These Clever Parenting Hacks Are Next Level
Raising kids is fun, exhausting and rewarding. It also requires a little bit of ingenuity, something these parents have in spades. Whether you want to protect your children from harm or you're looking for a quick few parenting hacks to make life easier, these awesome parents have you covered.
Wait until you see the simple hack to make sure your kids always put their shoes on the right feet. You'll also love the parent who found a very simple solution for picking up the metric ton of glitter that's probably floating around your house.
Safety First Should Be A Motto For All Parents
Barbecuing is a favorite past time of many parents and this dad wanted to make sure his toddler was safe while food was cooking on the grill. All you need to make this safe BBQ trick a success is a set of baby gates.
Is this dad going to the extreme? Sure, but his grill is still fully accessible and his child is safe, this is the prime example of an awesome parenting hack.
Don't Have A Bath For Bathtime? No Problem!
Inflatable baby pools are more flexible than you might realize and that's why this parenting hack works so well. Perhaps you live in an apartment that doesn't have a bathtub or maybe you just want you kid to have some indoor fun during the winter months.
Whatever the case might be, simple inflate your child's pool and stick it inside the shower. Once your child is done with their bath you just need to deflate the pool and allow the water to drain.
Keep Animals And Weather Out Of The Sandbox
This parent found the perfect solution for a sandbox without the need for buying an actual sandbox. Just take a tent, fill it with sand, and hours of fun are ready for your child in both rain and sun!
As an added bonus, if your child is playing outside with a lot of mosquitos or on a sunny day, they can still hang out in their tented sandbox while enjoying some fresh air when the top of the tent is opened up.
Save Your Walls From Baby Destruction!
Baby walkers are a great way for babies to get exercise, as long as you keep them away from the stairs. However, the bottoms of these devices are known to scuff up walls and trim. This parent found a very simple and affordable solution.
Simply attach pool noodles to the bottom of your baby walker using zip ties and your child can zoom around the house without causing damage to any paint they might collide with throughout the day.
Stop Stepping On Legos — Most Of The Time
One of the most painful toys to ever exist are Legos. If you have ever stepped on a piece of this plastic wonder you know what true pain feels like. Okay, maybe we're exaggerating but we think most readers will agree that it's a painful realization.
This parent uses a shoe holder on a doorknob as a Lego storage unit. As an added bonus your children can break up their legos into different shapes and sizes and easily find the exact piece they need to build their next masterpiece.
Cling Wrap Is Great For Craft Time In An Unexpected Way
Kids make messes. In fact, it's probably what they are best at, that and throwing tantrums for no reason at all. We can help you fix the mess part a little bit with this simple cling wrap hack from an inventive mom.
Simply apply cling wrap to the front of your child's shirt and once their craft time is complete you can peel off the cling wrap to reveal a nice clean shirt. Sadly, this won't protect your tables, walls, floors, and random objects found around your child's crafting area... Maybe you should just cling wrap your entire house.
Your Child Will Cling To This Travel Hack
If you've ever had the "pleasure" of traveling on an airplane with a child you know it's no easy task to keep them calm. This parent found a simple way to pique their child's interest with a simple hack that only costs a few dollars.
Whether it's Christmas, Halloween, or generic window clings, this is a great hack that allows your child to exercise their imagination while distracting them from the flight you've forced them to take.
A Baby Seat, A Diaper, And Less Stopping
Taking a road trip with your child can be a fun bonding experience. It can also mean randomly stopping a lot to use the bathroom. While there are portable potties available on the open market, this parent found a solution that makes disposing of the final product a lot easier.
Simply take a baby seat and a diaper and combine them. Once your child is done going number one or two just fold up the diaper and throw it away. Genius!
We Bet A Painter Came Up With This Race Track Hack
Painters tape is such a wonderful invention. You can apply it to walls, electronics, and even carpets and when you remove the tape there is no damage left behind. That was probably the thinking of this parent.
Using painters tape, you can easily create race tracks on your living room or bedroom carpet. Your child will spend hours playing with their favorite cars as they zoom around the track. As an added bonus, it's easy to move the track in different directions at any time and even add to the already existing track.
A Shower Caddy Is Perfect For Food On The Go
A shower caddy can typically be picked up for less than $10 and it could end up saving your car from a lot of food stains. This hack is perfect for a kids meal that typically comes with several food options these days.
Simply load up the caddy with your child's kid's meal and then head off on your next adventure. Shower caddies can typically hold food and drinks, making them very accessible for your child, as long as they don't spill the entire thing off their lap.
A Simple Hack To Put Shoes On The Right Feet
This is maybe one of our favorite hacks because the struggle to get children out the door on time is real. This parent realized they could just place left and right matching stickers inside their child's shoes.
When your kid goes to put on their favorite footwear they can place the shoes beside each other and when the monster or other sticker set matches up, they know their shoes are going on the right feet. We want to personally thank this parent for such a wonderfully simple hack!
Stop Sticky Fingers In Their Tracks
Wow, how have we not thought of this hack before? This parent realized they could take a standard coffee cup lid and turn it into a drip protector for their child. It's so simple and wonderful at the same time.
There are a few issues to address. First, you have to get your child to hold their treat upright and second, you have to either carry coffee cup lids with you or eat somewhere that serves both meltable treats and coffee. Good luck with that but bonus points for this parent's ingenuity.
Glitter Is Just A Part Of You Now, Accept It Then Try This Hack
We're pretty sure our homes as parents are covered in at least one metric ton of glitter. Once you allow this product to invade you are destined to live with it for the rest of your life. Sorry, that's just a reality.
On the other hand, a lint brush can help you pick up at least some of this pesky childhood crafting favorite. Just roll a lint brush anywhere glitter has invaded and you can clean up some of the mess. Even with this hack, glitter is just who you are now. Sorry.
A Tarp, A Football, And Hours Of Fun
We're big believers that homemade fun is some of the best times you can have with your child. This parent cut holes in a tarp and colored the holes with tape. Then, they added some numbers for different point tallying.
When you take the time to build stuff like this for your children it makes them look at the world differently while realizing their parents are going out of the way to have fun with them. Plus, this is a great exercise tool that gets your kids away from screens while playing under the sun.
Bathtub Rave?
Glow sticks are awesome. They are non-toxic, easy to activate, and they last for hours, even longer if you throw them in the freezer when you're done with them and then re-activate them at a later time.
This parent realized they could also use the non-toxic product to create an awesome environment for their children to take a bath! If you have a fussy child and you want them to chill out in the bathtub this just might do the trick. Plus, it just looks cool.
Save Some Of That Lollipop For Later
If your children are anything like ours, they don't finish an entire lollipop in one sitting. That sometimes means picking up a sticky left over piece of candy from the carpet or the inside of your vehicle.
This parent put a small hole in an easer egg to create a lollipop holder. Now, your child can lick some of their lollipop and save the rest for later. No more sticky carpets which is a win for any parent.
Noisy Toys? A Simple Piece Of Scotch Tape Has Got You Covered
If you really hate someone buy their children a toy with loud sounds. Why parents do this to themselves and others is beyond our understanding but it happens and it can drive you up a wall as a parent.
This parent hack requires you to simply place a piece of Scotch tape over any toys speaker. While it won't completely eliminate loud sounds it will muffle them so your child can still play with their toy and you can maintain what's left of your sanity.
From K Cups To Play-Doh Holders
Those fancy K Cups holders that are sold at most major retailers are great for featuring your coffee varieties and they work just as well for holding onto small canisters of Play-Doh.
If you've ditched K Cups for a more environmental option or you simply go out and buy a holder for this purpose, your kids will love displaying all their favorite colors in a very accessible holder they can call their own.
We're Glad To Learn About This Cool Trick
The team at Glad posted this parenting hack, and sure it was meant to sell more of their product, but it's also a parenting hack that is easy to accomplish and which makes a lot of sense to any parent who is always dealing with spills. Editor's note: every parent is always dealing with constant spills.
Just grab a piece of Glad Press'N Seal or any other similar cling wrap product, place it over the top of a cup and push a straw through. Brilliant and simple.
Bathtime Toys Are Easy To Store With This Curtain Rod Hack
Curtain rods are cheap to buy and they can hold a surprising amount of weight if you buy a decent rod. This parent attached baskets to a curtain rod using some simple ties so their children will have easy access to their favorite bath time toys.
Now we just have to figure out why their children have so many toys in the bath. Is there even any room left for actual water? Either way, it's an inventive hack for bath-obsessed kiddos.
