Weird Parenting Tricks That Actually Work

If your kid is a classic toilet paper unroller, who loves to watch it unspool until there's a pile of it on the floor, flatten the roll with your foot. Even though you might have lots of toilet paper stashed away, every little bit helps. It might not necessarily stop it completely but by slowing down the unspooling, it makes unrolling the paper a lot less fun. Eventually they'll stop. Fingers crossed.

Adding a lint roller to your craft space picks up glitter, crumbs and just about anything else.

Kids love to race and be timed so if you need them to complete a task, like tidying up their toys, set your egg timer or stopwatch and watch them move with a speed you've never before seen.

If you've got the space, invest in an inflatable pool that doubles as a safe play area. It's big enough to keep your baby busy for hours and works inside as well as outdoors.

By placing tape over the speakers of your kids' annoyingly loud toys lowers the volume — not enough for them to complain but just enough for you to notice the difference.

If your kid is about to throw a tantrum (you know the kind, where they're about to hurl themselves to the floor, hands balled into fists, and mouth taking in a giant breath so they can hit octaves only dogs can hear), challenge them to scream even louder. That's right, instead of resisting the meltdown, invite it. They'll be shocked into silence and whatever was making them — and you — lose it will be forgotten and hopefully you'll both be laughing about it. Plus, we can't all be like Duchess Kate, who handles tantrums like a boss.

If you want to keep your kids from locking themselves in a room (or you out of it), take an elastic band, wrap it around the door knob, then stretch it to wrap around the other knob. No more closed doors!

When teaching little boys to pee into the toilet (and not on or around it), a ping pong ball in the bowl gives them something to aim at.

If your baby's ever had an explosive dump (the up-the-back, not-enough-wipes stuff of nightmares that usually take place while they're in a carseat or on an airplane), then you've had to struggle with getting their onesie off. That said, instead of opening up the snaps from the bottom and dragging the poop up and over their bodies, onesies are actually designed to go over the shoulders and arms and then down.

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Apparently the blowing action helps with the pooping action.

Wrap a rubber band at the base of the dispenser's pump and that will ensure their little hands can only squeeze out a small amount, which is really all that's necessary.

Put some baking soda in their bath; it'll soothe diaper rash and take the sting away.

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If your child doesn't like water in his/her face, get them to hold a wet washcloth over their eyes while you wash and rinse their hair. No more tears! Or at least the cloth soaks them up. They'll be bath lovers in no time!

Just rub a small amount of olive or almond oil onto baby's scalp, leave it on for about 15 minutes, then brush it out, followed by a shampoo.

Kids tend to do the opposite when you tell them not to do something, but when it comes to chicken pox they can't scratch, no matter how itchy and uncomfortable. To help soothe the itching, stick them in a bath, fill a muslin cloth with oats and run it through the faucet as the tub fills.

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It's a momentous occasion, their first haircut. But the snipping sound, or the razor buzzing, or simply a stranger being that close can cause a meltdown. Like with potty training, bust out the bubbles (because what kid doesn't love bubbles?). It'll distract them and the stylist can get their work done in peace and not mess up their new baby 'do.

Researchers in Sweden found that kids whose parents cleaned their pacifiers by sucking on them, instead of rinsing them with water or washing the with soap. are less likely to develop certain allergic conditions like eczema and asthma. The hell? Well, according to the study, a parent's saliva exposes children to microbes early, thus stimulating their immune systems so they don't react to things like pollen and dander.

A bad cough can be frustrating, for both parent and kid. Put Vicks Vapor Rub on the soles of their feet and cover them with socks. For children under 2, opt for the Baby Rub, which also do the trick.

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Fingerprints and hand prints are seemingly everywhere. To clean up those sticky messes, just use a slice of bread (or however many needed) to wipe prints off painted walls.

The oils from peanut butter can remove gum from hair (just slap some on top and comb through) or if you've tried to peel a sticker from something and some residue is left on it, put some PB on it and consider it gone.

Food and poop stains can be stubborn despite rigorous cycles so next time, after you've tried washing them out for the umpteenth time, hang-dry them outside -- but only on a sunny day. The sun bleaches stains away.

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If your child gets a bump, put butter on it right away. It can help prevent bruising.

Warts are annoying but if your kid isn't down with that freezing thing that doesn't feel that great, simply put a piece of duct tape over it for about a week. Then remove the tape, soak the wart in water, leave it uncovered overnight, then add a new piece of duct tape in the morning. Do that process and the wart should disappear.

Take an empty spray bottle, re-label it "Monster Spray," fill it with water and whenever they have bad dreams or wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back down, spray under the bed, in the closet, wherever they feel the monsters are and they'll feel safe enough to go back to sleep.

A day at the beach is the best ... until you hit the sand. That stuff sticks to everything, from your body to the blankets to your shoes and even finds a way to follow you home. Next time, bring along some baby powder. That's right, sprinkle some wherever sand is stuck on you and off it comes. The talc removes moisture from the skin and allows for the sand to easily fall off. And it works on hair too!