“Alexa, play ‘Ice Ice Baby’, please,” I stated politely from across the kitchen.
“Ice, Ice, Baby by Vanilla Ice”
{Take a listen below.}
Bam.
Oh, and because I love you, here is the little 90s gem for you.
How I Use Alexa to Be a Better Parent
My five-year-old snaps out of his grumpy mood. He can’t resist the opportunity to “collaborate and listen”. We start dancing around the kitchen and his impending massive meltdown is mitigated by a long shot.
As you know, I have an explosive child on my hands. We’ve worked hard over the past two years to modify his behavior and help him manage his rigidity and anger in healthy, productive ways. For many of you in the same situation, you understand fully just how intense moments and days can be with a challenging child. My husband and I vow to bring humor to our lives but not at the expense of our children’s development. We always validate, acknowledge, and work positively with our children’s emotions. Still, sometimes we need to be super creative about how we approach communication and parenting our kids, generally.
And Alexa is a part of that parenting.
This example is one of many parenting hacks Alexa manages for me every day. Below are ten more.
10 Ways I Outsource Parenting to Alexa
#1 – Avoiding Clothing Power Struggles: “Sweetheart, you may want to consider your rain boots today,” I say to a lollygagging 7-year-old getting ready to head out the door to school. “Mom, it’s not raining. I’ll ask Alexa about the forecast.”
#2 – Meal Planning & Developing Executive Functioning: “Guys, we’re getting low on groceries, go ahead and ask Alexa to add a few things you might like for lunches and dinner to our shopping list.” I know this one sounds crazy. I won’t lie to you we do occasionally get strange items in our shopping cart, but we have complete control over the end purchase. So, we give our kids the chance and the opportunity to think about and to plan meals (and to make good decisions around this thinking). Not only does this work their budding self-regulation skills, it also helps them become better planners, which is huge for any human being. Oh, and she will also order pizza for you.
#3 – Shifting the Mood from Chaos to Peace: “Alexa, play easy listening music.” Not only does the mood change in our home but now this one sentence alone triggers my kids to calm down. Insane, right? It is a signal that Mom is about to make dinner and we all need to take it down a few notches.
#4 – Making Sure Humor is a Part of Our Every Day: “Alexa, tell us a Knock Knock joke.” As you might guess, my 7,5, and 2.5-year-olds love this one.
#5 – Keeping Me Secure & Balanced in the Midst of Kid Craziness: “Alexa, am I beautiful?” Just listen to her awesomeness to this one below:
#6 – Allowing Me to Be Nag-Free: “Alexa, Simon Says, ‘Jack & Wyatt, please come and put your dinner plates in the sink.” Now this one is a bit tricky because you need to master the art of not having your kids hear you speak to Alexa, otherwise you’re nagging them twice. So, get close to Alexa, turn up the volume, and whisper.
#7 – Bringing Reading Seamlessly into our Living: “Alexa, play Audible,” and she will automatically play the last audio book at the position you left off. You can also request a specific book.
#8 – Starting a Spontaneous Dance Party: This one I basically mentioned above but it is worth repeating for in times of joy or stress, this one will make or break your parenting career. You can make your kids laugh, introduce them to music you love (or hate), have them show you dance moves, and have a family dance party (this one my husband is not so into)
#9 – Scheduling Made Easy: “Alexa, what time is Moana playing?” She will tell you where and what time a movie is playing close to you. “Alexa, what time does Bartells close today?” She will tell you the hours of stores and services in your area. “Alexa, what time do the Seattle Seahawks play today?” Planning your commute can make or break a day. “Alexa, what is traffic like heading to Seattle?” Also, being able to spend time doing things you love like listening to a podcast or audiobook or getting a sports update is a constant struggle and conflict when trying to parent.
#10 – Teaching Kids Emotional Intelligence: This one takes the cake both for my kids and my husband {do not tell him I wrote that}. With Alexa, you have to be kind yet firm with your tone. I am not kidding. Shouting at her doesn’t work. Trust me, my five year old tries it all the time. She doesn’t understand, or, quite frankly won’t respond to the request. I use these moments as teaching opportunities, “You know you’re more likely to get what you want by being kind to someone (or something in this case).” I won’t ever forget when my son apologized to Alexa, “Oh, I’m sorry, Alexa, will you please play Caspar Babypants?”
How do you satisfy your needs as an individual with your child’s needs for your to be present in his life? I know it sounds a little far-fetched, but Alexa helps us create more space in our days and our minds for our kids. “Alexa, set the alarm, please.” “Alexa, set the thermostat to 67 degrees.” Connecting Alexa to Smart Cloud-Based Devices is a big one. Sounds overwhelming and a bit daunting but it is so worth it.
That is all for now. Now, stop, collaborate and listen. Alexa is back with a brand new invention.
Hugs and kisses,
Marnie