83 Parenting Hacks That Happened When Desperate Times Called For Desperate Measures

i told my son that monsters only show up if you pay the subscription for them and mommy and daddy don’t pay the subscription so we don’t have monsters anywhere around us.

This probably doesn’t belong but I’m sharing anyway lol. I have a teenage daughter and every time I try to buy her clothes, she says they’re ugly, but she’s always wanting to borrow MY clothes. So I started putting the clothes I bought her in my closet and now she steals those.

Embrace the silliness.

Make routine tasks fun where possible - they pick a 2 min song for a teeth brushing boogie dance party, put mission impossible music to tidy up a room the fastest and beat the family record (this gets old fast though if it becomes a daily thing, it’s something I’d keep in my back pocket when needed).

Adding fun and silliness is always a good trick - if you’re getting overwhelmed and want to shout at your kids, try using a silly opera singing voice. Or flip yourself upside down (downward dog style) and encourage your kids to do the same - it helps them calm down too since they’re probably high strung if they are pushing all your buttons + models better emotional regulation strategies. Sometimes doing something silly as a “time out” resets the situation and makes it easier to deal with.

We told our 2 year old his pacifier has to be put on the charger during the entire day so it can be used at bedtime.

I told my son when he talks to me crazy it physically makes me sick bc I’m his mom and I made him in my tummy so when he’s bad it makes my tummy ache so when he is being disrespectful or doing something he shouldn’t I start gagging. He’s 8 and it’s still working.

When my son wants a toy at the store I take a picture of him holding the toy to “send to Santa” instead of buying it. Works like a charm & then when Christmas comes around I already have a list.

I dance in public if my kids act up. I got so sick of the embarrassing behavior that I told them I'd out embarrass them. If they start fighting or acting ugly, I just ask them, "Y'all feel that beat?"
NO MOM GOD PLEASE NO
ok then, let's act right.

Told them that when they lie their ears turn red. They cover their ears when they aren’t being truthful.

Sometimes when my daughter won’t leave the living room to go upstairs for bed I tell her “it’s safe upstairs” shut off all the lights super quick and start growling.

If ur little one wont leave u alone and u just need space, hold a tissue. Each time they come close say "come here lemme wipe ur nose" They wont. It'll buy u 30 mins.

I tell my (9, 12, and 14) year old I’m going to take a quick rest but to make sure to get me up in about 30 minutes so I can tell them the chores they need to do. Funny how they forget to come get me and I get a nice rest/ watch a show in total peace and quiet.

Kids bring home SO much random artwork, coloring pages, stickers, and paper that parents don’t necessarily want to keep. Enter: Garbage Trolls.
Garbage Trolls are little creatures who live in dumpsters and can only decorate their homes with things people throw away. Unfortunately, they rarely have pretty homes because nobody throws away beautiful artwork!
So instead of throwing away your kid’s 47th coloring page, ask, “What if we donated this to the Garbage Trolls so they can make their homes beautiful?”
Suddenly, instead of having a meltdown over something being thrown away, your kid is THRILLED to donate it.
You’re decluttering, they’re practicing generosity, and the Garbage Trolls are getting an HGTV makeover. Everybody wins.

My kid asks a lot of questions and it’s so over stimulating. So I have the kid record voice memos on the phone and I’ll listen to them later and we research the question. We also limited to 3 questions a day and hold question conferences. Now I have archives of kids little voice changing and thought progression.

That the babadook likes to eat dehydrated children because it makes their bones crunchier so it important to drink your water so he doesn’t get you.

Bed time is 7:30. Around 6 we start saying “ok, time for bed. Lets get ready” so when the toddler fights me for bed time she can “stay up later” when in reality shes going to bed on time. Works every night.

A local babysitter keeps two toy rooms - one for younger kids and one for kids who are potty trained. Every kid begs to be potty trained so they can move up to the big kid toy room.

Christmas cleaning hack. We were given big fabric sacks and we had to fill them with toys and stuff, and leave them under the tree for Santa to collect. But they had to be in good condition, because were told that Santa would take the toys and clean them for boys and girls next year and if we put broken toys under there, we’d get broken toys the next year. It taught us to be more careful with our toys, give back to others, learn the consequences of our actions and it helped my parents declutter. Wins all around.

When my kids were younger and going through something difficult, we had a tradition called a “pity party.”
We’d pick out junk food, watch a funny movie, and give them permission to feel sad, frustrated, or angry…without judgment or pressure to feel better.
But when the movie ended, so did the pity party. It was time to pick ourselves up and move forward.
Those moments taught them that emotions should be acknowledged, not ignored, but they don’t have to define us. We could face hard things together, then take the next step, even if we weren’t completely okay yet.

This is not that cool but I wish I started it sooner when my son became a teenager “how was the day?” became a quick “it was good” response. I started googling topics of interest for him like skateboarding, computer tech, music artists he liked, etc… and would say “did you see that new song so and so dropped” and we’d talk forever. Or, “did you see the new interview they did with Tony Hawk?” And he’d light up and tell me about how he watched it yesterday, etc. Lovely bonding and I was relevant in conversation to what he was interested in at the time Doing this with my youngest now and it works like a charm.

when my toddler wont eat I ask her to show me how a animal would take a bite. "how would a tiger take a bite?" how would a gorilla take a bite? how would a giraffe take a bite? etc.