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

[Anonymous]

Weekday breakfast are super similar: either cereal with side of fruit or bagel w/ cream cheese and side of fruit.

I have a large rotation of weeknight dinners, so it's not repetitive, but they are very simple.

Very unfussy about kid laundry -- on Sunday afternoons/nights, I just basically dump their hampers into a bunch of cold washes and then everything into the dryer. There is no sorting, hand washing, blah, blah. Underwear, socks, and pajamas don't get folded -- the clean stuff just gets plopped into the underwear/sock or pajama drawer.

I've been getting groceries delivered since my oldest was born 8 years ago.

The only cleaning I do in between biweekly cleaning lady is: run the roomba, wipe down dining table and kitchen counters for 10 seconds each night, and dishes. Kids have to pick up toys, papers, school stuff each night before bed.

We like organized kid activities, but don't go overboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read all the replies.
For babies: no crib, no baby food— co-sleep & feed the baby mashed up version of what we are eating.
For toddlers/preschoolers— make potty available but don’t make a big effort to actively potty train. No preschool until 4. No baby/toddler classes except swimming.
Elementary/middle school— don’t match socks. No summer camps; no kumon/summer school/etc.

We also didn’t do any official potty training, they just kind of figured it out by themselves by 2-2.5 and stopped needing diapers.

Also no shoes with laces and I don’t care about fashionable or cute outfits. Most of the stuff I buy vaguely matches so most days they throw on whatever joggers and tee is at the top of the drawer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good god people. Bathe your kids, brush their teeth and don’t feed them hotdogs regularly unless you want them to turn into a 40 something year old with colon cancer.

Some people should have used birth control imo.

I probably have a few "hacks" in areas that I don't care much about, but I'm not really someone who does the minimum in other areas. I think most of these parents are probably similar.

It's just having everything listed together (from different families) like in this thread, that gives is a feeling like kids are being neglected.

[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.

I’m not the PP(s) who claim to do this but I don’t get why it is ridiculous? If the kids bathe/shower at night and get into clean clothes to go to sleep…its not that different from waking up, changing into clean clothes?

[Anonymous]

My kid only bathes 2x a week and I know she doesn't smell. I'm sure none of her teachers or peers would guess she bathes less often.

But it's not a hack for us (well not the way this thread means). She has eczema and in the winter, in particular, is prone to hot spots and outbreaks. She bathes less often for a bunch of reasons, including the fact that warm water dries out her skin, and that bathing less often enables us to make sure she never goes to bed with any dampness trapped next to her skin, which pretty much guarantees a rash or eczema outbreak for her.

If she just had a bath recently and she needs to get clean, we do a standing sponge bath in the tub with barely warm water -- it takes 3 minutes, 5 if we wash her hair. So it's not like we let her run around dirty because it's not bath night.

She bathes more frequently in the summer (still not daily) because she's outdoors all the time and getting dirty, and because her eczema is significantly better that time of year because her skin retains moisture better.

All this "oh my gosh, your child only baths 2x a week!" pearl clutching is ridiculous. Two times a week is plenty for most kids, especially this time a year.

We do wash sheets weekly, though. I don't find it that burdensome -- I like fresh sheets on my own bed weekly anyway, and I just throw DD's sheets in with ours.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

EBF and co-sleeping. Potty training from early age.

Huge time savers.

I loved throwing huge birthday parties. My big short cut was having pizza and cake from costco, and a hot lunch catered from nearby restaurant. MY cleaning lady worked as a server for the party and I did not have to worry about running around.

PBS educational TV shows when kids wanted to watch TV. They learned a lot watching various cartoons.

[Anonymous]

I‘m blown away by the people who aren’t bathing their children daily. My children get dirty from playing, I‘m assuming these kids don’t play outside?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I‘m blown away by the people who aren’t bathing their children daily. My children get dirty from playing, I‘m assuming these kids don’t play outside?

Playing on a city playground doesn't involve that much dirt...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never used soap or high temperatures to wash DS's bottles or pump parts. Just rinsed with water (only) in the bathroom sink and air dried until next use

ew some of y'all are nasty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never used soap or high temperatures to wash DS's bottles or pump parts. Just rinsed with water (only) in the bathroom sink and air dried until next use

ew some of y'all are nasty

The "nasty" people getting shamed on this thread probably don't have intensely fragile kids with food allergies out the wazoo

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

I am so lazy. But I bathe my child every day and change the sheets at least once a week, sometimes more often. W.T.F.

[Anonymous]

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.