Parenting cheats

[ForTheSakeOfFuck]

Help. I have a fairly typical three-year-old DS - boisterous, argumentative, energetic, all the usual - and twins on the way. As I get more tired and enormous, I am looking at any possible way that I can make life easier for myself. I am basically begging for those really simple quick-and-dirty parenting cheats that you've discovered by chance or learned from others that cut down stress, time, and tantrums, even if they mean a compromise in our otherwise impeccable hahahaaa yeah not in this house standards.

For instance, DS is very active and he has no interest in food for its own sake, so he's a skinny rake and getting him to sit and eat a half-decent meal is torture for everyone involved. I just let breakfast and lunch play out however, but I discovered that if he watches his iPad at the dinner table I can hear the gasps of horror already he may eat incredibly slowly, but he eats way more, and I can sneak veggies and all sorts down him. This is about the only life-changing thing I have discovered in the last three years but oh my god it has brought my daily stress levels down and turned meals into something enjoyable again.

Anyway, anyone got any other cheats that they're willing to confess to, to help me save my sanity?

Note: this is meant to be light-hearted but will no doubt horrify the Performance/Competitive Parenting Brigades so if the notion of parental cheating gives you the vapours then this thread may not be for you.

Gosh I'm feeling a bit wistful reading these.

My dc are 9&7 and I have a bad back.

They have just got their water bottles, put the laundry on and are now sorting the dry laundry. It having had them involved from those early days.

The agony of 'helpful' sock sorters etc really pays off.

My toddler tips would be 'party tea' with cucumber sticks, cheese cubes etc. Loved them!

Don't bother with buying fancy plastic wipe clean bibs when you're weaning and food goes everywhere. They always stink and get discoloured and you chuck them and get cross about spending money on them in the first place.

Have a stash of old tshirts you don't mind getting tomato stains on, put one on child over their own clothes at dinner, and secure the neck with a clothes peg at the back so they are completely covered in tshirt. Then put in wash.

We had a stack of DH's old tshirts (black is best) and chucked them after DS could be trusted to eat without getting it all over himself.

Also to keep a toddler busy, get a jar with a soft lid (peanut butter, marmite, fresh pasta sauce type of thing), and cut a slot in the top with scissors or a knife. Put tape over any sharpish edges.

Get a dish of coins and give to toddler with jar. Their job is to put all the coins one by one into the jar through the slot. Don't ask me why but they love it.

Right, am printing this thread out and binding it.

The car wash and coin-slot games have both gone down an absolute treat this past few days. Mummy even got to fall onto the couch and groan quietly to herself whilst watching TV crap for half an hour.

It makes a bit of a mess, nothing s hoover won't deal with but some tiny cheap diggers, tipper trucks etc from wilko or home bargains and a tray/shallow baking dish with uncooked rice in keeps my ds occupied for ages@

For amazingly hassle free tidying up, try this tidy up song, Tidy Up Rhumba by Musical Playground. It's only about 3 mins long so it takes us 2-3 plays depending how far and wide the lego has spread

Seconding frozen mash.
Adding ready chopped carrots. (Cooking or snacking).
And chopped frozen onions.

Cottage pie is so much quicker these days!

Especially for when your twins arrive.

A game toddler DS enjoyed whilst i was heavily pg involved a length of plastic pipe (plumbing supplies) and a bag of small cars. Prop end of pipe up on a box or pile of books and then roll cars down the pipe. Hrs of fun!

Get a playpen - at one point I used to use a pop up travel cot. Quite often DS would fall asleep in it for his afternoon nap too. But you can put the babies in the play pen whilst you do jobs/go to the loo and the older one won't be able to reach them.

Hi, all!

Thanks so much for bringing this thread to our attention.

We agree that it's super useful and have discussed this with the OP.

We're moving it over to parenting now so that it sticks around until the end of time!

A good game I've found is a bag of pom Poms and one of those toddler snack cups with a soft rubbery lid which are designed to stop them spilling the snack. Pom Poms have to be posted in. DS loves it. And also pom poms down an old kitchen roll/cling film tube.

We have separate drawers for nursery and home clothes but we also get everything ready the night before including breakfast, packed lunches and whatever I'm planning to throw in the slow cooker for tea. Meatballs thrown in with passata with basil, cooked on low all day and served with pasta and microwave steamed veg is cheap, easy and healthy.

Despite what some will tell you, peppa pig is an acceptable babysitter for the older child for half an hour or so. Its also acceptable to put the babies into a playpen and have a few mins to yourself.

Though I would personally advise against peppa pig, we pushed DD towards spongebob when tiny, as spongebob isn't quite so annoying and doesn't play the entire theme tune every 5 mins She moved onto peppa in her own time mind unfortunately.

Never leave the house without changes of clothes (maybe multiples for the babies). Easiest way to do this is to just have a bag ready at all times. if you use an outfit, replace it that day and keep the rest in the bag til used. Stops the flapping around trying to find everything. We also keep a couple of pullups and a packet of wipes in our going out bag.

Also, its acceptable to (if you have no plans to go out) keep the kids in baby vests and stuff all day long. When I had DD I felt the need to dress her everyday in full dress, tights, mittens and so on, even shoes. It was silly and I see that now. They are more comfortable in vests anyways generally.

One that others may disagree with but worked for us...put babies to bed at the same time you go. You will get more sleep that way. We put DD to bed at 7pm and she was waking at 4am full of beans ready to play. We changed her bedtime to 11 (sounds late but shes a baby...) and she wasn't getting up til about 8. Woke a few times through the night but not waking as in I MUST GET UP NOW! Older child obviously needs a bedtime though. But hopefully older child is sleeping better now anyway :)

My 3 year old is also very boisterous but he loves smelling all the spices/herbs in the cupboard. Requires input from me to open the lids but doesn't involve any preparation/mess/getting out of the house.