20 Parenting Tips That Will Make Your Life a Little Easier
Your little ones are often the tiny terrors of your home and corralling their endless energy takes a lot out of any parent. Thankfully, years of experience from parents around the world has led to a plethora of parenting tricks that will keep you sane while raising your kids. Take a look below at some parenting tips that will make your life a little easier.
1 Use Cardboard to Stop Car Fights
If you have more than one child, strapping them all into the backseat of your car is always a gamble. If things don’t go perfectly, you’ll be trying to break up a screaming match among your little ones while simultaneously fighting to keep the car on the road.
With a little cardboard, you can solve your problem. Place cardboard between your car seats to separate your children from one another. If they can’t see each other, they’ll be much less likely to get into a fight. You can then enjoy a genuinely peaceful car ride and a safe arrival at your destination.
2 Use a Lint Roller to Clean Up Arts and Crafts
Anytime you unleash your children to take on arts and crafts, you’re bound to end up with a mess. Their pictures are cute and worthy of being hung on the fridge, but the glitter scattered all over your floor is not so cute.
For a quick clean up after messy crafts, use a lint roller. The lint roller with easily pick up tiny pieces of glitter, small gemstones, and other minuscule craft pieces that will otherwise sit in the nooks and crannies of your table for weeks. Let your kids craft to their heart’s content without worrying about the eventual cleanup process by investing in a craft-centric lint roller.
3 Let Your Toddler Paint the Fence With Water
Little kids love to paint, but any sane parent wants to keep their kids far away from the watercolors. For small children particularly, paint leads to messy tables and even messier clothes. But if you have an artsy little one who won’t take no for an answer, you can allow them to experience the joys of painting with a little water.
Take a bucket of water and a painting brush outside with your little one. Then, allow your child to “paint” on the fence using water alone. If you don’t have a fence conducive to painting, you can use a section of the sidewalk for the same effect. The water will make pretty pictures that disappear in time. If your child spills, they’re only getting a little water on their clothes. It’s the “no-mess” way to bring arts and crafts into your home.
4 Hide Candy In a Bag of Frozen Vegetables
After you empty a bag of frozen vegetables, repurpose the package into a secret candy stash. Fill the bag with the candy of your choice and place it back in the freezer.
Hidden inside a bag that looks entirely unappetizing, you can guarantee that your kids won’t break into the candy stash without permission. You can decide when to dole out sweet treats, or you can keep all the candy for yourself. Either way, the desserts in your house are under your full control.
5 Use Toilet Paper Rolls to Create An At-Home Garage
Toy cars can keep your child entertained for hours. Unfortunately, they’re also the most annoying toy to have in your house. If they’re not put away properly, you’ll find yourself stepping on these tiny bits of plastic every time you round a corner.
Make it fun for your child to clean up their mini automobiles by creating an at-home car garage. Turn an empty crate on its side and stack it full of toilet paper rolls. Each car can sit in a roll, creating an at-home garage that easily organizes your child’s toys.
6 Cover Playpen With a Fitted Sheet
Having a child doesn’t mean you have to be trapped in the house all day. If you can put your baby in their playpen with a few toys, you can hopefully keep them occupied long enough for you to do some much-needed gardening or simply enjoy some time in the sun.
If you want to add an extra layer of protection to the playpen, use a fitted sheet. Put the sheet over the top of the playpen to keep bugs like mosquitos far away from your baby. The sheet will also block out harmful sun rays and keep your baby safe while you soak in some Vitamin C.
7 Create Your Own Gripper Socks
Hardwood floors look beautiful in your home, but they come with a bit of danger for your kids. Socks inside are pretty much out of the question unless you want your child to slip and slide across the floor.
Instead of forcing bare feet in your house or buying expensive gripper socks, you can make your own gripper socks at home with a bit of puff paint. Create designs on the bottom of your kids’ socks with puff paint and allow it to dry completely. Once you’re done, you’ll have the effect of gripper socks in a design unique to your child.
8 Treat Injuries With Frozen Marshmallows
When your child gets a boo-boo, the drama of getting an ice pack for the hurt area almost outweighs the injury. Normal ice and ice packs are often too cold or too stiff to conform to the injury. Frozen marshmallows might be the answer you’ve been looking for.
Keep a bag of frozen marshmallows in the freezer for unexpected hurts. The marshmallows are soft enough to conform to any injury and they don’t hold too much cold, so you won’t hear constant complaints about freezing limbs. Plus, you can reward your child with a marshmallow after they’re done icing to make their boo-boo a bit better.
9 Put a Pool Noodle On Your Door
As an adult, you know how to avoid smashing your fingers in closing doors. Unfortunately, kids haven’t quite learned how to be careful with the doors in your home. To avoid smashing their tiny fingers, put a pool noodle on the door.
Cut out a rectangular section of the pool noodle that’s roughly the size of your door. Then, fit the modified pool noodle onto the edge of your door. The pool noodle will keep the door from closing all the way, ensuring your child’s fingers stay safe, no matter how hard they may slam the door.
10 Bathe Your Child In a Laundry Basket
Depending on the child, bath time can be the most challenging part of the day. It’s a chance for your kid to unwind and relax, but it’s also an opportunity for them to play with their toys and splash water all around your bathroom.
To slightly limit the mess of bath time, try bathing your child in a laundry basket. The laundry basket will limit your small child to one area of the bathtub and will keep all their toys within close proximity. It might not eliminate splashing altogether, but it will certainly help to keep the water inside the tub.
11 Turn Chores Into a Game
Getting your small children to help around the house is practically impossible. They just don’t understand the point of daily chores and will sometimes make more of a mess, rather than actually cleaning up. To teach them the basics, turn their daily chores into a game.
Outline a box on your floor with painter’s tape. Then, instruct your child to get everything on the floor into that box using the broom. Once they’ve done that, you can easily sweep the remaining garbage into the dustpan or vacuum it all up. Your floors will be clean and your children will be occupied for a few minutes—it’s a win-win.
12 Fix Hand-Me-Down Tanks With a Barrette
Hand-me-down clothes are a lifesaver for your growing kids. Buying new clothes every few months takes a hit on the bank account, but hand-me-down clothes are exciting both for your children and for your wallet. There’s just one problem: some of your trusty hand-me-downs may be too big.
If your child is wearing a hand-me-down tank that’s just a little too large, fix the straps with a barrette. Use the barrette to clip the straps together in the back, creating a racerback tank that fits your child perfectly. The barrette will allow the shirt to fit for a while, delaying the time until you absolutely have to buy your child new clothes.
13 Repurpose The Crib
If your child grows out of their crib, you don’t have to throw it away. Instead, you can repurpose it into a desk or craft station that will provide entertainment for years to come.
Simply remove the rails on one section of the crib. Then, measure out the length and width of the bottom of the crib. Buy or make a thin board that can sit right at the bottom of the crib for the top of your child’s desk. After that’s done, fill the desk with your child’s crafting tools and buy a little chair for them to sit at. They’ll grow out of their tiny craft space someday, but this hack definitely extends the life of your crib.
14 Put a Pool Noodle Under a Fitted Sheet To Keep Kids In Bed
Every new transition comes with its own challenges, but putting your children into their own bed without rails is especially nerve-wracking. If your little one is still small, the fear that they’ll tumble out of bed likely plagues your nights. With a pool noodle, you can set your mind at ease.
Simply put the pool noodle under the fitted sheet of your child’s bead on each side. Then, make the bed as usual. The pool noodle will act as a buffer that keeps your kiddo in the center, eliminating the possibility that they’ll fall out of bed in the middle of the night.
15 Tap Dancing At a Lower Price
Your children’s hobbies can quickly become very expensive and have a huge impact on your finances. Is your child a tap dancer? Adapted shoes are very expensive, but as long as it’s a simple passion that he or she practices in the basement, we have the ideal solution for you!
Take a few pennies out of your pockets, get some good glue, and glue pennies on the front and back of the soles of a pair of your child’s shoes. There you go, homemade tap shoes!
16 Prevent Locked Doors With a Rubber Band
If you have door locks in your house, you always run the risk that your little one will trap themselves in a room, whether by accident or on purpose. Eliminate that fear with a simple rubber band.
Take the rubber band and put it around the outside door handle, then twist the rubber band so it sits over the lock and loop it around the inside door handle. The rubber band still allows the door to close, but it keeps it from locking. Say goodbye to worries about your little one trapping themselves behind a door you can’t open!
17 Put a Sticker In Shoes to Help Your Child Find the Right Foot
Your kids may be at the age where they can put on their own shoes, but that doesn’t mean they always put them on the right feet. To help your children slip their shoes on a little more easily, use a sticker.
Take a large sticker of your child’s choice and cut it in half. Then, put one half in the right shoe and one half in the left shoe so the sticker lines up when the shoes are placed together. Then, instruct your child to make the sticker whole when they put on their shoes. This very simple hack will help them find the right foot every time.
18 Put Baking Soda On Splinters
If your little one gets a splinter, the process of pulling it out of their delicate skin can be difficult. Not to mention getting your child to sit still long enough to actually grab the splinter is half the challenge. Instead of poking them with tweezers, try a paste of baking soda.
Combine baking soda and water and spread the resulting paste onto the splinter. The baking soda will help to push the splinter to the surface, where you can easily grab the end with a pair of tweezers. If you’re lucky, the baking soda might push it all the way out!
19 Use Toothpaste to Clean Permanent Marker
Little ones just love to draw. Unfortunately, they don’t always understand that the entire world isn’t their easel. If your child takes a permanent marker to some furniture in your house, you don’t have to declare the piece ruined. Instead, you can fix their faux pas with a little toothpaste.
Squeeze toothpaste onto the area affected by the permanent marker. Then, rub away the toothpaste with a toothbrush. The mark will disappear, leaving your furniture good as new. You should still inform your children that they’re not supposed to draw on the dresser, but at least you know you can fix it if they mess up.
20 Put Tape Over the Speaker Of Loud Toys
What genius decided to make the large majority of children’s toys loud and incredibly annoying? Sometimes it feels like you can’t escape the constant music and other noises that blares through your child’s favorite plaything. While getting rid of the noise altogether will undoubtedly lead to a temper tantrum, you can dull the sound with a little scotch tape.
Put a small piece of tape over the speaker on your child’s loudest toys. The tape will muffle the sound, allowing you to have some much-needed quiet time. However, it won’t eliminate the sound altogether, which will keep your child happy as they continue to play.
