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

[Anonymous]

I batch cook chili, broccoli soup, spinach soup, beans, mashed potatoes and cauliflower, roasted potatoes, crock pot corned beef, baked chicken, and mashed sweet potatoes. I get fruits that kids can get for themselves. Every food in the house is healthy, and if I can't be with the kids, I really don't care what they get for themselves.

Kids have several kits and building toys that they can grab at any time, and I actively avoid anything that requires adult help.

I spend the time when kids are younger to make sure that they know how to vacuum, make scrambled eggs, use a rice cooker and crock pot, wash their own clothes, clean their own bathroom, etc. They need to be able to take care of themselves when I can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way am I alone in this one so for anyone lurking who does the same....

Unlimited screen time.

I do the guilty parent version of this, where we arrange our week to avoid screen time so that on the weekend we can just let them watch a bunch of TV while we relax. I could never go truly unlimited because my kids LOVE tv and I think it would ruin them. But being able to just stop caring about screen time on a Saturday, especially when it's cold and miserable out, is a gift I give myself whenever I can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way am I alone in this one so for anyone lurking who does the same....

Unlimited screen time.

I do the guilty parent version of this, where we arrange our week to avoid screen time so that on the weekend we can just let them watch a bunch of TV while we relax. I could never go truly unlimited because my kids LOVE tv and I think it would ruin them. But being able to just stop caring about screen time on a Saturday, especially when it's cold and miserable out, is a gift I give myself whenever I can.

Yes! Surprised this didn’t come up more often. I do make the kids take breaks, but between interactive screen time, educational screen time, and screen time in our family’s second language, I really don’t think screen time is all that problematic.

Plus, yes, it helps me keep my sanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ding ding ding. I would guess most of us have very similar standards, but are dealing with different people’s bodies. I have never smelled. I shower every day because I love showers, but I do not need to for hygiene. Even after a long workout, I am sweaty but don’t have BO. I just don’t have that hormone or something. My hair is not naturally oily at all. My best friend HAS to shower every day or else she looks like a grease ball and feels disgusting. People’s bodies are all different! My son is 8 and doesn’t bathe every day, and looks put together and hygienic (hair brushed, clean face, clean unwrinkled clothes) every day. He smells of nothing but sweet little kid. He knows that when puberty comes, he will need to wash more regularly. Showering more frequently isn’t some sort of skill you’ll lose if you don’t start practicing it as a baby. We will adjust when need be. Of course when he has a soccer game and comes home muddy and sweaty, he goes right into the shower. I guarantee you there is not a poster on here who would do otherwise. Maybe the people who insist on bathing their kids every day have kids who play outside for a lot of the day or are naturally more oily/sweaty? And to the PP, we don’t all have kindergartners just because you do. My 3rd grader can wipe myself perfectly well. If he smelled or appeared dirty in any way of course he would get a shower!

There is something weirdly insecure/juvenile about the posters who insist children need to be scrubbed within an inch of their lives. All the “you’re nasty!” commenters remind me of kids on a playground, deflecting for their own social survival. Do you really think we would just be ok Cuddling our kids at home or sending them to school smelling? I would guess we are all working with a similar set of standards, but different bodies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Ding ding ding. I would guess most of us have very similar standards, but are dealing with different people’s bodies. I have never smelled. I shower every day because I love showers, but I do not need to for hygiene. Even after a long workout, I am sweaty but don’t have BO. I just don’t have that hormone or something. My hair is not naturally oily at all. My best friend HAS to shower every day or else she looks like a grease ball and feels disgusting. People’s bodies are all different! My son is 8 and doesn’t bathe every day, and looks put together and hygienic (hair brushed, clean face, clean unwrinkled clothes) every day. He smells of nothing but sweet little kid. He knows that when puberty comes, he will need to wash more regularly. Showering more frequently isn’t some sort of skill you’ll lose if you don’t start practicing it as a baby. We will adjust when need be. Of course when he has a soccer game and comes home muddy and sweaty, he goes right into the shower. I guarantee you there is not a poster on here who would do otherwise. Maybe the people who insist on bathing their kids every day have kids who play outside for a lot of the day or are naturally more oily/sweaty? And to the PP, we don’t all have kindergartners just because you do. My 3rd grader can wipe myself perfectly well. If he smelled or appeared dirty in any way of course he would get a shower!

There is something weirdly insecure/juvenile about the posters who insist children need to be scrubbed within an inch of their lives. All the “you’re nasty!” commenters remind me of kids on a playground, deflecting for their own social survival. Do you really think we would just be ok Cuddling our kids at home or sending them to school smelling? I would guess we are all working with a similar set of standards, but different bodies.

+All this. My 8 yo DC still has the sweet little kid smell no BO even after going to school and playing outside etc. So yeah showers once a week, but change clothes daily and brush hair etc. I remember growing up with daily showers and in my culture that is the norm but we did lots of things without thinking and I would want to be more discerning and not just follow some custom blindly.

So many societies have failed due to bathing. Good job PP

[Anonymous]

What is so hard about elf on the shelf???? That doesn't make my life hard at all. It's all the other cooking and cleaning crap.

[Anonymous]

One hack:
Weekly library trips. when they're young we make it a BIG DEAL that they can pick out whatever they want. This is in place of any trips to toy or candy stores. They get out a big stack of books and I swear this is the only thing that has saved us from resorting to screen time. The books without words are especially awesome.

At home there's an entire shelf just for library books and the bag for returns is nearby. Library books are not allowed anywhere else in the house unless you are actively reading them.