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The Most Creative "Parenting Hacks" Include Hiding Vegetables in Food, Using Bribes, and Straight Up Fibs
We've got the results here from a new survey about creative "parenting hacks." Really, they're less "hacks" and more just FIBBING TO and DECEIVING their kids. But hey, whatever works, I can't judge.
Here are 10 of the best "hacks" parents use . . .
1. Blending vegetables into other foods to get kids to eat them . . . like blending broccoli into ketchup or cauliflower into mac and cheese.
2. Playing the "quiet game," where the first person to talk loses.
3. Bribing their kids . . . like offering candy if they finish their vegetables.
4. Calling all meats "chicken."
5. Only charging the iPad to 35% to limit the kids' time on it.
6. Giving them a glass of juice that's really half-juice, half-water.
7. Telling them celery will give them superpowers.
8. Telling them cavity monsters will get their teeth if they don't brush.
9. Setting their alarm to the music from their favorite video game so they wake up.
10. Saying a bowl of broccoli is just for you, which makes them want it more.
(SWNS)
What’s the Worst Day to Shop For Thanksgiving Dinner?
You would THINK it would be a kamikaze mission to go to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving . . . crowded parking lots, picked-over shelves, middle-aged women shoving each other over the last can of cranberry sauce.
But apparently, that's NOT the worst time to shop for Thanksgiving dinner. According to one expert, the TUESDAY before Thanksgiving is actually worse.
Why? Because everyone ASSUMES Wednesday will be so bad that they try to beat the crowds by going on Tuesday.
Six Proven Ways to Deal with Picky Eater Kids
Here's something for parents of picky eaters. A recent study looked at different strategies we use to get our kids to eat stuff they don't like . . . a.k.a., vegetables. And it found one strategy in particular that DOESN'T work . . .
Offering them a REWARD for eating something they don't like isn’t a great strategy. And it probably won't get them to change their eating habits long-term.
They might eat their broccoli JUST to get chocolate for dessert. But long-term, it could simply reinforce the idea that broccoli is bad, and chocolate is good.
Here are five strategies that tend to work better, according to the study . . .
1. Repeated exposure to the food they don't like. Meaning you keep serving it to them, and push them to eat it until they get used to the taste.
2. Setting a good example by eating the food yourself, and showing them you like it.
3. Preparing meals together and teaching them how to cook.
4. Hiding the taste with other flavors, like putting butter or cheese on vegetables. It's not the healthiest option, but veggies with cheese are better than no veggies at all.
5. Making the food look more interesting by doing things with it, like arranging vegetables in the shape of a face. Obviously that one's meant for 3 and 4-year-olds, not 14-year-olds.