No, we haven't lost our tiny minds.
We came across this parenting hack while furiously researching now to be a less angry mum.
I am a cynic about most things so I do admit I had zero confidence this slightly odd method would work.
Becoming an angry mother can, unfortunately, become a habit so using the hair ties as a reminder to switch up your behaviour towards your child is a great way to break it.
The idea was created by blogger, Idealistmom. She found that visual cues were the best way to deal with her short fuse.
"Visual cues are a powerful science-backed tool that will remind you to avoid a bad habit when you’re most likely to slip back into it.
For example, if you were trying to eat healthier, you could leave a bright Post-It Note on the fridge to remind yourself that “Snack = veggies only.” Or if you were trying to start a morning exercise habit, you could set your workout clothes on your nightstand the night before."
1. Find 5 hair ties that will be comfortable to wear around your wrist
2. When your kids wake up in the morning, put the hair ties around one of your wrists. It’s important to wait until they wake up because visual cues won’t work very well if they blend into the background and you stop noticing them. Take them off when you’ll be away from your kids, like if you leave the house for work or an appointment or if the kids go down for a nap or leave for school.
3. If you catch yourself snapping at your little one, move one hair tie to the other wrist. But your challenge is actually to make it to the end of the day with all 5 hair ties on the original wrist.
4. You can “earn back” one hair tie by doing five simple things to reconnect with your kid. It is part of the magic 5:1 ratio that you need five positive interactions to balance out every negative one.
I tried it and it worked immediately. Make sure to take them off at night. It is a small but persistent reminder to keep your cool and to not sweat the small stuff. Soon you won't need them but you will have broken the pattern of switching automatically to cross-mode.
Would you try it? We would love to hear how you got on!
Feature Image via Etsy.com
