I have four sons and they were constantly hungry. If you didn't put your name on leftovers, it was gone before midnight. My dirty Little Secret is Hot Sauce! The boys were always in the refrigerator and the bottle of hot sauce was my secret alarm. The bottle positioned in the door, would fall over and click the jar next to it. I could hear it upstairs. I would yell immediately ”Who’s in the refrigerator?” It drove the boys nuts. To this day, they believe I am psychic. The boys are 30, 28, 25, 22 and the bottle is still in the refrigerator!!!!!

Hello
Well I am not a mom but I have 3 neices and when they were younger they didnt like the crust on the bread so I told them if they want curly hair like there aunt to eat the crust and, that it would give them curly hair.

I have two children. A 6yr old girl and 5yr old boy. Everytime I want them to clean up the play room I tell tham that I lost $5 in there and I need them to clean up to help me find it! When they finish cleaning and tell me that they didn't find it i go and pretend I found it some where else. It sadly enough has worked for 2yrs.

When my kids were younger they brought home a stray beagle, we placed an add for it in the paper but no one came for it . My son wanted to keep her and name her daisy. We already had a large Shepard but i gave in not knowing that the dog was not house trained after a few summer months of her bad behavior and scratching the siding under my sons window both dogs got loose. I went looking for them and found them at an apartment complex with a bunch of kids playing with them. I called for my Shepard and when the kids said is this one yours? i said no. (The pound was on its way to pick them up). My dirty little secret is I told my son that daisy ran away! i couldn't let him know i let the pouind take that little menace.

Okay, when my son was a toddler I started telling him that he was allergic to alcohol. When he got old enough to question it and what would happen to him if he had any... I told him the normal symptoms of "too much alcohol". When he was 7 he had a sip of someone's alcoholic drink. By sheer coinsidence, he threw up that night. Perfect reinforcement! Another time I was cooking and the receipe called for white wine. He ended up throwing up that night also. He is now thirteen and firmly believes he is allergic to alcohol! I don't know how long this will last, but hopefully for another 5 or 6 years!

I wish I could claim this as my own, as I thought it was sheer genius. My best friend Carla got tired of reminding her kids to empty their pockets before throwing clothes in the hamper. She began recycling their allowance!

One of my sons refused to eat any seafood except popcorn shrimp. Craving some variety, my husband and I created "snake" shrimp (clam strips) and "round" shrimp (deep fried scallops). Worked like a charm.

Lisa

My husband is a professional chef, but still it can be hard to get our girls to eat well and of good variety. We told them that the crust of the bread is where all the vitamins are....so to get the benefits of the sandwich, you have to eat it ALL. Even today, at 10 and 13, they chide their friends for not eating all the good vitamins in their sandwiches!! LOL

I thought the dirty little secret idea was super funny.... I have my own dirty little secret. Neither one of my two children are very picky when it comes to eating but my daughter hates leftovers.... or at least she thinks she does. I have a pretty hectic schedule during the school year so i usually cook two meals in the evening not tell them I put one in the fridge for the next day. I have everything ready when it is dinner time the next day and they think it is all cooked in less than 20 minutes. My son tells me I could cook with Racheal Ray!! I think it is funny.... My daughter will tell you that she loves whatever it is that I had cooked. But if I asked her to eat the same thing the next day she will tell you "I don't eat leftovers" ( I say to myself yes you do sweetie!