5AF Parenting Thread

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:36 am

Anybody participate in the Penguins Learn to Play ice hockey program? I'm thinking of signing my son up for the Learn to Play dek hockey program, but wonder if him getting free equipment in this program will keep him from getting free equipment in the ice hockey program if I ever choose to have him do that. I'd rather get the free ice equipment, for obvious reasons.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:54 am

I went to breastfeeding class this weekend with my wife. Did any of yinz go to this? I was the only husband there for the 5 pregnant ladies that were attending. I learned way more than I ever thought I would and found it very helpful. Just thought it odd that no other husbands were there.

I went with my wife. Enjoyed it as well.

Postby **grunthy** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:57 am

I went to breastfeeding class this weekend with my wife. Did any of yinz go to this? I was the only husband there for the 5 pregnant ladies that were attending. I learned way more than I ever thought I would and found it very helpful. Just thought it odd that no other husbands were there.

I went to every class my wife did. To me it seemed like it is beneficial to both parties.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:59 am

my kids learning to swim was a disaster, they just didn't pick it up. Luckily my father in law was on the swimming team for WVU and has good skill in that area. Like a lot of things, as they got older, they figured it out too. I'm a pretty big believer in a lot of parents try to teach their kids stuff way too early and they are not actually teaching them anything. When they are ready, they are ready, stop trying to potty train a kid at 8 months or whatever (this isn't anything towards the conversation in here).

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:00 am

Took my oldest son ice skating for the first time yesterday. I put him in regular skates and just held his hand. Even though he was falling all over the place, he was having a blast. Next year we'll definitely sign him up for skating lessons.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:10 am

Took my oldest son ice skating for the first time yesterday. I put him in regular skates and just held his hand. Even though he was falling all over the place, he was having a blast. Next year we'll definitely sign him up for skating lessons.

I took my daughter a few weeks ago, and she loved it, as well. I'm not sure if she'll want to go through with lessons right now, but she does want to go back, so at the very least I can get started teaching her myself. The biggest challenge is making sure that she pulls her hands in if she falls, IMO. I'm scared shitless of somebody running over her fingers because they're skating too close.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:41 am

Took my oldest son ice skating for the first time yesterday. I put him in regular skates and just held his hand. Even though he was falling all over the place, he was having a blast. Next year we'll definitely sign him up for skating lessons.
I took my daughter a few weeks ago, and she loved it, as well. I'm not sure if she'll want to go through with lessons right now, but she does want to go back, so at the very least I can get started teaching her myself. The biggest challenge is making sure that she pulls her hands in if she falls, IMO. I'm scared shitless of somebody running over her fingers because they're skating too close.

Those same thoughts re slicing fingers were running through my head yesterday. I caught my son trying to wipe the snow off his blades while we were taking a break during the zamboni magic ice sweep. I told him the blades were sharp and he said, "no they're not." He was probably right

Postby **Viva la Ben** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:04 am

My wife finally relented on letting our 12 yo boys have a sleepover at their friends house on Saturday. They have done sleepovers at relatives several times, and this was the first non-family. I have been all about letting them go to sleepover camp for years, and this might be the year.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:57 pm

Interesting - my kids have been sleeping over at friends' houses for years (they are 11 and 9). Is it the twin factor (i.e. two kids at the same friends' house at the same time) or is it just overall nervousness? Or do the kids not do sleepovers well?

My kids have a friend who we've know since he was 2-3 years old that was unable to sleepover our house until recently (he's 10) due to homesickness.

We've got a different issue, and I've mentioned it ITT before: because we aren't from the local area, our kids only get invited to other outsiders houses. Both boys are very social and personable at school and sports, have tons of "friends" but rarely get invited to people's houses. I'm assuming its because we (i.e. my wife) didn't go to high school with these other kids' parents' high school, or the right church, or something like that. No behavioral issues from the few friends that invite them over. And yes, we've had plenty of kids to our house but it is rarely reciprocated.

Fortunately, it bothers my wife and I more than it bothers the kids - my 11 year old would rather stay home and my 9 year old is usually at a sports tournament/practice or both most weekends.

Postby **Viva la Ben** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:17 pm

It was nervousness on my wife’s part. I think they were six the first time they had a sleepover with their cousins. My wife knows most of the parents of their friends as she’s active in the parent teacher stuff. We are close with a only a couple families we met since we moved back to the burgh in 2003.
Another factor for her allowing the separation is the boys have an overnight band trip to Cleveland coming up in April.
My SIL wants them to come visit for a week in Philly during the summer; if it were up to me I’d send them both on Amtrak...wifey says no way.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:33 pm

Put me in the camp of whose wife gets weird about the sleeping over thing. I'm not sending them to Vietnam, but their friend's house.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:33 pm

Went to the trampoline park again this weekend. At 4 1/2, I am definitely cherishing my daughter's love of doing these sorts of things with her daddy.

Postby **columbia** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 10:28 am

As an FYI for parents: the shortage of flu test kits is real.

(I saw my doctor for something unrelated and they had signs up everywhere.)

Postby **shmenguin** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 10:32 am

we won't allow sleepovers unless we are extremely close with both parents. family and close friends. no randy's from school. or even good friends from school whose parents we don't know.

Postby **Kraftster** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:16 am

we won't allow sleepovers unless we are extremely close with both parents. family and close friends. no randy's from school. or even good friends from school whose parents we don't know.

That's about how I am too. I can think of about six places I'd be cool with my kids spending the night. Two family locations, four friend locations.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:55 am

My daughter had her first swim lesson yesterday, and it went better than I had expected. She generally takes her time getting into the water, slowly working her way past just sitting at the edge with her feet in. She hopped right down onto the ledge that the kids all sit on and off she went. Her biggest thing right now is dunking her head and holding her breath underwater. If she can get past that, I think she'll do well.

And in other news, she's still got a bit of a cough. It gets so bad at night that she has thrown up in bed the past two nights. Last night she managed to throw up twice - once in bed, and once on the carpet en route to the bathroom. Spent 20 minutes trying to get the stain out of the carpet with our carpet cleaner, but won't know for sure until today how well it worked. That's the last time I ever give her medicine with any kind of dye in it.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:20 am

My daughter had her first swim lesson yesterday, and it went better than I had expected. She generally takes her time getting into the water, slowly working her way past just sitting at the edge with her feet in. She hopped right down onto the ledge that the kids all sit on and off she went. Her biggest thing right now is dunking her head and holding her breath underwater. If she can get past that, I think she'll do well.

And in other news, she's still got a bit of a cough. It gets so bad at night that she has thrown up in bed the past two nights. Last night she managed to throw up twice - once in bed, and once on the carpet en route to the bathroom. Spent 20 minutes trying to get the stain out of the carpet with our carpet cleaner, but won't know for sure until today how well it worked. That's the last time I ever give her medicine with any kind of dye in it.

Good to hear regarding her swim lessons. I don't think she'll have an issue going under water. Most kids are apprehensive at first, but once they do it they realize it's fun and there are no issue after.

Today is the day I'm going to try to sign my son up for deck hockey. There are only 30 openings, it's sponsored by the Penguins, and the kids are given free gear. I already have the page open for registration, but it doesn't open until 10.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:30 am

My daughter had her first swim lesson yesterday, and it went better than I had expected. She generally takes her time getting into the water, slowly working her way past just sitting at the edge with her feet in. She hopped right down onto the ledge that the kids all sit on and off she went. Her biggest thing right now is dunking her head and holding her breath underwater. If she can get past that, I think she'll do well.

And in other news, she's still got a bit of a cough. It gets so bad at night that she has thrown up in bed the past two nights. Last night she managed to throw up twice - once in bed, and once on the carpet en route to the bathroom. Spent 20 minutes trying to get the stain out of the carpet with our carpet cleaner, but won't know for sure until today how well it worked. That's the last time I ever give her medicine with any kind of dye in it.
Good to hear regarding her swim lessons. I don't think she'll have an issue going under water. Most kids are apprehensive at first, but once they do it they realize it's fun and there are no issue after.

Today is the day I'm going to try to sign my son up for deck hockey. There are only 30 openings, it's sponsored by the Penguins, and the kids are given free gear. I already have the page open for registration, but it doesn't open until 10.

F5 is your friend, along with using two browser at once, IMO. When I book my timeshares, I have to select my date within the first 2 minutes or I completely miss out on that week, so I keep the page open in both Firefox and Chrome, just in case. I'm batting 1.000 so far.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:36 am

The two browser option was a good take. Chrome kept timing out on me, so I had to use Explorer. Although I did get two confirmation emails, so maybe I registered twice.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:39 am

Double free gear!

Postby **CBear3** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 4:51 pm

The next person that gives my kids one of those nice Melisa and Doug stamp kits is going to get shanked.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:18 pm

The next person that gives my kids one of those nice Melisa and Doug stamp kits is going to get shanked.

I like the Melissa and Doug puzzles, but I would never get another kid an ink stamp set.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:40 am

I don't mind the stamp kits. So long as my daughter doesn't stamp the furniture, I'll take that over the toys that make the noise (terrific Denis Leary bit, BTW) any day of the week.

Postby **meow** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:35 am

We are going to start making baby meow’s food this weekend. Anyone else make baby food?

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:38 am

We are going to start making baby meow’s food this weekend. Anyone else make baby food?

My wife would make food for our kids up until they were about 1. It was either a fruit or vegetable, and she'd puree it in the blender. Then she'd pour the puree into an ice tray and voila! I think she even did chicken once.