In this episode, I’m joined by my kids, Darian and Lucas, as we dive into some practical parenting hacks. We’ve broken them down into three categories: tips for parents with younger kids, those with older kids, and just general parenting advice. We share some of the strategies that have worked for us and hope they’ll be helpful for you too! As always, we’d love to hear any other parenting hacks you’ve discovered, so feel free to share them with us!

For parents with younger kids:

• Hack #1: Always bring an extra set of clothes, wipes, and a garbage bag.
• Hack #2: Pack activities for restaurants or trips.
• Hack #3: Buffer in extra time to leave the house.
• Hack #4: Pull onesies down instead of up over their heads in the event of an accident.
• Hack #5: Meal prep into smaller portions using little bags, containers, or ice cube trays.
• Hack #6: When you change the first diaper of the day, don't take off the diaper immediately!
• Hack #7: Feed babies in their diapers, or using a large bib that catches food, and put newspapers on the ground.
• Hack #8: Local Buy Nothing group on FB is a great resource for infant and toddler items!
• Hack #9: Use a rubber band as a lock stop for the door knob.
• Hack #10: Keep masking tape around for lint, hair, glitter, etc.
• Hack #11: Schedule physical activities later in the day.
• Hack #12: For kids with longer hair, use leave-in conditioner or detangler to help with the tangles.

For parents with school-age kids:

• Hack #1: Take pictures of their projects, homework, and art work.
• Hack #2: Have them help with chores at a younger age - use sticker charts, make a game out of it!
• Hack #3: Use neon swimming clothes to spot them further away in public pools and water parks.
• Hack #4: Routine meal schedule

For parents with kids of all ages:

• Hack #1: Get a season pass to museums, theme parks, zoos, etc.
• Hack #2: Utilize the special discounts from work, banks, Triple A, etc.
• Hack #3: Shared family calendar.
• Hack #4: Same color socks
• Hack #5: Don't tell trips about the trip in advance.
• Hack #6: Always take pictures or videos of kids!! It can be challenging when they're older, or when you're too busy with day to day things, but still do it!!

Additional Hacks after the episode was published:

• Hack #1: Have someone help you project manage your daily life! Check out Heron House Management to see how they can help you!

Please let us know if you have any other hacks that you'd like us to add! You can send them to me at chiao@parenthoodbytes.co!