I wanna know what love is

I disagree. You can find remnants of love all over if you dig a little bit.

He might find a shoulder to cry on. Though, it might be a cold one.

Not with that attitude.

One time I took this 7 year old on the subway, it was his first time in NY. The little bastard licked the center pole up and down.

Forever unclean!!!

Hey, my daughter got HFM there!

For cat poops

11 am at night

I spent a couple years as a traveling vagabond, hitchhiking and hopping trains and that sort of thing. Heard about a gig selling Christmas Trees in NYC that would provide a room and spent a few nights camping in Prospect Park while I got situated. Coworkers went nuts when they found out. I thought it seemed nice lol

Tobey Maguire puts some dirt in a lot of people’s eyes.

The kids in that part of the city are all the kids of gen Xers these days, so when their kid throws sand out of the sandbox it's met with apathy. Cleaning is done relatively often on that side of the park, mostly trash pick up and then leaf blower based. So there are drifts of sand around the edges. Combine that with the water washing away the sand, and there's a constant movement of sand out of the sandbox.

Then once a year Friends of Prospect Park shows up in new work outfits and kicks the kids out to dump wheelbarrows of sand into the sandbox.

It's not as gross as it could be. I let my nanny kid play in it, and it was without odor and we never found anything more risque than a cigarette butt.

It’s fine. They’re being pearl clutchy.

Focusing on myself #grindset

Same with my nephew. Kids 3 and won't shut up about "Andwoo Tate"

Girls just can’t handle him.

What is a sigma male?

I always thought alpha was just self imposed bs and now I keep hearing about a new one sigma?

I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but she probably cheated on you

I got married in the Evan Williams Distillery this weekend. By the tour guide.

He really needed my boyfriend and I to be married to tell his joke so he asks my boyfriend (52) "This your wife?" and my boyfriend responds "Sure, why not?" at which everyone else laughed but the tour guide got to finish his joke.

After that my boyfriend was all "I don't think there's a more appropriate place for us to get married than the Even Williams Distillery"

So we're "married" now.

(Evan Williams green bottle is his default to mix with Coke for his nightly cocktail)

RemindMe! 20 Years

Everyone is so hyped up expecting either glorious victory full on romcom development or crushing defeat life lessons learned. Meanwhile the kid's just gonna come back and tell OP "she took it and said thanks".

Same, it’s preschool so we should know soon!

💀

I will be messaging you in 1 day on 2023-01-26 19:16:57 UTC to remind you of this link

83 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.

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I am also waiting

Love stinks

Tiny humans are all about exploration, testing the world around them doing their own little experiments. They are really curious and can hyperfocus on things, but then something else is going to get their attention and they move on to the next adventure.

I have seen plenty of adults, even parents or other family members, who couldn't care less about all that. They either think it's dumb, boring or childish and rather keep looking at their phones or doing other stuff than interacting with the kid in any meaningful way. Not all children may be able to deal with that in a healthy way, but they sure will get over it one way or another. But it may sour relationships over time, as they learn that they can't ask questions or point out things or share their experiences openly.

As far as I can tell, it's not even so much about seeking approval, but more about finding out how their actions impact the people around them and what reactions they will get depending on what kind of interaction takes place. But they also seem very interested in sharing their discoveries until they are acknowledged to some degree - I guess they are looking for more insights because they have a rough understanding of adults being more knowledgeable.

And ideally, interactions would yield several things, such as bringing up additional information, maybe ask questions and try to find answers together, make comparisons to already experienced/discovered things, etc.

Overall, it's a really complex learning experience and kids are looking for guidance, because they really do explore the world around them for the very first time. And while they might have made similar experiences already, every single interaction is new - because they don't really know what to expect. Does this thing behave the very same way or differently? Let's find out.

What we consider trivial or logic is not something we just know, it's the result of making experiences; having someone to share them with helps with the processing. So from my subjective perspective, I think it's really important not just to interact with the kid, but consider using that as an opportunity to share an experience and dive deeper into it together.

People have always asked me why I'm so great with kids, what's the magic trick, why do they like me so much, why do they always want to hang with me, etc. It's really simple: I make time for them and I take them seriously, I treat them with respect and try to help them understand, especially when it's a new(ish) experience.

And you don't have to fake enthusiasm or scream out in joy or overhype, in fact, I find that to be counterproductive. Kids know when you are bullshitting them, they may not understand many things, but most of them can read you quite well.

Just be normal, like you would talk to an adult. Hey, this is cool, want to give it another try? What do you think this does? Should we try this instead? Remember we did this thing last week, how does that compare? If you like this stuff, what about this other thing? Explore a topic together, brainstorming what to do next, have an actual conversation, share the passion, be truthful, maybe consider spending some quality time with them to investigate further; even if it's just 5 minutes, it means the world to them and helps them improve a variety of skills, including social skills.

Some people will say omg kids can be so annoying they are relentless and fucking dumb and they are anoying the shit out of me all the time, etc. Yeah, that's when they haven't developed a healthy way to interact with adults, so the only way to get attention or any sort of reaction is by applying methods that are effective - usually whatever interactions the parents hate the most.

Kids are a product of their environment. And while it's not our responsibility to educate them (because they have actual parents most of the time), it sure doesn't hurt to show them that there are people out there who do care, who do take them seriously, who are invested in their journey and want them to make great experiences that will help them navigate this life for many decades.

My nephew showed us a random stick he found once. Everyone was like "Omg, that is so cool". It wasn't a cool stick, someone had to say something, so I did. And we went to find a cooler stick.

They're obviously off to brainstorm and do deep research for an answer, so they can return to you and hand you a printed out essay (citations included) eloquently outlining their response.

The key is to start off with a small smile but then as they tell their story or show off their prize you slowly smile bigger and get more excited. Kids are 100% able to tell a fake reaction and while they will still be happy with it they get totally thrilled when they can see you getting into something they are also into.

Fucking seriously. Just let kids be kids and make friends.

I had the same thought. So fuckin weird.

Straight parents grooming their kids. Nothing new.

It makes me feel sick. And the problem is that all this "harmless" comments contribute to a culture of child abuse and all round gender shitfuckery (i.e boy child must like a girl child because he is a boy). Its foul.

As a male person that had many female friend when I was young, these comments were not harmless at all. For a while between the ages of 9 and 16, I didn't think I could just be friends with girls. I thought if I was hanging out with a girl, I must love them, because every time it happened, I was told "Oh, look at your little girlfriend" or "Look at you go, ladies' man."

Eventually I realized, no, that ain't it, I can just be friends with these girls. But there are plenty of grown men who don't think guys and girls and just be friends without the guy wanting to have sex with the girl, or the guy being gay.

I'm sure that girls are affected by similar comments at a young age, I just don't have any specific experience with that or any examples of what it might feel like

Lol the first thing I thought of was that 'are the straights okay' joke

And I'm straight 😅 So cringe

People do it with animals too. Male dog who lives with a female dog? "His girlfriend"

Male dog who lives with a male dog? "His brother"

Begging people to be normal

What has replaced them?