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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • My dad and my stepmom would love to do more for our 2 year old, but my dad still works, my step-mom has a lot of health issues that they have to maintain appointments for, and they also have like 6 other grandchildren from my stepbrothers. My wife and I live an hour away and do very well financially, so they not only don’t have the time, but could not realistically care for him that often.

    My mom is well meaning, but my step-dad is a moron and they own like 4 vehicles and only 1 works. They are not poor, just dumb when it comes to cars. My mom is also a narcissist and it does not occur to her that if she asked to help more that she could. We’ve talked to her about it, and she just doesn’t attempt to do anything.

    My grandparents, now in their 80s, love every minute with the little guy, but they don’t have the energy they used to.

    Contrast that with out daycare: the facility is run by two sisters and their retired father helps out to keep busy. They hire teachers at a living wage and absolutely love the kids that attend. Our little guy has not yet had his 2nd birthday and he knows almost all of his letters, he can count to 14, he knows his shapes, and he has a great vocabulary already. He has a best friend, he is very social with the other kids and they all share very well. The older kids are all very well spoken, polite, and respectful to each other. We are so lucky we found such a great place.

    Grandma and grandpa simply could not provide him with that. He is in a place where he is safe and loved at all times, and the cost to put him there should be tax deductible. We burn through the child care tax deduction by February.

    And anyone who thinks Trump/Vance is the right choice for families is a fucking moron. It’s ridiculous














  • No, you’re a fool if you truly believe this. Every generation has had some form of this feeling. Imagine considering having children during WW1, or WW2, or during Vietnam or Korea? Then after that we had McCarthyism and the Cold War - all seemingly hopeless days. Yet there is still so much beauty in the world, and there is so much that makes life worth living.

    My son will turn 2 in a few months. It’s tough being a parent, but it is entirely worth it. You cannot give into myopia - every time I hear him laugh, I am reminded that there is good in the world and it is worth fighting for. He will have his own challenges to face in life, but it is our job as a society to equip him, and all of the next generation, with the tools they need to succeed.

    I’m troubled about the future, but you cannot make that stop you from striving for better days. As Marcus Aurelius said, never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

    I’ve been re-reading the Lord of the Rings lately, and there is a lot there on this topic, but I always think back to Sam. We all should be so lucky to have a friend like that, but what he says when all hope seems to be lost is truly striking:

    “It’s like the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”

    Tolkien wrote this after his experiences fighting in The Somme. If he could find hope and found the courage to keep striving for better days, then so should we.