‘Am I genius, or cruel?’ Mum asks after sharing New Year’s Eve parenting hack that means she can celebrate without kids
A MUM has shared her New Year’s Eve parenting hack to ensure her kids are tucked up in bed well before midnight.
But Rochelle Anthony, who has two little ones aged 6 and 4, soon asked if she was “cruel” or “kind” to be repeating the same thing every year.
“Am I a genius, or am I cruel?” Rochelle – a runner up on BBC show The Apprentice – asked her followers in a video posted to her social media account @rochellerayeanthony.
Rochelle then explained: “So my kids are six and four and for the past five years, I have been setting the clocks.
“Instead of waiting until midnight, I set my clock when it’s 7pm to midnight and pretend that it’s midnight.”
After lifting the lid on her clever parenting hack, Rochelle continued to say why she thought it provided the best of both worlds, as her kids get to party – but she can then continue the celebrations alone once they’re fast asleep.
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She went on: “We do the countdown and I basically put an old YouTube video from the year before with all the fireworks and stuff.
“We get the party poppers and do a countdown with my kids and go, ‘happy new year!’
“And we literally celebrate the New Year like it’s midnight – but it’s actually 7pm.
“So my kids aren’t tired, I’m not tired, but they’re still involved.”
Rochelle added in the caption to the post: “I just don’t want the kids knackered the next day.
“So we all start the year refreshed! And they miss out on nothing.”
She then reiterated her questions, as Rochelle rounded off the video asking: “Am I cruel or am I kind?”
It didn’t take long for the mum-of-two’s 20.9k followers to wade into the debate – and the majority agreed that it was a great idea.
One person commented on TikTok: “You’re a genius!”
Another supportive mum added: “Zero need to them to be up at 12 for nonsense! So totally kind, hun.”
A third social media user joined the conversation, as they wrote: “The kids can still celebrate and not be exhausted the next day – good job mumma.”
While another added that they had already taken a leaf out of her book when they said: “We do this!
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“We always have a friend over for NYE and we go as far as making him pretend to go home so they believe it’s late – then he sneaks back in.”
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