A tweet asking for parenting advice has quickly turned into one of the most helpful threads on the internet.
Twitter user Tori Williams Douglass recently shared her own favorite parenting tip and invited other parents and caregivers to do the same. “How old are your kids and what’s your number one parenting hack? My kids are 9 and 7 and my all time favorite parenting hack is serving dinner at 5 p.m.,” Douglass writes. “Anyone who cares for kids is invited to reply.”
The post quickly took off, and hundreds of people responded with their best tips, advice and reminders. Some shared their brilliant hacks for getting kids to do tasks they frequently dislike, like washing their hands, being more adventurous eaters or coping with big changes like Daylight Saving Time.
Check out just a few smart parenting tips, tricks and hacks from the many many good ones shared:
1. How to get kids to wash their hands
“When my son was around 2 and I had trouble getting him to wash his hands, I would have him wash matchbox cars with hand soap,” one parent writes. “It got the job done without a struggle.”
2. How to get kids to clean up
Another parent says he regularly has his kids take part in a quick cleanup game before dinner. “Have the kids take turns picking up one thing and counting off till we get to 20,” he writes. “[It] usually takes less than three minutes, and the room is really noticeably improved.”
Some parents and caregivers offered advice on dealing with different behavioral issues, like tantrums and other difficult stages of child development.
3. How to manage expectations in trying times
“Can’t recall where I picked this one up, but thinking about your kids age by the number of given months they have experienced,” one person shares. “For example: My 5-year-old has only experienced the month of April five times. Something about that reframing helps me manage my expectations of them.”
4. How to teach kids to communicate their needs
“When my 8-year-old is having feelings at me, sometimes I just ask her outright what she needs from me,” another parent offers. “Does she want me to do something or just listen to her? It helps me to manage my overwhelm and helps her to get what she needs build her communication skills.”
5. How to help kids with big emotions
Another parent says, “My favorite parenting hack is asking them what their favorite smell/flavor is when they are struggling to regulate emotions. Thinking of their senses helps us all switch from sympathetic to parasympathetic nervous system.”
6. How to deal with sibling rivalry
Commenters even had smart ideas for dealing with one of the most common kid issues: fighting between siblings. “When mine were 9 and 7, if they argued over small things, we told them that they could argue for as long as they wanted under one condition: They had to sing their arguments,” one parent writes. “Preferably with operatic drama. They rarely made it past three sentences before collapsing into laughter.”
7. How to handle, possibly, everything with kids?
Speaking of singing, one parents says, “My biggest hack: Sing EVERYTHING. Brush teeth? Sing it. Clean up? Sing it. Turning off Cocomelon? Sing it. Heals everything.”
8. How to connect with kids
A dad with tweens offers this advice for building and keeping a good rapport with kids. “Hack: figure out what they love and love it too,” he writes. “Just love it with them.”
9. How to help them feel “seen”
Another mom shares her tip for bonding with each of her children, “Once a month I take ONE kid out of school early (usually Friday afternoon, 2 hours before school ends). We go to a coffee shop and draw/color/chat.” She shares, “It’s a lovely one-on-one date while the others are in school, makes them feel special, I enjoy them as individuals.”
10. How to keep a toddler happy
And possibly the No. 1, most helpful hack of all time — this dad’s genius, DIY, circle-back racetrack. Long moments of fun for little ones! Priceless moments of peace for a parent or caregiver.
The Internet is often a space for parenting debates and arguments, but Douglass’s thread is an example of the good that can come when parents and caregivers unite in a community online. There are so many unique challenges that accompany each stage of raising children, and who better to get advice from than other parents, nannies and caregivers who’ve been there and devised brilliant strategies to make life easier for themselves and their kids?
No two families are alike, and each parent has to find the rules and routines that work for them, but as the responses to Douglass’s tweet prove, it can be a lot easier to find your way when you have a few tricks of the trade up your sleeve.
