Parenting, I am learning, is like being the belayer to a roped rock climber — you have to know when to hold on tight and when to give some slack. (No, I’m not a rock climber myself, but I once took an intro class using a Groupon.)

You want to make sure your kids are safe and not making bonehead decisions, but you can’t follow them around throughout their lives, whispering, “Eh, you sure about that move there, buddy?” For them to reach new heights, sometimes you have to let go.

There are as many ways to learn to code as there are ways to use your coding ability. You can learn it from college courses, books, online resources — or from one of several growing boot camps for developers of all ages. We talked to the founders of two such boot camps: David Graham of Code Ninjas, for kids 7–14 and Michael Choi of Coding Dojo, for teens and adults. They explained their different approaches, both of which give their students the ability to build their own applications.

Getting kids to brush their teeth eagerly is a heroic task — goodness, why should they have to do it again if they just did it yesterday? I’m all for a good hack that’ll make children more invested in their oral hygiene, and this one from Agnes Hsu of Hello, Wonderful comes though.

Frickin’ Fortnite. Your kids won’t stop playing it, and you’re fed up. What do you do? You could join one of the many parent support groups, or make a musical parody to vent your frustrations, or try locking the game consoles in the car and hiding the key (yes, this is really happening).

Or you can play, too.

My kids regularly come home from preschool raving about how much fun they had. But then when it's time to drop them off the next morning, they forget all about that and cry at having to leave me. One thing that helps: a selfie video.

The paradox of parenting is that you can perform all the functions and still feel like an imposter. Changing diapers, playing peekaboo, giving piggyback rides — it can all seem like play acting. Then comes the moment when you become a real dad. One day, you'll be hanging out with your kid, open your mouth and produce a Dad Voice. Like a patronus, it will gallop across the air and freeze its target in his tiny toddler tracks.

"Uptown got its hustlers, the Bowery got its bums. Forty-second Street got big Jim Walker, he a pool-shootin' son of a gun". Jim Croce sang those words in 1972, six years before I was born. They've been burned into my memory for so long that I can't remember when I first heard them.

Video: Forget fancy toys. If you have kids, keep them busy with painter’s tape. Yes, painter’s tape. Here, we show you how the versatile item can provide endless family entertainment — children can design roads for toy cars, create a game of hopscotch, or make a hallway spiderweb. For parents, the best part is that it’s all temporary.

Before my daughter learned to speak she learned to sign, and the first sign she mastered was “more”. More meant more — as in, “Give me more milk before I scream-cry in 5-4-3-2-1...” — but for her, it also meant “again”. Sing that song again. Push the toy cash register button again. Make that funny sound with your armpit again, again, again.

Parents who share a Netflix account with their families know the distinct pain. After putting your kids to bed, you sit down to watch a sexy new drama (or for me, The Great British Bake Off), and up pops on your TV screen: “Because you watched Lalaloopsy: A Sew Magical Tale, here’s Luna Petunia, My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake!” Your shows! What happened to all your shows?!

Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert, advice columnist and author of the New York Times bestselling book, My Boyfriend Barfed In My Handbag ... And Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha. Her flagship column, “Ask a Clean Person”, debuted in 2011. Here on Lifehacker, we’ve launched a new iteration of it, focusing on parenting and all the messes it brings.

It’s only a little over halfway through the year and already 37 Australian women have been killed by violence.

On average, at least one Australian woman is killed by a current or former partner a week, and about one in six women have experienced sexual or physical violence since the age of 15.

US Build-A-Bear stores recently put on a Pay Your Age event, promising customers they could pay their age for just about any stuffed animal in the store. That meant if your kid is three, she could have snagged a furry friend for three bucks. What could go wrong, right? It’s only every child’s dream to bring home their very own snuggle buddy from the famed toy chain. (As a parent of a five year old, I’ve at times wondered if I should find an alternate route at the mall when I’m in a hurry so that my child won’t stop in front of the store and beg, “Pleeeeeeeease, Mum, can we go in?”)

Through the ages, parents have tried various tactics for getting kids to eat more vegetables — baking them into brownies, blending them into smoothies and brainwashing them with songs. But there may be a simpler way to get some green stuff in your child's diet — no trickery required. Simply serve frozen veggies. A few kid-favourites: frozen peas, frozen corn and frozen edamame.

On Slate's parenting podcast "Mum and Dad Are Fighting", the hosts debated a tough question: After a divorce, should you spend time together as a family if a child requests it?

Little kids are notoriously difficult to dress. Any parent who’s experienced a closet standoff with a naked child six minutes before they’re supposed to be at the bus stop can confirm. It could be that the kid is extremely picky or acting out of defiance, but what if it’s more than that? What if the issue is seriously impacting your family?

It is a decision I face daily. When my five-year-old daughter shows me her latest work of art, do I: A) talk to her about it and then stealthily slip it into the recycling bin, or B) talk to her about it, hang it on the wall or fridge, leave it there for a couple of years forgotten, and then stealthily slip it into the recycling bin? The mental load is real.

I didn’t buy a smartwatch because I thought it might make parenting easier — I bought it because it was cute and shiny and I like new toys. (I owned a Casio calculator watch long before they were popular. Oh, wait: They were never popular.)

It’s been fun to fiddle with — I can change the watch face and check the weather and I no longer have to get off the couch just to look up the date. What’s surprised me the most, though, are the ways in which this little device is helping me be more present and less stressed with my kids. Here’s how it can be used for good. (Note: I have an Apple Watch, but these features are available on most smartwatches.)

A few years ago, when my husband came home from the store with a bottle of sunscreen for our toddler, I had a mild panic attack.