gkeller813

#UsGotThis
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Alright, so every once and a while I, as a dad, come up with a good idea that actually helps my kids out, instead of my usual ideas that backfire. I have twin 4 year old boys, and we recently switched their toothpaste, which they did not like. They are pretty strong willed children, so they would only allow a small amount of toothpaste on the bristles. It wasn't enough to really clean their teeth with, and they would inspect the bristles each time to make sure I wasn't putting too much on. Well, one day I decided to inject the toothpaste into the bristles, essentially hiding it from their view. I just left the little bit on top, which they approve of. This has been going on for a week now, and they are none the wiser. I know it's a small victory, but I'm happy when I can outsmart a 4 year old. :rolleyes:

So what are your dad victories? It could be something small, or something big. I think it's fun, and funny to share, so jump in!
 
My biggest victory has been with my daughter. She is very strong willed and stubborn so arguing with her in the moment is not very wise because she will argue that the sky is green if the timing is right. So what I do is let her carry on when she starts arguing and ignore it. Sometimes she will make a mistake and I elt her learn from it. Other times I will wait a day or 2 till she is in a really good and laughing mood and we are having a talk and I will make a joke about it. She then laughs at how silly she was being before.
 
My biggest victory has been with my daughter. She is very strong willed and stubborn so arguing with her in the moment is not very wise because she will argue that the sky is green if the timing is right. So what I do is let her carry on when she starts arguing and ignore it. Sometimes she will make a mistake and I elt her learn from it. Other times I will wait a day or 2 till she is in a really good and laughing mood and we are having a talk and I will make a joke about it. She then laughs at how silly she was being before.
It's difficult to just let them go sometimes, but it's really helped us to let them get their emotions out, good or bad. If you don't, I think they will struggle to learn to cope on their own. Glad you get her to laugh about it in the end!
 
Hahaha as someone who doesn't have kids yet, some stories I hear make me question our desires. I don't tend to suffer fools well, and i'm not know for my patience, so this kids thing my not be the best fit for me!
 
This is going to be a great thread.

my three year old is obsessed with French fries. He asks for them constantly. I quickly learned that if I cut anything into the stick- shape of a fry, he accepts it as the real thing.
Damn I wished that worked for me! I love French fries too. Your three year old and me would be trouble in the drive thru. Lol

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This is going to be a great thread.

my three year old is obsessed with French fries. He asks for them constantly. I quickly learned that if I cut anything into the stick- shape of a fry, he accepts it as the real thing.
I had a co worker whose kid love pizza. They would call everything pizza, and the little guy believed them, for a while.
 
I had been thinking about making a similar thread, but I was more thinking along the lines of cool crap you’ve built for your kids, big and small.

What made me think about it is my son is obsessed with rockets, so I made this enormous Duplo rocket launch pad. It had a retractable arm, water sound suppression system, exhaust pathways, it was sweet!

On a serious note, convincing my kid that wearing an eye patch three hours a day “makes his eye strong”, was a diplomatic win. He gets his time every day and is a trooper.
 
My 4 year old loves pajamas. Ever since spring break and home Schooling she wants to wear them every day all day long. So it’s a dad victory if I can get her in regular clothes and her hair combed.
 
When my now almost 21 year old daughter was younger, she was difficult to get out of bed and out the door to school in the morning. During one period in grade school, I set every clock in the house a half hour ahead. It worked for some time before she caught on to it.
 
Great thread and will be jotting some mental notes to use later in life! Enjoy it Dads of THP!
 
I had been thinking about making a similar thread, but I was more thinking along the lines of cool crap you’ve built for your kids, big and small.

What made me think about it is my son is obsessed with rockets, so I made this enormous Duplo rocket launch pad. It had a retractable arm, water sound suppression system, exhaust pathways, it was sweet!

On a serious note, convincing my kid that wearing an eye patch three hours a day “makes his eye strong”, was a diplomatic win. He gets his time every day and is a trooper.
Yes, building something sweet is a dad victory!!

And goodluck with the eye patching. We have been patching for the past 3 years and it is a battle sometimes. Best of luck there, and hopefully you see progress as a result of the patching!
 
When my now almost 21 year old daughter was younger, she was difficult to get out of bed and out the door to school in the morning. During one period in grade school, I set every clock in the house a half hour ahead. It worked for some time before she caught on to it.
That's a good one! I will put this on my back pocket for later!
 
Since school has been out, my wife has been home with the kids, (ages 9 & 5) pretty much full time, meanwhile I’m still in the office full time. She’s amazing at it. She wanted to spend yesterday evening with a friend so I told her to go ahead. Successfully got the kids to bed while she was gone with virtually no drama. Wife had a great time catching up with a friend and got some time away from the kids.
Dad AND husband win!!
 
Since school has been out, my wife has been home with the kids, (ages 9 & 5) pretty much full time, meanwhile I’m still in the office full time. She’s amazing at it. She wanted to spend yesterday evening with a friend so I told her to go ahead. Successfully got the kids to bed while she was gone with virtually no drama. Wife had a great time catching up with a friend and got some time away from the kids.
Dad AND husband win!!
Stress free bedtime is always a huge win!
 
Since COVID has limited my kids activities, they have had more time in the house and more time in front of a screen of some sort. They were watching YouTube shows about kids opening toys and the like, which always resulted in them either asking for a certain toy, or talking about their "friend" so and so who got this toy, with us to later find out this "fried" is basically a YouTube personality pushing toys.

One day I saw the Mark Rober squirrel video and on a whim, had the kids watch it with me. They loved it. Now, they watched a bunch of his content which is fun, funny and educational, which leads to suggestions of similar content. Now, instead of mindless crap they are learning useful things and, more importantly, retaining them. one of Mark Rober's sponsors is KiwiCo which basically makes STEM crates for kids of various age groups. Kids really wanted them, so I got them each a monthly subscription for the summer. We did our first ones together on Sunday and it was great. We had a blast and they loved it.
 
Since COVID has limited my kids activities, they have had more time in the house and more time in front of a screen of some sort. They were watching YouTube shows about kids opening toys and the like, which always resulted in them either asking for a certain toy, or talking about their "friend" so and so who got this toy, with us to later find out this "fried" is basically a YouTube personality pushing toys.

One day I saw the Mark Rober squirrel video and on a whim, had the kids watch it with me. They loved it. Now, they watched a bunch of his content which is fun, funny and educational, which leads to suggestions of similar content. Now, instead of mindless crap they are learning useful things and, more importantly, retaining them. one of Mark Rober's sponsors is KiwiCo which basically makes STEM crates for kids of various age groups. Kids really wanted them, so I got them each a monthly subscription for the summer. We did our first ones together on Sunday and it was great. We had a blast and they loved it.
Thanks, I think I'm going to look into those STEM crates. Been trying to get them toys that are more learning than just just being a toy!
 
When my now almost 21 year old daughter was younger, she was difficult to get out of bed and out the door to school in the morning. During one period in grade school, I set every clock in the house a half hour ahead. It worked for some time before she caught on to it.
Kind of similar to mine. My son is almost 18 now, but when he was little we had a great trick for bedtime whenever he needed to get moving. We would turn the tv to channel 730 (I think it was CNN, but that doesn't matter) then point out the cable box display. Hey look - it's 7:30 - time for bed.
 
My two year old daughter has been getting up in the middle of the night claiming to see a kitty under her bed and it's scaring her. My wife and I almost 100% convinced she's using this as an excuse to sleep in our bed and that's not something we want her getting used to (I've heard too many horror stories).

It's fun because she's not afraid of cats generally - daycare has a couple and she loves them, but during the night she wants them nowhere around. I somehow convinced her that unicorns scare cats away - so she now sleeps in her unicorn pajamas (every night) and her stuffed unicorn in bed.

So far she's slept in her "big girl" bed every night since.

It may not last and at some point might backfire, but right now I'm feeling good about it. LOL.
 
We struggled to potty train my son and he insisted on wearing pullups and not "big boy" underwear. He also loved Hot Wheels so I bought 30 of them and told him every time he went to the bathroom like a big boy i'd let him take a car from the big box. There were a few occassions where he just went into the bathroom and said he went just so he could get a car and I let him get away with it so I altered the rules and had to be present at the flush.He realized pretty quickly (wihin a week) that running around in dry underwear vs a soaked pullup AND having lots of cars was they way to go.
 
My two year old daughter has been getting up in the middle of the night claiming to see a kitty under her bed and it's scaring her. My wife and I almost 100% convinced she's using this as an excuse to sleep in our bed and that's not something we want her getting used to (I've heard too many horror stories).

It's fun because she's not afraid of cats generally - daycare has a couple and she loves them, but during the night she wants them nowhere around. I somehow convinced her that unicorns scare cats away - so she now sleeps in her unicorn pajamas (every night) and her stuffed unicorn in bed.

So far she's slept in her "big girl" bed every night since.

It may not last and at some point might backfire, but right now I'm feeling good about it. LOL.
Yes, great work dad! Here's to hoping it continues to last for many nights to come! So many ebbs and flow with kids and sleep.
 
We struggled to potty train my son and he insisted on wearing pullups and not "big boy" underwear. He also loved Hot Wheels so I bought 30 of them and told him every time he went to the bathroom like a big boy i'd let him take a car from the big box. There were a few occassions where he just went into the bathroom and said he went just so he could get a car and I let him get away with it so I altered the rules and had to be present at the flush.He realized pretty quickly (wihin a week) that running around in dry underwear vs a soaked pullup AND having lots of cars was they way to go.
Haha, what a smart kid!! Love when it works, and especially when it gets you into another stage, like no diapers!
 
Kind of similar to mine. My son is almost 18 now, but when he was little we had a great trick for bedtime whenever he needed to get moving. We would turn the tv to channel 730 (I think it was CNN, but that doesn't matter) then point out the cable box display. Hey look - it's 7:30 - time for bed.
A little harmless trickery. I love it!
 
My two year old daughter has been getting up in the middle of the night claiming to see a kitty under her bed and it's scaring her. My wife and I almost 100% convinced she's using this as an excuse to sleep in our bed and that's not something we want her getting used to (I've heard too many horror stories).

It's fun because she's not afraid of cats generally - daycare has a couple and she loves them, but during the night she wants them nowhere around. I somehow convinced her that unicorns scare cats away - so she now sleeps in her unicorn pajamas (every night) and her stuffed unicorn in bed.

So far she's slept in her "big girl" bed every night since.

It may not last and at some point might backfire, but right now I'm feeling good about it. LOL.
If not, take a bottle of febreze, or just any spray bottle and fill it with water and something that smells good (I use Agua de Violetas), print a quick sticker that says "Kitty Kitty Go Away", slap it on, and then spray it under the bed every night. She will begin to associate the smell with bedtime.
 
Hahaha as someone who doesn't have kids yet, some stories I hear make me question our desires. I don't tend to suffer fools well, and i'm not know for my patience, so this kids thing my not be the best fit for me!
I hope after reading through these, that you will see we all go through challenges as dads, but it's just a little hurdle in the grand scheme of things. If you can just accept some things as they are, and not let your frustration build, it's not really so bad. Being a dad is difficult and trying, but all those things are overshadowed by so many moments of pure joy that you can only see through the eyes of a child.
 
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