Many parents would agree that getting kids into the shower is a fine art.
But mom Maggie may have just cracked the code with a method every parent will want to rinse and repeat.
“It’s been so fun connecting with other parents who are living the same tween-shower-struggle as I am,” Maggie admitted to Kidspot when asked about her viral post.
“Sick of being the shower police”
Tired of nagging and negotiations, she took pen to paper… and then took to TikTok to show off her genius solution.
“I’m sick of being the shower police in my house, so I made this handy flow chart for my preteen kids,” she begins the video.
“Feel free to copy.”
At the top of the chart, the bold title reads: ‘Do I need to shower?’
From there, her kids are walked through a step-by-step decision tree to determine whether they need to wash, removing any debate (or excuse) in the process.
The first question her kids are faced with is: “Did I have gym or play a sport?”
Yes leads to a shower. No leads to ‘did I shower yesterday?”
If the answer to a shower the day prior is no… It’s time to turn on the tap. If the answer is yes, they continue down the tree with the question ‘Did I have a long day and would benefit from the calming properties of a hot shower?”
“I’m making this for my house”
Who would say no to a hot shower after a long day? Well, if her kids say yes, they’ll get that refresh with the bonus of a shower steamer!
If they’re not on board, they’ll have to pass the ultimate final task: a sniff test from mom or dad.
However, there’s a high likelihood that whiff will lead straight to the bathroom door.
It’s almost as if all answers on this chart lead to a shower.
Her comment section couldn’t get enough of her genius idea.
“It’s not the illusion of choice, it’s teaching them that there’s more than one reason to do something good for themselves, both explicitly and implicitly,” one person praised.
One mother related: “I have a teenager and a preteen, I’m making this for my house. Why are showers such a fight?”
“Honestly, my daughter is autistic, and making a decision tree like this is brilliant for things like this. Stealing!” a third said.
Her clip has had over 2 million views, clearly striking a chord with parents fighting the good, and smelly, fight.
In fact, the chart has been such a hit that she’s adapted a second version around the choice of eating a snack or not.
In her comment section, she shares the one thing she’s learned along the way as a parent: “My one and only parenting tip is letting kids think they have choices but they actually don’t.”
Parenting really might just be one flowchart fix at a time.
Read the full article here
