Mom son

Hey all! I’m a first time mom, my son is just over 2 years old and within the last couple weeks he suddenly entered his terrible two’s. He says no to everything, he no longer listens and he’s been throwing himself on the ground and/or hitting when he doesn’t get his way. Yesterday in a store I told him it’s time to go and he laid on the ground saying no. I got down to his level, kept my patience & told him we can come back another time, offered him an option to hop or skip out, and still no. I sat there and waited a minute and he still wasn’t moving at all, I stood him up and he sinked down and started fussing, at that point picked him up and walked out while he started crying kicking and hitting. This is the 3rd time this week this incident has happened. Please help me with your tips/tricks, advice, psychology behind it.

I'm a 29 year old male and i will try to summarize the horrendous situation I find myself without leaving to many crucial details out. I was with my ex girlfriend for nearly 6 years. The red flags were present fromn the beggining but looking back I had no way to understand what they were at the time partly due to my young nievete and partly due to the fact that coming from a emotijallyabusive household I had normalized many of the more subtle behaviors and therefore they fell within a blindspot of my cognitive distortions at the time. From the very start she would begin punching herself in her own head if i ever became upset with her in any way or during any attempt to verbally work a problem out. I thought she was just a bit flippant and intense. Dare I say I almost found it attractive in a strange sense. She was and still to this day, stunningly beautiful and menacingly seductive and knows how she can have a significant effect on males especially without doing very much in the way of actions. Fast forward she unknown to me at the time discontinued her birth contorll pills while still assuring me she was taking them and ultimetly lied by telling me she had just to fund out she had become pregnant herself after missing a period. We were both in our mid to early 20s still more or less financially dependant on our parents and were living on public city streets in our tow behind rv with our 2 dogs. She was idealizing me and to be frank I remebr this period of time as the happiest iv been eever before and up untill now. This memory of "happiness" I think was the biggest reason it took me so long to finally start trying to advocate for my self respect instead of hanging my head and just ignoring the abuse so that I would get the sweet reward of psedo- intimacy with her a few times a week. Despite my fond memories looking back I see now what could only be described as patterns if coercive control that seriously escalated over the 5 years we were in a relationship with each other and included her beggining to cheat early on and the resulting systemic lies and relational damage from needing to formulate and bend the nature of reality around those lies. Her hot and cold treatment of me with any postive(hot) behavior usually at least in the last few years being exclusively sexual in nature and cold behavior usually manifesting as her stonewalling me and or simply disappearing for multiple days at a time sometimes. The day my son was born i accompanied her to the hospital and sat with her the entire time helped her push ans enouraged her with love. She treated me with indifference and disdain. Once our wonderful little boy came along this a became even worse. The sense that she was making it about him and her vs everyone else including me was strong. She became quite introverted secretive and "cliquey" with my newborn and at the same time seemed to loose all desire to be physically or emotionally intimate with me. (Of course i gave her plenty of time and space right after she gave birth amd was understanding that it might be a while before things were back to normal).it was almost like she had a new partner-our child. she refused to fully move in to the apartment my grandparents had spent a huge amint of money on to give us a chance at raising our soon in a healthy environment. She would start random and seemingly pointless arguments often escalating into her screaming mean things at me innfront of our 3 month old son like she ****ed me and then raging followed by quickly slamming the door and taking our infant son backto her mother's house where she would stonewall me for a few days then send me. A message that emotionally blackmailed me into taking full blame for the rupture and apologizing profusely. In addition she did not trust me with our son but had no reason not too and as a result gatekept him in an extremely overcintrolling and damaging(for him and for me) manner. to this day (he is 3.5] I have never spent the night alone with him and have had him 1 on 1 dad and son time signifigantly less than I should have and not for lack of trying on my part. Despite her overcontrolling coercive sabatoging and alienating actions my son and I formed a loving and beautiful bond that up untill I saw him last a few months ago has amazingly endured through the storm. The tradegy goes on and on but to wrap up ultimitely she purposefully betrayed me by starting a relationship with my good friend and had him suggest to me that he should move in so he became my roommate all the while lying to my roommate that I ht her and simultaneously having him report back to her on my whereabouts at any Givin time and the things I said about her when venting after a prticulringly humiliating attempt to see my son or similar interaction and also give her info about what I was doing during the day. He became quite controlling himself and severed to further isolate me from people that weren't trying to ruin my life. They started to play mindgames with me that ibsee now attempts to gage how much I knew or suspected about what was going on. Mind you my son who was around 2 at this point was privy to the whole thing it was only kept a secret from me and due to this my son was coached to not tell me about it although what was actually said I will never know. Eventually a mutual friend of my roommate and I reached out and told me he had seen my roommate "playing dad" with my girl and son at dollar tree that day. I remebrr that day I sat at a local park in my car sullen and confused having been led on via sms from her only to randomly stop responding and never managing to get any time with my son. This sort of thing had become a regular occurance She then began withholding my son all togethar simply not answering at all or lying about him being asleep ridiculously early in the afternoon etc etc. My own parents failed to suppprt me and are still failing to show any sort of care other than somehwat monitarily. In fact my mom and her were two peas in a pod and my mom activly participated in the emotional abuse partly becauee of being manipulated by her partly because my mother is emotionally abusive. If I had better support or access to court resources at the time I'm confident things would have gone much differently but I was so isolated and lonely and in a deep state of despair at this point and the only thing I still was enduring for was the brief and inconsistent times i got with my boy whom I love more than life itself. I managed to get a hold of her via phone at this point and said i was going to go to court and pursue custody since she seemed unwilling to value my valid role as father. Her mom and her immediately became overly nice and invited me over where they sat me down and offered to make a visitation schedule and kindly suggested I dident go to court. It wasent much but it was signifgantly more respect than I had been shown any instance prior so I gobbled up the manipulations and left feeling invigorated and hopeful. The schedule was never adhered too and within a few days it was back to me not even be able to get a hold of her let alone see my son. The final day I saw him before things blew up I went over to her house in the evening. My son wanted to play hot wheels so we began to line them up on the floor but my ex was hovering over us with a hostile air. I asked if we could have some space or if at least she could sit down and play with us and she just kept standing there glaring at me. This made me uncomfortable and my son noticed this by sayig daddy play with me! Upon hearing this she in a angry tone said "play with your effin kid isent that what you wanted to do soooooo badly" right in front of him. I asked not to be spoken to in front of him like that and she went and got her mom and started whispering abut me to her mom in the hallway while they watched my son and I. I got up and said I'm leaving this is innappropriate and she said "wow that checks out you harrass me to see your son and then you don't even wanna see him. how pathetic and typical" " you just want to stress me out dont you" you don't actually give 2 you know what's about him" right in front of my son again. I speechlessly went to leave and my son comes running after me begging me to wait. I'm on the verge of tears and i picked him up cherishing how warm he was and how lovingly he was clinging to me. I tentatively requested I be allowed to go for a walk with him around the block and her mom this time dismissively says ya go and shoos us out the door. I get down the driveway and my ex comes sprinting out of the house tears streaming down her face and a look of rage and starts hitting me while I'm holding our son. Amazingly he start4d pushing her away saying mommy stop mommy stop. She says you have 5 minutes or I'm calling the cops and goes back in. I walk him around the block and say "mommy's feeling sad right now but it doesn't mean that either one of us loves you any more or any less than we used to and it's absolutely not your fault." I go back inside and without saying anything I walk up to her and give her a hug wich my son joins in too. All the sudden she is happy again and trying to speak to me in a casual tone but I basically just leave without saying much else. After this a week of no contact with my son occurs which at the time was the longest we had gone apart I felt like I had no choice but to confront her and assert my rights AGAIN although looking back I feel terribley silly for thinking she was going to repsect me at that point. Keep in mind i ALWAYS was extrmely respectful of her space and never would just show up at her moms house even though our relationahip by many accounts was more than informal ennough to make an occasionaI drop in to say hi. In addition she on Many occasions had told me that I could just come by if she didn't Answer her phone or simular situation arose. I texted her I was coming by to say goodnight to my son and phrased it as a statement not a question or request. I was already on the way when I sent the message and so I arrived (unintentionally)before her being able to fully respond to it to see my romate come running out of the front door (this is when I first had proof ab about all the stuff I mentioned earlier about their secret relationship) and go hide in the bushes, her poke her head out the door and then shut and lock it and turn all the lights in the house out and close the blinds. I walk up to the door and knock to no avail and so I confront her about what i know and saw via sms. She directly denies all my proof and accusations and then after calling me crazy and a stalker blocks me on all channels of communication. I go back to my car and collapse in tears and ultimtly fall asleep. I wake up to see her quickly shoving a duffel bag and my son into her moms car and her and my roommate get in and she pulls quickly away. Upon passing me on her way to the main road she becomes aware that im still there in my car and she burns rubber and begins driving extremely fast and erratically. In a moment of panic I knew she was probably trying to go into hiding with my son to prevent me from evrr seeing him again and I fearing for the safety of my son and our relationship I regrettably felt compelled to follow. We got on the freeway where she initiatied speeds of 100 plus miles perhour weaving in between semi's and this sort of thing continued d for an hour in the interim I had called 911 and also she had pulled up too a gas station casually got out and pumped gas upon her getting back in the car I witnessed my roommate making derogatory and taunting sexual gestures referring to my ex and also what i can only describe as cuddling with my son in the back seat and became enraged and made some threatening motions with a large wooden shovel handle while standing next to her car that were directed at my betraying friend and I feel terrible for doing in front of my child but in the moment I was so desperate and upset by the psychological torture i had been through it clouded my normally good judgment. In the end the police couldn't locate us due to my 911 call continually being transfered fron highway patrol dispatch back to whatever city we were in at the times dispatch. Also ultimetly no physical harm or even any other attempts happend or anything to anyone of the people involved and eventually I gave up and drove back to my hometown. She immediately filed for a domestic violence restraining order and used a recording she took of me looking aggressive and threatening outside her car as proof im abusive and violent even though i have never been either of those things. Especially not violent. I may not have been the most mature or experienced or attentive partner for some of our relationship but anything I did was truly a far cry from the serious emotional anguish I have ben subjected to here and not abusive. I did not lie, cheat,manipulate, gaslight, trick, triangulate, turn family againts or ever feel superior or entitled to harm or use her in any way. I loved her and she did all those to me and now is trying to steal the most precious thing I have left in the world from me so she can emotionally scar him with her idea of what good parenting is which in truth is emotional abuse.. She moved my old roommate in to her moms house full time the very next day and from what I hear they both are abusing meth and who knows what else currently plus this guy is not somone that is safe around my son to that degree. He is not a healthy safe adult for such a young boy and in addition he is vindictive and dislikes me mostly because my ex told him I hit her and abused her which are absolutely complete lies. I'm facing a situation now where I have to sit by and watch my son turned agsints me and withheld from me and abused and eveyone treats me like im the abuser. I have tried to contact every dv organization in my local area and as soon as they hear what happend it's almost like I can Feel the switch flip and in the moment it's evident that all the abuse that I had recounted surviving through doesn't matter because I'm some "unhinged abusive guy that chases people down the freeway" eveyone I have reached out to locally has invalidated me and berrated me for "what I did" and successfully pathologized what I consider to be a huge mistake that I feel very regretful for loosing my composure but also a rather understandable emotional reaction to severe mistreatment and fear for my son. I'm beggining to feel so isolated riding the emotional Rollercoaster of self doubt and powerlessness that this abuse at the hands of my ex but dare I say worse yet the abuse by way of victim blame and invalidation from these people and organizations that exist to help dv survivors has caused me. which because I reacted I'm not worthy of being included as a survivor. Cn you offer any advice or support or suggestions? I'm terrified for my sons wellbeing currently and haven't been able to see him in going on 2.5 months now clear and to be clear the domestic violence restraining order is still temporary. I have the final hearing in August.i

First of all sorry for the bad image quality. Just saw this post in a Facebook group apparently a mom posted that her son somehow got these cards in his possession and she wondering if they’re worth something. I don’t know enough about it that I can see if they’re worth something but the white border and no series symbol stood out. Just wanted to see if I should give her a heads up.

She’s 8 and I’m 21. She has no friends at school, it’s been two years now, every night before school, she cries cause she doesn’t want to be alone in the playground. I asked her why she was alone, and she told me her old group of friend decided to not talk to her anymore, and they go away when she tries to approach them, she plays with a jumping rope alone everyday. She also suffers from our parents divorce, my dad is an a**hole and talk to her every 6 months.
I told my mom she should seek a therapist for her but it’s been a year, and she always tells me she doesn’t have time because of work, I forced her to talk about it yesterday, and she said she was going to look for one in June.
The only friends she has is my cousin’s son, she plays with him once or twice every month, and some online friends on fortnite, I don’t like it, but at the same time, I don’t want to prohibit her from playing with other kids on her game console, cause she’s already alone.
I struggle with depression and anxiety myself and I was literally bedrotting for the last year, I didn’t find the energy to play with her. I’m moving out soon and I feel terrible. I don’t want her to be alone with my depressed mom and no friends at school, I feel like it’s my responsibility even tho it’s not, my mom isn’t doing anything and it pisses me off. Please what should I do ? It breaks my heart to see her like that, she’s only 8.

We are at an in home daycare for my 3.5 yo and 1.5yo. My provider just posted on fb a thank you to the parents of some of the other kids for her mother's day gift? Was I supposed to get her something? She is a mother with a 13yo son, but I never thought my kids would need to get her a gift.
It looks like it was from 3 other parents, but there is only 8 of us. She has been watching my kids since oldest we 5mo, did I make a mistake not getting her a mother's day gift? She does help the kids with crafts making us mothers a gift, but I took those as from my kid, not her. She did loose her mom a year or 2 before we met her. Just trying to figure out if I need to put it in my calendar for next.

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Long time commenter here but I finally had a post worthy encounter! Nothing extreme but still peak boomerisms.
So I regularly go to my local library. I’m broke af and don’t currently have wifi so if I want to watch movies or anything, it’s either youtube or physical DVDs. So I go to the library all the time for movies and tv shows.
Anyways, last night I was at the library and was perusing the movies. It’s about an hour or so until close so there’s maybe two other people besides me in there. There’s a conference/meeting room off to the side and I can see that there’s a bunch of people seated in there, obviously for some type of meeting. Then Big Boomer Man comes out, his phone ringing loudly.
BBM answers his phone, on full volume speaker of course, and proceeds to loudly have a conversation with who I can only assume was his wife. I didn’t hear the entire thing because I was wearing my headphones but I did catch a few bits.
There was something about how his son is “full of shit” because apparently “no one has headaches that often” and how he “had better get to” some obligation he had “or else”. All I could think was I would absolutely have constant headaches if I had to deal with BBM as a father. I have chronic migraines as it is and I could feel one brewing just from listening to this guy.
Then BBM proceeds to spend like 3 minutes straight trying to get off the phone. Again, couldn’t pick up everything the woman was saying but he kept interrupting her trying to get her to stop talking. Finally he straight up yells “I HAVE TO GO! I’M IN A MEETING!” hangs up the phone, says “Jesus Christ!” to himself, and waddles back to the meeting room.
I looked over at the help desk and gave the librarian a look of “wtf was that all about?!” which she promptly returned with a smile.
So I’m a matter of a couple minutes we had:

• phone ringer on full blast.
• using his phone speaker at full volume.
• literally yelling in a library.
• getting angry at his wife.
• not believing medical conditions of someone younger than him.
• the weird threatening “or else” thing they do

Add on top of that his “boomer uniform” (a promotional/free tshirt stretched over his beer guy and tucked into his pants, suspenders, faded and stained jeans, crusty New Balance sneakers, and what looked like a veteran hat of some sort) and it was like playing Boomer Bingo.
Anyways, I usually go to the library during the day so the only people I really encounter are moms with their toddlers. I guess that’s what I get for getting stir crazy and needing to get out of my house at 6pm.

((Please don't steal or republish))
My son has a friend who's mom died a couple years ago. We've tried to be there for him if he needed rides or winter boots or whatnot. He has a bunch of older sisters and had subsidized housing so he's been fine w his living situation til now. They are 19 now and he asked if he could move in here to be closer to his job. He knew that he would be charged rent as both of my adult kids pay rent when not actively enrolled in college classes (currently one is, one isn't, so only one pays rent now but the other will pay over the summer). I gave him the first month free as he mentioned he had other bills to wrap up in the old place. There was a conversation shortly after he moved in where he asked how much rent was (how was this not known beforehand? I don't know.) and he was surprised at what I was charging for rent (500) because he said he's been paying about 100 with his sisters. I said I can't charge him less than I charge my own children. He kinda wandered away at that.
First week of April he asked if he could pay at the end of the month and I said that my kids (and everybody else on the planet) pay rent at the beginning of the month but I'd go halfway and he could do the 15th as that's one of his pay dates. Now we're mid-month on month two, and I haven't seen anything from him. A couple days ago, he gave me an explanation about more bills due at the house he moved out at the end of March and how he'll be working more in the summer, etc, and I asked him what that plan is because rent is not really optional. He kinda wandered away again.
For reference, I paid $300 for a shared bedroom in a shitty apartment 31 years ago. He has a room in the basement, finished in the last couple years and barely used, with a bathroom that is so recently finished I literally haven't even taken a shower down there yet, and has pretty much taken over the tv room down there. He has more stuff than I owned when I moved out of my first apartment, let alone out of my room at my mom's house, and there's garbage bags absolutely everywhere that he has made zero effort to sort through. And he's every bit as lazy and sloppy as my own kids are. (I had a delusion that with all those kids, his mom had a more military-style household.....I was way wrong; he was clearly the baby). I really fucking hate all of this, as I am an only-child who does not like sharing my space in the first place, but I haven't had a raise in 3 years and thought the rent would be helpful. (Studying 30 hpw for CPA, planning to quit my job by EOY).
One more bit of background is that as bad as I feel for this kid, I moved away from home at 15 and had my own first solo apartment by 17. So I'm not unfamiliar with the concept of living on your own for the first time, and the general struggles of youth. Adulting is expensive. But I have never paid my own rent late and have never had to chase my own kids for rent (disclosure: I invest it for them and don't spend it, but the point is about learning responsibility. At least until they reach 21, which the oldest will do next month, and I will reassess the investment bit because this place ain't gettin any cheaper to run. But that's not a deal I have any intention of offering to the kiddo that isn't mine).
That got long, but WIBTA if I tell him he needs to decide if he can manage rent or if he is going to find another place to stay? I absolutely hate having another person living here and was only doing it for the extra cash. But if I'm honest I would rather forego the cash and have my basement back.

Helloooo Charlot, I love you so much you are so funny and close to the heart I feel like I am sitting with my friends back home talking gossips when I watch your videos hahahaa . So sorry if my English is not good
First of all I want to apologize. My story is not funny but I really need advice I cant sleep and always thinking I cry in my prayers ask Allah for forgiveness and can not trust anyone.
I am female 28 from Egypt living in Dubai now
First of all I have to tell you I was Raised in Egypt from a middle class family .. buuuuut we always lived like poor, my father loved saving money he didn't like spending money at all even meat or chickens we only had it once a week growing up. Still I have to be fair, my father was a great man he is the best husband and father really always loving and caring for us. May he rest in peace. But I never felt like my mom loved him she always used to complain about him wishing him to die even saying in his face I wish you die and we enjoy your money. I cant blame my mom, still I never agreed with her. After his death she bought us a new home in a fancy neighborhood in Cairo and tried to fit in with the community, but it was always as clear as the sun that we don't belong there.
I got married to an Egyptian guy from a very rich family he was born and raised in Dubai (Arranged mirage), His father is the sweetest man ever I call him father and I really feel like Allah gave me this man replacing the hole in my heart after losing my dear father. Even his mother is a really nice lady she is so classy and since my mirage 5 years ago she never put her nose in our business or anything even we live in the same street. She teached me how to eat, dress, speak like a Dubai lady, me always asking her what is her opinion and she give me her comments in the nicest way possible
Nooow where is the problem... since the beginning of my mirage I was unable to get pregnant we waited for almost two years which is a long time for a middle eastern family, finally when we visited me and my husband discovered that I have issues and need to be treated. My mom called my husband from Egypt asked him to not tell anyone about this thinking that people might think less of me (( WE ARE NOT IN EGYPT ANYMORE)) No one have this mentality here. She was so scared that he might divorce me for this reason and she loses all of this, but deep inside I know hw would never do that he took me to biggest hospitals allover Dubai. Later on I got to know that when people asked her about my pregnancy she used to lie and tell that my husband have issues, Which means people will think less of him now. I got really mad at her but I cant show it (in our culture we can not raise our voices to the parents).
My mother in law we will call her (Su) got to know about the rumor, she spoke to me and she was very angry. Stupid me told my mom about this and they both fought it was kind of big drama lasted for sometime but it all ended when I got pregnant.. My husband funded the entire trip for my mother to come take care of me during my pregnancy this was the first time my mom leave Egypt she was so happy and honestly I was even happier for her specially my husband family have nice home and cars she really lived like a queen for three month everyday Su send us breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the driver.
They started talking to each other again like nothing ever happened, alhamdulilha I have a very beautiful baby girl she is a gift frim god.
Su's friends wanted to visit me to give gifts and pray for the baby.. that day my mom insistent she will cook Egyptian local food for them and show then the actual Egyptian culture. They came and left we had fun and everything went amazing. In the evening Su called me to check on me, my phone was in speaker and mom was next to me.... As usual I asked ((How was the presentation and everything)) Su answered (( the food was good but I have a comment, next time wipe the dished and glasses you can not give people wet dished, but it is ok I guess they understand your mom used to live in the village and she is doing the best she knows))
Now I knowwww this was rude but believe me I know Su very well she doesn't mean anything bad and if she knew my mom is hearing she wouldn't say that. After closing with Su my mom started shouting saying why do you allow her talking to you like that and she raised her voice till my husband woke up and the moment she saw him coming down she started crying telling him please book my tickets I will go back to the village I know your mom were never proud of us as in-laws she is always treating me so bad she shouted at me couple of times (never happened) and she kept saying many other lies then she told him you can ask your wife.. I didn't know what to do and I don't know why even I got mad at Su that time and I agreed to my mom lies.
My husband called Su and said the meanest things I ever heard him saying to her (you also came from a village, if you forgot your roots you can visit your brothers in Egypt bla bla bla)
OMG I wrote tooooo much... short cut ((the drama kept evaluating))
since I guess 2020 Su never entered our home even her relationship with her son became sooooo bad because my mom kept saying more lies and honestly I also did say a lot and I cut my daughter off from that house I never felt guilt I never thought about god punishment till recently.
I got a call from Su she was crying she said I will never forgive you even after life I will ask god to take my revenge from you and your mother you destroyed my home and family and your mother is texting my husband what she wants from him, she told me I pray everyday to God that your daughter do to you the same as my son did to me.. she said many things I couldn't forget
Apparently my mom is texting my father in law and I have no idea what type of conversation they are having that made her swallow her pride and call me.. later on I got to know that she left the home and staying with her daughter.
I feel horrible, I suddenly realized how amazing this woman is.. the pain we caused to her.. honestly I am thinking of telling my Husband the truth but I am so scared of him I cant trust him also now.. He hurt his mother soooo easy what will he do with me.
I feel like I don't love or trust him anymore after he cut his mother off.. even if it was for me she is his mother.. he will do the same with me someday or another
and my mother I am so angry at her she destroyed the family and now she is going to destroy my life also if my husband get to know what is happening between her and his father and she did all of that because she is jealous of Su ... I know i am kind of answering myself but I caaaant sleep I want to tell the truth but for sure my life will be destroyed I will lose my husband AND my mother ... Plus I dont think Su will go back even after I say the truth .. I feel like they will not bother apologize to her at this point as well which will kill her
it is better for her and for everyone like this but I just feel so guilty .. please advise me everyone
I have toooo many things in my heart to say but i already wrote tooo much I need to talk with someone

I grew up in the Boston area and attended church every Sunday until I turned 18, after which I decided to stop. My parents still attend church, but my views on religion, the world, and my feelings towards same-sex relationships have changed significantly. I had my first gay experience at 20, and in the last six months, since separating from my wife, I have been more open about my bisexuality, having only had a few experiences in the past seven years. Interestingly, my first ex-wife, who was uncomfortable with my history of exploring my sexuality, has become much more accepting now, and after 7 years after our divorce, we have become close friends again.
Recently, a conversation about LGBTQ+ rights came up because of something in the national news. My dad, who is 78, occasionally makes homophobic jokes, which bothers me even though I try to brush them off. When I asked him hypothetically how he would feel if he had a gay son, he said he would still love him but then made another joke about an old gay coworker from the 70s. My mom, on the other hand, expressed that she found the idea of having a gay son "yucky" and wrong, suggesting she might not be accepting.
This conversation happened a month or two ago, and I was surprised because I thought my mom would be more understanding than my dad. I did tell my sister, who is 47 and very close to me, and she has always been supportive and knows who I really am.
Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? It bothers me more as the years go by, and comments like these hurt my feelings now that I'm more mature and aware and identify as bi to most people. When I visit or live with my parents temporarily, I stand up for the LGBTQ+ community whenever I can. I often mention that I have gay friends and emphasize that they are just people like you and me, and I support gay rights.

Missy loved to shop.
No, she wasn't one of those spoiled brats buying up all the Jimmy Choos on Rodeo. She was sensible, practical; a thrifter. There hadn't been a garage, yard or estate sale in a 20 mile area she didn't ravage. Twice a week, if not more, she would rampage through every clearance aisle in town. No Goodwill or Salvation Army was safe either. "The Circuit," her kids who didn't understand her compulsion always called it.
The only thing Missy enjoyed more than buying stuff was keeping it.
Over time, her home had become a certifiable death trap. Boxes of outdated appliances stacked high atop every seating surface, unrelinquished clothes filled up every square centimeter of every closet and a smorgasbord of cheap nick-nacks had eventually added up to an expensive collection that was worth nothing.
Guests had been few and far, including her children. Brian hadn't even called her since that wife of his broke her ankle walking to the bathroom. Missy always assumed she was faking it on her son's orders to make her feel guilty. At least they didn't bother her anymore. Cortney was on a mission to take everything away from her. Didn't she realize this was all gonna be hers one day? Was it so hard to be grateful? It wasn't like she was covered in dog shit and roaches. This was good, clean stuff.
"It's us or the shit," the daughter gave her an ultimatum one day.
The repeated warnings started going to voicemail. Very worried and even angrier, Cortney drove the two hours for an emergency intervention she planned on the fly. The traumatic memories of living in a cluttered home flooded back the entire route. The dad who gave up, the embarrassment of lying to friends, Thanksgiving gatherings cut short so mom could pregame for her decimation of Kohl's. That was even before Black Friday was even a thing. That was all that mattered. That was all she talked about. In Missy's world, whoever had the most stuff won.
"Jesus," her brother recoiled in repulsion upon breaking down the door, nearly getting side-swiped by three long unused mops in the process.
Their rotted mother sat on the lone unoccupied spot of the crammed sofa, her tissue fused with a bin full of frayed cords, a giant pile of DVD cases (most missing the discs,) and periodicals dating back to the Clinton Years. Missy, or what used to be Missy, demanded their exit, already sensing their disapproval. The called squad was scared off by the squelch and the yelp of pain upon picking up a piece of the assimilation.
City officials are too scared to condemn Missy's Museum of Massive Miscellany to this very day. Years have passed and even the vermin stay away. This doesn't bother the inhabitant. She may be the only one in there but she would never be alone.

My(m29) Ex(f24) thinks I'm wrong for telling her that I do not think it's appropriate for our 2 year old son to be refering to her boyfriend as his dad.
We separated last October. She started officially dating this current boyfriend sometime in February. She says he has never met our son. Yet our son says he has( he is a parrot) in the beginning of the separation she made sure to tell me often that she will be dating and getting married and that our son would have another dad. I told her that it's an obvious thing to happen and that it will only happen when she is married and not before. I do not want my son to have multiple dad's if he starts calling boyfriends dad. Otherwise he'd have 3 at this point.
The other day my son asked me to fix some things at his mom's house, same items she has asked Me to fix a couple time which I told her that she has other people that can fix it. She said her boyfriend tried but it wasn't right, and apparently I fix things well. That same day hours later I was bringing my son to my house and he asked Me to fix the same things. I told him that I can't help and that maybe his grandfather on his mother's side could help. He said "no he can't help, my other dad tried and can't do it" confused I asked what other dad, and he said his mom's boyfriend. I explained that unless he is married to his mom, then he is not his dad.
When dropping him off I told her she needs to teach him that a boyfriend isn't a dad, especially is they have never met(her claim) her response was "I'm just training him to understand he will have 2 dad's because I will get married and he will have a step dad" I told her when and if she gets married, then that husband can be the stepfather, other wise there was no reason for it to happen now.
She said I was wrong and blamed me for not being helpful with fixing things and not being acceptable of the future outcome of a step father and sped walked away.
Am I wrong for telling her she needs to stop training him to understand having a step father?

Hi everyone, I hope you're well today. I'm happy to have found this community and was hoping to get some insight re: your experience living where you do.
I'm a 37 year old Black mom to a 2 year old boy. My husband and I are fortunate to have financial stability, work remotely and have a good overall quality of life. We live in a majority white area in Connecticut but we've felt safe and mostly welcomed since moving from Brooklyn in 2022. However, my son is still very young and i'm not sure what the experience would be if he were in elementary or high school.
There have been some news stories re: rampant racism within the school district of a nearby town we were considering moving to (see: https://abc7ny.com/westport-school-system-racism-connecticut-board-of-education/14434226/). It led me to ask myself where my son will feel safe, welcomed, and embraced once he starts school. The current socio-political climate feels erosive and i'm not sure when or how the pendulum will swing into balance.
All this to ask: where do you feel safe? Where are you and your children thriving? Is there a specific area (US or otherwise) of your city, neighborhood or town that feels sane, racially/ethnically diverse, humane, and friendly? Or am I living in a fantasy and searching for utopia?

Hi everyone, I hope you're well today. I'm happy to have found this community and was hoping to get some insight re: your experience living where you do.
I'm a 37 year old Black mom to a 2 year old boy. My husband and I are fortunate to have financial stability, work remotely and have a good overall quality of life. We live in a majority white area in Connecticut but we've felt safe and mostly welcomed since moving from Brooklyn in 2022. However, my son is still very young and i'm not sure what the experience would be if he were in elementary or high school.
There have been some news stories re: rampant racism within the school district of a nearby town we were considering moving to (see: https://abc7ny.com/westport-school-system-racism-connecticut-board-of-education/14434226/). It led me to ask myself where my son will feel safe, welcomed, and embraced once he starts school. The current socio-political climate feels erosive and i'm not sure when or how the pendulum will swing into balance.
All this to ask: where do you feel safe? Where are you and your children thriving? Is there a specific area (US or otherwise) of your city, neighborhood or town that feels sane, racially/ethnically diverse, humane, and friendly? Or am I living in a fantasy and searching for utopia?

056b6605ce0d450381ccb0d40b6804664128b1dd2e08f6bf0671c213649c546404

I 20F have been dating my bf 20M for about 4/5 years now. We met when we were both 16 and although we have broken up once or twice because of things that have gotten in our way we always come back to each other and talk things out. When we broke up the first time, it was because we wanted different things for our future, considering the distance between us, our goals made it much harder for us to figure out a way to connect our paths. He decided he wanted to go to the military and I wasn’t fond of it at first which is part of the reason we broke things off as well. After a year of no contact and him completing basic training, We reconnected and talked about everything and found a way to make things work with him being military and everything and me being a college student. our feelings are still very strong for each other and we decided to get back together.
Fast forward to now, we’ve been back together for about 4 months, We have brought up the conversation of visiting eachother because we think it’s time. He is from California and I am from New York and I have decided I wanted to visit him.
This is where my mom comes into play, I have no idea how to tell her that I am in love with a man that has been apart of my life since i was a teen. My mom and I are not that close, we don’t have a close mother-daughter bond where we can just talk about anything. our relationship is dull and we only talk about things as if we were roomates that barely know eachother. My mother is not super strict but she also doesn’t let things just fly. she is very family oriented and religious but not SUPER religious.
I have no idea how to approach this topic with her. My boyfriend has told his mom about me and she received it well, she is supportive of our relationship and wants her son to be happy.
I have no intention of necessarily asking my mom for “permission” to go to California. I’m a grown adult and I will still go anyway. It’s more so just wanting to let her know of the situation so that she doesn’t worry about me.
any advice would be lovely…

I had read it in school library and found the book very intriguing. It was a mystery novel, set in Bihar. The author was a female. Basically, the plot was like there were three siblings, two boys and a girl. Their mom was from a royal family and had run away & married their dad, who happened to be an engineer.
So, their grandfather had cut off all ties with their mom but then one day after many years, sent a letter asking her to send the kids over, since he was on deathbed and wanted the kids to inherit the property.
And after that, there was a nice thriller story.
Their mom unites with their grandfather, he accepts the son in law. And later, every holiday, the 3 kids have a new mystery to solve at their ancestral town.
They also have a cousin with a jeep, his name was Rakesh.

My son is almost 2 years old. He was born at 37 weeks gestation. His mom had preeclampsia, and the delivery was expedited with Pitocin, if I remember correctly. he has been struggling with various motor, sensory, and cognitive developmental delays. He had a relatively high head circumference, which was the result of hydrocephalus in the lateral ventricles. Two ultrasound scans were performed four months apart, and the amount of extra fluid was about the same. His pediatric neurologist was impressed with the progress he made between the ages of 6 months and 12 months, but at that time, he still had an average delay of 3 months.
We met twice with a highly regarded pediatric neurosurgeon, and she insisted that the hydrocephalus is not significant enough for him to undergo surgery and that things should normalize with time. He has hyperopia, inherited from me, his dad, and he also has mild hearing loss in both ears, probably due to effusion in the middle ear. (He is scheduled for a myringotomy next month.) He eventually started walking at the age of 16 months. He can speak some words and recognizes mom, dad, grandparents, some fruits, water, and milk. He comes to people when he needs help with something. He doesn't say "yes" and "no", and he can't answer any questions. He doesn't listen to commands, and he rarely responds to his name. He has been attending speech therapy for almost 4 months now, which started at the age of 18 months, after the recommendation of another pediatric neurologist who specializes in child development.
He shows signs of ADHD ( but he is far too young to know for sure); he can't focus on one game or activity for long, and he has difficulty sitting still for extended periods (although lately, it is getting better). He always wants to walk around, explore his surroundings, open lockers, push things, discover new things, and go to areas he is not allowed to.
I have tried to make sense of all of this—the reasons for the delays and the current situation—but still can't find an answer. Could it only be ASD? What other possibilities are there? My wife is broken, and she cries herself to sleep every day. We really want to know what's wrong.

My 18 year old daughter is suddenly very entitled.
As many people in North America did on Sunday, we celebrated Mother’s Day. We stayed in, my husband, daughter and stepson, and watched movies and had snacks. The day was pretty relaxed and comfortable. Syepson had to go back to his moms for supper, my husband took him late afternoon. Then my husband and I made a big family dinner and his parents and our oldest son and his girlfriend came to enjoy with us. Mother’s Day has always been a strange day for me. I’ve always said all I want is to have a chill day with my family and enjoy each others company. There has not been one single year that has happened. In the past, my oldest son was usually bent on ruining the day for me some how. He would do things like sleep all day, say he forgot or just not even acknowledge the event. It was really hurtful and my oldest daughter, now 18, used to hey so upset with him when he behaved this way.
So this year, I was hoping for a miracle. As I said, the day went well and the evening was set up to be really good too. Everyone was chatting and supper turned out amazing, no bickering or snippy remarks between my in laws, the kids all seemed to want to be around, it was kinda perfect.
Now, in our house we’ve always had the rule that if you didn’t cook you help clean up. Fairly standard practice from what I can’t tell, compared to other families we know. It’s never even been a question, just get to it and many hands make light work.
Apparently all the kids just forgot that was a thing. Everyone left, just walked by my husband who stepped up to do the washing and didn’t give it a second thought. I followed the kids out to the front street and did an exaggerated shrug, got their attention and told them I was disappointed they were just leaving everything for us. This was no small dinner, it took several days of prep to brine and smoke the delicious turkey we served. Even after chasing them out to object, they both just drove away. Since I had already confronted them together I decided to discuss my issue with each of them separately. Since my son is out in his own now, I wasn’t as hard on him.
But here’s the thing, my daughter lives here full time and does nothing at all to help anymore. She was often at work in the evenings or with her boyfriend, until just recently when she stared a 9-5, so she didn’t have supper at home often. Because of her schedule, I would bring her dinner every night she works, making sure she had at least one decent meal a day. I didn’t expect her to come home at 9 pm and clean up, only to help out when she’s home. Now she’s home for supper most nights but still doesn’t lift a finger without being asked. And the attitude when she does have to pitch in is atrocious.
Now back to Mother’s Day, when I confronted my daughter I told her I was disappointed in the both of them. I told her her behaviour has been selfish and that I need her to start participating around the house. She refused to come home to talk that night. Monday she texted me to tell me she was coming over after work. That put me off further, you don’t come over to your own house. Her language made me feel like she doesn’t appreciate the free and supportive roof over her head. When we talked Monday evening my disappointment turned into anger and hurt. This kid had the audacity to say that having to help with dishes is me treating her like staff.
I am beside myself in the massive failure I feel about that. She grew up in a divided family situation but has two sets of parents to lean on and grow from. Her stepmother is a control freak and as a result, my daughter didn’t have chores over there. I knew that but made my expectation clear about our home, from the start. I just feel so helpless in this situation. If anyone has any advice or reminiscence of their own teenzilla, I’d love to hear it.

Hi I (M24) recently was in my first real relationship (or situationship) of we want to call it that with someone I had matched with on Tinder (M20) the past June. We talked for a bit and exchanged IGs but nothing really came out of it besides him liking all my stories and commenting here and there on how sexy I was. It was only until this past January where I finally decided to kick things off with him but considering his age I was not expecting much out of it besides casual fun. While we did have sex our first time linking up we really had a connection with one another and then that's where the love bombing started to come in on his end. A red flag for sure looking back but he was telling me how much he loved me and how we should get matching tattoos etc etc.
Important points to note. He claims is bisexual but never truly had experiences with women before only men from what he had told me. I am more on the fem side so I understand why I tend to attract bisexual men although sometimes I view it as a curse lol. Also, he is south Asian with conservative parents so although his friends and extended family knew about his sexuality, his parents did not. This was something I was told and knew and made our link ups short and sweet as he still lived at home and had toale up excuses for being gone for so long.
Despite all this, things were sweet for about a month or so, I hard launched him on my IG stories, he meet my friends and for the first time I felt genuinely considered outside of my body. Yes he had sex everytime we meet but it was not forced and it was truly because we couldn't physically see eachother as much as we wanted to so it made those intimate moments even more special.
In comes March and one day I get a text letting me know that his mom found out about us. I already knew what was going to come next but a small part of me thought that there may be some hope that she would come around and accept her son for who he is. I was unfortunately very wrong and two days later I get a short call saying that we can't be together anymore cause of his parents basically giving him an ultimatum of break up with me or be kicked out the house....
Despite this happening we texted eachother everyday still but of course not at the same volume and with the same level of compassion as before. One day I missed him so much that I went to go see him while his parents werent home and I hear a Tinder notification on his phone while he was in the bathroom. Now I expect him to move on at some point but this was only 10 days after the breakup and just before he was crying and confiding in me that I was the best thing he had ever had in his life blah blah blah.
However the first thing I couldn't shake off my head was if he was on Tinder solely for looking for female partners or also looking for guys too. I confronted him and he promised me that it was only straight Tinder as his uncle was adamant that he should start exploring with girls. It hurt of course but I tried to be emphatic cause his family situation was truly messed up. Weeks go by and we still text everyday and see eachother time to time until one day I get a DM from a friend saying that he was back on Grindr and when I went to go check he had blocked me from the app...
I was devastated I confronted him again and he said he blocked me cause he didn't want to hurt me and he is only looking for hookups. Now my question was if you truly wanted to respect your parents wishes and break up with me then why are you still putting yourself out there on Grindr even if it was just for hookups. Heck I was still acting like a FWB at that point so it just hurt me so much to see him still need more.
At the present day the mom found out that we were still in contact and I assume that he was fucking around with other people and "forced" him to block me on all socials and Imessage.
I'm trying to move on from the situation but deep down it hurts so much cause it's hard to find someone who genuinely wants to know me more than my body...
I know the red flags were there but do I still give him grace because his family situation was so messed up or like idk how to feel 😭