Just think about how many times you, yourself, or someone else you know or just heard about became a victim of injustice, abuse, betray, bullying, and so on....
Until when the world we are part of will be like this? Until when the human society will work in this not beneficial for any individual way??
From a teen to the adults (And others)
Forcing people do do things is wrong. It doesn't matter the person or the cercumstances. Its wrong. My own parents somehow don't understand that. People have their triggers, their dislikes, certain things that bother us more than the person standing beside us. Some people aren't afraid to jump head first, some are. Example, a couple years ago I went to this.... Swimming area? A natural pool where people would swim and hang out at. You would climb the slope up to a drop, where then, you would jump. When I got up though, it was muddy and slippery, I was going to do it even when I slipped. The people down below started trying to encourage me. Despite the good intentions, it didn't help. I got overwhelmed, I turned back around thoroughly embarrassed. My father getting onto me for it wasn't exactly helping either. The people had good intentione, I wasn't mad at them. Like my parents, they try and break me out of my shell all the time. Its the way those people do things though. Shoving people into it or getting hostile about their preferences and fears doesn't help. Be patient, see if they work themselves up to doing whatever it is. See if they ask you for help. If they do, be easy and understanding about it. Remember, people have borders, pushing those until they break or build higher is not the things you want to do. This isn't just to parents, but also to my age group. For anyone and everyone. Its an important piece of knowledge for life, for friends, siblings, communitys, even strangers. Don't try and pull them out of it. Reassure them, let them know they aren't alone. Separated from others in their struggles. Hated for something they try and 'fix' even when people can't see it. That they aren't broken or shoved away because of it. At least that you won't treat them that way, even if others do. Now, this isn't just for people to recognize but for the people that read this and know that it's for them. That somebody knows and others will as well.
I hope enough people see this, for enough people to be affected by what I just shared.
Reblog this if you agree or want to help.
@panromanticturtle
@leafiles
So, Audrey and Aubrey... What dumbass parent switched up their d's and b's and created a new name??? More importantly which name came first! This is like the, "Which came first the ostrich or the egg?" but with names!!!
it is a parent's job to love their children invariably, to encourage them to follow their dreams, to teach them to respect themselves and others. it is not a parent's job to shame their children for not meeting the expectations for their life that their parent had drawn up for them. children are a blessing, they are also their own person, not just an extension of their parent.