If you don’t go to sleep before Santa gets here, you won’t get any Christmas presents. No, no, that’s not spinach in the soup. It’sbasil! Oh, you want a sip of my milkshake? You won’t like it, it’sspicy.There are plenty of waysparentsbend the truth when talking to their kids every single day. And while honesty is definitely the best policy the majority of the time, a littlewhite lieevery now and then is harmless. Redditors have recently beensharingethically questionable parenting hacks that moms and dads rely on, so we’ve gathered the most brilliant ones below. Keep reading to find a chat with parenting expert Amy Morrison, Founder ofPregnant Chicken, and be sure to upvote the tips that you’ll utilize with your own children!This post may includeaffiliate links.
If you don’t go to sleep before Santa gets here, you won’t get any Christmas presents. No, no, that’s not spinach in the soup. It’sbasil! Oh, you want a sip of my milkshake? You won’t like it, it’sspicy.
There are plenty of waysparentsbend the truth when talking to their kids every single day. And while honesty is definitely the best policy the majority of the time, a littlewhite lieevery now and then is harmless. Redditors have recently beensharingethically questionable parenting hacks that moms and dads rely on, so we’ve gathered the most brilliant ones below. Keep reading to find a chat with parenting expert Amy Morrison, Founder ofPregnant Chicken, and be sure to upvote the tips that you’ll utilize with your own children!
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Our youngest son co-slept with his mother and I until he was 5… easily the dumbest thing we ever did. Trying to ween him off of that put his life and our sanity in danger. Hours a night were spent trying to get that little devil to fall asleep. My wife introduced him to “The Sleep Fairy”. A lot like the Tooth Fairy, only SF helps little boys and girls sleep in their own bed. She found a small wooden treasure box, helped him paint/decorate it, and told him every night he sleeps in his own bed, the SF will give him a gift. SF left little Lego people, small candies, and other small toys and treats for a month. It got to where he looked forward to sleeping in his own bed. After a month, the SF wrote a heartfelt message to the boy, letting him know how proud of him they were and it was time for her to go and help other little boys and girls sleep in their beds. Son is now 14 and he still has the SF treasure box in his room that he never f*****g leaves.
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My nephew refused to vacuum so I told him the thing about the vacuum sucking up ghosts. I said that vacuuming kept houses from getting haunted, that’s why haunted houses are so dusty. Ten years later he is still a neat freak and I feel responsible.
To learn more about the little white lies that parents often tell their kiddos, we reached out to mom, parenting expert and Founder ofPregnant Chicken, Amy Morrison. Amy was kind enough to have a chat withBored Pandaand explain why mothers and fathers sometimes resort to these hacks.
We do “toy rotation”! When they start getting bored of their toys that they have out, we pack them up and pull the other boxes out of their closet and unpack those. It’s like Christmas all over again. No new toys, they’re the same old toys, but they love it. We rotate them every month to 2 months.
I dunno if it’s truly unethical, but don’t react when your kid falls over. The first thing your kid will do once they have fallen is look to you, and if you panic, they’ll panic and start crying.
We also asked Amy if there’s anything wrong with using these little tricks. “For the most part, I think these tactics are harmless,” she says. “However, I think they can turn harmful quickly, so parents should keep an eye on them.““Lies that instill fear or shame in a child might work in the short term but can often have lasting effects that you probably don’t want,” Amy warns. “Children often take what you say at face value, and you want to ensure you’re not traumatizing them or damaging their trust.”
We also asked Amy if there’s anything wrong with using these little tricks. “For the most part, I think these tactics are harmless,” she says. “However, I think they can turn harmful quickly, so parents should keep an eye on them.”
“Lies that instill fear or shame in a child might work in the short term but can often have lasting effects that you probably don’t want,” Amy warns. “Children often take what you say at face value, and you want to ensure you’re not traumatizing them or damaging their trust.”
Told our daughter that the kids ears turn red when they lie, but only parents can see it.She would enter rooms with her hands covering her ears, and we knew we were in for a lie lol.
Not exactly unethical but one way my mom got child-me to stop crying was to rapidly cover and uncover my mouth (kinda like how people used to imitate native Americans back in the day). The resulting noise I made never failed to make me laugh hysterically and calmed me down instantly. Mom’s a real cheeky lady
If you want your toddler to do something they don’t really wanna do then ask them a question where all possible answers involve them doing the thing.For example, when my kid was in the bath, they never wanted to get out when bath time was over. So I just asked ‘do you want to climb out yourself, or do you want me to lift you out?Worked every time.
Finally, we asked Amy if she could share some advice for parents who want to avoid resorting to these hacks whenever possible.“As long as something is safe and kind, there’s no reason you can’t use creative ways to parent, and if it works, great! I think most parents understand that these little hacks are short term solutions to get us through the day and not long term strategies,” she explained.
Finally, we asked Amy if she could share some advice for parents who want to avoid resorting to these hacks whenever possible.
“As long as something is safe and kind, there’s no reason you can’t use creative ways to parent, and if it works, great! I think most parents understand that these little hacks are short term solutions to get us through the day and not long term strategies,” she explained.
Telling your kids that the car won’t start unless everyone’s seatbelt is buckled. It’s sneaky, but at least it’s for their safety!
If a kid is upset and crying, have them drink some water “it’ll make you feel better”. They can’t cry and drink at the same time, and generally calm down quicker so you can actually figure out what’s going on. (Or they realise whatever they bumped doesn’t actually hurt)Works great in a class full of 4 year olds.
But you might also be able to adjust the way you use these hacks as your children grow up. “As my kids got older (and before they got wiser to the fact that parks don’t close), I changed my strategy to say that we had to go home in a few minutes, and asked if they wanted to go on the slide or the swings before we left. Giving them a non-negotiable heads up that we are leaving the park but some flexibility on what they could do in the time they have left,” Amy told Bored Panda.
I got one. I foster “difficult” teen boys. Obviously their home life wasn’t great and they imitate some b****t behavior. When I set boundaries they don’t like a lot of kids want to physically fight me because that’s the way they’ve learned to solve problemsOK so here’s the unethical part. If they want it I am the one. We glove up and go to the back yard. I block and dodge until they’re gassed, they cry out of frustration and we hug it out.I’ve gone to work with a shiner more than once. But the kids learn that no matter how bad you are there’s always someone badder, tough guy st don’t make your problems go away, and a physical contest makes you feel betterMy kids have been thrown out of school, Foster homes, alternative learning schools, every program they’ve ever been in. Having an outlet for that energy and anger helps but it’s not exactly ethical to tell a kid if they want it they can come get it .
I tell my kids that the internet “closes” at 8PM and it’s not back on until 8AM the next day so they dont try and go crazy with the screen time. Really, I just shut off the router.As a bonus, it’s better for me and my husband too because we have no choice but to put down the screens and talk to each other or listen to records together until its time for us to go to sleep. It’s actually quite nice. Highly recommend.
This may have worked better for me since one of the kid’s parents has hearing loss, but I told my 4-at- the- time nephew that I couldn’t hear whining but if he would like to try again in a different tone of voice, I could understand him better - right now I could see his lips move but that was all. He did an admirable job with modulation after that and I got him what he’d asked for.
If you’re playing hide and seek with your toddler, you don’t have to start seeking straight away.Take a moment. Have a cup of coffee.
Did you miss not having model rockets as a kid?Buy them for your kids.Buy ALL the toys you wish you had when you were a kid (and enjoy them with or without your kids).
Tell your kid that they snore in their sleep really often, that way you’ll know if they’re pretending to sleep because they’ll fake snore.
Teaching your 6yo daughter how to throw a proper punch then sparring with her for a bit reduced her class room bully who terrorized everyone to a much better behaved young man….. at least around her. .
I pretended that certain foods such as the skin on steamed salmon and broccoli are incredibly delicious and would ask my kids if I could eat theirs. Other parents found it hilarious that my kids would be begging for slimy salmon skin and be delighted when I gave them cucumbers. .
My son hates tomatoes. It’s amazing how many foodstuffs now contain tomatoes as a major ingredient.
I’m not sure this qualifies as unethical but my kids sure thought it did.When they were young, they has difficulty gaining weight. It wasn’t that they weren’t eating, their metabolisms were just too fast. One of the thing the doctors recommended was giving them milkshakes every morning. This would pack in the calories but we realized it would also fill them up so they wouldn’t get some other nutrients and especially any fiber. I began adding chocolate flavored protein powders and frozen spinach (turns out frozen spinach is close to flavorless). One morning they caught me throwing the spinach into the blender and had a fit. I told them this was the first time I tried it and promised not to do it again. The next morning I added it anyway as well as some chocolate chips so they’d have a special treat as an apology.It was adorable having them come up to me and tell me it was the best milkshake I’d ever made with tinybgreen bits of spinach in their teeth.BTW they’re now in their 20s and are nearly a head taller than me & my wife.
Illusion of choice.We can have x or y. What do you want?This might not be unethical depending on how you feel about it and how you use it. In the end, children, just like adults, want to be treated with respect and decency. They want to know their input is valued.
If they lie to me, their tongue will turn purple.the hesitation when you ask them to show you their tongue if they’ve lied.Hack ruined when 3 year old (youngest child) had them all sit in front of the mirror, tell lies, and check each other’s tongues.
My kids goldfish died while we were on vacation and I was prepared to have a lesson about the transience of life and that all things eventually perish"Daddy, where’s Mr Fishy?““Well Boogie, he’s…"<– sees worried almost tearful little eyes"On vacation! Know how you and I went on vacation? So did he and we’re going to pick him up right now”<– drives to pet shop"Hmm Boogie, I don’t see Mr Fishy anywhere… do you?““DADDY! He’s right there!!““I can’t believe I missed him! Why don’t you check out some of the other stuff and I’ll pay his room and board at the cashier”.
Turn up the music in the back of the minivan. You’ll be able to hear everything the teenagers are talking about…
If your toddler accidentally touches something hot you have to opportunity to tell him many things in the house are also hot and should be avoided.
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I save all my “tax office” envelopes (they are a distinct colour in the Netherlands) and every time I hear my child swear… he randomly gets a letter fining him x amount from the tax office.He then hands the money over and I pop it back in his piggy bank when he’s not looking 🫣It works!
Up until they understand the calendar, a kids birthday is always on a Saturday.
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My mom used to take me to my grandparents house when my brother and I were playing up. My grandpa would give me plastic scissors and tell me it’s my turn to cut the lawn and my brother a brush and bucket of water, tell him he needs to paint the fence but if it dries the paint doesn’t work so start again.We would be out there hours.One time he asked us to dig a hole in his garden for a tree, came out hour and a half later to tell us it’s in the wrong place and we need to move the hole.Tbf, it gave my mom the break she needed and kept us out of trouble.
My mom would literally change the clock to show our bedtime. And then she’d be like “Oh, ten more minutes til 8:30, see?”.
My daughter was a biter. I needed to show her how much biting hurt, so one day, I bit her arm. Hard.She never bit anyone after that.
So I think everyone knows the “don’t react initially if they fall down or appear to hurt themselves in some way” trickMine goes a step further - act like they may have damaged the thing they hit. Kids love breaking stuff. I diffused a bedtime knock last night in which my son smacked his head against the bed guardrail. I immediately commented that he must have put a crack in the bed, pointing out the (already present) seam between two boards of the guard rail. He was proud that he was able to do it. Then of course I noted that he’ll have to be more careful so he doesn’t break his bed so that he wouldn’t keep doing itGot him from the verge of tears to grinning happily in 10 seconds flat.
This is a really old school but interesting parenting concept my great grandmother told me. Growing up she was the oldest of 12 siblings in an immigrated Italian family. Every night at the end of dinner her dad would pour all the kids a shot glass of wine. None of the kids grew up to abuse alchohol because drinking small amounts in moderation was instilled in them since childhood.Obviously this is considered unethical today, but for 1920s standards it’s pretty genius imo.
When one of my nieces is begging for something in the store and is throwing a fit ill say “do you want a picture of you holding it so Santa knows you want it?” Calms them right down. Kids are stupid. Now please excuse me while I go wishlist these steam games I can’t afford.
Friend at school’s parents told him he was allergic to alcohol, which they said they found out when he accidentally drank some as a toddler. They told him he was in intensive care and nearly died.On his 18th birthday, they told him they made it up so he didn’t drink when underage.
I recently flew internationally with my toddler and to keep him chill in the long security lines and customs lines I would tell him if he didn’t stay quiet they wouldn’t let him on the plane. And then once on the plane if he started getting cranky I’d tell him if he was too loud they’d have to turn around and take him home 😅 Made it through 12 hours total of flying with 10 min of crying so I’m calling it a win.
When the batteries ran out or were “lost” on a particularly annoying toy, my mom would tell us, “Oh hun I’m so sorry! But they don’t make those kinds of batteries anymore.” We would be disappointed and move on making our own noises for the thing. Which was way more fun than the preset ones. Wasn’t till I was much older (I won’t say how old) that I realized batteries didn’t change kinds like fashion brands.Also, when we lived in Europe, the winters were a whole lot colder than we were used to. So once we had all piled into the car and we’re heading to church, of course, we’d complain about the cold despite car blankets and being bundled to high heaven. So my mom would tell us there was a light on the dash that would tell her when she could turn the hot air on. So we’d ask and ask about the light. There is no light. She would just watch the engine temp until it was warm enough to pump hot air into the van. I was also much older than I’d like to say when that clicked.
I think my favorite was the quiet game. When kids are being loud and noisy, tell them we’re going to play the quiet game. Whoever can stay quiet the longest, wins.
Used to tell my nieces that everytime they lied a blue dot would show up on their forehead lol.
My niece believed that when the ice cream truck made music it was out of ice cream. She believed it so much she played that way with her American girl doll ice cream truck lol she figured it out around 9 years old.
My grandmother used to go around the house with a needle when my mom were like 2yo and everytime she or her brothers/sisters tried to touch an electrical outlet my grandma would sting them with the needle fast so they link the outlet to a hurtful experience.None of the kids would go near an electrical outlet again. It worked like a charm the 1st day they discovered the outlets they would never try to touch them.
A friend of mine convinced his kids that the toy store is really a toy museum. You can look, but you can’t touch and you can’t bring anything home.
My mother used to tell us the shop wasn’t opened for whatever we want if she forgot or didn’t want to go. I swear that I wouldn’t do that to my children. What did I do? I had to do it once or twice.
When my daughter still believed in Santa Claus, I would pretend to call or text Santa when she misbehaved. I even had Alexa call Santa once because she thought I was bluffing and Alexa did try to call him LMAO. I had no idea Alexa could even do that.
Works for about age 2 to 5 when they’re near a birthday. Tell the kid you’ll take their birthday away if they don’t shape up. “Oh, 4 year olds don’t act like this. Maybe you aren’t ready to turn 4. You may just have to stay 3 this year.”.
I let my kid taste beer when she was 2-3 years old. And when i say taste, i mean she put a finger in the glass and taste it. Of course, she didn’t like it.Then, every time i was drinking something i didn’t want my kid to drink, like carbonated soft drinks, that are full of sugar, i always told her it’s beer. I would reinforce that belief every time i would drink beer, letting her finger test.She reached 5 and a half years old, still not wanting to taste Pepsi, Sprite, Fanta etc and i hope i can keep the charade going for as long as i can.She did taste Pepsi once, but she said it’s too sweet and preffered her apple juice…but i still don’t want to risk it.
It’s okay to do little white lies to get your kid to listen. Sometimes explaining it the correct way still doesn’t get throughfor example if your kid has a problem with mooning people, you can just tell them that they’ll attract barking spiders that’ll attack at the sight of said butt and then boom! No more mooning👍.
Kid wants juice all the time instead of water? Get a cold glass of water and tell them it’s “Ice Juice”.
We tell the kids that the tooth fairy only buys clean teeth because she eats them and no one wants to eat dirty teeth. It’s also how we explain that the tooth fairy still needs so many teeth after all these centuries.
My parents used to tell me that the tooth fairy comes every night to check for teeth. If you loose one she takes it and leaves you money but if you didn’t loose one she would check if you brushed your teeth, if you didn’t she would pull them out.Kinda dark of my parents but I always made sure to brush my teeth.
Tell them anything you are eating or drinking is spicy. Especially chocolate and ice cream.
I told my kids it’s illegal to cuss, drink, smoke, or kiss until you’re 18. It worked until my oldest was in middle school, when she heard a kid cussing at school and tried to get a teacher to call the cops.
Tell them that the hospital has a 5 year return policy.
Telling your child that an old man is watching their every move, and in order to get gifts they have to be good. and if they’re bad then they won’t get any presents at Christmas.And also that the guy who Christmas is about is also watching them and if they don’t follow his rules they’ll be burned in hell for all eternity.Also, we have a nanny cam set up in your room and if we see you’re being naughty you’ll be punished.Oh, and the government is watching you too, all the time. They can basically read your mind.
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