Along with the beloved pool noodle, the tension rod is one of those highly versatile items that make you feel like a true MacGyver every time you discover a new off-brand use for it. Parents can hack it to make their lives easier, more organised, and more fun. Here are five ways to do just that.

I suppose there are some couples who feel as though divide household chores and childcare exactly 50-50 and are perfectly happy all the time and give each other foot massages every night.

But for most people I know, every day is a particularly exhausting combination of whack-a-mole, an obstacle course and a flogging. And it can be difficult, while in the midst of the flogging, to not feel resentful if you think you’re taking on more than your fair share.

The bath is a place of solace for babies, where they can make bubble-bath beards and write cryptic messages out of foam letters. If your place doesn’t have a tub, they can still experience the magic — you just have to get creative.

Video: My seven-year-old son is not keen on learning to tie his shoes. He doesn’t have any problems with dexterity, he just gets easily frustrated doing things he isn’t already good at (which is a lot of things when you’re seven). So I’ve been coaxing him to practise with me, patiently waiting for him to come around — and continuing to buy Velcro-close joggers.

When you have a preschooler, you learn that simple tasks can be quite complex. Take putting on a jacket, for example. I always see parents standing in doorways, holding up little coats and windbreakers while instructing: “Right arm! No, the other one! OK, now the other arm! Stretch! You’re almost there! Got it. Now onto the buttons.” It is a process.

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.

For a car seat to work properly in the instance of an accident, your child must be, well, in the thing. The shoulder straps must be in the correct position and snug on their body.

You need to throw together something for dinner, but your impatient toddler won’t let you. I’ve been there. If only you could give her a project, something that’ll occupy her a good 12-16 minutes. Hey, what’s that you see in your pantry? A box of cereal? Oh, yes. This will do.

When my kid was an infant, I found myself in a deep relationship with something called a Boppy. A ubiquitous baby product, it is a pillow designed to help nursing mums breastfeed — you basically wear it around your body like a four-year-old going swimming.

We know we should heed Monica Geller's instructions for pen and marker care: "You want to push the caps until you hear them click." But kids forget, and when they come back to use them, they are sad. There, there. Dried-out markers need not be sent to the art supply junkyard just yet. You can revive them as vibrant liquid watercolors.

I'm a fan of messy kid-art. My husband is not. However, what lessens his anxiety when he sees our daughter squeezing food colouring into play dough or marbleising paper with shaving cream is the fact that her work is mostly contained on serving trays.

Over on our Facebook page, we recently asked readers to give us their best parenting hacks. The entries were so clever, so thoughtful, so immediately useful that we've decided to share some of our favourites.

Psssst. Want to make your kid think you're a sorcerer? I've got a trick. First, you will need a magical machine called a printer. Then when the child is near your computer, ask, "Hey, what would you like to colour right now? It can be anything. Your favourite character? Spain during the Cold War? A hot dog?"

Everyone who has a child in a competitive hobby knows the types: The boy who disputes every call the referee makes, the parent who hurls invective from the sidelines, the girl who can barely bring herself to shake hands after her team loses. Playing sports and games is hugely valuable for child development: They learn teamwork, strategy, patience, and get a workout to boot. But things go awry when kids can't place winning and losing in the proper perspective - when a loss is devastating or a win is cause for unseemly gloating.

Before you have kids, the beach is easy. You amble down with nothing but a towel and a bottle of water; maybe you bring an umbrella and stick it in the sand with the ease of Zeus tossing a thunderbolt. Sun protection is a big hat and a dab of sunscreen. But once you procreate? Hannibal crossed the Alps with less effort and gear than it takes to get kids to the shore.

We tested the plastic butt straw. We figured out how to avoid the diaper-change urine stream. We learned Snapchat. Parenting is hard work, but we tried to make it a little bit easier. Here are our best parenting stories of 2017.

It's the great December 31st parenting qualm: The ball drops at midnight, but your kid needs to be in bed by 8:30. What do you do? Thanks to technology and children's frail grasp on the concept of time, you can flip on a fake countdown.

Rock climbers have long hailed the beloved carabiner, a tool unmatched in versatility. But did you know that it's also a baby registry staple? About 10 years ago, some marketing genius took the ubiquitous metal clip and rebranded it with a terrible name: The Mommy Hook. What it is: Uh, still just a large carabiner clip. What it can do for parents: So much, actually! If you have one of these things - whether you choose to call it by its mummy-fied name or not - here are some ways to use it to make your life a little bit easier.

Parents of young kids, you might know it as The Decision. After shopping for milk, string cheese and squeezy pouches with your little ones in tow, you walk back to your car and realise: Crap. What am I supposed to do with this shopping trolley?

Do I leave the kids in the car for 23 seconds (which is illegal, don't get me started on that), or do I bring them with me to the return receptacle, only to have to lift them out of it and dangerously Frogger our way through a busy parking lot back to the vehicle? Or should I be the arsehole who recklessly leaves the trolley next to the car?