r/Preschoolers

I have a 5-year old, and he owns a phone. I know this is very common among kids these days, but it's been really getting tougher and tougher to get him off from playing games. And upon checking, these games have very little substance and I could consider it what people now call it "brain rot"

I'm all for tech and allowing them to learn how to use it, so I don't want to ban devices in our home. I'm thinking maybe there are apps and games that could help kids get off these brain rotting games and get into more interactive learning and exploring ones.

We tried Duol*ngo, Ep*c and the likes but he still end up spending more time with the usual games.

What kind of covers do you put on your kids at night? For a while now, mine uses a cotton blanket and then if it's a cooler night, a fleece one over it. We often find in the morning that she's tossed some off. But then she will need us in the middle of the night and feel somewhat cold to touch. She's 4 and I ask her bur don't get much useful feedback. I'm sure I'm overthinking this and she'll be fine but what do you all use?

Ok so my 4yo is really into Ninja turtles and now the 3 ninjas movie from the 90s. These in my opinion are not appropriate but these are my husbands favorite cartoon growing up and he intro it to our son without mentioning it to me. Ok fine. We said you can pretend to punch/kick the air and as long as you don’t hit/kick people you can watch Ninja turtles. He agreed. So far no issues. It’s been a couple of weeks. So we’re playing Ninjas today with pretend swords. It’s going great and then all of a sudden my 4yo said he wants to play guns!! I asked where he learned that from. He said preschool. I asked from who he said he made it up. Then he said he didn’t know. I didn’t know what to say so I said I don’t like guns and I don’t want to play guns. Let’s play ninjas and we’ll talk about guns later. He was upset. He wants to play guns and shoot people. I said what happens when you shoot? He said the people fall down. What do I say? I also don’t want him to feel like he can’t come to talk to me about guns if for any reason he comes a real one later. I want to teach safety and also the consequences but age appropriately. Any tips? TIA!

Hi! I'm looking for a (hopefully non plastic lid) insulated food container for my almost 3yo at preschool (extra food option). I only found 3 type but I'm not sure if their little hands can even open it and wonder if anyone have experience or suggestions? The ones I found are: Klean Kanteen TKCanister, Black+Blum food flask and Ecolunchbox blue water insulated canister.

Thanks!

3.5 year old has sudden separation anxiety the past couple of months. Wants to be with one of us at nighttime. We have a baby who isn’t a great sleeper so my husband and I are in separate rooms for now.

3 year old knows she can’t come into me as I sleep with baby so she will go into my husband’s bed ( a single) in the spare room for a few hours each night. This doesn’t bother my husband and he seems to sleep well regardless, but it’s clear that our daughter isn’t getting quality sleep when she’s in the single bed with him (either that, or she is awake for a long time before or after going into his bed and missing out on sleep).

She’s exhausted every day without fail by about 3pm. She won’t nap unless we force a car nap, which is difficult as she only gets tired around the same time the baby is awake after his second nap, so even car naps are difficult to plan.

By 3pm, she is grumpy, manic, distracted, wired, saying and doing ridiculous things etc. it’s making planning activities really difficult and it makes me so sad to see her like this every day.

I’ve read that the best way to stop a child coming into your bed at night time is to firmly walk them back to their bed each time they try to get out, but that simply won’t work in our house. The walls are too thin. If my husband tries to bring to her back to her own bed, she’ll cry and shout, wake me up, wake the baby up, and then everyone is upset and miserable (side note: baby is a terrible sleeper and I’m midway to a mental and physical health crisis as results of not having slept in months, so we can’t afford to have anyone’s sleep suffering any further ).

So what I’m really looking for is preventative ways to keep her in her bed in the first place. Some people have suggested a new bed? any tips, gadgets anything whatsoever that may help would be appreciated. for context, she falls asleep independently and rarely protests bedtime - she just wakes up and then middle of the night saying she’s scared and wants her Daddy.

I might delete my account after this post for my own mental health. I’m just seriously depressed and upset about my son. He’s five. He’ll be five 1/2 in June. He is diagnosed with ADHD and possible ASD level 1. The ASD is on paper, but the developmental pediatrician and psychologist who diagnosed him don’t think he’ll keep the diagnosis. He is very typical presenting.

He has always been tough. Struggled at home and at school. His struggles are mostly social. Always wanting attention, wanting to do things his own way and whining when not his way. At school he is hyperactive and struggled with impulses and boundaries and hated being redirected. He would grunt at his teachers or shut his ears. I got him an RBT to shadow him at school in February and she’s been with him ever since. However, after his fifth birthday in December, it was like he walked through a tunnel. He did a 180. Absolutely amazing behavior at home and at school. So much so that when his RBT and BCBA started working with him they questioned his diagnosis and could not even make a plan for him because there were no atypical behaviors. I was over the moon and thought we were out of the trenches.

We have family staying with us for a while and they have a child my son’s age and since he got here my son has taken 10 steps backwards. He is being unkind, impulsive again, not listening, all the things. It’s followed him to school and his behavior is crappy again at school. He does not want to share his toys or things and has become possessive at school as well. He even hit a classmate on his back because the classmate refused to share crayons with him. I feel like we are back at square one. The RBT said she thinks this has nothing to do with his autism or adhd and thinks it’s all behavioral.

Please don’t downvote me, but this was my ultimate fear as a parent. Having a child with behavior issues. My son is funny, loving, cuddly, loves babies and loves animals, loves his family and always tells everyone how much he loves them… but as soon as he feels an emotion, he feels it STRONG. Anger is not just anger, it’s saying mean things and crying. Happiness is not just happiness. It’s rolling around, jumping around, and tackle-hugging anyone in his vicinity. I thought he outgrew all of this… until our visiting family showed up. His RBT is trying to reassure me that other kids his age push boundaries and have similar behaviors and my son just has eyes on him so it seems worse. But I just can’t…..

I just want a normal parenting experience. I just want to run and hide. I hate all of this…..

Teacher Appreciation Week 2026 is May 4th - May 8th in the US. Please let me know what gift(s) you are getting, or what ideas you have! My daughter has a total of 4 teachers that interact with her daily, and one main teacher. Please let me know what ideas you have!!

My son is 4 and since he could talk has made friends everywhere we go. He says hi to everyone when we are out in public, adults, kids, babies. He loves everyone! I love that he’s so outgoing and feels comfortable being 100% his true self. But I also worry that there are people in the world with not so great intentions. I will admit that because of how he is my normal worries have kind of turned me into even more of a helicopter parent. He’s with me 100% of the time since I’m a SAHM. I leave him with my husband of course and a few close family members.

How do I navigate this? How do I teach him that not all people are good people?

The title. Today we had an event at school and she’s a nice enough woman but she and her husband do not parent their child. She kept trying to make small talk with me and I obliged to a degree. I was polite but also possibly a little curt/to-the-point.

Their child is 5 and mine is newly 4. My child comes home constantly telling me about the mean things this other child has done to them. (Pushing, hitting, kicking, trying to push other kids off the playground) I came to find out at play dates with their friends other parents/guardians have experienced the same. Somehow one child for the last 3 months has managed to terrorize 19 other kids. Many of us congregate afterschool together and we found out the bully child hadn’t been at school for a week last week. A little girl from my child’s class announced it was the best week ever because “bully child’s name” was not there and she didn’t have to protect herself. Another child chimed in “class is so calm without bully there”. None of the parents prompted this conversation other than “how was your day”.

Mom and dad of bully are barely parenting at all. We had a play date with them end of September and I quickly gauged my child was uncomfortable and the bully child had violent and very unkind tendencies so we never followed up. The teachers seem extremely aware of the situation, several times our child has been reminded not to use their hands and come to a teacher yet there seems to be no consequences for this other child and some how they are still in this class.

We as parents have been very careful not to say anything negative about this child in front of ours in case there are issues we don’t know about. However today was the last straw. This kid pushed mine off the swings on purpose, the parents watched and did nothing. My kid did nothing to deserve it, and then the bully kid took the swing. My child, frustrated said “that wasn’t nice xyz”, he walked away. I announced, “you’re right, that wasn’t nice, I’m sorry that happened”, looking to the parents who watched their child do this again to another child. After the event, my child asked why this kid never gets in trouble.

It’s a really small preschool and I am not sure how to deal with a mom who is obviously overwhelmed but not parenting their child who is hurting my own kids education and feelings pretty daily.

Has anyone dealt with this before?

tdlr: Bully kid picks on my kid and mom wants to be friends

I need help here. I have one child. A 4 year old boy. About 80% of the time he is well behaved. The other times he lacks impulse control and he “has” to touch and grab everything in the store. “ooo! Look at this!” “Ooooh I want that!” We just went to the dog grooming salon and it’s a small store front with dog friendly baked goods and dog toys up front. I was trying to have a conversation with the groomer because we were dropping our dog off and he refused to hold my hand and stand by me. Would just throw himself down on the ground. Then he finally stayed by me until he ran off to the table with dog treats. He grabs one that looks like a piece of candy and bites into it 🤦🏽‍♀️ Then at another point he grabs the toy balls and he’s carrying them around and drops one in a bowl of water.

I had to keep stopping talking to grab him and tell him to keep his hands to himself. I couldn’t just leave with him because I was dropping our dog off and I needed to answer her questions and show reference inspiration photos. Of course as soon as we left I told him now he lost his privilege of going with me to the plant nursery today (he really wanted to go) because he showed me that he cannot listen and make good choices.

What else could I have done? I feel like a frantic crazy person in these particular situations with him because I can’t just leave with him. Any helpful advice is appreciated. 😔😩

My daughter turned 4 in January, and it’s been crazy but it just feels like one moment she was still my toddler and I don’t remember exactly when but suddenly she just became … big!

A proper “child”, no longer just my baby. Of course I still call her that and she protests 😂

Her thinking has matured.

Her negotiations have gotten more complex.

Her anger is stronger, temper tantrums wild right now

And she just looks and feels physically, big!

Maybe it’s that I’m postpartum. Having had a baby a few months ago.

But wondering if others had the same sudden shift

When did that happen for you?

I live in CA so school cut off is September 1st. My son was born August 30, 2023. I’ve been a sahm since he was born. We are looking at enrolling him in a private catholic school that offers preschool-8th grade. The dilemma I am having is that they offer 3’s are preschool, 4s are TK and 5s are kinder. My son would be starting preschool this coming August since he turns 3 by September 1st. However I want to ensure he is 5 turning 6 when he goes to kindergarten. I’m just lost on what to do. Do I ask the school is he can do 2 years of preschool? Or do I keep him home another year even though he is itching to go to school and be with other kids?

We have a 4yo who is toilet trained and regularly uses the restroom that she shares with her 2.5yo brother. The big problem is that our 2.5yo is majorly in his destruction phase. He will run into the bathroom and repeatedly flush the toilet, rip off the kiddy toilet seat, try to throw bath toys in the toilet, squirt soap in his hands, scrub the sink with their toothbrushes, you think of it he’s trying it. We can’t put a childproof knob cover on it because then 4yo won’t be able to get in when she needs to go. We don’t want to take away her independence by making her reliant on us to constantly open the door whenever she needs to go, especially if we’re caught up with making dinner/changing brother/in the bathroom ourselves etc. Is there any solutions to this that you’ve come up with?

Hi! I’m currently looking for participants for my masters dissertation investigating sibling relationships and mental health in neurodiverse children. 

I’m looking for parents/carers of 2-3 children, aged 5-16. At least one of the children should be neurodiverse (formal or self diagnosis), and at least one child should be neurotypical. Participants should be based in the UK. 

The questionnaire should take between 15-20 minutes to complete.

Thank you!

Our daughter has slept in our bed for the past year or so. It began because it would take hours to get her down only for her to wake shortly after and come looking for us. Our bed was the best solution because she would go down quickly and not wake up, believing everyone was going to bed. Perhaps it was our fault for deceiving her because she woke up one night a few weeks ago before we’d come back to bed and we had to explain that Mommy and Daddy get out of bed once she’s asleep. This started the whole cycle again.

We decided to follow our pediatrician’s advice of keeping the door closed and do check-ins but nothing is working. Unless one of us lays in there with her she won’t go back down. She has about 10 special stuffies in bed to “protect” her, she knows how to turn on all the lights, she has books & quiet toys as well as a water cup and a Yoto player with her bedtime songs, favorite books/podcasts and recordings of Mommy and Daddy talking to her. Typically she falls asleep around 7 and will wake around 8 or 9 screaming for Mommy. I’ve tried going in and setting her visual timer for when Mommy will be back or even talking to her through the baby monitor but both seem to make things worse. Next on my list to try is a reward/sticker chart though I don’t love that idea I’m at my wits end. I try to be firm with boundaries but she just screams and cries for hours on end it’s heartbreaking.

Any suggestions? Anybody who can commiserate or give hope that there’s light at the end of the tunnel?

My 5 year old has always needed a lot of sleep. Currently, he goes to bed at 8p and sleeps til about 6:30a, while also taking a 2 hour nap! At school they just dropped nap time to start preparing the kids for kindergarten. Most of his friends are not napping, so it's fine, but it's a big adjustment for my son! We've moved bed time up and that seems to help, my question is do I let him catch up on naps on the weekends? or will that just hurt his progress at school?

Hello everyone!

Just came back from talking to the teacher at my 4yo's school. Basically yesterday a parent called my husband and told him that my son was being mean to his kid. We are appreciate that they called us to let us know and we went to see how we can solve this issue with the teacher.

Surpringly to us, the teacher said that there has been no issue with this specific child, and that he plays with him normally. However, she did mention that my son has a big ego, and that he often gets upset if someone else does something better than he does (like, if someone can run faster, etc), and that they are trying to teach him to celebrate other people's achievements as well.

I agreed with the teacher to do a sit down to talk about it, hopefully still this week, but I wanted to know if anyone here dealt with something similar? How can I help him to understand that he doesn't have to be the best at everything?

My soon to be four year old is showing an interest in keys.

So we have a 3.5 yo and a 3.5 mo. Our older daughter was very excited all through my pregnancy, totally on board when I went to the hospital, very gentle and welcoming to her baby sister. No jealousy or hatred whatsoever. BUT as time goes by she is demanding way more engagement. My husband has taken over bedtime duties and she enjoys bedtime with papa. She goes swimming with papa on Sundays. Papa does quite a lot of outdoor activities with her almost daily. I do morning routine with her: getting her dressed for daycare, breakfast and all. I pick her up everyday from daycare. I paint, sing, dance, play in the garden every chance I get while the baby naps. But she seems to never be content it all of it. Today i picked her up from daycare, we went grocery shopping because SHE wanted to go, we took a bath together, we played in the garden, and we played inside learning alphabets. Thats 4 naps for the baby and that’s 4 activities which were all 1:1. And yet she wanted more. I feel drained. I don’t get a break. I feel like I just going from one thing to another with no breather. I have tried everything. Telling her about the time when she was a baby, including her in baby things, hyping her up for doing big sister things so well. Nothing seems to work. I feel like I am constantly either saying no ir trying to redirect her when she starts arguing or demanding more attention. She is a sweet and compassionate kid, but I really don’t know how I can handle this anymore. I am literally so tired and so so so done.