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

[Anonymous]

I copy friend’s vacations. Literally everything from accommodations to activities. I have a couple friends that like to spend in my comfort range and don’t think twice and rebook their trip a year later. I hate planning and so does my husband but I love going on vacation.

[Anonymous]

Love to see all the honesty here. Definitely refreshing to know not everyone else is perfect.

I really don’t limit screen time that much. Non-screen time is also required, but there are no set time limits.

Daycare potty-trained both kids completely and we did nothing.

Same meal for them every night essentially and we eat a nice adult meal.

Kids come into our bed every single night.

[Anonymous]

Someone probably already said this but ... I take shortcuts elsewhere so I can do the parenting. This is not to say I am so perfect, I am so not. It's my first priority though. Shortcuts are for housework, not my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm a SAHM. Today I took my kids on a mile-long hike to see an historic tree. On the way there, my kids learned to recognize a new species of fern, in addition to the ones they already know from previous outings, which we do 1-2 times a week. My 2yo can read and my 5yo does algebra for fun (his choice).

I'm also the PP who lets Amazon do all my grocery shopping, serves the same meals most weeknights, and sends my kids to camp at school without even researching other options. Like everyone on this thread, I have learned that you will burn yourself out if you spin your wheels overthinking and overdoing kid stuff. I love the idea of cutting corners and finding ways to make parenting easier. I might not adopt all the previous suggestions, but I truly appreciate hearing what others are doing and invite the Judge Judys on the thread to unclench.

+1

I’m one of the “baths 2x a week” posters and I’m also the sort of mom who sets up after school art projects linked to the unit they are studying school, and is constantly trying new recipes to expose my kids to different foods. It’s not a laziness thing, it’s a priorities thing. My kids really do not get that dirty, especially in the winter. Too much bathing dries out their skin. I make these choices based on what makes sense for our family, not some manual I was handed on day one of parenting and instructed to follow.

Fwiw, our pediatrician has said numerous times that we should be careful not to bathe our DD too frequently because of her eczema. So our doctor doesn’t think she’s unhygienic.

[Anonymous]

Okay the only thing that bothers me at all is the bathing once a week. Sheets once a month, fine. Sleeping in next day’s clothes, incredible, I do it myself sometimes for the gym in the morning.

We aim for every other day for a bath. Ignoring everything else like sweat, scalp oil, and environmental grime, once they’re potty trained this is legit gross. Idk about you guys, but my kindergartner isn’t the most fastidious wiper. I can’t imagine the stank of her butt after six or seven days! Do you once a week bathers have bidets, or wipe them down with a wet rag between the cheeks or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love to see all the honesty here. Definitely refreshing to know not everyone else is perfect.

I really don’t limit screen time that much. Non-screen time is also required, but there are no set time limits.

Daycare potty-trained both kids completely and we did nothing.

Same meal for them every night essentially and we eat a nice adult meal.

Kids come into our bed every single night.

Same. I know this is big on dcum but screen use just isn’t a big issue for the kids and I have no problem taking a break and cuddling up with my oldest to watch a movie while my youngest takes his afternoon nap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay the only thing that bothers me at all is the bathing once a week. Sheets once a month, fine. Sleeping in next day’s clothes, incredible, I do it myself sometimes for the gym in the morning.

We aim for every other day for a bath. Ignoring everything else like sweat, scalp oil, and environmental grime, once they’re potty trained this is legit gross. Idk about you guys, but my kindergartner isn’t the most fastidious wiper. I can’t imagine the stank of her butt after six or seven days! Do you once a week bathers have bidets, or wipe them down with a wet rag between the cheeks or something?

We bathe more than once a week. However, my DD is incredibly regular and poops once a day, at home, after school. She always gets a wet wipe on her butt after she’s made her pass with toilet paper because I know she’s still bad at it. So if she goes a few days between baths, no, I don’t worry her butt is gross. If I thought her butt was gross, I’d give her a bath.

I wonder if the people insisting on daily baths just have dirtier kids. Like maybe those of us bathing less frequently just have tidier kids who don’t play in the dirt or sweat as much.

[Anonymous]

Buy one type of sock for each fam member so you don’t have to match socks.

Don’t turn things right side out when folding laundry. Fold as is and turn it right side out when you get dressed. I hate laundry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay the only thing that bothers me at all is the bathing once a week. Sheets once a month, fine. Sleeping in next day’s clothes, incredible, I do it myself sometimes for the gym in the morning.

We aim for every other day for a bath. Ignoring everything else like sweat, scalp oil, and environmental grime, once they’re potty trained this is legit gross. Idk about you guys, but my kindergartner isn’t the most fastidious wiper. I can’t imagine the stank of her butt after six or seven days! Do you once a week bathers have bidets, or wipe them down with a wet rag between the cheeks or something?

This. We went a long time without a bath once due to travel and weird schedules, and both my kids complained that “down there” was very itchy. Kids need to bathe regularly! My kids also have eczema so we do every other day.

[Anonymous]

I do no housework and the very bare minimum at work (DH has commented that he’s shocked I haven’t been fired) so I can plan kid stuff at work. Shortcuts with kids- I forget to brush baby’s teeth some nights but that’s about it

[Anonymous]

I comb the hair of my ES kids with a lice comb when they are bathing and have conditioner in their hair. It takes less than a minute and dislodges any dandruff or lice that may have hitched a ride. My kids have never had any lice issues even though there were several outbreaks before the pandemic in their class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to search for two camps for two different gender kids who are in different grades and have different interests. I also have to figure out pickups and dropoffs that fits in with our work schedules. Camp signups happens as an iterative process but we have aced it by now.

1) I am friends with the parents of several of my kids friends. We share what camps we are planning for so that some of the other friends can also signup for it. It makes car-pooling easy. We are guilty of camp-hoarding too, so my kids friends can join in too.

2) I overbook all camps. I will sign up for every thing from one camp/location, before proceeding to another vendor/activities. This way, I have full coverage. I start withdrawing from camps only if I get something better for the kids.

3) Other parents and I will be the first people to sign-up our kids for the camps, as soon as registration opens. If it opens at 1 am, we are up and quickly register for it. We have a system for which camps to sign up for.

3) DH and I usually sit together to sign-up and maintain a google calendar for the signups that we share with the kids.

4) Vacation happens at the beginning or at the end of the break. A couple of leisure weeks happens when one of the parent can be off and we basically do nothing but veg out, have playdates, go out to eat, shop for BTS, schedule home/yard improvements and my cleaners come to do a weeklong deep cleaning.

This is a system that has worked very well for several years. My kids like to go to camps that their friends are also going to. So, I do the work to get all the parents organized and the camps then becomes a fun playdate kind of activity.

I have also arranged for EC coaching and classes from private instructors at home for my DD's team. It has been extremely helpful to build a winning team and resulted in good friendships between parents. Kids look forward to these classes because we build in playtime before classes as well as snacks. Parents get a break too and can run errands because kids are having fun with their friends and learning or doing something constructive. Usually, this is a year-round thing. My kids are very social so anything that they want to do (or need to do), we have to make sure that several of the friends are doing it with them.

I think you misunderstood the assignment. None of these are hacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy one type of sock for each fam member so you don’t have to match socks.

Don’t turn things right side out when folding laundry. Fold as is and turn it right side out when you get dressed. I hate laundry.

I hate laundry too. My kids learned how to do their own laundry at an early age. They can fold (or not fold) their own clothes as they see fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay the only thing that bothers me at all is the bathing once a week. Sheets once a month, fine. Sleeping in next day’s clothes, incredible, I do it myself sometimes for the gym in the morning.

We aim for every other day for a bath. Ignoring everything else like sweat, scalp oil, and environmental grime, once they’re potty trained this is legit gross. Idk about you guys, but my kindergartner isn’t the most fastidious wiper. I can’t imagine the stank of her butt after six or seven days! Do you once a week bathers have bidets, or wipe them down with a wet rag between the cheeks or something?

We bathe more than once a week. However, my DD is incredibly regular and poops once a day, at home, after school. She always gets a wet wipe on her butt after she’s made her pass with toilet paper because I know she’s still bad at it. So if she goes a few days between baths, no, I don’t worry her butt is gross. If I thought her butt was gross, I’d give her a bath.

I wonder if the people insisting on daily baths just have dirtier kids. Like maybe those of us bathing less frequently just have tidier kids who don’t play in the dirt or sweat as much.

When she starts menstruating I hope you encourage her to use more than just a wet wipe.

[Anonymous]

My kids have inherited my greasy hair gene. I have to wash their hair at least every other day or it gets pretty gross looking.

They are both horribly picky eaters (my fault, I’m sure) so they basically have the same thing for dinner every night. I tried for so long to expose them to other stuff and it hasn’t worked. So now my husband and I eat whatever we want (the kids are free to have some if they like, which they never do) and the kids eat the same old pasta + broccoli/spinach + meatballs. Every night.