Parenting is a full time job, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Am I right? So when we discovered these little tricks of the trade designed to make life that little bit simpler for mums and dads, who were we to keep this info to ourselves? Check out these must try parenting hacks.
Hack #1 – No more toilet paper trails
If you have a toddler in your house who is fully toilet trained like I do – hooray! It’s super awesome when they learn to wipe their own bum. But what is a bit painful is the metres of toilet paper left unravelled to the floor and twisting half way out the door.
A good friend shared this hack with me when I complained about the TP trail, and it’s so simple, it’s genius.
Squish the toilet paper roll so it’s not perfectly round. It makes the roll jolt when it reaches the newly creased edge. Then tell your toddler when they feel that jolt, rip the paper there and commence with your business. Not only are our toilets getting less clogged, but our toilet paper is also lasting longer once again.
Hack #2 – Quick cutting for hungry babies
If your one year old is anything like mine, you put them in the high chair ready for dinner, but you need to get dinner out of the oven, cut it up and serve it. But my one year old thinks the waiting time involved here is completely unreasonable – naturally. She will wail and yell until the food lands on her tray table in front of her ready for devouring. This little hack might just speed up the process and minimise the pre dinner song so here it is – use a pizza cutter.
Why haven’t I ever thought of this before? I’m always madly looking for a knife and fork and hacking up dinner as fast as humanly possible, but a pizza cutter can dissect that dinner in seconds. Eggs, avocado, tomato, cheese, pasta, quiche, pancakes – the possibilities are endless.
Hack #3 – If the shoe fits
If you’ve ever been out shopping without your little ones and spotted a pair of shoes and thought oh…. so adorable… but which size do I get? They grow so quickly you can’t keep up! So get a piece of paper and trace their feet, fold it up and put it in your bag. Problem solved.
Hack #4 – The weekend sleep in
Have you just accepted that your day starts at 5:45am when the sparrows start chirping and your kids spring out of bed like Energiser bunnies? This hack might buy you some quality pillow time. If you don’t have an Onoroo clock, don’t fret, because these hacks can achieve the same outcome. Get an outlet timer from the supermarket and plug your child’s lamp or nightlight into it. But set it to go on at a reasonable time in the morning such as 7:00am. Tell your kids they can’t hop out of bed until the light comes on. But you might want to disclose the exception to that rule is if you’re busting for the toilet. I learned that lesson the hard way.
If you have an older child who has learned to tell the time on an analogue clock, you can use the same principle as above by getting a red text and colouring in a slice of pie from 5:00-6:00 indicating if the hands are in that area, it’s too early to get up. From 6-6:30am is orange meaning it’s not quite time, it’s quiet time, and 6:30-7:30am is coloured green meaning go for it, rise and shine.
Hack #5 – In control in the car park
Car parks can be busy, unpredictable places. Little ones and car parks do not mix. My heart has palpitations when we get out of the car and I hear the sound of another car entering the car park while I’m trying to wrangle two kids out of the car. So this little hack could literally be a life saver. Pack magnets into the back of the car – pop them in the side door or the pocket on your kids’ booster seat. Get them out of the car and stick them on the side rear of the car and tell your kids they have to keep their hand on the magnet at all times until you say it’s time to either get in the car or go to where it is you’re heading.
