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Parenting

08th May 2023

Not every parent will agree with this mum’s stomach bug hack

This is next level parenting.

HerFamily

We can all agree that stomach bugs are pretty much the worst part of parenting.

Especially when it gets everywhere… in the kitchen, in the bed, in your hair.

We’re always open to hacks that’ll help make dealing with a stomach bug a little bit easier. Especially when it has infected the entire household.

Mum blogger Maureen of Homemade Motherin shared a parenting hack that some parents will try but we have to admit, it may not be for everyone.

Inspired by her hatred of cleaning up vomit, the mum-of-six offered her children a dollar for every time they made it all the way to the toilet to get sick – which, coincidentally, also saved her a lot of cleaning.

“While much about parenting is gross and untidy, perhaps nothing is worse than cleaning up kid puke,” Maureen writes. “The smell. The chunks. The splatter. And, they always seem to get it in the middle of the night, usually when I’m having the best dream ever. I love my kids, but I HATE their barf. Which is why I started the Barf Bucks program in our house. We pay the kids $1 when they make it to the toilet with a barf (vs doing it all over their beds/floor/wall/etc). It is amazing what a crisp one-dollar bill can motivate a child to do. Last week, sweet Vivian cashed in. Cha-ching! She thinks she won the lottery, but I know that not having to clean up three pukes is truly priceless.”

The hack has certainly caused some controversy online.

Medical experts have advised against it as holding in your vomit can cause choking.