Six Steps for Soothing Cranky Kids

Betsy Kerekes shares methods she and her husband use to turn frowns upside down.

Crankiness happens. Children don’t always want to do what we want and need them to do. To help relieve frustration on both your parts, here are some ideas to make completing tasks with your kids easier.  

Sing  

If your child is resistant to a certain activity, try singing. I sing while giving a haircut or bath or washing their hands. Making it an alphabet, number, or days of the week song has the added bonus of being educational.   

I do, “It’s diaper changing time” to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”, and sing the old song, “Splish Splash, I Was Taking a Bath,” for, you got it, bath time.  

If our son is reluctant to have his teeth brushed, I tell him something silly like, “But I need to check for elephants.” Then, while brushing, I’ll sing, “One little, two little, three little purple elephants hula hooping.”  

The experience becomes entertaining. Our son never knows what I’m going to find in his teeth. Sometimes I ask, “What should I count in your mouth tonight?” and let him choose.   

Motivate With Competition  

Have a competitive child? Excellent! Use that to motivate him to get a task done. For instance:

Parent: “It’s time to get your pajamas on.” 

Child, whining: “But I don’t want to go to bed.” 

Parent: “I’ll time you to see how fast you can go.” [Sets stopwatch on phone or counts out loud.] 

Child takes off, rushes back, wearing pajamas: “How long was that?”  

Parent, after giving answer: “Not bad! Let’s see if you can beat your high score tomorrow night.”  

After this, you can also say, “Race you!” to see who can be first to his bedroom or the bathroom for teeth brushing. If teeth brushing is a challenge, see Step One.  

Play Spy Games  

If competition isn’t your child’s thing, here’s an alternative: Get conspiratorial. Whisper what you want him to do so it seems like a secret mission. No one else in the family gets to know that you’ve just asked him to get dressed. Won’t his siblings and other parent be surprised when he comes back in his pajamas all ready for bed seemingly without being told? What a good little ninja!  

Turn Sad Faces into Silly Ones  

“That’s a pretty good angry face,” my husband has been known to tell our son when he’s unhappy. “Now check out mine,” as he grimaces back. Then he typically says, “Hmm. I think yours is better. How about now we try a silly face? Here’s mine.” Makes a goofy face. “Now you try it. ... That’s pretty good. Let’s do another one.”   

My husband then proceeds to make progressively sillier faces until our son is laughing, ideally having forgotten what he was upset about in the first place.  

Encourage a Career in Chiropractics  

If our little guy is throwing a tantrum, pounding his fists on the carpet, my husband says, “Here, do it on my back instead.” As our son thuds his fists on his dad’s back, my husband makes the appropriate sound effects: “Uhhh-uhhh-uhhh.”   

“That feels good. Keep going,” he’ll tell our son, or perhaps, “A little lower, please.”   

Just as with the silly faces, our son may be too distracted now to remember what was bothering him in the first place. 

Model at Mealtimes  

Our son didn't want to try the garlic toast because it was on stale buns instead of normal bread. My husband took a bite of his own, showed what his bite looked like, and said, “I wonder what your bite will look like. Maybe it will look like a triangle,” he’ll add to be silly. 

Son takes a bite.  

“Oooh nice. Let’s see what my second bite makes my bread look like,” Dad says then bites and holds it up again. 

Soon our son is playing along, ultimately eating the toast without further prompting. 

Ultimately, kids don’t like work, but they do enjoy playing. Whenever you can make a distasteful task silly or fun, you have a much better chance of success without a struggle. 

Adopt or adjust these to your child’s personality and see how it goes!

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Copyright 2025 Betsy Kerekes
Images: Canva