6 Clever Tips from Real Parents

Experts from www.parenthacks.com share their favorite bits of wisdom.

1. Jingle bells or wind chimes hung from a bedroom door will alert you when someone is sneaking out in the middle of the night.

2. Climbers use carabiners to stay attached to the mountains they’re scaling. Use one to attach things you don’t have an extra hand to hold — shopping bags, unused windbreakers, water bottles — from the stroller, your pocketbook, or even a belt loop. And carabiners make great balloon weights.

3. Blue painter’s tape can temporarily babyproof a room without leaving residue. Use it to tape doors shut and block electrical outlets.

4. Use nail clippers to snip through those annoying twisted wires that hold new toys hostage to their cardboard backing.

5. A two-liter soda bottle can be filled with water, frozen, wrapped in a towel, and placed in a car seat to minimize post-shopping buckle burns during the summer.

6. To get thousands of bubbles with a single sweep, use a plastic strawberry basket as your wand.