![\"\"](\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bedwetting.jpg\")
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I realize that as the passage of time has progressed over the last five years, the frequency in which I\u2019ve written these very dad-centric brog posts have petered off.\u00a0 As much as how things change, the amount in which I write is one of those things that I don\u2019t want to ever fall into that category, but such can\u2019t necessarily be said about the topics in which I do write about.<\/span><\/p>\n However, over the last few weeks, part of my chaotic morning routine includes checking the sheets of both my kids when I wake them up, because this household is now diaper-free, and has been for the better part of the last few months now, and now we\u2019re at the stage of life where they\u2019re going to bed without any safety nets, and bedwetting is very much in play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I realize that at one point I probably was planning on making a dad post about the glory about no longer needing diapers at all, but it\u2019s been pretty seamless into feeling relief, mostly financial, at the fact that we don\u2019t have to participate in the escalating cost of diapers and always needing them, but going into night-training where there are periods of time in which we have more wet beds than not in the mornings, and the new aggravation and disappointment of having to do laundry just about every single day has taken its place.<\/span><\/p>\n But yeah, we\u2019re trying everything we can at this point to expedite the process, like cutting off water consumption at a certain time, repeatedly taking them to the bathroom before lights out, and even trying to incentivize having as many dry nights as possible to get each kid closer to upgrading to big kids\u2019 beds, to the point where we\u2019ve even taken them to a store to look at beds to give them understanding of what awaits once they get their bedwetting under control.<\/span><\/p>\n However, like I said, there are times in which it feels like it\u2019s never going to improve although I know it eventually will.\u00a0 At the time I\u2019m writing this, both kids are on like a four-day streak in the wrong direction, with sheets being wet every morning, and there\u2019s a part of me that\u2019s debating on whether or not to have the kids go back into overnights although I definitely won\u2019t cave, I\u2019d be lying if I didn\u2019t think it.<\/span><\/p>\n Unsolicited parenting tip for those going through a similar journey: dog pads.\u00a0 Stashed under the fitted sheet primarily where the child sleeps, they\u2019re low profile and effective at preventing any overnight leakage from soaking into the mattress itself.\u00a0 Costco<\/a> has the biggest bang for the buck, and if you\u2019re like me, you\u2019re going to need them during this stretch.\u00a0 Perhaps in the future there will be a dad brog championing the lack of need for these that I\u2019ll never get to.<\/span><\/p>\n Otherwise, as mentioned in the dad brog prior to this one, my eldest is now in kindergarten, officially in elementary school.\u00a0 #2 still has one more year of pre-K to complete before joining her sister, and my wallet will definitely be thrilled to not have to pay the cost of private pre-K, but it doesn\u2019t change the fact that it is a truly fantastic school to send my kids to.<\/span><\/p>\n But as a dad to a five and four year olds, I have to admit that this is probably one of the hardest stretches of being a parent I\u2019ve felt in a while.\u00a0 Mostly on account of the fact that my kids are at an age where they\u2019re tapping into their wills, which are extremely strong, and it results in a lot of just not listening, a lot of fighting, and a whole lot of exasperation on my end.<\/span><\/p>\n I admit to getting flustered and frustrated more than I want to be, but it\u2019s like asking my kids to do anything is usually like having to ask no less than 13 times, occasionally requiring some sort of bargaining or threatening to leave without them, which results in a separate meltdown, and if I weren\u2019t afraid of losing my hair, I\u2019d be pulling it out on a regular basis.<\/span><\/p>\n Bath time, bed time, time to go, time to do anything usually results in a whole lot of defiance if not straight up not listening, and I\u2019m finding myself exasperated pretty much any time I have to try and get my kids to do anything.\u00a0 Getting them to leave a store, while holding my hands in the parking lot, while trying to steer a shopping cart \u2013 by the time I\u2019m in the driver\u2019s seat pulling out, I\u2019m pissed and sweaty and not wanting to speak to my kids, and my kids are upset that I\u2019ve probably had to raise my voice at them because they\u2019re not listening.<\/span><\/p>\n And then after bedtime when the dust settles, I think about how much I love my kids and how shitty I feel about having ever gotten exasperated with them.\u00a0 Their motives aren\u2019t ever malicious or remotely detrimental, it\u2019s usually they just want to explore, experience or spend more time with the family instead of going to bed or getting into the car, or being told what to do, regardless of it\u2019s for safety purposes or not.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet when it inevitably happens the following day, and then the day after that, it\u2019s like the cycle that keeps perpetuating itself.\u00a0 I love my kids more than anything on the planet, but damn if they don\u2019t get on my nerves sometimes, and I can\u2019t help but feel exasperated when they just don\u2019t listen to anything.<\/span><\/p>\n I know most everything when it comes to parenting happens in phases and all things that annoy will eventually come to pass eventually, but I\u2019ll be the first to admit that this current juncture of parenting definitely has been patience-testing almost as much as how things were pre-pandemic, pre-au pair, when I was having to do double duty, an inordinate amount of time.<\/span><\/p>\n And then I\u2019m sure there will come a point in my life where I\u2019ll look back at miss these young formative years, and try to remember all the good times that came from them as opposed to all of the stuff that I let bother me, and maybe then I\u2019ll write Dad Brog #181 then.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I realize that as the passage of time has progressed over the last five years, the frequency in which I\u2019ve written these very dad-centric brog posts have petered off.\u00a0 As much as how things change, the amount in which I write is one of those things that I don\u2019t want to ever fall into that … Continue reading Dad Brog (#153): the State of Parenting<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36,98,193,192,83],"class_list":["post-50815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-angst","tag-bathroom","tag-dad","tag-kids","tag-observations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50817,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50815\/revisions\/50817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}