@Undisciplined kickstarted a new feature called ***Parent*** ***Corner***, and of course, I have something worthy

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Medical

mostly_harmless

@Undisciplined kickstarted a new feature called [Parent Corner](https://stacker.news/items/576308), and of course, I have something worthy to contribute.

Something happened to my son this week that made me grateful that my brother is a pharmacist. Don’t worry, nothing that serious happened. It’s just that parenting is uncharted territory, and nothing can ever prepare you sufficiently for it. You can ask Google Sensei, but you won’t get a satisfactory answer.

This is what happened:
- Last Sunday, my son developed a high fever. So, I took him to our friendly general practitioner. As my son was coughing badly, the GP dispensed him a cough syrup called promethazine as well as paracetamol. 
- My wife wanted our son to fight off the infection, so he didn’t consume paracetamol. He, however, drank promethazine on Monday and Tuesday.
- By Wednesday, his fever came back and subsided alternatively, much like how Survivor contestants switch alliances at the drop of a hat. Joking aside, my wife was concerned about the fever, so I took my son to visit the paediatrician. 
- His lungs were clear, thank goodness. The paediatrician prescribed another cough syrup called Kaloba because promethazine causes drowsiness, which might interfere with his ability to function.
- *Thank you for reading up to this point. Wait a while more, the climax will be revealed soon.*
- My son drank the Kaloba on Wednesday and Thursday. Just that after consuming it on Thursday night, he proceeded to vomit his dinner out 20-30 minutes later, much like Singapore’s legendary icon, the Merlion. 🤮 If you don’t know the Merlion, it’s time to visit Singapore! 
- But I digress. Here is the Parent’s dilemma: Should we feed him another dose of Kaloba, given that he could have vomitted it out? Is it advisable? 
- My wife wanted to feed him another dose of Kaloba. I was hesitant to do so because I don’t think my boy would have digested the Kaloba so soon after dinner.
- But the thing is, we didn’t know for sure. And here is when my brother came to the rescue. Over text, he advised us to: 

![](https://m.stacker.news/35755)

- **Lesson learnt: if your child vomits after taking his cough syrup, it might be best to feed him another brand of cough syrup.**
- This is what I meant when I said that even Google can’t help you with your medical enquiries. What happened to my son was so random.

Which leads to this question: what medical tips and insights have you gathered along the way as you raise your children to adolescence? Any anecdotes that you think are worth sharing with newer parents who are being burnt by the baptism of fire? 

Parent Corner: Medical

cryotosensei

Fathers Day seems like a good time to launch ***Parent*** ***Corner***. ... ***corner***). ... just share a recent parenting anecdote or thought (ideally one that has happened since the previous ***parent***

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Innocence

Fathers Day seems like a good time to launch Parent Corner. I'm hoping this will catch on as an irregularly recurring series. It's inspired by the segment of the same name on The Bill Simmons Podcast.

The idea is pretty straightforward: just share a recent parenting anecdote or thought (ideally one that has happened since the previous parent corner).

What better way to describe parenting than ~mostly_harmless? As such, I'm volunteering @elvismercury's territory to house this series.

I'd love it if other stackers initiated these in the future, when they had parenting stuff to share.

* * #

My daughter (4 years old) has been making "swings" for her stuffed animals for the past couple of weeks. She's been greatly delighting in pushing them on their "swings" and, of course, making us do so too.

The thing is, these swings always end up looking like her animals have been executed by hanging. They swing from the top of our staircase down into the living room. If we didn't get everything tidied up from the day before, I wake up and go downstairs to be surprised by quite the gruesome scene.

It's such a stark example of innocence that to her it's just her stuffies enjoying a nice swing.

cc: @grayruby, @cryotosensei, @gnilma, @bief57, @anniedustan (apologies if I omitted anyone)

Parent Corner: Innocence

Undisciplined

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Learning Resources


Hey fellow parent stackers. 

I wanted to do a post to share some of the learning resources our kids use/have used and hopefully some stackers will share their go to learning resources for their kiddos as well. 

- ABC Mouse: (Paid Subscription required) A great learning platform for little ones. My son used it from 2-7 years old and my daughter is currently using it. There is a learning path the kids can follow but also a classroom environment where they can choose many different subjects to play games, do puzzles, art, listen to books (read along), read books and watch videos. 

- Adventure Academy: (Paid Subscription required) Made by creators of ABC Mouse as well but geared towards kids  8-13. I found some of the lessons lacking in this one, especially for older kids but the environment, UX is incredible. An animated 3D world that allows kids to explore school grounds and surrounding areas and learn new things in each room/location. 

- Khan Academy/Khan Academy Kids: (Free) Kids' version is geared towards 2-8 years old and main version is geared towards everyone. A definite go to learning resource with lessons on pretty much everything. The kids one isn't as good as ABC Mouse in my opinion but it is still really good and it's free. My son loves using the main Khan Academy as a pseudo tutor. If he learned something in math that he needs a further grasp of he will use Khan Academy videos to help him along. 

- Tynker/Tynker Jr: (Paid Subscription required) Good and fun coding platform for kids. They get to code games using tynker designed code block language but can also advance to popular programming languages like python and java script. 

- Scratch/Scratch Jr: (Free) A good alternative for code block coding if you don't want to pay. My daughter really likes Scratch Jr and Scratch is good as well but I have found at least with my son he spends more time on Scratch playing other people's games than actually building and learning. 

- Synthesis: (Paid subscription) My son has been doing Synthesis for a couple years. This is the learning/critical thinking platform developed by the teacher that used to tutor Elon's kids. It's for kids 8-14. The kids form teams and play various games that challenge their ability to solve problems cooperatively. It's great but the amount of games is limited. The games do change and goals, teams etc change as well but I have found once the kids know the ins and outs of the games it doesn't provide as much value as when they are fumbling their way through at the beginning. They also have a math tutor platform which is good but only goes up to ages 11. I believe they plan to expand this offering. 

- Biochemistry Literacy for Kids: (Paid subscription) My son did this program a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. It's meant to teach college level Biochemistry in a basic form 

Other fun things we/the kids have tried: 

- coolmathgames.com 
- edx.org
- atomas game (available via app download)
- Baby University Board Books https://www.csferrie.com/books
- National Geographic Science Kits (available at Amazon, Walmart, Toys r us etc) 
- Simply Piano (app download) 
- Quick chess (board game)
- Micro bit coding robots 
- Magnetic tiles 

I am sure I am forgetting some. Looking forward to learning about some other good ones from my fellow stackers!

Sats for all,
GR

Parent Corner: Learning Resources

grayruby

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Earn your Dirt

**Earn your Dirt**

It was an unseasonably hot and humid day in my neck of the woods yesterday and my daughter had a bit of a stomach ache, so we were pondering whether to take her to her Tball game or not, but she was adamant that she wanted to go. We gave her a little medicine to settle her stomach, packed a lot of water, a small towel and her and I ventured off to the game. 

We arrived at the field and the first thing we noticed was many parents had opted to keep their kids home as there were only about 6 kids from her team and 5 from the other team. You don't need a pitcher or catcher in Tball and the ball doesn't go very far so this is good enough to play a game. 

I usually volunteer to coach one of the bases but that job was already filled so I sat on the bench and reminded kids to drink water when they came to the "dugout" and not to forget their gloves when they go back to the field. My daughter came in a couple times and each time I wiped her face with a towel, gave her some water and checked "how are you feeling"? Each time she said "ok daddy". 

Near the end of the game while running the bases she tripped and fell in the dirt. She was fine, got up and kept running to the next base. 

The game ended and the teams celebrated with well deserved freezies. We grabbed all our stuff and started walking back to the car. While we walked I said, "You hit the ball well. Did you have fun?" and she responded with a resounding "YES". My next question was "How are you feeling?", to which she replied "HOT". 

We arrived at the car and I dumped some cold water on a towel and wiped the sweat and dirt from her face and neck. When I was done she pointed at her pants and shoes covered in dust and said "Daddy, I got very dirty", to which I replied "that's ok baby, you earned your dirt". 

Thanks for reading.

Sats for all,
GR



Parent Corner: Earn your Dirt

[***Parent*** ***Corner***] First time vacuuming

alter_native

Our daughter tidied up all her toys so we could vacuum last night, but we didn't get around to it and she's been asking why ever since.

She declared "When I'm a mommy, I'm going to vacuum everyday!"

To which, I said "You don't have to wait until you're a mommy to vacuum everyday. As soon as you're big enough you can do the vacuuming."

So, here we are. A tiny child is slowly meandering around the house with the giant vacuum cleaner.

[Parent Corner] First time vacuuming

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Getting a Dog

I posted about our new dog about a week ago.

The first thing my daughter did was start telling the new dog all about our dog who died a little over a year ago. It was very touching.

Then she was doing such a good job being gentle and quiet to avoid scaring the new dog, who was extremely timid for the first couple of days. Clearly, she wanted to be loud and wild and play, but the dog wasn't ready, so she very gently told the dog about how she gets scared sometimes and listed off some of the things she gets scared of and explained that she'd help the dog not be scared. What a kid!

The next thing to work on is getting them both to sleep in her room. The bed's getting a bit crowded.

Parent Corner: Getting a Dog

Are there any virtues you've observed in your kids that didn't obviously come from either ***parent***?

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Proud Parenting Moment

I wanted to share real quick something my daughter did that we were very impressed by.

We were at an interactive kids' event. Our daughter was one of the younger kids at it, but there were a couple of younger ones. Towards the end of the event, she won some extra prizes. They were just a bunch of cheap little trinkets, but it was obvious that the other kids were jealous.

I don't think she even noticed, and we certainly didn't say anything, but she immediately wanted to share her winnings with all the other kids. She walked all over the space looking for everyone, even kids who didn't know she had gotten the extra prizes, and gave a little bit to everyone.

That certainly didn't come from either of her parents. Her instinctive generosity is all her.

Are there any virtues you've observed in your kids that didn't obviously come from either parent?

Parent Corner: Proud Parenting Moment

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Bedtime is fiat

For about three years, we had a bedtime routine that worked very well and a kid that slept clear through the night in her own room.

For the past two years, bedtime has been a struggle. We made various adjustments, but they were never more than short-term bandages. Nighttime almost always turned into a battle of wills.

So, we gave up. No more bedtime. We go to bed when we're tired, or when the kid asks us to read to her. She usually wants to sleep in our room, which we only let her do if she's being quiet and trying to sleep, otherwise it's off to her own room. Being loud and wild in our room late into the night had been our breaking point.

The results aren't ideal, but the struggles are much reduced and she's sleeping in her room more often, because it's where she can stay awake if she wants.

What are some standard parenting practices that you've just abandoned entirely?

Parent Corner: Bedtime is fiat

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Holiday car games

What’s your go to car game with the kids?

We play green car 

When ever you see a green car you yell green car and you get a point 

We have added a rainbow rare which is 10 points. Has to be all over mixed colour like a rainbow to get the big points 

And of course I win most as it is very competitive 

Parent Corner: Holiday car games

User21000000

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Enforcing Halloween Etiquette

My daughter was eagerly helping to hand out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters tonight, once we got home from our own trick-or-treating.

It was fairly slow, which was good because I didn't buy a ton of candy. Some of the older kids started showing up, including some pretty obvious teenagers. 

My daughter told one of them "You are a big kid. Big kids don't trick-or-treat."

My parents thought it was hilarious and told her "Good job." I told her that she's right and big kids aren't supposed to trick-or-treat.

I wonder if that kid will remember the little Spiderman who told him he was too old for trick-or-treating.

Parent Corner: Enforcing Halloween Etiquette

[***Parent*** ***Corner***] Poop! Poop Everywhere!

So, we've been trying to housebreak this dog (that was supposedly already housebroken). We had gone out first thing in the morning, but she didn't poop. I figured the poop accident she had had right before bed might be the reason. Maybe she just had nothing left in the tank.

Well, no. While I was getting dressed, she was quickly dropping a deuce on the carpet. I cleaned that up and headed out for a while. Apparently, she pooped again while I was gone, despite being let out several times.

Then, upon my return, as my wife is telling me about the dog's accidents, the kid comes running inside shouting " I POOPED MY PANTS!" What's happening?

We get her into the bath, scrub her down, and get her all cleaned up. I take another attempt at finishing my dinner, only to hear some indecipherable shouting from upstairs. Of course it's more poop. The kid is sitting on the toilet screaming about getting poop on her hands while trying to wipe.

Finally, I took the dog out for a walk to hopefully avoid another poop incident...and the leash snapped.

[Parent Corner] Poop! Poop Everywhere!

***Parent*** ***Corner*** - Boys Will Be Boys

I was at my older son's elementary school graduation ceremony. In this ceremony, they fill up the gym with the whole school's students, teachers, plus all the graduating students' parents; so I would say there were several hundred if not a thousand people in attendance. After the graduating students received their certificates, as is custom, a slideshow with photos of every class in the school, taken throughout the school year that highlights the school year, gets played on a projection screen.

My son had the pleasure of making this slideshow along with 2 other boys in his class. They spent a lot of time and worked very hard on the slideshow, and I noticed small details such as interesting unique animations in all title pages that introduced each class. As the slideshow continued to play, and as I was starting to feel quite proud of my son's work, I started to catch a couple quick quarter second or half second flashes of Rick Astley, flashing in between photo transitions. I enjoyed the humor the boys introduced in their work and thought that it was a nice touch to subtly Rick Roll the whole school without making it obvious.

As the slideshow kept playing, Rick Astley seem to have stopped showing up. Just as I thought they decided to keep it low key, and just as I thought the Rick Rolling was over, Rick Astley showed up in full screen, dancing with music and all for a good 5 to 7 seconds. On the bottom half of the screen, a line of large red text was saying "You've been Rick Rolled." I guess not subtle after all.

I don't know if their teacher gave the approval on the Rick Roll, or they just added it in at the last minute, because I recall my son having a conference call with his partners making last minute changes to the slideshow last night. Either way, this is their last day of elementary school, so it's not like they could get punished for it or anything. Their teacher also seem to have a good sense of humor, so it might even be her idea. I'll ask my son about it when he gets home from school.

Apparently, Rick Rolling is still a thing in 2025. And when it happened, the kids screamed and cheered; the parents were smiling and laughing; I had a huge grin on my face.

Boys will be boys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Parent Corner - Boys Will Be Boys

gnilma

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Problem in the Potty

The wife and I were drinking our coffee, while a fair bit of commotion was coming from our daughter in the bathroom.

She came out and very shyly said "'Scuse me." 

We've been working with her on manners and not interrupting, so this was very encouraging.

She continued very sweetly, "There's a pwoblem in the potty."

That was decidedly less encouraging.

Parent Corner: Problem in the Potty

***Parent*** ***Corner***:  Kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

So I took my son for his first session this morning. It's been on the cards for awhile. Obviously I have my own martial arts interest however I wasn't sure whether to get my son involved - life has been busy and I was concerned that he would be too young or too small for the class and a number of other concerns - actually in retrospect all of them groundless.

However as time has gone on (he's now 10) it became clear to me that he has the energy and athleticism and i began to feel that he was missing out. He has never wanted to do martial arts particularly and my efforts to get him interested in kickboxing in the past didn't bear fruit. He's tried Skateboarding, Surfing, BMX, Piano, but nothing has really stuck. His main interest is computers (he probably gets that from me!) and he seems most happy when he is in front of a screen. 

However lately something else spurred me on to seriously think about Jiu Jitsu for him. At school he has been getting into more scrapes with the other boys and some of them already do Judo and other martial arts and he kept telling me that he has been getting into fights or getting beaten up! He would come home covered in mud....presumably from rolling around on the school field with one of his class mates. 

The Gracie Barra gym in my home town has a good rep and we both took a look at the class last Saturday, the instructor seemed kind and friendly and the kids there all seemed to love the class. 

So anyway it was his first proper session today and i'm really happy to say that he smashed it! He would come over to me every now and again to get a drink of water and for me to tighten the belt on his Gi and kept saying how much he was enjoying the class! 

He spent most of the session rolling with the instructors son who is also a beginner but already skilled and they are similar sizes. They appeared to hit it off as friends too and at the end of the session I had to coax my son off the mats as he didn't want to leave! 

Have any of you got young kids who do martial arts? What have been your experiences? And what do you think about kids BJJ? So far i'm really impressed with it and as you can probably tell chuffed to bits. 


Parent Corner:  Kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

cristaiji

***Parent*** ***Corner***: Emergency Room Tummy Ache

So, we were up quite late visiting the emergency room last night. 

Just before bed, my daughter started complaining about her tummy hurting and it quickly escalated to uncontrollable crying and screaming. 

She can be loud and whiney, but this was unusual for her. We tried a calcium supplement when she started complaining and then some generic Tylenol (which we probably should have given longer to kick in).

We were trying to ask her questions about what it felt like and work through the innocuous options, like bad gas. She insisted that she had never felt like that before, though, so off we went to the emergency room.

By the time we got there, she had calmed down considerably and we tried to once again find an out by asking her if she was starting to feel any better and emphasizing that the emergency room is only for people who need help immediately. She insisted the she had only calmed down because she took deep breaths and it still hurt. Then the kicker, she very sadly asked "Why don't you trust me?" So, in we went.

Three hours later we left with no answers about what was wrong, probably a hefty bill, but a seemingly healthy, if very tired, kid.

Parent Corner: Emergency Room Tummy Ache

***Parent*** ***Corner***: By Any Means Necessary

Maybe this isn't as dramatic as the title suggests, but I felt like I had a dad victory today (temporarily). I was taking my daughter to our neighborhood pool for the first time this year. It's outside and they send us the code to get in every summer. Supposedly, the code was the same this year as last year.

When we got there, the pool was empty, which is pretty normal for our pool, especially in the morning. I tried the code on one of the gates. No luck. A neighbor passing by with her dog tells me that some of the gates aren't working, but she's not sure which ones. She also isn't sure if the code is the same as last year.

So we go check the other two gates. Still no luck and the kid's getting impatient. I tell her we have to go home. Tears, crying, etc.

So, fuck it, I scale the fence and open the gate from the inside. Problem solved.

Parent Corner: By Any Means Necessary

***Parent*** ***Corner*** - It Does Rub Off

We were at the provincial capital of BC, the city of Victoria, this morning, visiting the provincial legislative building. A beautiful building built back in the good old times, between 1893-1898. As we were walking past the lawn, my older son came up to me and showed me a picture he took on his phone of [the coat of arms of BC](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_British_Columbia) symbol on some garbage bins. He proceeded to ask me "Do you know why the government's symbol is on these bins?"

"Why?" I replied.

He put on a smug face and answered, "because that is exactly where it belongs."

I smiled back at him and said, "that's a good one!" As he ran off to chase his little brother, I was telling myself, "yes, that's my son!" My distaste and dislike for governments seemed to have rubbed off on him.

At the same time, I realized I must be more careful with my words and actions. Be consistent as to who I am, be truthful, be real, and try to be the best version of myself, because it does rub off.

![](https://m.stacker.news/84124)

Parent Corner - It Does Rub Off

[***Parent*** ***Corner***] Your Kids Should See This

Design

![](https://m.stacker.news/105801)

# Smart videos for curious minds of all ages

The kid Should See This (TKSST) is a Webby award-winning video collection, curated for teachers and families by a person, not an algorithm. Explore extraordinary educational storytelling by museums, universities, experts, innovators, artists, and enthusiasts who make the internet better.

It has a nice logo too:

![](https://m.stacker.news/105800)

[Parent Corner] Your Kids Should See This

deSign_r

[***Parent*** ***Corner***] What should pacifiers be made of?

HealthAndFitness

a loaded question that popped into my mind. where do i even begin... 
i do not have sources to cite, these are thoughts directly from the [connectome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectome). 

*  are binkies (pacifiers) necessary at all? 
   - is being offered a binkie the first lie babies encounter in this world? when a binkie was too big, i stuck a pinkie in his mouth and it worked. 
   - he sucks on his fist or thumb (depending on the stage of development) anyway in order to soothe himself, so maybe it doesn't matter?

* shud binkies be soft, hard, chewable, or it depends on whether the baby has teeth or not? 
  - i really don't know how to think thru this one; there is the jaw strength development, orbicularis oris muscle development, and it is all probably related to speech development.

* besides avoiding microplastics and BPA, what material shud the soft binkies be made of?
  - latex? natural plant rubber? silicone? soft wood? 

* what about binkies made of mineral rocks? 
  - if we are all made of earth primordial sludge like Adam (_ah-dum_ = the earth in hebrew), does it make sense to have a binkie made of granite, limestone, or some other rock formation? what about Mesopotamian clay?
  - what if i get him a chess set made of a rock varieties to suck on (where pawns are too big to swallow)? 

![](https://m.stacker.news/87856)




[Parent Corner] What should pacifiers be made of?

SHA256man

***Parent*** ***corner***: ideas for long-term kid activities

My 5-year old kid loves playing with his Lego, but I kinda have to tell him "why don't you play with your Lego?".

I'm looking for creative ideas for some other creative things I could try to initiate him to. I'd like to see him fully absorbed in something, day in day out, when he comes back from school, he's looking forward to playing with it. Like model trains (but I don't know anything about them, and we don't really have free space in the house where he could just leave them be when he's not playing with them). Or some science kits that introduce him to building his own electronics using Arduinos. Anything~~

Several kids his age are already into computer games like Roblox, but I kinda wanna keep that for later. I'd like to see his creative juices flow, using his hands and possibly his brain.

What worked for you? What were your passions as a kid that you look back on fondly now? Or that are even useful to you now as an adult? I'd love for him to start coding, using computers creatively, but probably not the time yet for that.

Don't wanna force anything on him, but maybe just exposing him to different options will let him figure out what he likes.

Parent corner: ideas for long-term kid activities

south_korea_ln

***Parent*** ***Corner***: You don't like to eat that!

We were having dinner tonight and my wife cooked bacon wrapped scallops as one of the dishes. It turns out my little one really likes the dish, especially the scallops and had been eating one after another. When it came down to the last two, my little one was asking if he could eat them both. I told him that his older brother did not eat that many, and they should each get one. Little one finished his very quickly, while older brother's was still untouched. Older bro was commenting that he really likes the bacon, but wasn't sure if he likes the scallops. 

Then little one immediately said: "I don't think you like to eat the scallop. Eat the bacon and give me the scallop, ok?"

Older bro looked at little bro, then at the last piece in his bowl, and grinned: "But I think I want to eat the scallop."

"NOOOOO! You don't like to eat that! I will help you take off the bacon! You can give me the scallop! Okay?!" He started to raise his voice, then proceeded to try to grab the food from older bro's bowl to take the bacon off.

Seeing little bro get emotional, older bro would of course stave him off, and start biting the last piece of bacon wrapped scallop, scallop included, bite by bite, just to piss off little bro more.

Sometimes, being the weaker and smaller sibling, you just have to get creative to try to get what you want. But in the end, it comes down to the mercy of the bigger and stronger sibling. If older brother don't want to let you have something, no matter how much you say he doesn't like it, no matter if he actually don't like it or not, you will not have it.