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

We lie and tell my son we have cameras so anytime I hear him being mean to his brothers or doing something bad I say “ok I’ll just go watch the camera” and then he tells me what he did.

It’s really bad but… my mother has no teeth (from her genetics she lost her teeth at 30) so I tell my kids that if they don’t brush their teeth, their teeth will fall out like grandmas did because she didn’t brush her teeth either (mom if you see this I’m so sorry but it works).

I’m a single mom and my kids don’t like to sleep alone so i put bunk beds in the bedroom along with my bed and made the room on the other side of the house their play room since it’s closer to the living room. We all have our own beds and places but feel safe and loved at night all together in one room. It may not be for everyone or forever but it works for us really well for right now.

Told my daughter that boogers were farts that got stuck in her nose so she’d stop eating them.

There comes a point at around 3 years old where they start to drop the afternoon nap. If they don't sleep they're feral by dinnertime because they're tired but go down easier at bedtime, if they do sleep they're easier to deal with for the evening but might stay awake until all hours.

I instigated the hour's quiet time after lunch - they didn't have to sleep, but a period of quiet downtime in the afternoon watching a movie, colouring in, reading or quiet play with their toys. It eased the transition and helped set them up for kindy which had a similar schedule.

We do a “two minute cleanup” every night before bed to tidy the kids’ room. Initially the goal was for our toddler to “own” his messes and see that we all help each other out. And to see how easy it is to stay tidy if you clean a little every day. It’s become such a part of our evenings that we usually don’t even set the timer anymore.

Also we have a rule that we tidy up a toy before we get something else out. (Obviously not huge builds like a train set he’s spent two days on…) For example, we shove the Dress Ups back in their box before we get out the puzzles etc. Going to preschool reinforced this, as that’s standard procedure there as well.

Countdowns as a race. Timers to give the kid something to beat. Kids have no idea what time is, so it can help put it into relation (I guess!). It's my most successful trick for getting ready to leave the house.

I think this is good for both kid and parent. To help develop independence - make the kid do “minutes” or “tries” in correspondence to their age. So my 3 year old had to try his socks on his own for three tries. My 8 year old needs to look for their own water bottle for 8 minutes before asking me.

I think it’s easy for us parents to just step in and “help” and it makes our kids too dependent on us to fix their problems. They usually do it on their own within those tries. But if they do need help I still want them to come to me. It’s just a nice and easy reminder.

Pretending his favorite heroes/characters had recipes for things like The Flash's favorite Lightning Lettuce™ (Caesar salad)and Hulk Sauce (very plain guacamole), there were lots more along the way but I can't remember them all. Carrots make you jump higher like a bunny, you get the idea. I lied a lot and now have a 6 year old who is a great eater.

When my kid was around 6 or so we discovered a way that eliminated interuptions. If he has something to say he puts his hand on my arm. I put my hand on his so he KNOWS I know. No more repeating or getting louder or trying impatiently to wait for "one more minute". The instand feedback worked a charm.

When dropping off the kid at daycare, tell them "ok, we're going to DAYCARE now! Are you ready to have fun at DAYCARE? Are you ready to see Ms. Sonia?" and so on. Getting a heads up that we are headed to daycare cut down on crying at dropoff by 97%, seriously. Sounds ridiculous because we go every day but apparently my kid wasn't totally sure where we were heading and arriving was always an abrupt surprise.

I’ve given my kids both room temperature and cold expressed milk since day 1. Never bought a bottle warmer or warmed their milk up (ymmv obvs, I know some babies won’t take it cold).

I also weaponized my son about certain safety things (e.g., that he can’t wear a big coat in the carseat, or now that he’s older that he needs to wear a mask, etc.) as soon as he could talk. If he was riding with someone else and they tried to buckle him in wearing his coat, he’d throw a fit about not being safe. I also explained these things to my in laws, of course, but it was a good extra layer of protection knowing he’d throw a fit on his own behalf if anyone tried to skirt those rules. Kids LOVE enforcing rules on adults ime.

ETA: also, alarms! “Can you set a 10 minute alarm? When it goes off it’s time to put away toys/go to bed/whatever.” Helps with the transition, and also makes the alarm the “bad guy” not me.

She helps me make a pour over coffee every morning, first thing. She loves “helping” and I get to have coffee very soon after we wake up. It’s taken a lot to get to this point (me working patience, her working on listening) and now I don’t really like to make a coffee without her there helping We like to smell the aroma and watch the bubbles drift up as the coffee filters through. Feels really special.

If he won’t get dressed, we look up the National Day- oh look, it’s National hot dog day! Let’s find a red shirt and bun colored pants! Ohh can you find mustard socks???? Look at this hot dog guy! (Hehe just thought of ‘I think you should leave’ ).

put anything in an ice cream cone and call it 'yogurt ice cream' or 'potato ice cream'.

My favorite thing is having my guy tell things “bye bye” or “see you later” we started as soon as he could talk/understand and still use it as he is about to turn 3. Works wonders at the park! Okay we’re leaving in 5 mins… times up… tell the park bye bye and we’ll see you later. I swear all tantrums stopped immediately. Now we use it for screen time (bye bye Mickey Mouse) and other things too.

Flip food over!

(I know I sound crazy)

Toddler was upset there was “white stuff” on their plain pancakes at a restaurant. “I’ll fix it!” and I secretly flipped them over and bam—no more “white stuff”.

Wanted a hamburger and got a cheeseburger? Flip it over!

The macaroni has seasoning on top? Flip it over!

(This is a lot of our restaurant visits—my kids think I’m a magician ).

Highly suggest "dinosaur time" where you cram a handful of greens into your mouth raw and eat as much as you can.

Glow sticks in the shower for a glow shower...

I had a customer that convinced her hyperactive son at age 5 he was allergic to sugar. He found out he wasn’t when he was 24.