Present for a 6 year old boy?

Jen-Jen

My brother's girlfriends's son is turning six on Saturday and (of course) we're invited. Both my mother and I are having a very hard time figuring out a gift for him as he doesn't play video games, breaks most toys within 1 week, or loses interest within 5 minutes. The electric car I bought him for Christmas lasted 2 weeks before he broke it and the batman action figure I gave him last year lasted 1 week. He doesn't have the patience for board games--mom doesn't allow paint, crayons, markers etc because he will color anything and everything he can--including the carpet, drapes, mom's uniform...anything. HELP! His attention span is nil, doesn't watch a lot of tv (lack of interest) etc...I'm stuck!
He doesn't like books, though that's my first inclination as he's REALLY struggling in kindergarten--the pages get ripped out...
Gimme a break, my boy is only three, and isn't at that stage yet!

Answer
haha! sounds like my boy!

but you know what, some kids 'destroy' toys because they get bored of them. i mean, the toy train will go around the track everytime they turn it on. the batman action figure will still be a batman action figure the very next day they bring him out.

so why not get him to 'create' his own toy. get him lego or duplo blocks. those are thick as hell and it will take him a sledge hammer to destroy a piece. and he can make anything and everything out of it. it's like having a new toy everyday.

aside from being bored, he could just have problems with impulse control. i know my son can't seem to control his hands when he gets them into paint. that means he could be highly-excitable and hyperactive. so...get him sports equipment: a baseball, a soccer ball, anything that involves releasing pent-up energy. you might even want to give him an enrollment certificate for kiddie karate.

with all that energy released, you'd be surprised at how suddenly, he can focus better on things soon after. now that's planning long term. isn't that the best gift ever!

much luck! and happy birthday to him!

2 months before new years...?

why

as soon as january hit you saw a lot of questions about mothers day (ok thats a SLIGHT exxageration). Father's day is two days away and I haven't seen much. Do the ladies really know what daddy wants? (i'm skeptical), Do you care? (thats a cynical thought, but the consensus says...)
real talk-i have contributed a great deal of sperm to the condom factory, should send them something?
Sarah-waiting until the last minute make it more meaningful. you know you love that refrigerator dress the hubby got you last year. and remember the iron? Those shirts are still crispy starched aren't they

Answer
I got cards from the kids to give him, a card from me, a couple of nice polo shirts, and new grooming set complete with waterproof electric shaver and trimmer, and both kids made him something.

For mother's day he just asked me what I wanted!!! Can't go wrong that way. I got a nice "himcooked" (lol) steak dinner with a nice glass of wine along with my car detailed by my oldest son (6 almost 7). It was the perfect day!!

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20 years old, Pregnant, College student?

Kristen Ni

Hello. My boyfriend and I have been together 9 months. I work at my dads company ( My dad is pretty high up in the company) My boyfriends dad also works at the company and is even higher in rank than my dad. We both go to school in the mornings and work part time. I have 1 year left for my associates in arts, I was planning to get my masters and so was my boyfriend. I found out I am 3 weeks pregnant and I just need a plan. I have no clue what to do for money. What job can my boyfriend and I get that will allow us to provide for my baby. I grew up in a very comfortable lifestyle and I want to provide the same life for my kids, But how can I when I am not ready financially for this baby. any suggestions?
To answer Brie's Mommy, My last period was February 3rd, I looked online to see how far along I am after taking my test yesterday and it came back positive and they had me enter my last period and based on that I am 3 weeks and 2 days. I dont understand the math, Especially since I take Nuva Ring normally Continuously reccommended by my doctor but due to spotting I was told to take out the Nuva ring and let myself have a period for a week and then put it in. I took it out as instructed and once my period ended my boyfriend and I had sex so February 8 but I had not put a nw nuva ring in. I didnt think i could show up positive so soon?
What is your schedule like? with you and your boyfriend? I dont mean to be nosey but how much do you guys make an hour? How much is rent?? Just trying to get an idea of where i need to be at by the end of this 9 months. p.s- thanks your making me feel more at ease and like i can do this.
What is your schedule like? with you and your boyfriend? I dont mean to be nosey but how much do you guys make an hour? How much is rent?? Just trying to get an idea of where i need to be at by the end of this 9 months. p.s- thanks your making me feel more at ease and like i can do this.

Answer
I am 21 years old, married, working, have 2 children (3 yr old son and 3 month old daughter), and going to school for nursing. so you can do it, it is possible. not the easiest, but possible.

my husband and i both work, we are renting a house, pay all of our own bills, and our children have more than they could need/want. money wise..our bills (rent, gas, electric, water, cell phones, house phone/high speed internet, car insurance, car payment, dish) come to roughly $1400 a month. i live in a small town so rent is cheaper here than other places. my husband works 40 hours a week monday through friday. currently im working 32 hours a week.

"Right now you're about 3 weeks pregnant. Your baby-in-the-making is a tiny ball of several hundred cells that are multiplying madly. In the next week or two, you may see a positive result on a pregnancy test." it is weird that you already have had a positive test. it is rather soon for this. your due date will be Nov. 10th. i know this because my last period before my daughter was feb 3rd, 2010, she was due nov 10th, 2010, and born nov. 13th. was your period that started on the 3rd normal? if it was lighter maybe you have been pregnant longer and it was just some bleeding (spotting or maybe implantation bleeding)? having a pd on the 3rd and conceiving on the 8th doesn't sound right. my pd was on the 3rd and we conceived the 14th. i know this because we only had sex the 14th and the 26th of feb. so it had to be the 14th. so our time line was. feb 3rd - starting pd, feb 14th - conceived, march 6th - found out we were 4 weeks pregnant.

school, work, homework, studying, and a baby is not easy. it can have frustrating moments. just try hard and so your best. that bundle of joy will be worth all the hard work and sacrifices.

good luck hun.

I feel like I'm 30 years old w// 2 kids...im only 17?

poorgirl!!

well, my Mom car broke and she lost her job so, I'm being forced to get a job. It's so much stress, I have to pay bills etc && feed my family..I have to walk a mile and ahalf to school everyday, whether its snowing or not. sometimes my grandma will give me a ride, but i can tell she dont like giving me one, so i just get bundled up and walk! then, after school, i have to walk again..My aunt lives right in front of the school and I asked her for a ride and she told me she doesn't have gas. She always has gas in her car, && as i was walking she let her sister take her car, to go to the store. i feel like im worthless. when my mom had a car, i would take her daughter everywhere, even if i was on dead E! like she just didn't care at all. nobody will give me a ride, so im forced to walk,w/ a soar throat.All i have is slippers and flats, i'm saving my money up for some warm boots now...

Plus, i have to go to school, its so much stress. somedays, just wanna drop out because its so much stress. but, i wanna grow up and take care of my mom one day. i dont want to be broke and have my kids walking a mile and a half...i wake up worrying about, "is the electric going to get cut off today" or "how am i going to get to school".....ifeel like i shouldn't have to worry about these kinda things and everybody at school thinks i have the most perfect life ever. i barely even get to eat. my dad doesn't care at all, he even told me i wasn't his daughter, alli could do is cry, because i don't understand why he's so mean to me..

Any advice?
WOW YOU DIDNT EVEN READ THE QUESTIONI SAID I "FEEL"! I DONT HAVE KIDS!

Answer
yeah---finish school and get the h*** out of there as soon as you turn 18.

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Can a family of 3 survive on just over 1300 a month?

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Kodey

I, as of recently, have lost 95% of my hours at my part-time secondary job. My primary workplace however, is currently paying me $10.50/hr. I am now curious if myself, along with my fiance and 2-year-old daughter could survive off of the estimated 1300/month.

Currently, expenses that I can track (or estimate) are as follows:

Rent 540 (2bd 1b apt)
Electric 100-120 summers 50-80 winter
Gas 0 (included in rent)
Water 0 (also included in rent)
Car insurance 115
Groceries 300-350+
Fuel 120+
Toiletries 40+
I would also like to add that for the time being, I am currently receiving government assistance in the grocery department. I suppose that should be added to my monthly income. I would like to release myself from the assistance as soon as I am able to go without.

Long story short, 1550 a month is a better estimate for my monthly income at this point in time.
If my partner was to pick up a part-time job, I would then need a form of daycare for my 2 year old. Greatly increasing my monthly expenses. We are also working with just the one vehicle, bring the issue of limited transport into play. How could we counter this to improve our current state of living?
This is NET not GROSS if that makes any difference at all.

Answer
$1300 a month to play with (go with the pessimist view always so that you have "left-overs" to play with).

10% goes to long-term (retirement) savings: $130 a month. While you're in the crapper, make this 3% ($39) towards retirement and 7% ($91) towards your emergency fund.

15% goes to debt repayment/emergency fund: $195 a month that should be going to a regular savings account until you have at least 6 times your monthly income ($7800); in your case, you should just be aiming to save as much as you can beyond that amount.

35% goes to housing (rent, mortgage, bills, utilities, insurances, etc.): All-inclusive, you can afford under $455 a month, which means that you would be over-spending by $165; get more income to cover this gap.

15% goes to transportation (gas, insurance, repairs, bus): $195 a month, which you are over-spending by $40; more income to cover the gap.

25% goes to life (food, entertainment, clothing, gifts, travel, medical, wants, phone, internet, cable, other): $325 a month, or $81.25 a week. I suppose it depends on where you live, but I'm a young adult living on my own and that's what I can support myself on only.


So you need at least $205 extra every month to cover your gaps, and preferably a bit more than that so you can add some to life/savings.

What about the side-jobs? Tutor, baby-sit, pet-sit, house-sit, walk dogs, clean pools, weed gardens, mow lawns, shovel snow, rake leaves, clean houses, run errands for people, etc.

Your fiancé is staying home anyway to take care of your child, why doesn't she do a home-daycare? If she took care of one extra child five days a week and charged $25 per day, she'd be making $500 extra every month doing what she already does with your kid; not to mention she would have a play-date all the time.

What will they teach our kids in the future?

SV650s

In my history class, I've learned about Caveman, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Roman, Renaissance, Industrial Revolutionary, WWI, WWII, etc. I was just wondering, about a hundreds or thousands of years from now. What do you think our kids will learn about? Petroleum? Internet? Etc?

Answer
Great question. Very thoughtful.
This era will be known as the "computer revolution."
It has changed everything in world society just as the industrial revolution did in the 1800's.
It will be known as the communication era - the time when world cultures began to merge through common communication via the internet as you have already surmised.
It will be known as a time when the world moved towards a common language - or perhaps focused down to three or four languages such as English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, and Spanish. [The French will always speak French, but they will know a second language as well.]
Thousands of years from now there will be one common world language, but for this century the history will show that several languages emerged from the hundreds of world languages formerly spoken and written.

This will also be known as a time of growing global consciousness regarding the environment - else we will not be around a thousand years from now to write histories.
It will be known as the century of planned population control - or again, the future will be bleak.

A hundred years from now the War in Iraq will seem a small thing - a limited skirmish hardly worth a footnote. The loss of US troops over five years does not amount to a single large battle of the American Civil War. Although the loss of each individual serviceman or woman in Iraq over the recent five years matters a great deal to us now, in the USA we lose ten times more people every year to car accidents. When historians look back, Iraq will seem a small incident.

This will also be the century that people switched form gasoline powered vehicles to electric modes of transport or possibly hydrogen powered vehicles. The Middle East only started pumping out oil a little over 100 years ago. In the next 100 years, that resource will be gone.

Food will always be an essential, the USA will be crucial for world supply.

One other thought - chemotherapy as we use it now for malignant diseases - will be considered medieval and as barbaric as bloodletting looking back 100 years from now.
Older people will still die with cancer, but people must die of something to make room for younger generations. Cancer treatments - for the many varieties of cancer - will be more specifically targeted at the cancerous cells. Cancers will be detected earlier and, hopefully, many types of cancer will be prevented. Lung cancers would decline by 80 to 90% in the next 20 years if everyone would stop smoking right now.

100 years ago, cancer was #8 on the top ten killer list compared to #2 now. Relatively few people worldwide smoked a pack of cigarettes a day in 1908.
100 years from now, cancer will still be #2 following old age related cardiovascular disease, but the relative numbers of cancer deaths will be much lower - - IF we work on the global environment and health habits such as smoking.

In the year 2108 we will look back and say the 1990's were the peak years for lung cancer deaths related to the peculiar old habit of smoking a drug known then as tobacco. The kids will be revolted by the the idea that people actually sucked addicting, carcinogenic smoke from burning vegetation into their own lungs. There will be nothing "cool" about smoking.

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What are fun things to do while babysitting?

kids electric cars for 2 year olds image

Anonymous

I'm going to be babysitting soon, a 2 and a half year old and a five year old. I was just wondering what some fun things are to do while babysitting, I want to be like the best babysitter ever for them.

Answer
-Make play dough! http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/Salt-Doâ¦
You can even take a small food storage container (of yours) to have the kids decorate with stickers, etc. that will hold their play dough it.

--Go outside!
Play with chalk.
Blow bubbles. (you can even make them)
Take a walk/bike ride
Visit a park
Have a picnic
Bring some water guns
Do a scavenger hunt: Have them find a pink flower, a blue car, etc.

-Decorate a pillow case
Buy some cheap pillow cases, and write their name on it in sharpie. Get some fabric markers for them to decorate the pillow with.

-DANCE!
Put some songs like: The Macerana, the twist, chicken dance, hokey pokey, electric slide, etc. on a CD or a playlist on your ipod. Turn off the lights, expect for some dimmed ones or a lamp, even try to get a disco ball! Let them dance freely, or play freeze dance.

-Play games!
Hide and seek
Twister
Go fish
Slap Jack
Candy Land

-Bowling
Set up a bowling alley with some water bottles or plastic cups as pins, and a soup can as the ball.

-Frost cookies!
Make some cookies before the kids get there, or you go to their house. Let them put frosting and sprinkles on the cookies.

-ColoIring
You can take big poster boards and stamps, stickers, markers... Or you can print off coloring sheets, and have them make their own coloring book

--Limbo...

-Movie "theater"
Bring 4-5 movies for them to pick from, make tickets, have a concession stand.
A fun idea with this topic is if you can bring some large cardboard boxes to make fake cars out of and have a pretend drive in movie.

Just be creative!!
For more ideas please email me at jaide.babysitting@yahoo.com I really love talking to other babysitters!

How can I get him to help me out around the house and with the kids?

Jolene R

I am currently 7 months pregnant and I also have a 6 year old son (2 different fathers) I also have living with me my fiance's daughter who is 5 years old. I work part time currently and go to college part time. I handle most of the affairs with the children like homework, driving to and from school, getting them ready in the morning for school, taking baths, laundry, cleaning the house and so on and so forth,. My fiance has almost totally stopped helping with any of these tasks even though it is his daughter I am taking care of. Now he spends most of his time working and playing video games and his other hobby flying electric airplanes and driving remote controlled gas powered cars. I am desperate for something to change. We have not even set up the baby's room yet. He spends all of his extra money on his hobby's and I don't have much money since I only work 2 days a week and I will not be working after Jan. 3rd. Is there anything I can say or do to make some immediate changes? Please

Answer
ask him to help â¥

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How do I convince my husband that we can afford to move?

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Becalek

We are currently living in a government assisted apartment with 3 bedrooms 1 bath central heat and air, and new windows. The rooms are very small and with 2 daughters (14 and 7) we are very cramped. I recently found a brick house for rent in an area where I have been really wanting to move to. It is very close to both my mother and our church. The school district is the same but just a different school. My oldest daughter will be starting high school next year and the high school is the same. My youngest daughter will have to change schools, but she really wants to anyway. The girls and I looked at the house and fell in LOVE with it and desperately want to move there. It is a 2 bedroom 1 bath country house with a big kitchen, bigger bedrooms big living room and a den (that we can use as master bedroom) Utility room a big yard, barn for kids to play in a carport and an additional 2 car barn, pets are allowed has a range celling fans in every room and a trampoline that stays with house. Only hang-ups are electric wall heaters and old but sturdy windows. The big hang-up is that my husband does not like to pay RENT, He would rather make a house payment so we could own a house instead of paying to live in someone else's house. But if they decide to sell we will have 1st option to buy. Well he says we can't afford it anyway the rent is $400 a month (which I believe is really great.) like I said right now we live in a government assisted apartment,no pets, no place for girls to play, their bikes got stolen, have to pay to do laundry($60 a month) have electric and gas bills and $144 rent verses $400 a month rent just electric bill and our own washer and dryer. He is disabled and receives $710 a month we get food stamps and I am working for his mother at her cake shop.My feeling is that we can't afford not to move.

Answer
Your husband according to your previous question from 6 months ago is very overweight and does nothing all day but eat. You mean to say this man who gets free food, free disability, free rent has an issue about throwing away money on rent? No way your family is purchasing a home anytime soon. Not with a man who doesn't work because of a disability caused by his own lack of control. I don't mean to sound cynical but, I don't see how he has any place making a fuss about paying rent when you guys barely pay anything right now, thanks to your fellow tax payers.

If buying a home is a priority for him, he needs to do something about his health and get your entire family off all forms of public assistance. Since that is not happening anytime soon, I would say rent the home. They don't give mortgages to people who don't have a down payment saved up. And he cannot have a big savings account if he wants to keep his disability check.

Why do some women have kids just to dump them in daycare?

They ca

Now that I have your attention, I have a legit question. Why do people have children just to dump the child off in school once they turn 5 years old? We have these people making judgements about daycare, yet isn't school the same thing? Kids are in school for about the same amount of time. Just think we they get older and are involved in sports/band/choir/etc. How terrible that these children can't spend every second of everyday with their parents.
(note the sarcasm)
Kimberly, see where Isaid note the sarcasm?//I posted this because Ise daycae-bashing question every day. MY ids aren't in daycare but I know parents who have to put their kids in daycare. I've seen people say on here "Oh, those poor childrne have to be away from mommy 8 hours out of the day." Now remind me how many hours a child is in school? Isn't it 7 or 8. Then when they start with sports and then an after school job when they turn 15 or 16, that's even less time with mommy and daddy. Why don't these same people complain about this even though not sending your kid to school is illegal?

Answer
Like Ellie said, thank goodness you were being sarcastic, cause I was very tempted to give you a tongue lashing too! :)

I don't understand why either group, (the SAHM's or the working moms), feel it necessary to insult and put down others for the choice they have made. The comment that people have made, "Why have kids if you are going to have daycares raise the?" is just really rediculous! So basically, without just outright saying it, these people are saying that unless someone is financially able to stay at home with their children and not use a daycare or a private babysitter, then they don't deserve to be a parent. That is very judgemental and just plain hateful. Not every woman has the luxery of falling in love and marrying a man who makes $35-60,000 a year. I married one who only makes about $25,000 and brings home alot less after he pays child support on his children from his ex-wife and insurance premiums on all the kids. I don't think the fact that I didn't marry someone who made alot of money, means that I dont deserve to have children.

What about a woman who is widowed? My best friend was widowed with 2 young children, and had no choice but to work to support her kids. So I guess according to some of these women, she didn't deserve to have the kids, because she ended up having to put them in daycare. Point is, no woman, even these ones that are so freely judgeing working moms, know how their life will turn out and what might happen to them.

I don't know any woman who enjoys dropping her kids off at a daycare in the mornings, I certainly don't. But my husband and I live in an older house, and have had alot of things break, like our hot water heater, pipes, leaking roof. We have not had the money to repair these things outright, so we have had to charge them on a credit card. The motor on my car blew up and it cost over $2,000 to fix it, so again that went on the credit card. I was a SAHM for 18 months, and any unexpected large expense that came up, went on that cerdit card. So, I will be trying to pay all that off for years now. But it was either do that, or go without hot water, or no water, or have no vehicle. Which would have ended up hurting my kids more than me. So I did go back to work, and I do have to take my daughter to a babysitter during the day.

I do not live an extravagant life. I don't go shopping every month, I don't have a Coach purse, we don't have 4 wheelers or motor bikes, we don't go on vacations, we don't eat out every week, I don't buy new clothes for myself on even a monthly basis. If I have an extra money, from working over time or getting a bonus at work, I spend it on my husband or kids, not on myself. I took some extra money I had about 4 years ago, and bought my husband one of those $65.00 do-it-yourself outdoor pond kits, and