10 Parenting Hacks for Toddler Moms: These will make you MORE Productive

Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. My name's Nicole. If you are new here, I am a mom of an almost two-year-old. A two-year-old. I cannot believe this day is almost here. And I thought, what better way to celebrate than share my mom's survival guide to life with a toddler. It has been a roller coaster. Toddlers are busy, they are scary, they are wild, and honestly, a lot of fun. So don't worry, don't worry. But in today's video, I'm gonna be sharing some of my top tips to navigating the crazy world of toddlerhood. Also, before we hop in, I wanna give a huge thank you to Branch Basics for sponsoring this video. More about them later. Let's hop right in. There is something that happens when your little baby turns one-year-old. They officially enter the toddler world. And it feels like it just happens overnight. I mean, it does. One day they're a baby, the next day they are a toddler. And the toddler years are basically from one to three. And when you're deep in it, it feels like they're never gonna end, but also they are a lot of fun. And I think we need to remind ourselves, it is a phase, it will end, and we're gonna survive it. Tip number one, roll over leftovers. If you didn't figure out already, toddlers like to waste a lot of food. And that could mean food on the floor, they didn't eat what's on their plate. And that is like hard work that you spend making that meal, money, buying those groceries. So instead of just like throwing it in the compost, I actually like to roll it over to the next snack or meal. I mean, it depends like what you're serving them, but a lot of times for breakfast, Sage doesn't eat a ton for breakfast because she does get milk in the morning. So usually there's definitely leftovers from breakfast. So what I do is I roll it over to her morning snack. And if it's something like toast or strawberries, I put it in her snack cup. Maybe she eats it on our walk or she eats it while she's like playing and it gets eaten. And it's stuff that would have been thrown out and I would have made a new snack, but she eats it and she doesn't even know that was leftovers from breakfast. And it's a win on my part. One thing I've noticed is how quickly they pick up on habits. So my next tip is to be consistent and really create a routine around whether it's mealtime, playtime, or just how you react in different situations. In my case, I don't want Sage eating all her meals in the living room, watching Despicable Me. If I even do that a couple times, she is now accustomed to wanting to eat all her meals in the living room. She hands us the remote and I get it. It's a good vibe, like Netflix and chill. I'm all about it. But it's hard to tell a toddler that that's a sometimes thing. So I think it's really important to be mindful of different situations and habits around routines, whether mealtime, bedtime, maybe it's no watching TV right before bed, or like I said, not bringing snacks every single time to the living room. And it doesn't mean that they can't be sometimes, but I think it's important to be like, we eat our meals at the kitchen table, or I'll give Sage the option she can eat at the counter, on her learning tower, or she can eat in the playroom on her table and chairs. You need to be consistent on how you react to different situations and different routines throughout the day and set like the precedence of how you want your day to go. I know it's hard in the beginning. It's hard not to just like give them snacks and TV just to like make everyone happy. But I really do think putting the effort in in the beginning will be helpful in the long run. Let them help. Toddlers love to mimic mom and dad, and you can turn everyday household activities into toddler playtime. Especially if you're getting sick of, you know, pretend play and tea time, get them to help you do household chores. This can mean cooking, baking, watering plants, folding or hanging up laundry and cleaning. Sage has actually been helping us clean around the house, and we've been using Branch Basics to clean our entire home. They are on a mission to create healthy homes using a simple multi-purpose cleaning solution to remove germs and bacteria from your house. This is all I use to clean my entire house. I love that they use mineral and plant-based ingredients without any harsh chemicals, and I truly can feel safe using them around both my family and our dog. I have their popular Premium Starter Kit, and all you need is their Concentrate Cleaner to create all the different cleaners throughout your entire house. So you just dilute, depending on what cleaner you're making, with water, and you shake, you're ready to spray and clean. It is so easy. I love that they're non-toxic. It's the easiest cleaning solution I've ever tried, and it comes right to your door. Not to mention, you're gonna save money because this is how many bottles you can make out of one bottle of the Concentrate. They're biodegradable, they're fragrance-free, you can fragrance them with essential oils if you'd like. They are gentle enough to use on your skin, but also strong enough to tackle the dirt and grime. I am truly in love with this brand. I know you guys will love them too. We honestly use them for everything, any random mess that our toddler leaves behind. Like chalk the other day on the couch, if you follow me on Instagram, we used that and it got it right out. And you guys can use my code HEALTHNUT for 15% off all of their starter kits. I'm gonna have a link down below. All right, this is a controversial topic, but be strategic with screen time. I'm not anti-screen time. We watch our fair share of Disney movies on the couch. I love that time with Sage. But also, I'm very mindful about how often I bring it up. We have one of those toddler tablets, and they are so handy, especially for things like travel. But I really try to be strategic with when I bust it out. I use it for dirty diaper changes, like the really bad ones that you need them to lay flat, and they just wanna like roll over and like not sit still. I use them for when I'm doing Sage's hair, if we're at a restaurant after she's done eating her food, and if we need it, and we're trying to finish our meal and enjoy our time, then we will bring it out. Long car rides, if it's already been a while, and you know they're kind of hitting that breaking point, that's usually when we bust it out. So I try not to have that be the first thing we introduce, but when, I was gonna say when in doubt, when needed as a last resort, that is when we bring in the screen time. And because of that, it really does work. As opposed to just always bringing it out, I feel like it dilutes the effect of the screen, and we also just create boundaries over, you know, I don't have Sage holding our phones, or even holding the tablet up to her. She treats it like a TV, and that way it's just not like it's connected to her all the time. And I get it. The screen time thing is so hard. This is not meant to judge any parents out there. I get it. I just think it's important to create boundaries and routines around it, especially if, you know, we try not to do a screen time in the morning, that way she can just be mindful and play independently. But if we do, we try to put something more educational like Miss Rachel, which she's really been liking, instead of just, you know, something that's pure entertainment and not necessarily educational. My mom told me, and I'll tell you guys as well, snack, snack, snacks. Snacks, snacks, snacks, snacks, snacks. That is like our favorite word in this house. And basically it means always have snacks in the house. When you leave the house, never be without snacks. Toddlers are always snacking. They're always hungry. Even if they don't eat their main meals, they seem to always want lots of stuff in between. And obviously you want to like be mindful and not overdo it with the snacks. Otherwise they're not going to eat those like nourishing meals that you've prepared for them. But it is important. And just take this one, if you only take this from this video, I learned it very early on is, yeah, never leave the house without snacks. If you're going grocery shopping, if you're, you know, just doing anything that involves being out in public, bring the snacks with you. Don't think, oh, we'll be fine. It's only an hour. No, no, no, no. Even if they just had lunch within five minutes of leaving the house, they're going to ask snack. And you're going to be like, I should have listened to Nicole and brought the snacks. We have a dedicated snack cabinet just for Sage. And it always is stocked up ready to go. And then we also have some fresh stuff like berries, cucumber and hummus, cheese and crackers that she likes as well. And if you need some more homemade snacks, you definitely should grab the baby health cookbook. I have things like cookies and muffins and super nourishing, delicious meals. All the ones that I started feeding Sage from six months and up, and I will have that linked down below. Lots of ideas there. I don't care if you're not a nature junkie, get outside. It's going to be good for you. It's going to be good for your little ones. They burn off so much energy outside. There's like so many things to explore. Rocks, sticks, leaves. Like there's just wonderland world outside and it's free. You can just go outside, out in your backyard. If you don't have a backyard, go out on the sidewalk, let them walk around. Don't always bring the stroller out. You know, just holding your hand, walking them around is not only going to help teach them, you know, to stay on the sidewalk, burn off some energy, but they get to like just explore the world outside. We make a habit every single day to make sure that we all get fresh air and outdoor time. So this could be a morning walk. This could mean going out in the forest with our dog, Cashew. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see that we are always out for nature walks. And it's one of our favorite things to do as a family, but for good reason, it tires us out all out, especially our daughter and she sleeps well. She is calmer in her behavior and she honestly just has so much fun. And it's just like a nice, fun free activity to do as a family, no matter what the season we get ourselves outside. You've probably heard it before, but toy rotation. And honestly, this works. I don't do it all the time. I have to admit, but when I do, it does make a big difference. A lot of times parents will feel like my kids are bored of all their toys. I'm going to buy them new stuff. And then they quickly become bored of those new toys. So instead of buying new toys, less is more, hide some toys and do a toy rotation. I have this awesome play shelf that actually has like a hidden section in the back. And you can just like put half of the toys in the back and have the other half displayed. And this is going to allow them just to see everything in a more clear, neat and organized manner. So they can actually go in and play with things. I feel like when everything is like all chaotic in the playroom, it's hard to really pick out what they want to play with. And when things are laid out nicely and there's new, brand new, fresh things for them to see, they're going to be more engaged, more interested. Even if it's an old toy they haven't seen for a while, cause it's been at the bottom of the toy box by displaying it, it's going to get them reinterested. And you're not going to have to go out to the toy store and keep spending money on new toys all the time. Let them make choices. Toddlers have very little control in what goes on in their life, which is probably what makes them so angry. They can't fully communicate. You're not letting them do what they want to do. They have zero control. So letting them make small choices can help empower them and just let them express their opinions and give them just like a small sense of control in their life. And that could be as simple as which shoes do they want to wear today? What outfit do they want to put on? What book do they want to read? What snack do they want to eat? You know, you're still controlling the options, but they feel like they have made the decision for them and they have a little bit of a sense of control in their life. And maybe we'll reduce some of the tantrums if they're the ones that picked that activity. Also it's just really cute to see their personality develop and for them to have preferences of one over the other. This is one I kind of started doing naturally without really thinking about why I was doing it. And it's seeing everything. And it might sound a little weird or like, maybe you're like, yeah, I'm already doing that. But seeing around certainly daily tasks that may be a little challenging for your little ones to cope with that could be brushing their teeth, getting ready for bed, washing hands. These are all things that we struggle with in our everyday life. When you bring music into a scenario, it can not only help lighten the mood, but also help them focus and practice self-expression. It can also be a cue for something that is going to happen. So it can help them cope with it a little bit better. Like bedtime. I honestly feel like I got Sage to enjoy brushing her teeth by singing the, you brush your teeth. And it's something I just made up and she enjoys it. And it can make something that may be challenging like brushing their teeth a lot more fun, especially bath time. We have our bath time songs and honestly, it's a lot of fun to do once you get into the rhythm of it. So you can have your go-to songs, maybe a go-to playlist, learn the lyrics, make up your own songs. You know, we use twinkle, twinkle little star for bedtime. We do like the baby shark song, but for washing hands, I'm, you know, you really pick whatever song you like. It could be like rock and roll. I don't know. But see if it works with your kids, but it has been a really great little tip that we've done with Sage and it's gone a long way. So get your singing voices ready and they won't judge you. I promise. This is one we just are doing, and it may be one of my favorites and it is toddler Creating ergonomic Montessori style toddler stations throughout the house. This can help with independence learning and just helping your toddler feel more comfortable in the home that they live in. This can be setting up a hand-washing station with a stool. We have an automatic soap dispenser since, you know, Sage isn't really able to do the pump thing. We have a faucet extender so the water can come up to her. We have a table and chairs that's for her height in the playroom that she can eat at, color at. We have one of those learning towers that can bring her up to the counter level if she wants to see what I'm doing, maybe bake or have a snack while mommy's cooking dinner. Most people focus on the safety aspect of it, making sure your house is baby-proof, but also just making sure that it is toddler friendly so that they can feel comfortable and really enjoy the spaces throughout the house. Having hooks that are down to their level, having a shoe rack so they can have their shoes can just go a long way. And I'm learning, we're setting up stations as we go, and I've already seen Sage really appreciate those areas that we've been creating. I'm just gonna throw this in as a bonus because I think us as parents, you know, it can be very overwhelming to be absorbing all of their emotions that they are experiencing at a very young age without really knowing how to communicate them to you. And my biggest thing is don't overreact. We wanna be the role model and the example that we want them to learn from. So if we are constantly overreacting over small things like spilling a drink, coloring on the wall, there are bigger things that we wanna be like, no, don't do that, that is a safety issue. Like, you know, running with scissors, running across the road, or doing something that's actually dangerous versus you're making a mess or you're not supposed to do that. Instead, I try to redirect Sage. It takes a lot of effort, don't get me wrong. I'm always having this like internal dialogue, but I really think it's important to practice patience and kindness with your little ones. They are learning, they're not trying to do bad things. They are just discovering the world and we're here to guide them, keep them safe, and be the good example we want them to be and let them learn from your behavior. Honestly, this video was so much fun for me to create and put together all my tips and tricks that I've been learning. Honestly, I just, we're growing together. I'm learning how to communicate with a two-year-old that can't communicate back and to hopefully try to reduce those big feelings. Also, thanks again to Branch Basics for sponsoring this video. Use my code HEALTHNUT to receive 15% off all of their starter kits. You will honestly love them. I cannot recommend them enough to like my friends and family. My house just feels so fresh and clean with none of the nasty, harsh chemicals I do not want living in my house. Check out the links down below. Thank you so much for watching and leave me a comment down below letting me know what other toddler, family, mom life hack videos you would like to see on my channel next. Bye, guys.