Parenting is never easy, especially when dealing with toddlers! Children in that age group are old enough to be somewhat independent but they still require a lot of guidance. So, how do you make sure that your kiddies are safe but still able to do things on their own? These parenting hacks will show you how — and you’ll wish you’d have learned about them sooner!
Playpen for the Tub
Bath time can be pretty tricky, as most tubs are too big for small children. Also, kids’ bath toys can float away, causing the child to chase after them — which can be dangerous in a slippery tub.
The solution is easy, though! Simply put a laundry basket in the bathtub to create a makeshift playpen. Your child will be able to sit in the water, on their own, and all their toys will be kept close by.Happy Birthday, A$AP Rocky!Keep Watching
Bib Hanger
Feeding a young child can be pretty chaotic, to say the least. To make matters more difficult, it always seems impossible to find a bib or a towel when you most urgently need one.
However, you can attach a hook to the back of your kid’s high chair, to ensure that you’ll always have a bib nearby. We can’t say that this trick will totally eliminate mealtime chaos, but it will certainly make it more manageable.
Use Sanitary Pads for Potty Training
The main rule about potty training is that once you tell a kid they’re done with diapers — there’s no going back. However, accidents do happen, of course. So, how can you give your child the confidence to ditch the diaper, but ensure less mess while they’re learning?
Have them wear sanitary pads as a stepping stone between diapers and being completely potty trained. Just double-check that you’re getting the ones with no added scents or chemicals. Make sure to explain it as a purely positive thing, which it is, it means your child is ready for the next step!
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How to Keep Pacifiers Clean
Keep your kids’ pacifiers clean, even while on the go, by putting them in takeout sauce containers! There’s no need to purchase fancy pacifier holders, as most restaurants’ takeout sauce containers are the perfect size for a pacifier and they’re actually really easy to clean.
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You can even have each of your tots decorate their own containers as a fun activity and a way for them to take ownership of their pacifiers.
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Repurpose an Old Crib
Let’s be honest: baby cribs are expensive! So, what do you do when your child has grown out of theirs? It’d be a shame to throw it out, and selling secondhand items can be tricky, so if you know you won’t be needing a crib anymore, you can repurpose it!
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Turn your kid’s crib into a desk, so they have their own place for arts and crafts, and there’s a bit of nostalgia in it for you too.
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Make Washing Hands Easier
Your toddler learning to wash up may result in their hands getting clean but it does tend to make a mess of everything else. In order to help regulate the water flow, making it easier for children, attach a bottle to the end of the faucet.
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You can use an old lotion or shampoo bottle, cut it accordingly, and you’ll have a makeshift sink extension. This way, your kids will be able to wash their hands and you won’t need to clean the whole bathroom afterward.
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Pool Noodle Doorstopper
Even the most soft-spoken children tend to slam doors while running around in excitement. An easy solution to this is to utilize a doorstopper. That being said, kids can easily trip over a doorstopper that’s on the floor, therefore, it’s best to create a doorstopper for the top of the door, instead.
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You can repurpose a pool noodle for a quick and easy solution to doors getting slammed. Simply cut a slit in the pool noodle and attach it to the door! We promise this will make all those slamming doors disappear.
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The Get Along Shirt
This parenting hack is a bit controversial but we’ll share it with you anyway. If your children truly can’t get along, stick them in the Get Along shirt and that’ll force them to figure it out. Usually, the threat of the shirt will be enough to keep your kids’ argument from getting to that point.
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If you don’t like this idea, there’s a less dramatic version of the same thing: Tell your kids that they can’t have friends over until they learn to be friends with each other.
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Create a Fort
It’s pretty common for young kids to want a fort — a place within the house that’s only theirs. While you can purchase various types of forts, they can get pretty expensive and tend to take up a lot of space.
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However, forts are really easy to DIY and, no, we don’t mean using pillows and blankets. Create a fancy fort worthy of a prince or princess, by hanging bed sheets on strings. When the kids are done playing in the forts, you can simply take them down until next time.
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Portable Activity Kit
Traveling can be pretty stressful as it is, but it’s even more stressful when young children are involved. Not only do you have to navigate and get your own things in order but you also have to be ready to hand your kids their various toys when they ask for them.
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However, you can create a portable activity kit ahead of time, so your kids can flip to the part of the binder that has the activity they want — all on their own! It’s a great way to keep them occupied and organized.
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Muffin Cup Popsicle Holder
Popsicles are an incredibly messy ordeal, even for adults, so imagine how sticky things get when kids are involved! Resolve the issue of melting popsicles creating a mess by using muffin cups as popsicle holders.
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This way, your kids can enjoy their sweet treat without getting the entire house (and themselves) sticky. Don’t worry, there’s no shame if you need to use this trick for yourself, even when there aren’t any kids around.
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Sandpit
Playing in the sand is a part of most people’s childhood memories. That being said, not everyone lives near a beach or even a park with a sandpit. Luckily, it’s still possible to give your children the experience of making sand castles and digging sand tunnels — in your own backyard!
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Homemade sandpits are incredibly easy to create and they can be reused for an extended period of time. Not only will this DIY sandpit keep your kid shaded from the sun, but you’ll also be able to close the tent up at night to keep out unwanted critters. We still suggest taking your kid to the beach at least every once in a while, though, just for a different experience.
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Toy Storage
A lot of people store toys in opaque plastic bins which are labeled with the contents. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it can get pretty messy since the kids can’t necessarily read yet and they can’t see what’s inside.
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With reusable zip-loc bags, your kids can easily see which toys are where and choose which bag to open, accordingly. The result will be a lot less mess for you and a lot less frustration for your tots.
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Toy Holder for the Car
While we’re on the subject of organizing toys, you can tie a shoe caddy to the back of your car’s front seats, so that your kids can easily access their toys while on a long drive. This will resolve the issue of you trying to drive while also keeping your children entertained.
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Plus, this will dramatically reduce the arguments between the kids in the back during the drive since they can each have their own shoe caddy/toy selection.
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Kid-Friendly Wallet
Making kids feel important when at the store can help boost their confidence and independence. However, it can obviously be problematic to give your child your money or credit card. What you can do, though, is give your tot their very own wallet with kid-friendly items.
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This will also help keep your child occupied while waiting in a long line at the store. You can even teach them about money this way, by using fake bills from their wallet!
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Seat Savers
These simple seat savers are easy to DIY with an old T-shirt or any other spare fabric lying around. This item will rescue your car from spilled drinks, bodily fluids, food, or whatever else your tots can dish out.
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In addition, these seat savers can reserve specific car seats for each of your kids. What this means for you is that you’ll no longer have to endure the endless arguments between your children about who sits where — the car seats will become reservation-only!
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Toilet Paper Line
It can be difficult for children to eye how much toilet paper they really need. Young kids tend to take too much TP — resulting in a big mess, wasted toilet paper, and even clogged toilets.
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Sure, you can nag and monitor your children, but who wants to fight over toilet paper? A much better solution is to create this toilet paper line on the wall, so your kids will have a visual as to what’s the right amount.
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Snack Box
Long car rides need snacks, regardless of age. However, getting your kids their snacks without destroying the car can require body contortions worthy of the circus. It also doesn’t exactly teach your kids independence when they need to go to a parent just to open a simple snack.
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The solution? This DIY snack box! Your kids will be able to open and close it on their own and choose their snacks by themselves. You, as a parent, may even have time to eat your own road trip food!
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No-Slip Pajamas
Onesie pajamas are undeniably adorable but they can be pretty slippery for a toddler. While some companies sell onesies with treads, others neglect this particular detail. Luckily, it’s super easy to create a grip on the bottom of onesies (or even just a regular pair of socks)!
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Use hot glue or puffy paint to ensure that your kids won’t slip while rocking a onesie. You can even make designs, or write your child’s name in order to create a personalized tread.
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DIY Baby Spoon
While most parents have baby spoons at home, there won’t necessarily always be one readily available when out and about. If you find yourself at a friend’s house when your baby needs to eat, or you’re out traveling, you can use the back of a fork as a makeshift baby spoon!
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The size should be quite similar to that of a baby spoon anyway, and it’ll definitely get the job done. Just make sure to clean it well before you use it. After all, we all know by now that “fed is best!”
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Help Your Kids Tell Time
Although young kids can’t necessarily read a clock, that doesn’t mean they can’t be somewhat independent when it comes to scheduling. Put tape or stickers on certain parts of the clock, depending on what you want your child to understand, in order to help them tell time.
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For example, if your kid knows that they can watch TV for one hour, you can put the sticker on the next hour mark of the clock. That way, your kid can see when the hour is up — all by themselves!
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How to Distribute Medicine
Taking medicine can be scary at any age but especially for kids. However, like with most things, the anticipation is often worse than the actual medicine itself. So, how do you get your tot to take their medicine without too much of a fuss?
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Simply put it into your child’s bottle without making a big production about them needing to take their medicine, and they may not even notice! Let’s be honest — a comforting bottle most definitely helps the medicine go down!
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Bottle Storage
When you have kids, it can often feel like your entire house has been taken over by diapers, blankies, and pacifiers. While that’s simply part of parenting, there’s a way to calm the chaos at least a little bit.
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Instead of having your kitchen cabinets filled to the brim with baby bottles, you can hang them in a shoe caddy. This will save you valuable kitchen space and it’ll still hold the baby bottles just fine.
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Baby Carrier Handle
Some baby carriers are just more comfortable than others, and depending on what type of carrier you use, you may find your arms red and raw by the end of the day. No worries if your baby carrier doesn’t have any cushioning, though, because it’s really easy to DIY!
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You can cut a slit into a pool noodle and wrap it around the handle of the baby carrier in order to create some cushion for your forearms. And voilà, no more sore forearms.
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Get a Massage
Parenting is tough and you don’t get a whole lot of time to relax when you have kids. That being said, there are some harmless ways to trick your kids into letting you chill a bit.
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This racetrack shirt is the perfect way to get a massage from your children while they’re happily playing. You can DIY this shirt, if you’d like. Simply choose an old t-shirt that you don’t care about and draw a racetrack on the back of it using fabric markers. Voilà!
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Put Tape on Toy Speakers
Children seem to have this magical ability to never get bothered by any level of noise. They can blast music on full volume and dance away, while everyone else suffers from a migraine.
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Rather than fighting with your kids over how loud they can turn it up, simply put clear tape over toy speakers. The tape will mute the sound a bit and chances are your kid won’t even notice the difference.
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Soap With Toys in It
Once your kids are old enough to bathe on their own, it can become an issue as they often don’t want to. Some kids may find showering to be boring or they don’t yet understand its importance.
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An easy solution is to buy your child soap that has a toy “trapped” inside. In order to get the toy, your kid will have to use up all the soap, meaning they’ll have to take lots of baths!
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Mark Medicine Bottles
It’s easy to forget stuff, especially small details when you’re raising kids. Sometimes, you genuinely just can’t recall if you’ve given your little one their daily dose of medicine and you don’t want to run the risk of accidentally giving them too much.
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A simple solution is to mark down the days on the medicine bottle itself, so you can keep track. This way, you can also know how much is left and never worry about being late to get a refill.
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Never Lose Baby Clothes Again
We all know that one sock will magically disappear when you do the laundry. It’s pretty tough to keep track of small items of clothing, which is why there’s such a prevalent theory of the washing machine eating them.
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However, when it comes to kids’ clothes, all of them are tiny! So, how can you make sure that they won’t get lost in the shuffle? Simply put them in a mesh bag! You can have one bag for each kid in order to ensure that all their items stay together.
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Baby Proof Electrical Outlets
Electrical outlets can be a bit tricky to babyproof because you often need to be able to use them. Sure, you can purchase an outlet cover that’s easily removable, but you can also DIY babyproofing if you find yourself tight on time — or money.
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Cover up the electrical outlet with a band-aid, tape, or sticker, and simply remove it as needed. This is especially useful if you have loved ones coming over with their kids but your house isn’t ready for little ones.
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Kiddie Dish Rack
Kids love to play house, especially with toy kitchens. However, it can be tough for children to visualize an efficient way to organize their toy dishes, which can result in a huge mess and things getting lost.
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If you give your kids a dish rack, though, they can store their toys properly and their kitchen items will last longer. Bonus points for the fact that this will also teach your kids the proper way to put away dishes, so they can help out with real dishes when they’re older!
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Make Painting Less Messy
As much as we would love to offer a magical solution to make painting with kids mess-free, we’re not wizards. However, there’s a solution to make the mess more manageable and teach your kids about tidiness.
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Use an empty egg carton as a painting station, to store the brushes and paint colors. This will keep your tots’ art supplies much more organized and may help decrease the need for clean-up afterward.
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Juice Boxes
It’s astonishing how many people don’t know this trick to juice boxes! This kid-friendly drink was designed the way it was for a reason, not just for aesthetics.
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Rather than having your kids hold the juice box from the middle, which will undoubtedly end in juice spilled everywhere, have them hold their drink from the flaps at the sides. We suggest lifting the flaps up for your kids, though, so that they don’t get confused as to which corners need to be raised!
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Storage Boxes for the Car
If shoe caddies and snack boxes aren’t appealing to you, there’s a third option for organizing kids’ items in the car. You can repurpose an empty wipes container to hold your child’s toys and snacks for a long car ride.
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What’s nice about this method of storage, is that your child can pack the box themselves and decide, independently, what they want to bring on each trip. Plus, they’ll easily be able to carry this box around on their own and access it by themselves.
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Watermelon Sticks
Watermelon is pretty much the perfect snack. It’s healthy, kids love it, and parents can enjoy it, as well. The only real drawback to this food is that it’s incredibly messy. Part of the mess comes from cutting watermelon into the traditional triangles, which can be difficult for children to manage.
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However, if you cut them into sticks, it’ll be a lot easier for your kids to take a bite without dripping juice everywhere. This method may even be helpful for adults!
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White Noise Playlist
If you’re having trouble getting your little one to sleep, white noise may help. However, not everyone can afford a pricey white noise machine. Luckily, with the beauty of the internet, it’s truly no longer necessary, as there are white noise playlists on both Spotify and YouTube.
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You can create your own playlist, as well, and control the length. This way, your baby will sleep soundly with the white noise and you’ll sleep soundly knowing that your wallet is still full.
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Use a Onesie the Right Way
Just like with juice boxes, many people don’t know the true reason for the onesie’s design. The envelope folds on the shoulders are there so that you can pull the onesie down off the child, rather than up and over their head.
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If your kid has had an accident, then please trust us that pulling the onesie down is most definitely the way to go here. Now we know — onesies aren’t just adorable but they’re functional, too!
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Baby Bottle Holder
Children can often struggle to find a grip on their bottles, due to the size of their hands and most bottles’ shape. That being said, it’s important to teach young children to hold their bottles and drink on their own.
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The trick here is to put the bottle inside a squishy ball, which will be easier for your tot to grip. Of course, you may still need to help them hold it steady, but this method will at least provide some sense of independence.
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Put Stickers in Your Kid’s Shoes
One of the daily tasks that children struggle with the most, is which shoe goes on which foot. A great way to help your kid with this tricky task is to cut a sticker in half and put the left half of the sticker in the left shoe and the right half in the right shoe.
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Your tot may not be able to tell which shoe looks like it’s the right or left but they will know how to make their sticker look whole!
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Baby Proof With Cable Ties
Babyproofing with cable ties is just as effective, and a lot easier, than getting a professional to babyproof and undo it when the kids grow up. For example, instead of nailing a baby gate to the banister, you can secure it with cable ties!
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This is super easy and quick to do or undo on your own, which makes it the perfect solution if you have friends or family coming over with their kids.
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Fix a Loose Tank Top
Kids grow so quickly that it’s sometimes impossible to keep up and make sure that all of their clothes fit perfectly. While some parents know how to sew, not everyone is so inclined, so here’s a simple trick!
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Clip it with a barrette! Your child can pick out the barrette they like, and it can be presented as a stylish addition to their outfit.
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Teach Kids to Help Out
Teaching your kids to help out around the house is just as beneficial for them as it is for you. You can make chores fun, rather than an argument, by turning them into a game! You can time your child to see how quickly they can get all the dirt into the designated square.
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If you have several kids, you can even hold a competition to see who can get their section of the floor clean the fastest. These are just examples but the possibilities are truly endless.
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Baby Shower Cap
A common issue during bath time is when shampoo gets in the child’s eyes. Luckily, online stores have recognized this problem and found a solution. This baby shower cap will keep your kid’s eyes safe, so your tot can actually enjoy their bath.
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If you’re tight on money, don’t worry, because this is fairly easy to DIY. You can even decorate them with fun colors and patterns, so each child has their own, unique shower cap.
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The Best Way to Swing
Kids can spend hours playing on the swings but it’s pretty unlikely that a parent will want to spend hours standing there, pushing their child on the swing.
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The solution here is to tie a string to the end of the swing and then sit down, put your feet up, have a drink, or whatever else you want, and use the string to swing the swing. The best part is that, now, you don’t have to worry about accidentally getting hit by the swing!
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Play Video Games ”With” Your Kids
Every parent needs some time to themselves, every now and then. That being said, finding the opportunity to do your own thing can be pretty impossible when you’ve got kids around. Basically, if your children see you playing video games, they’ll always want to join in!
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By giving your kids unplugged controllers to play with, you’ll be spending quality time with your family but will still be able to actually progress in your game. Everybody wins!