30 Parenting Hacks to Magically Change Your Life (or not)

As we run headlong into fall schedule changes and back to school, our office has been chatting about ways we try to cut parenting corners and make life run a little smoother. This time of year can be so challenging for us and our littles as we all get a bit dysregulated during shifting schedules, new routines, and lots of new experiences. It’s a time of year to give ourselves and our kids a little bit of grace as we navigate additional stress.

Here’s our team’s list of our favorite parenting hacks. No guarantees or promises of success. Like most parenting advice, your mileage may vary, and your kids might not cooperate. One parent’s hack is another’s epic fail. But hopefully one of these ideas helps you save a bit of sanity this year.

1.       Cards Stocking: Kids often have bustling social calendars and birthday parties can become a weekly occurrence. Save yourself all the trips to Target to pick out $4.99 cards that most kids don’t even read. Instead,  you can stock up and spend less than 50 cents (bonus: no last minute rush to the store).    

2.       Gift Closet:  On the topic of birthdays, purchase some generic gifts for your child’s age range to keep on hand. We like bookstore gift cards, art supplies, and re-gifting items our kids never took to. It saves us those mornings we suddenly realize we have somewhere to be in 20 minutes.

3.       Socks: Matching socks is a time suck. Where do the matches go, and why do all kids’ socks come in packs with assorted colors, so you always have a bin of lonely socks seeking partners. Instead, convert your kids to solid color socks and throw clean socks in a bin they can just grab two from. If your kids are close enough in size, share socks. If they aren’t, assign everyone a color so laundry sorting is easy peasy. The key search term is uniform socks and now is the perfect time to make the switch during back to school.

4.       Skip folding: If you have the space for it, don’t fold your kid’s clothing. Just throw all those t-shirts/pants in the drawer since they will just mess it up anyway. If you’re feeling wild don’t even bother separating out drawers and just sort by person. 

5.       Go Bags:  Keep go bags for items you often need to locate/take with you. You can have a sunscreen/bug spray bag, a change of clothes bag, a snack bag, etc. that you throw refills in but otherwise always keep ready to transfer between cars/diaper bags/pool bags.

6.       Activity bags:  If your kids are in activities with gear, uniforms, or special items, then designate a specific activity bag for each other. When the uniform comes out of the wash, stuff it in the bag. If you find a lone cleat hiding in the kitchen that no one admits to putting there, put it in the bag. When you find the ball and glove abandoned in the yard, pop it in the bag. When it’s time to get ready, there’s only one place to search and you’re ready to go with all the other equipment in one place.

7.       Pack two lunches: Anytime you need to pack lunch, make two. Kids tend to eat minimal variety, and this can cut your prep time in half by keeping the duplicate in the fridge or freezer for the next day.

8.       Checklists: It’s not just grown-ups who love the satisfaction of marking things complete. Getting out of the house in the morning is hard and often full of nagging. Putting the kids’ getting ready routines on a checklist can turn it into a game or at the very least eliminate the need for you to state over and over what still needs to be done. Here’s a printable version and a physical version. 

9.       Time Trials: Kids love a race to do things. How fast can you pick up all the toys? How quickly can you get your shoes on? Let’s see if we can beat our personal best.

10.  Tired Parent: If you’re super tired and your kid isn’t, see if you can play lying down games. You can be the sickest patient at the hospital. You can have your kid trace numbers/letters on your back while you guess what they are. You can play racetrack for cars that want to go off-roading on your back.

11.  Painter’s Tape: This magical substance doesn’t damage walls but can be used for any number of parenting tasks. Put it over a hotel outlet for a travel outlet cover, use it to close half eaten bags of crackers, label anything, and impromptu kids’ activity on planes and in waiting rooms (make roads for toy cars or just let toddlers enjoy pulling it off stuff). You can wrap a bunch of painter’s tape around a pen and use it like a mini roll while you’re out and about.

12.  Just add water: Water solves most kid meltdowns. Drink of water. Bath. Play in puddles. Water table. Pool Time. Ocean. Toy wash. Car wash. Sprinkler time. Creek exploring. Adding water just seems to change the vibes.

13.  Audiobooks: If you hate listening to kid’s music in the car, switch to audiobooks (most libraries have an online option like Libby or Hoopla). Some libraries also have “Playaways” which are individual audiobooks on a small player so they can listen with their headphones while you have an adult conversation or listen to your own music for once. Bonus less “Baby Shark” on repeat while it also counts kids are being exposed to rich language and story just like a read aloud. Win for all.

14.  Sand Free: Baby powder sprinkled on your skin makes the sand fall right off, so you don’t need to carry a sandy baby around or deal with a sensory melt-down.

15.  No Pajamas:  This hack involves two of our least favorite parenting tasks—laundry and morning routine. Have your kids sleep in their next day’s clothes. No PJs to wash, and you can let them take their time getting dressed the night before.

16.  Pick outfits in advance: Kids like to have control over their attire, but some can have a tough time deciding what to wear in the moment. Try laying out a week’s worth of clothes ahead of time. Or pick between two outfits instead of all the choices.

17.  Use your devices: If you have an Alexa or Google Home, you can use that device to be the nagger. Program the AI to announce it is now bedtime or that it’s time to leave for the bus in 5 minutes. You can also program in certain reminders for things you always forget, for example: “wear sneakers for gym day” or “bring your instrument for band practice.”

18.  Leaving: Daniel Tiger has saved many a meltdown by suggesting we choose one last thing to do.  If that doesn’t work for your kid, try setting a timer for two minutes and waiting for the beep. Some families find letting their kid pick (do you want to go now or set a five-minute timer) helps them transition more smoothly.

19.  Window Shopping: It’s tough to walk past the toy aisle without buying a special treat. Instead of saying no, say we can take a picture for your holiday/birthday list. Kids love to take pictures and only the important items will be remembered.

20.  Buddy System: Find people to pair up with. Arrange an alternating pick-up/drop off schedule with parents who have kids at the same activity so you can get a week off. Do a “tot swap” where you each get free babysitting.

21.  Free Fun: Find all the free ways to get your kids out of the house. In Philly, you’ve got Philly Pumptrack, Smith Playground, the library, and so much more. If you’ve got littles, remember that fun is relative. A trip to PetSmart to visit the fish, Home Depot to try out all the buttons on the appliances, or a construction site to scope out the machines is a treat.

22.  Teach your kids to get around. When it’s age appropriate teach them to use public transit or Uber so you don’t need to be chauffeur.

23.  One cup: Choose a special cup for each kid and that’s their only water cup. It is easy to tell immediately who left it out on the counter and limits the number of cups used in a day. If you’re feeling fancy, you can get each kid their own color of place-setting and have them wash after meals.  

24.  Give Less F*s: So often we can get in our own heads about the details. Instead, be kind to yourself. When we’re stressed or in a power struggle, zoom out and ask yourself, “will this matter in 5-10 years?” If the answer is no, let it go.

25.  Art Purgatory: Get a bin to hold your kids’ “projects” that come home. Either monthly or yearly, you can go through, and the truly special ones will stand out. The others can be swiftly recycled (to the outside bin) now that your kid has forgotten about them.

26.  Meal Planning: One of the great pains of adulthood is realizing you are never more than a few hours away from needing to plan the next meal. Save some brain space by implementing special nights like Taco Tuesday, Breakfast for dinner night, Pizza Fridays, or sandwich nights.

27.  Snack Dinners: When you put tiny amounts of odds and ends from the fridge into muffin trays, they suddenly morph into a “snack dinner” that kids love. Make it a picnic on the lawn or a family movie on the floor for bonus points.

28.  Take a Hike: When you or your kid is dysregulated, get outside. Connecting with nature can help us calm our nervous systems and kids can be easily occupied with a nature scavenger hunt or just a mission to find a new rock for their collection.

29.  Special Time: Schedule 15–20-minute increments of 1:1 play time with each kid where they can do whatever they want with your undivided attention. Sometimes, playing with kids can feel overstimulating or frankly boring, but a limited time allows us to fully enjoy it, put our phone down, and follow their lead. Kids love the chance to have our full focus.

30.  Bedtime Procrastination Collusion: Use bedtime for real talk when kid’s defenses are at their lowest. When they are stalling for time, they are sharing their inner thoughts and details about their day voluntarily!

 And in the end, remember there’s no hack that makes parenting easy. This stuff is hard. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t all take our little victories where we find them and share our wins with each other. We’d love to hear from you, what are latest parenting hacks?