5 Mom Hacks You Can Use This Week

Amanda Woodiel shares five ideas for small changes that can make a big impact on the day-to-day routines of family life.

Try some of these mom-tested ideas for keeping your dining table clear, dealing with random socks, occupying active little ones during Mass, starting conversations with quiet kids, and rewarding helpful habits.

Table Captain 

One of the best ideas I’ve ever implemented is a “table captain.” You know what it’s like: you’re cooking a new recipe, trying to read it on your phone, following the instructions, dodging the dog under your feet, and answering kid after kid who wanders into and out of the kitchen asking, “What’s for dinner?” only to find at the end that your piping-hot meal must contend with a table still full of the day’s clutter. 

Every dinner I choose one kiddo to be my “table captain.” It’s usually the one who first asks, “What can I do to help?” (my love language!). This kid is given the rundown of what we’re having and what extras we need on the table, and then s/he is given the pleasure of telling the other kids what to do. 

The Sock Battle 

I’ve tried over the years to corral socks, and I admit that I have never won. We have an overflowing laundry basket in our laundry room that is filled with stray socks. Every few months we match up as many as we can and then cart the half-full laundry basket back to its home. I can never bring myself to throw those socks away, though, so sure am I that they will one day be discovered in the trunk of a car or under a bed. 

My friend is an absolute genius and came up with the way to ensure victory over socks. She gave away all of the family’s matched socks and threw away the singles. She then went out and bought several packs of larger-size black socks and several packs of smaller-size black socks. They are housed in two baskets: one for the big people and one for the little people. No more random socks. If one gets a hole, she throws it away. I admire her tenacity and problem-solving. I, however, do love colored and patterned socks, so with our “silly sock” basket I must still wage war. 

Mass with Young Kids 

Over the years, I tried many different strategies at Mass to keep my littlest ones occupied. Parenting in this area varies, and I think there are a lot of good ways to “do” Mass with little kids; the important part is that you are there! But after trying multiple approaches, there was one clear winner amongst my kids: a cheap 4 x 6 flexible photo album (the kind that holds about 20 photos) filled with holy cards. They loved pulling the holy cards out, putting them in a pile, and then concentrating on trying to put them back in. I liked that it didn’t make noise and that they were looking at pictures of Jesus and the saints during Mass. Win-win. 

Drawing Out the Quiet Kid 

Out of the five kids we have, two are very interior. I never know what’s going on inside their heads, and even if they wanted to tell me, there would be very little airtime for them to speak. So first for my son and then for my daughter, I instituted a “mom journal.” This is a little notebook that is just for him/her and me. They write in it and put it on my bed. I write in it and hand it off to them. I let them take the lead as to how often we do it, but it’s good to know that there is a way they can start a conversation with me without shouting above the noise. 

The Target of Fun

When the kids were littler, I often awarded points to reward helpful attitudes and good habits. You went and got a towel for your sister’s spilled water? 20 points. You cleaned up the game right after you were finished? 10 points. (The points, by the way, were totally at my whim. I made them up as it seemed to suit the situation.) 

The kids kept track of them, and when they reached a certain amount, they were allowed to shoot at the target of fun by shooting Q-tips out of straws. I made the target of fun by drawing a small circle inside a large circle and then connecting the two with lines so that it looked something like a bicycle wheel with spokes. I wrote rewards like “pick something out at the Dollar Tree,” “choose a family game,” “choose a meal,” “choose a dessert,” and “get chocolate milk.” As the kids grew older, I had to make a second one called “The Target of Really Fun.” This point level was higher, but it contained items like “get a meal out,” “get a date with mom or dad,” “invite friends over,” and “get candy at the store.” 

I learned over time to let them shoot at two things and choose the one they like best, and with the younger, more tear-prone kids to ask ahead of time what they were hoping to get and to give large leeway in my judgment call as to where their Q-tip dart landed.  

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5 mom-tested ideas for small changes that can make a big impact on the day-to-day routines of family life. #CatholicMom

I would love to hear what small changes have had a big impact on your family! Let me know in the comments. 

Copyright 2024 Amanda Woodiel
Images: Canva