One mom has figured out a sneaky way to get her kids excited about eating homemade meals, and she’s graciously shared the clever parenting hack with the rest of us. Luckily, the hack is fairly simple – and other parents have confirmed that it really seems to work. In a series of videos, the mom explained how she’s tricked her kids into enjoying homemade food by telling them she ordered takeout.
Her kids seemed excited to try the food. On TikTok, the mom, whose name is Alex, showed how she serves her homemade food to her kids in takeout containers – which actually changed their perception of the food entirely.
In one video, the mom told her kids that she got some food from a Greek restaurant even though she actually made it at home. After trying the food, Alex’s kids said it tasted “really good.”
“I bet you I could make this,” the mom said to her kids as they enjoyed their meal. Her kids were not convinced, though – even though their mom really did make it. One of the kiddos said, “I’d rather a restaurant.”
At some points, they seemed a bit suspicious.
@mac.larena 🚨 NEW SERIES 🚨 Takeout but made at home 🤭 #easyweeknightmeals #momlife ♬ original sound – Alex ✨ we use what we have ✨
The first time Alex served homemade food in takeout containers, her kids didn’t seem to suspect that anything was amiss. But after the mom used the parenting hack several times, her kids started to have questions.
At one point, one of her children noticed that all of the takeout containers looked the same. “Wait, that’s the same container they used …” the kiddo pointed out. The mom, however, offered a satisfying explanation: “All the restaurants use the same containers.”
In another video, she told her kids that she picked up some food at “a cafe.” One of her kids then asked her, “What cafe?”
“Just the one down the street there,” Alex responded.
Still, many other parents loved the idea.
One parent who watched Alex’s videos called the hack “parenting genius.” Several people pointed out that the hack is basically “gaslighting,” however. “Those kids are masters at being gaslight,” one person commented. “As a human, be ashamed. As a mom, you’re my hero!!!! 😂.”
In response to one of the comments, Alex joked that “gaslighting is my favorite parenting hack.”
Some of the TikTok creator’s followers were convinced the hack would’ve worked on them when they were kids. Others said it would still work on them now, with one writing, “I fear this would work on me as an adult.”
After all, being a mom sometimes requires a lot of marketing skills.
“Every day a mum on here proves the point that with kids, it’s all about marketing and packaging 😂😂😂,” one person pointed out. A second person wrote that “it’s all about the rebrand.”
Alex responded to the comment, referring to the skill as “mommy marketing.”
Several parents can confirm – it really does work.
Similar hacks have worked for other parents as well. One parent wrote, “My son loves chinese but not when I make it…little does he know I have been making it and just putting it in take out containers.”
Another parent had the same experience when their nephews refused to eat the meal they cooked. “I made pasta with a tomato sauce in for my nephews, they refused to eat it,” the person wrote. “We went for a picnic the next day with my cousin and her kids. so i took it along. she served it up and they ate it.”
A third parent confirmed that “this strategy works,” writing, “My toddler loves my homemade muffins way better when I present them in a Tim Hortons bag 🫠.”
