“No Fussing At Bedtime!”: 27 Genius Parenting Tricks That Make Life Less Stressful

Get a glow in the dark Halloween bucket for each kid to use as the puke bucket. We used to just have one but the whole house got norovirus one week and now we have one for each human. It's so much easier to find when sick in the dark and they think it's funny.

Set timers to limit whining. “Ok, I’ll give you a little more time but once you hear the timer go off that’s it and I don’t want to hear any arguing.” That goes for playtime, or screen time or whatever. Give finite choices and don’t be open ended about things. Don’t say “do you want to get dressed?” That gives them the opportunity to say no, and then get mad when you don’t honor their answer. Say “ok it’s time to get dressed, do you want to wear the red shirt or green shirt today?” Or something of the sort. Give them a choice so they feel like they have control over something but make sure they’re between 2 choices you can live with. My son always said “I’m hungry” at bedtime, so vegetables were his only options. Soon enough he would just ask for a bowl of “Trees & ranch” while we read a book at bedtime.

I wear a server apron everyday. I know some people are too stylish for a hack like that but I got some really cute ones on Etsy. When I fly it’s like having an extra carryon and in day to day life it is so easy I am not trying to dig through a diaper bag. I keep my phone, a pen/sharpie, a cloth, snacks, a small toy.

I got the idea from seeing Japanese mothers in smocks.

If you go outside your house stays clean. Especially if you have kids like mine who are 3 times better behaved in public.

(Not that I care too much about the exact cleanliness of the house, but I can't stand the fighting and whining that goes with playing inside.)

Buy a foot measurer. You can get them online for like $10. So much easier to know you are getting the right size shoes. I can never tell when they try them on unless it is obviously way too big or too small. Also, then I can just size them and order shoes online.

Once your kid is mobile: all toys (other than sleeping toys/lovies) go into stackable bins (with lids). For toddlers the selection can be random, but when they’re older you can sort/label. Bins will probably need to be fairly large to accommodate bigger toys.

Then the two rules of toys are: ONE BIN AT A TIME, and THE BIN CONTENTS STAY IN ONE ROOM. If they seem bored with the selection or want to leave the room, toss everything back in the bin. Don’t worry about internal bin organization: just toss everything for that bin in the bin.

The bins limit the total mess. It’s a level of cleaning toddlers can understand as long as you get them started (we make it sort of basketball with my kids, and they like cleanup time). It’s easy enough for older kids to self-maintain (with reminders).

It’s a little trickier with 2 kids, but the one bin/one room rule helps that.

This one might involve too much plumbing for folks but I got a shower head that had the main head and then a hand shower. Also got it an extra long hose and another magnetic mount for the other side of the shower and now I have a perfect little toddler height shower. So much quicker/easier then bath time and she just pops in with me.