057 - 40+ Mom Hacks for Kids Under 5
- May is for Mamas -
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Show Notes:
We're still in the midst of a special series that I'm hosting: May is for Mamas!
Today, I am going to share some practical mama hacks, particularly for mamas who have kids under five. I was originally just going to do 5 or 10, and then I put it to Instagram, and man, y'all came through. You taught me so much more than I ever could have taught you on my own. So, 5 or 10 mama hacks for kids under five turned into 40 hacks that I'm going to share today, and I didn't even include all of them.
So, get ready, because even if you just take two or three of these and apply them to your home, or they're new to you for the first time, you want to just incorporate them into your life and your routine, I really think your life and your momming is just going to get a little bit easier.
Because there are so many hacks to share with you today, I thought I would break them up into a few categories. So, that’s what we're going to do. The categories you can expect are food, travel, routines, clothing and laundry, bath time, and just for mama.
Here's the deal, okay? Mamas are no joke, you know this if you're a mom listening: it's no joke, and it's all about the little things that really makes all the difference for us. And, disclaimer, there's going to be some talk about some gross stuff because that's what we deal with, on a day-to-day basis as moms. So just know, you have been warned.
Alright, let's jump into 40+ mama hacks for kids under five.
Category 1: Food
Lunch prep the night before.
This is something my friend told me that I should do months ago, and I was like, yeah, it's fine, preschool lunches are very easy, they don't require a lot of me, so I would just do them the morning of. But, let me just vouch for this one and say, if you can prepare lunch the night before, it is a game changer, that one little thing made our mornings so much smoother.
Muffin tin lunches or dinners.
So basically, you just get out your muffin tin, and you fill all of the little muffin things, muffin pockets, muffin spaces, I don't know what you call them, you will them up with different snacks. There's a ton of variety, and the kids can pick and choose what they want, and they feel like it's really cool, so that's a win. I actually have never done this, but I can't wait to try it.
Use a pizza cutter or kitchen scissors to cut everything, especially for little kids.
A mom messaged me and said, "Listen, if you aren't using a pizza cutter to basically cut up all of your toddler's food, you're wasting a lot of time, it's super fast." Incorporating a pizza cutter into normal meal prep, or kitchen scissors, that another one a lot of people said.
Don’t buy different color plates and bowls, just everything's the same color.
I love this idea. We have multi-colored plates and bowls in our home, and I'm going to tell you, Milly and Linden, every day, argue who is going to have the pink one, because the pink is superior in our home. So, I just thought this would really make my life a lot easier if we just had everything in the same color. That was really interesting.
Put all the kid's stuff on the lower shelves in the kitchen that they can reach.
So, their bowls, their plates, their utensils, maybe even put them in a little basket or a box. Their cups, their sippy cups, put everything on the lower shelves that they can reach in the kitchen.
This actually just reminded me of another one…
You can get a milk dispenser.
I really want to try this one but I don't know how it works, so full disclaimer, I heard this on another podcast and I'm just adding this in, on the fly, as it crossed my mind right now. But, you can put your milk jug in the door, and then have a little milk dispenser, so they can open the fridge and get their own milk. It's a start stop top. Anyway, I'm going to do some research, I'm going to try to leave a link for that in the show notes if I can find it.
Fold up the tabs on juice boxes for kids to hold.
My sister taught me this, I think it's a great little hack. You know when you stick the straw in the apple juice, and you give it to your kid, and they squeeze it because they're so excited, and it squirts all over them? Then, they cry, and they're cold, and they want to change. Well, if you take the tabs on either side, they're the little triangle tabs, and flip them up every time before you give your kid the apple juice container, and then you tell your child, "Hold it by these little tabs." Don't grab onto the whole body of the container, but just hold it by the tabs. They don't squeeze it, and they can just hold it by the tabs and drink out of it, it's really great. My sister taught me that, it is a great hack, and it really allows for the kids to drink and not make such a big mess, which is great.
Okay, that is it for the food category. Let's go to the next category—
Category 2: Travel
Always keep Ziploc gallon bags in the car.
Ziploc bags because if someone gets sick, or needs to barf, you can use those bags because they seal. So, it contains it all, the smell, the yuck, all of it is contained. Which I thought is really gross because it's clear, but it's also really helpful because it seals, and I just had never thought about that. I'm going to be putting some of those in my car.
Always keep disposable chux pads on hand, for changing blowouts.
You know those little disposable chux pads (or this kind) you have in the hospital, or even puppy dog pads is another thing that you can buy. Basically, having those on hand all the time in your diaper bag, or in your car, so that when there is a blowout in the car seat, which inevitably happens to all of us, you can put the baby on that. You're not getting blankets dirty, and you're not getting the backseat of the car dirty, you're not getting all these other things gross in the car, you can just put the baby on that, get all the poop on that, and then just throw it away, which is wonderful.
Kristen, my friend, is actually the one who messaged me and told me about this. She said, one time it really saved not only her, but a stranger that she saw that was having a blowout. She ran over, and gave one to them. She was like, "Oh my gosh, thank you so much.” So, keep them for yourself and for other mamas in need!
When you're out and about, all of your kids get in on one car door.
So, if you have multiple kids under five, they're obviously all still in car seats, and getting them in and out of the car is just difficult. Especially when you have to keep an eye on them, and they're just standing there in the parking lot, and you put one in one side, and you walk all the way around, put the other's in. It's way more safe to just have them all enter the same door of the car. This is something I started doing, I didn't really consciously think about it. So, when I got an instant message about this, I was like, that is so smart. Just say, "This is the rule. This is what we do, everyone get in and out on this side." Kids are fine, they can crawl over and under car seats, they can get in totally fine. I just thought it was a great safety tip.
Put a Target bag, or some sort of grocery bag, in the center console of your car.
All right, the next one, I loved this one. This is one I have not done, but I definitely plan on doing this. You know that little console that flips up? Take everything out of it, line it with a Target bag, or a grocery bag, and it's instantly transformed into a little trash receptacle in your car, with a lid on it. Which is so great, because there's trash that always is built up in the car, and always on the floor. But, when they say, "Here mommy, here mommy, take the trash," I can take it, and I know exactly where to put it. So, I'm definitely going to be cleaning out that center console, and turning it into a little trash receptacle. I thought that was really smart.
Keep an extra change of clothes for each kid in the car, with emergency diapers, and wipes as well.
My friend Valerie does this really well, she always has this little Tupperware container in the back of her car with two outfit changes for each kid, extra diapers, extra wipes, maybe some snacks. Anything you think of that you could need in a pinch, just create a little bag, or a little Tupperware container of the things that you might need so that you're never without. It also allows you to be more of a “yes” mom. If you're out and about and the kids want to go play in the creek, or get muddy, or run through a sprinkler, it allows you to say yes to more opportunities like that. Maybe you forgot to pack an extra outfit for them that day, well, problem solved. You now always have an extra outfit for them in the car. I think the important thing to note here is when you use that extra outfit, make sure when you get home to replace it right away.
Category 3: Routines
This is basically just some little tips that you can incorporate into your daily routine, that will help things run a little bit smoother.
Have a rough routine that you stick to every. single. day.
I think with little kids, for me, personally speaking, my own experience, I've got a four year old, two year old, and one year old right now. It's really hard to stick to a routine, or even make a routine because I feel like there's just so many different needs going on, all the time. We do have a rough routine we stick to every day, but the other day I sat down, and I wrote out ... Especially in this time of quarantine, I wrote out just some boundaries, some things that we wanted to stick to every day. When I knew that, and I had it on paper in black and white, and I stuck to it for the first two days, and I communicated it to my kids, it really helped things run a lot more smoothly.
Save TV time, or screen time, for dinner prep time.
This is something that I've done, a couple other moms messaged me and said they did the same thing. Where basically you say, "No TV until mama's prepping for dinner." That gives you a little bit of time, as a mom, to gather your thoughts, and have a few quiet moments before dinner. And also, cook, and take out the hot stuff, and do all that without little kids running around your feet. But, just preparing their expectations during the day to say, "We're not going to watch TV at all today until dinner prep," really helps.
I started doing this a few weeks ago, and I told Milly the night before, "This is what we're going to do." And now, this is what we do every Monday through Friday. Unless someone's not feeling well or it's super rainy, of course we'll tweak our routine. But yeah, I just thought that was a good tip. If you just lay that out ahead of time, then you know what to expect yourself, and you can tell your kids what to expect.
I will say, just a heads up ... If you've never done this before, and if you watch TV a lot more than this, it's okay, no guilt, no shame, totally fine, I'm just going to give you a heads up, if you want to try this, there's going to be about three days of detox that takes place, and you're going to be cursing my name for a few days. You'll be like, "Nancy, why did you recommend this? This is terrible, the kids hate it. I'm melting down, I need my sanity." But, let me just encourage you, stick to it for three days, and then watch something click. Something will shift after the three day mark, and they will be more adjusted to their routine, they're going to start being more creative on their own.
I promise, it happens for us every time after vacation because this rule doesn't apply to us on vacation. Every time, there is a three day detox for us to get back into the no watching routine. Just a heads up, there.
Make dinner during nap time.
I talk about that with Kate in the last episode, here.
When they drop their naps, continue a quiet time or alone time for your kids.
I've talked about the time timer in a few episodes, it's in my Cornerstore if you want to go there and check it out. But, it's a visual timer for kids, to watch the time for an hour so they know how much time they have left. I'm also going to direct you to Emily Thomas' blog post on quiet time, and how they've done it in their house. It was really helpful for me, I just really enjoyed that blog post. If you don't have a quiet time or rest time, and you want to incorporate that, that's going to be a good resource for you.
Run the dishwasher every night.
Use a programmable wake-up light, or an okay to wake clock so your kids are signaled when it's time to get out of the bed.
Make sure that you put your bedtime routine in pictures.
Okay, this is really great for toddlers, and I learned this from one of my favorite parenting courses, Positive Parenting Solutions with Amy McCready. But, she teaches you, if you're on the struggle bus for bedtime, which a lot of us can be, and kids start to manipulate, and push boundaries, and whine, and it's just really stressful, putting a bedtime routine in pictures can really help kids sequentially go through the steps they need to get to bedtime.
Then, it empowers them to do it by themselves, and then you set that time timer during that time as well. When the time goes up you just say, "Hey, the time's up, it's time to get in the bed. Lights out," no matter what. If the time timer goes up and they haven't read a book yet, well they lose out on the book for that night. It teaches them time boundaries, and helps them to self propel themselves through their nighttime routine.
Category 4: Clothing and Laundry
Have one color of socks for every kid.
Our sock bins right now are out of control, I have all kinds of sizes, all kinds of colors, strips, I don't even know whose is whose. Beaufort wears his sister's socks half the time, it's just insane. I love this, I really just want to throw out all of the socks that we have, and get a pack of white socks for Milly, purple socks for Lyndon, gray socks for Beaufort, whatever. Just one color socks for each kid, I think that's going to make my life so much easier.
Keep solid pants that are easy to match.
I thought this was so funny. A mom messaged me and was like, "Solid pants." I was like, "How is that a mom hack, what do you mean by that?" She was like, "Well, if you're trying to empower them to dress themselves, you don't want pants that are crazy patterns, or maybe that won't match. Just keeping their pants and their clothes almost a capsule wardrobe, very solid things that are easy to mix and match, it really makes getting dressed a lot easier." I was like, okay, that's a good point.
Do one load of laundry a day.
Love this tip. I thought it was crazy at first, Emily Ley taught me this in her book A Simplified Life. I read it and I was like, "That's too much laundry." But, I've started doing it, I've been doing it for about a year now: game changer. If you aren't doing a load of laundry a day, do it. It really helps you stay on top of things. I would just add, maybe try to do it six days a week instead of seven, because I really try to take a Sabbath, and not work or do a lot of laundry on that Sabbath day, or whatever rest day it is. So, just aiming for six days a week is really helpful for us, in our family.
Layer the bedding on your kids' beds, especially when potty training or when they're sick.
So, it would like you putting a mattress pad down, then a sheet, then a mattress pad, then a sheet. You can get these waterproof liners that are like potty training liners as well, that are really easy to take off. We did that all through potty training, or when they're sick and they're throwing up at night. It's so much easier, instead of having to strip the entire bed and put everything back on in the middle of the night, several times, you just take it off, and you throw the dirties in the laundry. Then, you can put the kid right back into their crib, and go right back to sleep, which is super helpful.
Keep all their shoes and socks in one place, next to the door, not in their bedroom.
This really cuts down on trips up and down the stairs in our house.
This is an interesting one that I think I want to try, it was really interesting, someone messaged me about this one…
Instead of folding all their clothes and keeping their shirts in one drawer, and their pants in another, roll them into outfits and put a rubber band around them. Then, let the kid pick out an outfit.
Another mom, she said that she bought one of those things that you hang in your closet that are for shoes, it's a hanging wardrobe rack kind of thing. Anyway, she sticks outfits in each little compartment for her kids. I thought that was really interesting, as well.
Keep an empty bin in their closet to toss clothes into when they no longer fit.
This is something that's been really helpful for me. As soon as they grow out of something, or I'm like, "Okay, this does not fit you anymore," you just toss it into that bin. Then, when that bin gets full, you can go back in and fold them, and store them in some clothing containers if you want to keep them.
Only pajamas with zippers.
Don't do all of the buttons, because when you're trying to button 28 buttons in the middle of the night, it's just time consuming, and hard, and you can't see. Yeah, enough said, only buy pajamas with zippers for babies. I loved this tip from a mom with a baby, I'm sure.
Category 5: Bath Time
This is for mom—Just work, or decompress, or do something for yourself while your kids are in the bath.
Obviously, they need to be of age where they can sit upright, and be in the bath safely by themselves. But, use that time, when they get a little bit older, for yourself. Bring your laptop in there, let them play. Just have a minute, make yourself a cup of decaf coffee in the afternoon, and just sit there, and let them play.
Popsicle baths.
Balloon baths.
Just blow up some empty balloons and put them in the bathtub, and they can play with the balloons.
Painting in the bath.
Use that washable finger paint that you can get on Amazon, or in Target, and just letting them go to town, all over the walls of the bathtub, in the shower. It is a mess, but you can just spray it off. Really fast, easy cleanup, and they love it.
Legos bath/Hot Wheels/Any Plastic Toy bath.
Anything you can take and put in the bathtub with them, making them themed. Then, my friend Gina always does glow stick baths. You get these glow sticks, you break them, they light up. You just turn off the lights, and the kids think it's like a party, it's so cool.
Shower with your kids.
Just bringing the kids in the shower with you, let them play a little bit, and you also get showered, which is always a plus if you can shower because that's just lovely on the days that you shower.
Brush their teeth while they're still in the bath.
This is something that we do every night. We shampoo them, we wash their bodies, we do a little bit of conditioner, and then we always brush their teeth before they get out. I feel like it's a little bit more contained, sometimes brushing their teeth can get messy, it's just easier. I have them spit in a cup, and then I wash their faces off, and they're done. It's super easy when they're still in the bathtub.
Category 6: Just For You, Mama
Make your coffee the night before.
I cannot tell you how wonderful this is. I've talked about this in other episodes, I think my morning routine episode. But, I'll tell you what, when I wake up and that coffee is hot and ready, it is the thing that gets me out of bed. It is worth it to buy a coffee maker with a programmable function, so that it can be hot and ready, and waiting for you.
If you can afford it, hire a cleaning lady.
Oh, this has saved my sanity over the last year.
Swap childcare with friends.
Just text a friend and see if maybe they could keep your kids for a few hours, and then you keep theirs. Just taking time to swap that childcare really can allow you to get some things done, or just do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself, or your home, or work on a project.
Be super consistent about quiet time every day, about your kids having either a nap time, or a quiet time, quiet hour, whatever you want to call it.
Emily, my friend I talked about, I think she calls it Big Girl Quiet Hour, so it makes it exciting and fun for her daughter who's doing it, her son still naps. But, just being super consistent about that is going to give you a little bit of reprieve. I found that hour in my day is just really, really life giving. I feel like I can get a little bit more energy before prepping for dinner, and going about the the rest of my day.
Well, that's it. I think we ended up with well over 40 hacks or tips for you mamas who have young kids, and I hope this episode was really helpful for you. Even if you adopt only one or two of these, I hope that it's beneficial for you, and it makes your life just a little bit easier.
I'm going to close with words from Ricki Lake, who said,
"Motherhood is the greatest thing, and the hardest thing."