How do parents make their lives easier or keep their sanity in the midst of tackling everyday parenting issues? The answer is innovative solutions. Remember, a happy parent is a better parent!

So, here are the Top 10 Smart Parenting Hacks that you can use to improve your life:

  1. Blend veggies into Pizza sauce: your kids will never know there is spinach, broccoli or fresh tomatoes in their pizza. This trick can also be applied to spaghetti sauce or any other dish that calls for red sauce.
  2. Are your kids bored? Put them to work! Make it a game so it becomes fun. Play some high-energy music to get them going. Let your daughter vacuum or your son clean the tables. Kids love helping out, and they’ll have fun doing it. Reward them with a treat when they’re done.
  3. Tired of telling your kids not to slam the door or afraid someone will lose a finger? Place a cut foam noodle on the door to prevent slamming and/or accidents.
  4. Kick the monsters out of the closet or from under the bed with a handy monster spray. Some young children respond well to a decorated spray bottle filled with colored water and feel more secure in the face of imaginary creatures lurking in the closet or under the bed — but it depends on the child. You can empower them by saying, “If you think you see a monster, just spray it with this, and you’ll scare it off.”
  5. Create a “worry box” with your kids: children worry about everyday issues just like adults. One way to help them deal with this is to challenge them to write down their fears and put them in their ‘worry box.’ Then schedule twenty minutes of private time every day to talk about these worries together. Once the time is up, the worries go back into the box until the next day.
  6. Take a warm bath every evening after the kids go to bed: this is your time to melt away all the days’ challenges. It is truly healing!
  7. Add sprinkles to food to get a fussy eater to eat. According to some kids, any food is better with sprinkles.
  8. Night prep for a smoother morning routine. Have your kids layout their outfits for school the night before. Pack up dry goods in lunch boxes to save time in the mornings.
  9. Create a coloring case in a DVD box. Place coloring pencils and paper in an unused DVD box for your child to use on those long car rides.
  10. Let kids color and decorate unused cardboard boxes. Be green and encourage your kids to decorate or color empty carton boxes with stickers and drawings. It creates hours of fun for the kids and teaches them to recycle.

Share your favorite parenting hacks down below!