Parenting short cuts - things you skip or do the bare minimum on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine that - lazy parenting. How revolutionary. The smugness is astounding. Real race to the bottom in this thread.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine that - lazy parenting. How revolutionary. The smugness is astounding. Real race to the bottom in this thread.

I'm sorry, who here is being smug?

(hint: it's you)

This has been one of my favorite threads on DCUM for a few reasons:

1) realizing that some people GET OFF on making this as hard as possible because the WORST thing to be is "lazy." I'm so glad (honestly, not sarcastic) that you have this thread to make you feel superior. I mean, why on earth would you even click this thread otherwise? And then COMMENT when clearly no one on this thread wants to hear from you? You'd just be like "Oh, no, I'm not really the bare minimum type, nothing for me here" and move on. Glad we could help.

2) Everything else in DCUM, and a lot of parenting in general in the professional circles of DC, is insanely competitive. And competitive parenting SUCKS. A race to the bottom for once, in one thread, here on DCUM, is such a refreshing change of pace.

3) There are some damn good ideas on here. After reading this, I'm for sure never doing a goody bag.

4) It's good to sometimes feel like you're doing okay, and other people are cutting corners, too.

+1

The judgers probably assume that everyone around them is doing as much as they are, too. They want to believe that anyone not doing everything has dirty, miserable, uneducated kids with no friends. I think it scares them to think that there might be people with kids who are FINE but not working quite so hard.

Thus, the shaming.

+2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is why I chose to stay at home. Inkmow mot everyone has that choice but man every day so just a hurdle for people to clear. Considering cleaning my children and brushing their teeth something that is negotiable. Nope. That’s no way for me to live.

I work and bathe my kids and brush their teeth… the most neglected kids I see usually have SAHMs who spend their days at Target or Starbucks, the kids are carted around with an iPad for entertainment and they never get to go to camp or classes.

[Anonymous]

I’m a big believer that parenting is pay now or pay later. I pay now. My kids go to bed early, eat everything, and don’t have screen time battles. That took a lot of work when they were younger but I feel like it is saving me time. I work with older kids (teens) so I know that every minute I put in now to instill healthy habits is years of nagging saved.

For the same reason, I have my kids in activities that they can do intensively as teens. I don’t want them to be online getting into all kinds of nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll start -

No toddler music/gymboree classes
Wash sheets monthly
No elf on the shelf

Is this for everyone or just your kid?

[Anonymous]

The fact that the pearl clutchers showed up to this one just proves how American parenting is all about making your own life hard and difficult to prove you’re a good parent. I wonder what the French parenting hacks would be. Or if we’d even recognize them as “hacks”. Who cares how often someone washes their sheets, or if they sleep in their clothes! If you cannot smell them, it is all good. Put down your torches. Different strokes, man. And if we can parent good kids without their having matching socks, or if their teeth are fine without dentist visits at age 3, then… who cares?! (I don’t love the self-congratulatory tone of some of these posts, I must admit… don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back for training your child to carry their own bag. I mean, that’s good- but not the point of this thread!)

[Anonymous]

We're introverts with 3 kids close in ages. We don't organize playdates -- saves time and stress, of which we have plenty. Lots of playground visits, other outings.

[Anonymous]

Weekday breakfasts are toast, yogurt, fruit and cheese, or leftover waffles/packages pulled out of the freezer. One kid leaves the house at 6:40 and the other at 7:30 (MS/HS), no way is anyone making a real breakfast at that hour.

They pack the same lunch 9 days out of 10. I tried variety and they kept requesting the same. So we are going on 4 years now with virtually the same packed lunch (except for the year of virtual school, of course). Requires zero thought or planning on my part.

[Anonymous]

2 pairs of sneakers, so that one pair gets washed or aired out.
2 lunch boxes, so that it is fine if kid forgets one at school at times
2 book bags, so every so often, I can wash one.

BTW - I wash sneakers, caps, bookbags etc in the washer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll start -

No toddler music/gymboree classes
Wash sheets monthly
No elf on the shelf

Is this for everyone or just your kid?

PP here. Everyone!

Though guest sheets get washed between guests (who never stay more than a week).

[Anonymous]

Each family member has different color socks and underwears so that things don't get mixed up and easy to sort..

DH wears black boxers and black socks. DS wears different colored boxers (and different brand than DH) and different colored (and brand) socks.
I wear nude colored panties and bras and white socks. DD wears colored and printed panties and cute socks with lots of design.

[Anonymous]

Shared Google Calendars.
We have calendars for kids, medical appointments, birthdays, social obligations, etc...
Helps that everyone can access it and we can easily schedule stuff knowing if we have prior engagements at that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:-AFTERCARE. Boy will I be sad when we age out of this. Now you can do aftercare AND enrichment classes - win/win!

-I don't do any holiday decorating except gel clings (and a Christmas Tree)

-I never buy new clothes, just bags of hand me downs like PP said.

I am always shocked by parents who do not bathe their children and do not buy them clothing. Apparently some of yall also do not change their sheets which is really gross when you think about. There's no way your kids do not smell. Little kids don't even wipe their asses properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are little (4 and 1) so this will likely change as they get older. But:

- No seasonal house decorations unless it's the result of an activity we did to keep the kids busy (like pumpkin painting). I'm not spending my precious free time hanging christmas lights.
- Not volunteering to be the "room parent"
- Putting the older one in aftercare
- Doing playdates for the older one on the weekends as much as possible. The kids entertain each other, I can do other things during that time.

How lazy can you be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are you awful parents on here making the hack-sharing parents feel bad? Go away! More tips, please, everyone else. Mine include- no helping with HW, very few if any play dates when they were little, never cleaned the car, sheets get washed about once/month or so. Cleaning a bathroom now means doing things with bleach wipes and nothing more. Baths twice a week is fine in the winter. One pair of nice shoes/one pair of sturdy sneakers per child. In the days of potty training, I would throw away anything too gross. I also felt pretty good about throwing away stray socks. No more hunting for a match for a 2$ old navy sock.

One hack I found out wasn’t so great was buying my two boys the same style of underpants. Trying to keep the L’s and the XL’s separate was insane. I ended up throwing them all away and starting over.

Not bathing your kids or brushing their teeth is not a life hack. That's just gross.