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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a very lazy parent.

We set out cereal and milk the night before (milk in the fridge drawer) and my kids get up, get dressed, eat cereal and watch a show before we come down (sometimes they sleep in and don't get through all of that

My four and six year old can get dressed without any assistance because we made them learn without helping very much

Baths only once a week, sometimes longer, eek. They are not smelly! This is a much more frequent activity though in the summer with sunscreen and swimming and sweat etc.

They are not in a lot of extra curriculars at all (I do have them in swim because survival)

I create a lot of parenting systems like that other thread had designed to make less effort for everyone. My husband and I have an absolutely set in stone rotation of duties (wake ups/bedtimes/etc) too to ensure that no favoritism or anything is rewarded to upend the workload too.

Pouring the milk is a GREAT idea. Kudos to you...

[Anonymous]

You barely bathers. Yes they do smell, have crusty places, gross hair. C’mon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You barely bathers. Yes they do smell, have crusty places, gross hair. C’mon.

They're disgusting. I can only imagine what their homes and cars smell like. Bathe your children and change their sheets! Also, to the mom who lets their kids sleep in the clothes they go to school in - you should find another hack. No one is that busy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You barely bathers. Yes they do smell, have crusty places, gross hair. C’mon.

They're disgusting. I can only imagine what their homes and cars smell like. Bathe your children and change their sheets! Also, to the mom who lets their kids sleep in the clothes they go to school in - you should find another hack. No one is that busy.

I'm the OP - will you two go away? There are plenty of threads for bashing people for their "inadequate" parenting or housekeeping. Or you can start one. This thread is dedicated to the concept that NO ONE can do it all perfectly, and hearing real world examples of people cutting corners. Your judgment isn't welcome here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh I forgot I barely brush my 2yo's teeth. She rarely eats anything sugary other than fruit, doesn't drink milk right before bed and her breath doesn't smell bad.

there is still sugar in fruit, and milk. Brush your kids teeth!! It takes like 1 minute twice a day. I do keep a toothbrush and toothpaste in a mug in the kitchen. No time wasted going back upstairs after breakfast. My kids socks are all exactly the same. I hate matching socks. This way I just pair them up, no matching to be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You barely bathers. Yes they do smell, have crusty places, gross hair. C’mon.

They're disgusting. I can only imagine what their homes and cars smell like. Bathe your children and change their sheets! Also, to the mom who lets their kids sleep in the clothes they go to school in - you should find another hack. No one is that busy.

I'm the OP - will you two go away? There are plenty of threads for bashing people for their "inadequate" parenting or housekeeping. Or you can start one. This thread is dedicated to the concept that NO ONE can do it all perfectly, and hearing real world examples of people cutting corners. Your judgment isn't welcome here.

I agree, no one can do it all perfectly, but I personally don't think bathing your children or washing their sheets on a regular basis rises to the level of perfection. No one said they had to be perfectly groomed or the sheets had to match or whatever, but they can both be clean. And I am completely judging sleep in your clothes mom, that is truly ridiculous. Also the mom who doesn't brush their kids teeth - take the time to do that. There has been some useful advice here, but all advice isn't good advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh I forgot I barely brush my 2yo's teeth. She rarely eats anything sugary other than fruit, doesn't drink milk right before bed and her breath doesn't smell bad.

there is still sugar in fruit, and milk. Brush your kids teeth!! It takes like 1 minute twice a day. I do keep a toothbrush and toothpaste in a mug in the kitchen. No time wasted going back upstairs after breakfast. My kids socks are all exactly the same. I hate matching socks. This way I just pair them up, no matching to be done.

I'm the lazy parent who pours my kids milk the night before. I don't do anything with teeth until at least 3.5. They're fine these teeth basically don't matter. And it isn't that i don't take teeth seriously, the older two brush and floss and go regular dental appointments. But its just to get the good habit going, I don't think I'm really doing anything meaningful until there are adult teeth in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You barely bathers. Yes they do smell, have crusty places, gross hair. C’mon.

They're disgusting. I can only imagine what their homes and cars smell like. Bathe your children and change their sheets! Also, to the mom who lets their kids sleep in the clothes they go to school in - you should find another hack. No one is that busy.

I'm the OP - will you two go away? There are plenty of threads for bashing people for their "inadequate" parenting or housekeeping. Or you can start one. This thread is dedicated to the concept that NO ONE can do it all perfectly, and hearing real world examples of people cutting corners. Your judgment isn't welcome here.

I agree, no one can do it all perfectly, but I personally don't think bathing your children or washing their sheets on a regular basis rises to the level of perfection. No one said they had to be perfectly groomed or the sheets had to match or whatever, but they can both be clean. And I am completely judging sleep in your clothes mom, that is truly ridiculous. Also the mom who doesn't brush their kids teeth - take the time to do that. There has been some useful advice here, but all advice isn't good advice.

+1000. Such lazy and terrible parents! Don’t skimp on hygiene or grooming PLEASE. The other advice is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You barely bathers. Yes they do smell, have crusty places, gross hair. C’mon.

They're disgusting. I can only imagine what their homes and cars smell like. Bathe your children and change their sheets! Also, to the mom who lets their kids sleep in the clothes they go to school in - you should find another hack. No one is that busy.

I'm the OP - will you two go away? There are plenty of threads for bashing people for their "inadequate" parenting or housekeeping. Or you can start one. This thread is dedicated to the concept that NO ONE can do it all perfectly, and hearing real world examples of people cutting corners. Your judgment isn't welcome here.

I agree, no one can do it all perfectly, but I personally don't think bathing your children or washing their sheets on a regular basis rises to the level of perfection. No one said they had to be perfectly groomed or the sheets had to match or whatever, but they can both be clean. And I am completely judging sleep in your clothes mom, that is truly ridiculous. Also the mom who doesn't brush their kids teeth - take the time to do that. There has been some useful advice here, but all advice isn't good advice.

This thread isn’t for you. Go be perfect somewhere else.

I thought I was the only one that let the toothbrushing thing go with a one-year-old. I feel better.

+1000. Such lazy and terrible parents! Don’t skimp on hygiene or grooming PLEASE. The other advice is fine.

[Anonymous]

Invest the time up front to teach kids to do things on their own - getting dressed, getting their own breakfast/snacks, and a little later household chores, caring for pets, even cooking whole meals. They can learn to do these way earlier than you think they can - you just have to accept that for a few weeks/months until they get it it will be a lot slower than if you just did it for them. But it will still save you tons of time and effort in the long run.
Also, no scheduled extracurricular activities outside of what's provided at school after school until late elementary or middle school, unless it's something really special that they/you really want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Invest the time up front to teach kids to do things on their own - getting dressed, getting their own breakfast/snacks, and a little later household chores, caring for pets, even cooking whole meals. They can learn to do these way earlier than you think they can - you just have to accept that for a few weeks/months until they get it it will be a lot slower than if you just did it for them. But it will still save you tons of time and effort in the long run.
Also, no scheduled extracurricular activities outside of what's provided at school after school until late elementary or middle school, unless it's something really special that they/you really want.

Great advice. I’m also good with very few activities and skipping play dates. That’s why I had more than one kid.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

I only change the sheets when something spills or someone has an accident, luckily (?) this happens about once a week, although maybe it'll go a month and then I have to remember to change them.

I have set nights for bath night on an alarm, and we do baths then. If for some reason we don't/can't, we just get it at the next designated day.

I also have anything regularly planned set to an alarm so I don't have to worry about remembering it. (filling out the daily health check, garbage night, medication, etc.)

I standardized all of our tupperware/storage containers to ziploc. Brand doesn't really matter, but the lids are interchangeable, it's relatively cheap to replace, and I never have to look for lids.

I also standardized the kids drinking cups, we only have take and toss sippy cups, no special straw cups, or one of a kind cups. We have water bottles stored out of reach for activity and school, but while at home we don't have to fish around for lids/cups.

[Anonymous]

I have a rotation of 4 meals that we cycle through.

It makes grocery shopping easy, straightforward and cooking is very fast. We buy fresh fruits in season and minor variations in vegetables but 90% of the time it’s broccoli or green beans. Once or twice a week we get take out for variety, but the 4 meal rotation has gone over well with the family.

[Anonymous]

We put it in our nanny's contract that they do kids laundry, and help the kids make their lunches for the following day, and cull toys/books they've grown out of. Also, we teach our kids to do a lot that needs to be done for them. How to cook foods they eat, how to add groceries to the list, how to order on Instacart, how to fold laundry, how to RSVP on Evite, etc. Also, we sign our kids up for one camp that's eight weeks. None of that different camp every week crap. That's way too much to keep track of.

Also, this isn't a short cut, but we only let their well-behaved friends come over. If they come over and are badly behaved they get one warning. If they're badly behaved a second time they're not welcome back. My kids can maybe go to their house (if they're not a bad influence) or they can be friends in school.