Ten Parent Pro-Tips: Hacks for Surviving With Littles

Happy Thursday, friends!

TEN PARENT PRO-TIPS

1. Do not pay for a gym membership. Your little people are your workout. Need to get some squats in? Don’t worry, you’ll get them done by reaching down to get whatever it is they drop on the floor and just. can’t. reach. Arm day? Picking up a 30 pound toddler all day is no joke. Gotta work those legs? Just bounce the crying infant who won’t sleep but won’t let you sit down- your quads will be screaming tomorrow!
2. Just switch to iced coffee. Or learn to make a coffee smoothie. Just have no expectations of drinking hot coffee anymore.
3. If your kid won’t eat, just get them out of the high chair, spend 10 minutes making your lunch, sit down to eat it, and voila! All of a sudden they are STARVING and just haaaave to have whatever it is you were hoping to eat.
4. If you want to eat lunch during the week, make it on Sunday. Meal prep, people. It’s not just for the #healthy. It’s for the moms who want more than leftover crushed goldfish for lunch.
5. Bribe your kids. Sometimes you just have to do it. This is generally how I get Oliver from the car to the house without him making a break for the road. “Oliver, if you go straight to the house you get Craisins!” (There is nothing that kid won’t do for some Craisins ?.)
6. Don’t plan on relaxing the first time you lay your child down at night. Expect to have to go in for another kiss, and then to pick up the teddy bear he threw over the side of the crib, then to reassure him you didn’t disappear just because he can’t see you anymore. After about 4-5 times of going in, you should be OK to try and relax. Maybe.
7. Give up on privacy. Of all the things people tell you to expect when you have kids, absolutely NO ONE told me I would never go to the bathroom by myself again. I really would have liked a heads up on that one.
8. If you’re coming up on a red light, be that person that starts coming to a stop veerrrryyy slooowwwllly about 50 yards from where you actually need to stop. Red lights are of the devil and somehow send babies (maybe just mine?) into a screaming, inconsolable mess.
9. Do NOT make an agenda for the day. Kids know, and the second you have set plans for the day, they will find a way to interfere. “Oh, you wanted me to have a play date today, Mom? Well I’m going to wake up at 5 am this morning, need an early nap, sleep for 1 hour and just scream and whine the rest of the day so you’re just too exhausted and we don’t go!” I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what goes through their heads.
10. If you want to eat something and not have to share it with a toddler, HIDE! I’ve eaten many a cookie and snuck lots of ice cream hiding beside our fridge where my toddler can’t see me. #sorrynotsorry

Being a parent is so fun! I am loving seeing my son grow up and become his own unique little person, and I can’t wait for my daughter’s little personality to develop and start coming through. But being a parent is also hard, so I am all about finding the little things that can make it a tad easier (until my toddler figures out my pro-tips and I’m back to square one).

If you’re looking for more tips on surviving parenthood, check out my 7 tips for surviving parenthood of two here!

What are some parent pro-tips that you’ve figured out? Please share in the comments!

Have a phenomenal day!