This brilliant hair tie trick will help you to treat your kids with more empathy

It's simple but kind of genius.

Taking care of children is no joke. We all lose our cool at times and it can be very hard to keep a lid on your temper when the little ones are running rings around you. Thankfully, there's a new viral trick to help you think before you snap at your child. Parenting blogger Idealist Mom shared her hack on her blog after struggling to stay calm with one of her kids.

"My personal goal is to talk to my kids with the same level of respect and kindness that I use to talk to my husband," she wrote. "The good news is that for the most part, I do talk to my oldest and my youngest that way. "But my poor middle child. "Something about the preschooler-ness of my preschooler was turning me into an angry mother every time I opened my mouth to talk to her."

Here's her trick for overcoming her anger.  

1. You put five hair ties around your wrist at the start of the day.
2. Each time you snap at your child, move one hair tie to the other wrist.
3. You can only move that hair tie back to the original wrist by having five positive interactions with your child. Idealist Mom has a list of suggestions for positive interactions here and they include hugging your child, reading a book together  or telling a joke.
4. At the end of the day, your goal is to have all five hair ties on the original wrist.

The blogger went on to say that not only did the hair tie trick help her keep her cool with her daughter, it had another surprising effect over time.

"Ever since I started wearing the hair ties when I’m around my preschooler, her behavior has been night and day different:

• She doesn’t take toys from her little sister as much as she used to.
• She doesn’t blow up over small hiccups in the day.
• And she’s more compliant with my requests, like a reminder to take a potty break, or asking for her to pick up her toys, or suggesting she pretend she’s an archeologist and I’m the dinosaur bones she’s digging for so I can just lay on the couch and close my eyes.

Because I speak to her with more respect, she speaks to me with more respect."

  Hat-tip to Distractify.