“Ready, set, go”: Parents are sharing their outside-the-box hacks that actually work

No amount of manuals can prepare parents for the reality of raising a child. Some Redditors suggest that hacking their kids’ ridiculous energy is how real progress is made during frustrating moments.

In a post on r/AskReddit, one user asks, “What’s a parenting hack that sounds ridiculous but actually works?”

Many parents suggest harmless lying and gaslighting—which is typically frowned upon—to make sure their kids eat their veggies and stick to a bedtime routine. Some opt for simple phrases to shift their kids’ mindset on boring or undesirable activities.

One mom says she lets her kids call her bizarre names when she’s sick of hearing “mommy” a thousand times per day.

Others say they get around cursing by letting their kids think normal words like “census” are a big no-no.

These are 17 ridiculous parenting hacks to make your life easier, straight from Reddit.

1. Lie about where their food comes from

“My brother hated most proteins, but especially meat and eggs, as a kid. My mom bribed him into eating scrambled eggs by telling him they were dinosaur eggs.” —u/Necessary-Visual-132

“Her: I don’t like broccoli.

Me: It was grown in Arendelle.

Her: This is actually good.” —u/pronouncedayayron

“It’s dinosaur food!” —u/Majestic-Macaron6019

2. Use a timer

“My kids respond very well to a timer; they turn it into a game and race to finish first. Ok, kids, I’m setting a 3-minute timer to get your PJs on and brush your teeth. Ready, set, go!” —u/AndyTheJedi

3. Don’t react when they fall

“When your toddler falls down (and they aren’t truly hurt), they will often look at you to determine how to feel. If you look concerned and rush to them, they will cry. If you smile, they will 90% of the time smile, giggle, and start to play again.” —u/Past_Ad5967

“I used to yell ‘touchdown!’ and throw my hands in the air when they fell. Worked amazingly.” —u/Kooriki

4. Transition activities wisely

“Ease transitions with a five-minute “wrap up” AND frame the transition as a new beginning instead of an end. ‘Hey kids, in five minutes we are leaving the playground so that we can have pizza for lunch,’ is way more appealing than ‘We have to go now! Blah!’ because you’re easing into something new and exciting.” —u/bologna_fans

5. Blame the clock for bedtime

“I blamed the clock. I’d say, see? Point at the clock. The clock says it’s 7:30. The clock says it’s time for bed. I let them pick out their clothes since preschool, but I only left seasonally appropriate shoes and clothes in the closet.” —u/Olderbutnotdead619

6. Trick them into liking healthy snacks

“Kids not eating well? Feed them the healthy snacks when you go places. I swear they are always hungry when they leave the house! If you have a cooler with only fruits and veggies, that’s what they’ll eat!” —u/OlderAndTired

“Somehow my kid always refuses veggies at home… but magically eats them on the go. I swear they think ‘outside the house = healthy snack wonderland’.” —u/OnlyAcanthaceae874

7. Pretend you want to eat their food

“When my kids were little and wouldn’t eat the food my wife and I cooked, my wife and I would act like we were going to eat it and then ask them to hold it while we did something.” —u/dudeimjames1234

“Crime makes food taste better. I sure hope no one is going to STEAL MY VEGETABLES AND EAT THEM ALL!!!! Ten seconds later, my kids have ‘stolen’ all my vegetables and gleefully eaten their ill-gotten gains. They think they’re being so sneaky eating tomatoes and carrots lol.” —u/verymanysquirrels

8. Give them false choices

“Give them false choices, where you are happy with either choice, and they both meet your actual goal. It gives them a sense of agency. ‘Would you rather brush your teeth first, or change into your jammies first?’” —u/karimf

“Give kids a choice where you can. Your kids don’t like veggie medley? Consider an alternative that you can accept. Let them choose. If children feel empowered with a choice, they will exercise it. And you win either way!” —u/Wrong_Transition4786

9. Put important numbers on their screens

“Make screen passwords important phone numbers. Kids will learn them very quickly if it lets them unlock the iPad.” —u/Negative0

10. Tell them they snore when they sleep

“Telling the kids that you can tell when they are asleep because they snore. After that sinks in, when they fake sleeping, they snore.” —u/DotAccomplished5484

11. Water always works

“Water is the great reset. Kids being insane? Water. Plastic bowls and cups in the bath. Set up a monster truck car wash in the sink. Have them ‘water’ the plants, which ends up with them playing with the hose. Add a popsicle and it’s like they just zen out.” —u/notenoughbooks

12. Stickers on everything

“I’ve heard that putting generic Disney/Spiderman/etc stickers on food containers is pretty effective at tricking young kids into thinking it’s ‘branded’ by that franchise. So you don’t have to pay a markup on Frozen brand yogurt or whatever.” —u/Judall

13. Put off purchases with Santa

“‘Oh, you want this toy really bad? Let’s take a photo for Santa’ 90% success rate.” —u/SoundCA

14. Make them think streaming is cable

“Pretending that our streaming services are cable TV. You want to watch Moana? It’s not on until Friday. Elsa isn’t back on our TV until after your nap! We also will often say that a character in a TV show or movie is sleeping, so we can’t turn the TV on because it will wake them up, and it’s not nice to wake someone up! We do limited screen time and it’s only on the TV, so it’s a very efficient way to set time limits and get around tantrums!” —u/FriedPickle0662

15. Put Post-Its on the toilet

“For children who are scared of toilets that flush automatically, keep ‘magic squares’ in your wallet. When using an auto-flush toilet, place the magic square on the sensor until the child is ready for it to flush. Once removed, toss it in the trash. Oh… magic squares was what I called them, but most people call them post-it notes.” —u/IntrovertedGiraffe

16. Let them call you a silly name

“I didn’t invent this. I saw it on TikTok. I have two toddlers, and sometimes, hearing my name called 1000 times a day can be overstimulating and irritating. On rougher days, I tell them to call me completely unrelated and silly names. Something like ‘today, mama isn’t mama or mommy, my name is Robert!’ And it completely resets that overstimulation, and makes the day quite silly.” —u/SpreadCommercial5911

17. Make up curse words

“My wife and I both swear quite a bit, and obviously, our five-year-old picked up some of the bad language. Whenever we catch him using a bad word, we overreact to other words he says, and it’s worked surprisingly well. Right now, he thinks ‘census’ is the worst word possible and goes around repeating it and laughing. Not the best parenting, but at least he’s stopped saying ‘holy shit’ in school.” —u/habituallysuspect

The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here.