The best Family Activity books: Reddit reviews

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I've been there. You have to realize that she's got a hurricane going on inside of her. Some people internalize it, some people externalize it, and it sounds like she is the former. It sucks. It's OK to be honest with her, but do so from a place of empathy for what she's going though (and with the knowledge that you can't possibly know what it's like for her). It's not that pregnancy gives someone a free pass to check out of their role in a relationship, but it can be scary as hell, and people deal with that kind of fear differently.

Talking to a therapist or counselor might well be your best bet here, because (a) you say you're experiencing depression, (b) you can vent without feeling like you're attacking your partner and (c) those feelings of fear and inadequacy about being a husband and father are things therapists have dealt with in other soon-to-be fathers, and they can definitely help you overcome them.

My situation may be very different from yours, but I definitely had some of the same fears you do. I once heard somebody say that childbirth is the most amazing thing that's happened to every single person on Earth. Fatherhood is the same. Just because your fears are common doesn't make them any less valid or painful. Talking to someone can help you get real context and understanding of them and keep you from making a decision in the moment that might have long-term consequences.

Once the baby is here, you might also check out And Baby Makes Three, which deals with how to maintain your relationship after the birth of a child. A good friend is a therapist and frequently recommends it to new parents.

I just read “And Baby Makes Three” which has some good ideas for communication for new parents- May help some with the parental stress parts amazon link

Experimenting with Babies: 50 Amazing Science Projects You Can Perform on Your Kid https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0399162461/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_YQKxFbVAABHXJ

Hear me out...babies mostly eat and sleep and poop...but! Their reflexes are really interesting and having fun with the baby is great bonding for dad, especially if you breastfeed and end up monopolizing the baby.

When my first was a baby, my favorite thing was her crazy grip. We called her Death Grip. She could hang from monkey bars for like 30 seconds before she could walk.

Mushrooms of the Northeast. I got this one a little while ago under recommendation of another post in this sub. It’s a good starting off point, has clear colored photos of common mushrooms, sections on commonly found edible and inedible varieties, and detailed info on characteristics of each. It’s also a fairly small size and easy to carry around.

This book is a great resource (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons). However, I also think that you should definitely give yourself some slack. I am guessing that a lot of his classmates are going to be in the same boat as him with the way this last year has gone so hopefully it will be a non-issue as they will need to be getting a lot of students back on track. Best of luck!

Congrats on teaching your kid(s) early to learn good knife skills. I don't recall whether kitchen knifes were explicitly mentioned in "50 Dangerous Things". But learning how to safely use tools is definitely one of those things you can start way earlier than most people think.

If you do your job right, your kid should earn a healthy respect for the dangers of the tool, but at the same time get a good sense of how to use it safely and be very comfortable with it. Initially, you want to supervise them, but at about 7 or 8 years of age you can trust them to use sharp knifes independently.

Injuries are possible, as with all physical activities. But shouldn't be serious and are just part of the learning experience.

Having said that, as a parent I quickly learned to stock up on an assortment of bandaids, sterile conforming gauze, bottled water (for rinsing), mupirocin ointment, iodine swabs, and veterinarian superglue. Also, if you ever travel to Germany, pick up some heparin ointment; works wonders against bruises.

You never know when (not if!) the little rascal injure themselves, but it usually is a Friday night or some other time when the doctor's office isn't open. And I'd rather not spend 8 hours in the ER just because of a nasty scrape.

I am moving to Mass in a few weeks and eager to go mushroom hunting!

I got this field guide on Amazon (along with a few others) but I liked it the most: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591935911/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's got tons of pictures. My favorite thing is that it starts with listing 'Top Edibles' and 'Top Toxics'. Also, it lists common lookalikes for all the mushrooms and tips for telling them apart.

Only eat the ones you're super confident in identifying, but the field guide is a fun guess + check when you're still learning

DM if you'd want a novice mushroom hunting buddy. I'll be in the south shore area

I'm not sure what issues your child has with reading but...

I started using this book with my daughter when she was 4. At 6, she's now reading on a 3rd grade level. Just one section a night really really helped. It's very different from other types of learning to read, but it did work very well for my daughter, so I like to share it whenever I can.

Assuming no eye/vision issues - this book is fantastic. I use it with kids that I tutor. It gets kids from knowing the alphabet to fluently reading in six weeks (sometimes less) if you work at it consistently for about half an hour per day.

We used this book when my son turned 4. Lessons are only like 10 min/day and he was reading in a couple weeks. Highly recommend it.

He is in kindergarten now and scored 99% percentile for reading.

We followed everthing in this book (Potty Training in 3 days by Brandi Bruck) to a tee and my 2.5 yr was potty trained in a day and a half. She had a week or so of back sliding a couple weeks later (mostly number 2 in her pants). We put her on the toilet every 2 hours for a week. And we adjusted her rewards to a minimal reward for pee as she had that down and big reward for poop ( 2 skittles AND 2 stickers- which she now shouts out with glee every poops on the potty). Now she back to 100%.

https://www.amazon.com/Potty-Training-Days-Step-Step/dp/1623157900/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3KC8IQ83PHLW2&keywords=brandi+brucks+potty+training+in+3+days+book&qid=1670109032&sprefix=brandi+br%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1

I think about things this way, too! The tracking app I use is my "baby lab notebook". The one variable I can never control for is how quickly my baby is changing. Is he less gassy now compared to last week because of the gas drops or because his gut microbiome is developing? I don't have a control baby for comparison!

Have you seen this book?

https://www.amazon.com/Experimenting-Babies-Amazing-Science-Projects/dp/0399162461

Friends highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/0671631985

My daughter also plays games on Homer and her ability to write some letters unassisted has been great. She also gets Haggerty lessons at Pre-K; we practice rhyming at home.

🤣 Ha!

For you kings with kids, this is the book to use to help teach those princes/princesses how to read. The beginning can be challenging, but you will see results before you know it. 💪👧👦

I mostly just take pictures of cool looking stuff I find in the woods. I have this book. I don’t really trust those plant ID apps when it comes to mushrooms. And I only have eaten ones that have no dangerous lookalikes. The only significant edible plant that I’ve found are cattails and fiddleheads. I just don’t like fiddleheads much and all the cattails I have come across have been too close to a road to be worth eating. I would die of happiness if I found some ramps, but no such luck yet.

I homeschool my kids. My eldest learned how to read at 3. My youngest however didn’t catch on as quickly and the only book that helped her was this:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/0671631985

She’s 7 now and reads chapter books for fun. As for writing, I purchase handwriting books that are at the state approved standard. They practice everyday . I also utilised a whiteboard with lines for them to write on for fun. Another tactic I used was buying journals for each of them, and giving them journal topics to write about. I don’t correct their journal writing, this just gives them an activity that helps integrate writing into their lives naturally. HTH

Thanks for the update. I would bet my money then that it is Agaricus campestris (the meadow mushroom). No Agaricus is deadly poisonous, but if you eat the wrong one it’s going to get expelled from your body one way or another, whether you like it or not. The poisonous ones will all smell like phenol/tar, but it can be hard to detect for some people.

I’m not too familiar with what’s available in Ohio, but I imagine it is similar to what is here in MN. I found this site for OH and it looks very helpful. Of the mushrooms listed on that site that you’ll probably still be able to obtain (or get soon) and that are pretty easy to ID, I’d recommend:

• Chanterelles (Cantharellus species)
• Shaggy manes (Copronus comatus)
• Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus species)

I couldn’t find much info on if hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa) is very common in OH, but if you can find it, that is probably my favorite fall mushroom.

And if you don’t already have a field guide, I would recommend something like this one. I have the upper Midwest one and while it’s not exactly comprehensive, it’s a great guide to have because it goes over top edibles and top toxic mushrooms for your area and is small enough to fit in your pocket.

We used this book with my daughter (she’s on the spectrum, what I have heard referred to as low needs). It went very well and she started to read literally within 3 months. The book was great because it had very precise and clear instructions for the parent on exactly what to say to the child. It took us about 20mins a day for 3.5 months. We were very happy with the book and recommended it to all other parents we know as well.

Link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671631985?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

For under $10, you can get a used copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It isn't absolutely the BEST phonics program out there, but it gets recommended all the time because it's seriously by far the best for its price point and does a reasonable and fairly thorough job of walking a beginning reader (and their parent/caregiver) through all the basics.

Grab Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons as a phonics crash-course. Emphasize to parents how much he needs to work on his reading skills over the summer. I wouldn't worry so much about the sight words if he's still having trouble blending. And cross your fingers.

You can also pick up Elephant & Piggie books to read with him. K-2 kids love them and they're fabulous for teaching print recognition.

That’s kind of like saying you’re good at driving a car so you want to build one from scratch.
Teachers go to school for years to learn this. The science behind how kids learn to read is complex. It takes explicit instruction of phonics, building phonemic awareness skills, and connecting it to orthography (writing). Not so simple.
You can try this book as a starting point: https://www.amazon.ca/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/0671631985

Very tough. Very common. Good luck. Here's a book I like that's kind of on the topic. Some of the stuff is kind off off the wall in terms of who their audience is (like the kinds of things people say to each either) but it may prove useful.

And Baby Makes Three: The Six-Step Plan for Preserving Marital Intimacy and Rekindling Romance After Baby Arrives https://www.amazon.com/dp/140009738X/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_VN1ZABW7Q42J9HXME9C2

I bought this book and I like it for the most part. Some of it feels a bit ridiculous and should go without saying but you have to remember that they are casting a wide net and trying to improve the lives of a partners with very wide array of issues that boil down to some basic, easy to follow things to remember that will help you master your relationship together.

And Baby Makes Three: The... https://www.amazon.com/dp/140009738X?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

This book is also helpful for a more mechanically focused way to improve your relationship by finding the right balance of responsibility between you and your partner.

Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525541942/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_7W3XSQ6X0ME5N6V2SQ8G

Happy to answer more questions or listen if you just want to rant about it. It's hard and nothing is foolproof. You have to focus on what you're building together, whether that's a family, a life, your careers, or even just your relationship into a mutually meaningful and fulfilling experience. Once you have a lot of the basic stuff down you can reduce net stress and increase net affection that is usually fertile ground for sex. There's also a subreddit called r/deadbedrooms (or something) that is dedicated to this issue more generally but has lots of support and advice for a lot of people in a number of unique circumstances.

This book (Baby Makes Three) may be a starting point for you to discuss. Even if you read it just yourself, it’ll probably open your eyes a bit.

If she can’t read or write, her education level is far below 5th grade (though I understand she was probably pushed through). Makes me wonder if she’s ever been tested for a learning disability, such as dyslexia. In that case, there are wonderful programs specifically designed to work for her, but finding a Tito is costly.

I’ve heard really great things about this book and is probably an affordable starting point without further support: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671631985/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_NZVBVQWMMZEN6W5VRVRH

First of all, I knew what a "blue eyed, blonde virgin" was and that I was one at about 8 years old.

Halloween was evil and a time when girls like me were especially in danger. We did Hallelujah Night, which was just watching the Gospel Bill show at church. I can't remember if there was candy.

Most cartoons were forbidden for one reason or another. The Smurfs were demons. The Sword of Omens from Thundercats was a real occult relic. He-Man called himself the Master of the Universe when, in fact, God is the master of the universe. There's a book called Turmoil in the Toybox that my mom had that detailed everything that was evil and why. I read it for fun. I also read the tracts at church, which described the evils of all sorts of pop culture things including music. I learned the lyrics to Prince's Darling Nikki in a tract designed to horrify people with how evil pop music is. I also learned that KISS stood for Knights in Satan's Service (or, sometimes, Kids in Satan's Service. It wasn't consistent.)

I was genuinely scared of demons. I was told they were everywhere, and our preacher described them in terrifying detail. If he was speaking metaphorically, I did not pick up on it, but I was just a child. We went more than once to see a Christian comedian/preacher who claimed to be an ex-witch. Amid mildly funny stories and impressions (he was well known for a telling of the Gospel story in a Vally Girl accent), he described how he used to see witches make tables walk around and stuff. I was SO scared of those stories. I basically believed that witches, demons, and satanists were real and really out to get me, and the adults around me confirmed this.

Mushrooms of the northeast. It is an excellent book. Even though it is geographically specific it is still pretty good for other areas.

Mushrooms of the Northeast: A Simple Guide to Common Mushrooms (Mushroom Guides) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1591935911/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_RN86Z2WWQ405P21137WB

Let me use that opportunity to plug one of my favorite books: https://smile.amazon.com/Dangerous-Things-Should-Your-Children/dp/0451234197

You can start your kids really young on a lot of hands-on activities. Being overly protective can actually hurt them more.

We just potty trained our 2.5 year old this week. We're on day 4, she has had 1 accident (while eating dinner on the 1st day) and that was it. To me, she's day time potty trained at this point.

We followed this book, basically...

-Said "bye bye" to undies in the morning

-Pee on potty = 1 chocolate chip

-Did no undies/pants the first day. Pants on day 2 & 3 and now undies on day 4 (they're harder for her to pull up, but not impossible).

-Loaded her up on lots of liquid (mostly water with a splash of apple juice) and she just kept running to the potty to pee on her own....there was very little we actually had to do.

First, congratulations, and you are a wonderful father, keep up the good work, it gets better from here :)

Second, buy this book, it will change your life ( my daughter and I were already close, but this sent us into space):

The Art of Roughhousing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L97OCC4/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_FKPEBQ1Z17DRZ5EAEDZC

The author did a podcast, send I bought the book sight unseen after hearing him speak. It's a combining of the science behind rough housing, and a a manual for how to safely throw your kids across the room so they keep coming back for more. There's a lot of positive benefits (for girls it teaches them to be able to say no, boys it sets boundaries and it prevents bullying in both), but his quote really stuck with me. The author said that the amount of physical/mental exertion, combined with oxytocin that is released during rough housing your kids is not comparable to any single act as an adult. The only comparison is as if you were running a marathon, reading a 4eally engaging book, and getting a nice long hug from someone you love all at the same time.

I have it on my coffee table- the kiddo picks it up daily and tells me "we do this one today" and we do it. sometimes we get banged up, some times I fall. some times she falls. and we are closer for it. every time we play like this, our bond grows closer. She's 5 years old now, and she did an upper ropes zipline course that would make most adults pee their pants. she was shaking the first time, dangling 50 feet above the ground and a death grip on my hand. and then the 6th time after that, I was ready to go home and she made me take her again.

Buy it, you'll not regret it - I promise :)