19 Parents Who Put Creativity to Work in Parenting and Succeeded in Avoiding Tantrums

Children are really adorable, no one denies that. But perhaps we are not aware of the work involved in raising children until one of them arrives in our lives and turns everything upside down, overnight. After all, maintaining an organized and efficient routine every day can prove to be a task as tiring as it is Herculean. The good news is that some experienced moms and dads are always willing to share their sage advice with the “amateur” world.

We, from awesome.club, we highly value the good education of children and the well-being of parents. So we scoured some Reddit threads posted by parents who are true childcare experts.

I have two tricks for the 1- to 3-year-old group. 1 — Asking young children to do certain things using their toys to make the request. 2 — When the little one wants something (a toy, etc.), pretend that he has given it. Children’s imagination is amazing. You can even offer the option of different models and even imaginary colors. © CapriciousK / Reddit For sibling disputes (like who’s turn to do the dishes, which cartoon to pick, etc.), we buy a foam dice from a store and write each kid’s name on each side. In our case, we have three children, so each one’s name is written on two sides. Whenever it is necessary to choose one of the boys, we roll the dice. This saves me from having to decide trivial things and reduces the amount of fights and tantrums, as the die is a neutral element that cannot be argued with. © bloseja / Reddit Ever since my daughter was old enough to ask for toys, we’ve said that if we bought them all, there wouldn’t be any left for her to have for Christmas or her birthday, so she’d run out of gifts on those dates. In return, we offered her the option of putting the toys she wanted on a list so we would know what to give her on special occasions. Until today, children rarely ask for toys: they just approach and ask to add one to their respective list. With this method, I can take my kids to whatever toy store I want, and even when we leave with nothing, there’s not the slightest problem. © Shrimpy_McWaddles / Reddit

I tell my children in advance what we are going to do for the next 30 minutes, nothing more. And then I give them two options, like “do you want a red toy or a blue toy?” instead of giving them unlimited options. So, for example, you don’t give the option to choose an ice cream, but ask if the little one wants ice cream A, B or C. © dasookwat / Reddit Small activity games, such as a coloring book, stickers and some crayons , are great for keeping a girl busy while we’re at a restaurant waiting for the food to arrive. Also, when she asks me to reread the storybook we’ve already read over 100 times, I ask her to. My daughter is 4 years old, so she can’t read yet. However, she describes all the designs and shapes she knows, while I sit back and relax 😂. © bananamana55 / Reddit I think “giving kids choice” is a standard trick, but I like to take it to the next level and turn it into a game show. When my daughter decided she didn’t want to wear socks with pajamas, I went on to invent an entire production, asking her, “Are you ready to play on the country’s new favorite game show, Pick Your Socks!?” Since that day, no sock problems. Now we play “pick your yogurt” or “pick your shirt”. © rentiertrashpanda / Reddit

I keep all hangers for “sets” (the ones with a shirt piece attached to the trouser hook clips), putting complete sets on them. It’s a little slower than folding and putting away laundry, but it saves me a lot of time in the morning when my kids need to grab clothes from the closet and head out without delay. © I_Like_Knitting_TBH / Reddit I advance dinner so everything is ready when they get off the school bus. When they arrive, they are starving, and I manage to get them to eat vegetables and give them things that would normally be rejected. And then I give them permission to eat a small portion of whatever they want before bed. © tinydotbiguniverse / RedditTo go from a fun activity like playing to a less fun one like making a meal, we use the timer trick. We put a timer on the iPad and let them press the button. The device has an image and an alarm that helps you move from one activity to another. It’s something very useful to make the transition: “In ten minutes we’ll do X; in five minutes we will do Y. Do you want to push the stopwatch button or shall I?”. © TheBeneGesseritWitch / Reddit

My 5-year-old son gave me a lot of work, complained and demanded things in a rude way. Remembering all the time that he should be polite was very tiring. So, I started saying “beep!” whenever he complained, and that meant, “You’re behaving badly, try again.” And it worked really well. And then he understood that I wasn’t going to answer that request. My son would make a second attempt to ask for something, and if he did it properly, I’d say “ding, ding, ding!” And we continued the conversation happily. It may sound crazy, but it worked really well and we noticed a quick change in her way of acting. © 28052020 / Reddit When preparing food, include children in the process. Cooking takes a lot longer when you grab the kitchen stool and let your little one mix or pour one ingredient into another, but dinners are never complicated for us as my little one is excited to try what he has prepared. Plus, I don’t have to worry about what he’s doing while I’m cooking. We simply go to the kitchen together and get to work. © quartzcreek / RedditMy daughter loves to touch things, so whenever we’re in a new place, we’ll point her to something she can touch (“Oh, go touch that tree over there. It looks rough!”, “Wow, that chair looks really spongy . Go play it to see if that’s right!”). She jumps from one object to the next, keeping her hand touching whatever it is, looking at us as if asking permission. Usually, when she wants to touch something appropriate, we say ‘yeah, go ahead!’ But when she gets to a wastebasket or an outdoor grill, we’re like, ‘No, you can play something else.’ And then she stops and moves on to the next one (without complaining).

My 8 month old has too many toys that do their job for a little while, so I give him random objects, something he can drop and get dirty, like empty boxes, etc. These things turn out to be the perfect entertainment 🤣. Sometimes I want to sleep another ten minutes in the morning, and the boy just wants to know how to scream in my ear, without any toy to shut him up. I just take a shirt or a piece of fabric and give it to him. Instant silence. In general, he loves looking at labels, spending a lot of time on this task. Want your baby to give you some peace? Give him a random object that he no longer needs. © Sehrli_Magic / RedditTo quickly cut any food you need to size to prevent small children from choking, there’s nothing better than good kitchen shears, the kind you use to shred chicken. They are quick and safe for cutting food into tiny pieces, such as grapes, pasta and meat. © JupiterEcho****key / Reddit

How about you? Do you usually resort to any tricks to make your children behave better? Leave a comment narrating your own experience in this matter!