Ten of the best parenting hacks to make your life easier

NZ Herald Planning Editor and Herald on Sunday columnist·NZ Herald·

10 Mar, 2018 03:03 AM3 mins to read

Parents spend hours and hours every day trying to keep their children safe and entertained. Here are some shortcuts. Photo / 123rf

1. Make them do chores in exchange for internet.

2. Hide the medicine behind a fizzy drink can.

3. Stuff a glove so it becomes heavy and place it on your child's back when you need a break from snuggling.

4. Before putting that big box out in the recycling bin, let your child go wild colouring it in.

5. Keep an empty bag of frozen vegetables around and use it to hide the chocolates you don't want them to eat.

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#parenthacks #yourewelcome

A post shared by PishPosh Baby (@pishposhbabydotcom) on May 18, 2016 at 3:00am PDT

6. Stop your child from using too much soap by rigging the hand-soap dispenser.

https://lifehacksthatwork.tumblr.com/post/166233228714/or-greedy-adults

7. Use a fitted sheet to stop your child from getting sand everywhere.

8. Use stickers to make sure your child puts their shoes on the right feet.

9. Use a pool noodle to make the edges of table safer for your wandering tots.

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Cuando llegamos a casa de los abuelos estas vacaciones Santi era todavía un santo que sólo gateaba y no inventaba mucho pero de la noche a la mañana se volvió en un bebé súper activo y medio inventor jaja. Su nueva actividad preferida es pararse agarrado de cualquier mueble, en especial esa mesita de vidrio que ven en la foto Después de quedar agotados de estarlo quitando de ahí todo el día por el miedo de que se pegue con el vidrio se me ocurrió este #hack improvisado de babyproofing y ha funcionado de maravilla Para hacerlo solo necesitas un tubo flotador de piscina. Cortas el tubo del largo de la mesa y lo abres con un corte a lo longitudinal de forma que puedas encajarlo en el borde como ven en la foto. Si tu bebé es capaz de sacarlo puedes asegurarlo con un poco de teipe o cinta adhesiva __________________________________________ When our vacation visiting the grandparents started Santiago was still an angel baby, only crawling and not getting into trouble. But as the weeks have gone by, from one day to the next he turned into a very active baby wanting to explore everything in sight with very little fear. His new favorite activity is standing and cruising holding on to the glass table in the picture After getting exhausted from removing him from the table a hundred times a day in fear that he may fall and hit the glass I came up with this baby-proofing #hack that has worked very well All you need is a floating pool needle. Just cut it to the length of the table and cut a slit along the entire tube. Insert the table's side in the slit and you're done! If your baby is able to take it off secure it with a little tape #mom #mama #momhacks #babyproofing #baby #bebe #tip

A post shared by cori at home (@coriathome) on May 26, 2016 at 2:06pm PDT

10. Sneak their vitamins and supplements into their favourite foods

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Raspberry Omega Orange pancake sandwiches ready for school lunches. That's one way to get omegas into kids without them knowing 😉 #parentinghack #doterra #omega3 #heathlykids

A post shared by Sarah Joseph (@sarahjoseph.ca) on Feb 12, 2018 at 9:40am PST