13 Random Parenting-Related Tips & Tricks

Who doesn’t like some good parenting-related tips? I know I do. So here are 13 random and somewhat quirky parenting-related tips and tricks to try.

13 parenting-related tips and tricks

1. Watch movies in a foreign language (even American ones)

Most children’s movies have a French and Spanish soundtracks. If you play the movie in a foreign language and turn on the same language’s subtitles, you will learn a lot of new vocabulary and expressions, and so will your kids.

A Monster in Paris is a movie the whole family will like. Not as famous as The Incredibles or Shrek, this charming movie is a lot of fun and not too scary for the younger set.

2. Take your kids shopping at the thrift store

Thrift stores, especially not-for-profit ones, are a great place to take your younger children to shop for holiday presents for their siblings and relatives. Your child can pick out whatever they want. These stores are less expensive. Plus you’re doing a good deed by shopping secondhand. By not participating in the first world economy, you’re making the world a more ecological and less profit-motivated place.

3. Wrap presents in reused paper

You and your kids can then wrap those presents, or any others, in old maps. No need to buy wrapping paper. (If you have no maps because you only use your phone or a GPS, a decorated brown paper bag makes great wrapping paper, as do used calendars and even newspaper in a pinch.) Here are 99 other ways you and your family can become more sustainable in the next 9 minutes.

4. Play “Interview”

Wondering what your child is thinking about? Play “interview.” Set up two chairs and a table. Put on a suit jacket or a silly hat. You are the interviewer, your child is the client. “Right this way, please, Mr. Smith,” you say after your child knocks on the pretend door. “You’re here for your interview, I presume?” Then you ask them questions and write down the answers. Sample questions: 1) What’s your favorite color and why? 2) If you could spend the day doing anything you want, what would you do? 3) What do you like best about school? 4) What are your three favorite candies? 5) What do you not like about school? (See, you slip in the burning questions in between the lighter ones.)

5. Put toys on vacation (you can do this for pet toys too)

Toys get really boring really quickly. Two ways to fix this: 1) Swap a box of toys with a friend your child’s age (have them put their name on the bottom of anything they want back.) 2) Put toys on vacation (your child can help) for a couple of months in the closet. Pull them out later and they are suddenly fascinating again.

6. Let them climb trees

As high as they want. Don’t hover and don’t help them. In Scandinavia where children are given a lot more freedom to climb trees and explore nature, kids also have fewer accidents! Read more about this in Christine Gross-Loh’s book Parenting Without Borders.

7. Don’t make them share

It’s OK if your kids don’t want to share. You wouldn’t share your car or bicycle with someone you just met. You probably wouldn’t shareyour jewelry, a brand new book, your pajamas, or something else special, either.

We shouldn’t expect more from our children than we do from ourselves. (And it also doesn’t work to shout “STOP SHOUTING!” when you want your kids to stop shouting. We all do it anyway. But it doesn’t work.) Read more in Heather Shumaker‘s helpful book, It’s OK Not to Share.

8.  Throw a piece of spaghetti against the wall

Guaranteed to make a baby laugh. It’s hilarious. Try it.

9. Buy your kid a knife

Kids can use knives. They should learn to use them. Even little kids. (Details in the book mentioned in #6, and in this essay by Christine Gross-Loh.)

10. Make oobleck

An activity for a rainy day, ages 2 – 8 (44-year-olds have fun with this too), is to make sticky goop to play with out of equal parts cornstarch and water. This concoction will oscillate between being liquid and solid. Or you can create an indoor sandbox. Sit on a sheet on the floor in the kitchen and play sandbox. Use flour, corn starch, and dried beans for sand. Jars of different sizes, a small bucket, and a shovel or trowel make good sand toys.

11. Play “Intersection”

An activity for a nice day: intersection. Walk out of your house or apartment. At each intersection a different member of the family gets to decide which way to go. Take turns. See where you end up.

12. Use cookie cutters for savory cooking

You can use cookie cutters to make shapes out of savory biscuit dough or tofu! The idea to try cookie cutters on extra firm tofu came to me last week. It was so much fun and my kids ate a ton of tofu and veggies (we fried the shapes in soy sauce, garlic, and broccoli.) I’m sure other parents have had this idea but I can’t believe I never thought of it before!

13. Host a pop-up shop

Invite a dozen or so friends and relatives to come to your pop-up shop. Make two huge pots of soup. Bake biscuits. Hang a cloth to separate the kitchen and put the prices on a poster board to the side of the kitchen door. Clear out your living room and put out only items for sale, including your children’s artwork and previously loved toys they’re ready to part with. You can have people exchange real money for tickets at the door or make pretend money and have everyone “shop” with that. (A pop-up holiday shop is a great way to raise money for charity.)

Published: December 1, 2013
Updated: December 31, 2024

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About Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an investigative journalist, book author, and Fulbright awardee. She is the author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family, co-author (with Paul Thomas, M.D.) of The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, and The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.