My gay BFF wants a baby and I’m pregnant but don’t want to keep it: how do I broach the topic of adoption with him?
We had our son five months ago and have been using condoms as birth control since he was born. Much to my horror, I find myself pregnant again. My partner and I have discussed our options, and have decided we don’t want to terminate the pregnancy — but we also know that we don’t want to raise two children this close together. One of my best and oldest friends has been talking about having a baby, and he and his husband are having a hard time adopting. We’ve joked about one of our friends carrying a child for them, but didn’t think it would actually happen… until I became pregnant.
How do I talk to my Child-Free partner about maybe having kids?
My husband and I have been together for five years, and married for almost one. Up until recently, neither of us have ever wanted to have children. We’ve made this perfectly clear to all interested potential grandparent parties. However… I’ve recently started to think about having kids more and more, and it hit me the other day that I would very much like to have a kid.
I’m a single mom getting ready to move out with my kid — care to share your family budgeting tips?
I am a single mother with a rapidly evolving career. My three-year-old and I have been living with my parents for almost two-and-a-half years now, and it’s time to leave. I found a decent (read: not dangerous) apartment complex, and we will be moving in about a month.
I’m an atheist but my step-kid is religious: how do I respect his beliefs while expressing mine?
I have a nine-year-old stepson. I’ve been in his life since he was two-years-old. We’ve always split time 50-50 between the houses. My partner and I are definitely offbeat. We’re tattooed, politically radical and activist-y, feminist, intentionally unmarried, and atheists. Around the time my stepson was four, his biological mom “found Jesus” and joined an evangelical, fundamentalist church. Needless to say, this was a difficult transition. Now, our little dude is coming to our house and evangelizing to us, trying to convert us.
I’m completely deaf in one ear: how do I teach my children to help me hear them?
I’m completely deaf in my right ear, and I’m a parent to a toddler and a preschooler. I need to be able to read lips to most effectively hear people when they speak, and preschoolers are notoriously unintelligible in the best of circumstances. I try to teach my kids to look at my face when they speak so I can hear them, but it doesn’t often work.
What non-crazy steps did you take to baby proof your home?
I have a four-month-old little ball of love who is about to become a ROLLING ball of love. My partner and I are looking into baby-proofing — or rather, baby safe-ing as I like to say — our two bedroom apartment.
My best friend and her kids might come live with us — any advice on creating a non-biological family?
My best friend is a single mom with two kiddos who are my godchildren/niece and nephew. Since her divorce, she’s been living with her parents in a pretty cramped living situation in our hometown. She left college when she got married, and even living with parents, childcare costs have prevented her from going back to school for more than a class at a time and sometimes not at all. She’s been struggling even more financially recently, and my husband and I have been talking more and more about offering that she come and live with us for a bit to focus on school.
We’re thinking about creating a family name — how can we avoid losing our heritage in the process?
My partner and I are thinking about coming up with an entirely new last name for our family — one that isn’t attached to either family in any way. I only have one reservation: names often have a long history attached, and it’s likely we’d want to share this history with our future kids.