Anonymous wrote:I have a newborn and 3.5 year old and am extremely unhappy with my life right now no childcare no school no family. Just chiming in as I’m reading about these happy families with all the help, smiles, money, and sunny dispositions.

Please go do something for yourself and not read DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:I have a newborn and 3.5 year old and am extremely unhappy with my life right now no childcare no school no family. Just chiming in as I’m reading about these happy families with all the help, smiles, money, and sunny dispositions.

You're so in the thick of it right now. Note how few posters there are with newborns!

Why no school or childcare for your 3.5yo? I would have struggled tremendously if my toddler had been home full time when I had a newborn.

I have a 4 yr old and I'm a single parent. Life is very simple and that's what I like about it. It's just my son and me. We are DCUMs poor but we have everything we need and we are both healthy. I'm a teacher so I literally with kids almost 24/7/365 except for my commute which I love.

Anonymous wrote:I have a newborn and 3.5 year old and am extremely unhappy with my life right now no childcare no school no family. Just chiming in as I’m reading about these happy families with all the help, smiles, money, and sunny dispositions.

Oh thats hard. But 3.5 is a good gap. The oldest will become more independent soon. And by the time they are 5 itll be much much easier. We have the same gap and it was t as bad as many friends with 2 year and less gaps.

I have a newborn and 3.5 year old and am extremely unhappy with my life right now no childcare no school no family. Just chiming in as I’m reading about these happy families with all the help, smiles, money, and sunny dispositions.

Anonymous wrote:2 kids - 8 and 2 who are healthy, happy, and easy-going

HHI $400K, no debt, good investments, and savings - no worries or stressors related to $$

DH is a wonderful husband and father. An equal partner.

Amazing nanny who is like a member of the family

Extremely flexible, low-stress job, which I transitioned to when my oldest was about 1.5. It is not my dream job -- the upward potential is limited -- but it is still very enjoyable. I do not regret it AT ALL!

Small circle of close, long-term friends.

Exact same age of kids and HHI

I am SAHM and DH WFH.

Cleaner instead of nanny.

Family is close by. DH handles all the cooking (even when we are entertaining). I do laundry every day. Large house and yard.

My career is going badly, I actually enjoy spending time doing nothing much with my kids all day, and my husband works a lot but makes a lot of money.

Would also add that my husband and I make sure to work on our relationship and have sex regularly and date nights. We also encourage each other to pursue our hobbies outside of kids.

Having multiple miscarriages between baby number one and baby number two kind of shifted my perspective that nothing is guaranteed in this world and you got to appreciate what you have.

Other things that really help are doing a lot of divide and conquer with my husband where one person is responsible for one child and the other person is taking on the other child.

We also have a relative who babysits the toddler so that really makes life easier in the morning so we only having to do one drop off

3 kids (8, 6 and almost 3). Both work (from home now) at flexible jobs. HHI (280) is ok (wish it were higher), but we get a lot of perks (private school partially paid for, long vacations, pensions, etc.)
We have healthy, smart kids. We have an amazing nanny and someone that helps us with cleaning.

No family close by unfortunately.

2 kids - 8 and 2 who are healthy, happy, and easy-going

HHI $400K, no debt, good investments, and savings - no worries or stressors related to $$

DH is a wonderful husband and father. An equal partner.

Amazing nanny who is like a member of the family

Extremely flexible, low-stress job, which I transitioned to when my oldest was about 1.5. It is not my dream job -- the upward potential is limited -- but it is still very enjoyable. I do not regret it AT ALL!

Small circle of close, long-term friends.

Anonymous wrote:4 kids, ages 1-9

- I work very part time with max flexibility
- DH works from home, very high earner
- we are very happily married and put our marriage first
- amazing nanny
- great school
- kids are good sleepers and eaters and generally well behaved
- we are minimalists

this is so important. I'm one of the only-child mom PPs but I relate to a lot of these actually

I have ONE and only one kid with an easygoing temperament. Some of it is nature; some is nurture. I have tried to train her to be easy, communicative, self-sufficient in an age appropriate way, and calm. E.g. trained to try different foods, pick up after herself, etc.

I have a great career and so does DH, but our hours are not long and are somewhat flexible. We are at different stages in our careers and I think that helps. If we were peers, it might feel like we were competing - whose work is more important to prioritize, etc.

I have parents who help, although they're a bit of a drive away.

I have enough $$ to afford full-time daycare with some additional babysitting each week.

I make the choice to prioritize fitness and romance/couple time as necessities, not luxuries.

34, 1 kid, divorced with a supportive and communicative co-parent. We have no local family on either side. DD attends a good before and aftercare program around her public school schedule, i work FT for the government with a reasonable salary for my lifestyle. Custody schedule of 55 allows me enough freetime on weeknights and every weekend to handle house stuff, shopping, and a social life.

Two boys close in age who are great friends--they always have a playmate and (generally) get along without fighting. We also have a lot of kids on our block who all play together nicely so there are always friends around.

DH and I both have flexible jobs--DH works for himself so him more than I. We also have local family which helps a lot. We don't make a ton of money but more than enough for our lifestyle. No major health problems for any of us.

My kids are in 3rd and 5th grades and I think the elementary school years (aside from COVID) have been my happiest in terms of parenting. I'm dreading when they go to different schools next year but hoping that it gives my younger one a bit more independence and his own identity outside of "DS1's brother". My oldest is much more outgoing than my youngest.