A MUM has been left wondering if she’s “cruel or clever” after coming up with a hack to get her kids to bed at a decent time on New Year’s Eve.
Rochelle has a six-year-old and a four-year-old, and has been using the hack for the last five years.
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And after she took to TikTok to share it with other parents, she was quickly labelled a “genius”.
“My kids are 6 and 4 and for the past 5 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,” she said.
“We do the countdown and put on an old YouTube video from the year before with all the fireworks and stuff .
“I get the party poppers, do a countdown with my kids and go ‘Happy new Year!’
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“And we literally celebrate the New Year like it’s midnight but it’s actually 7pm.”
The benefit of the hack means that she’s not tired, her kids aren’t tired but they are “still involved”.
“Am I cruel or kind?” she concluded.
“I just don’t want the kids knackered the next day,” Rochelle added in the caption.
“So we all start the year refreshed! And they miss out on nothing!!”
“Amazing idea,” one person commented on the video.
As another added: “Genius 100%, you nailed the parenting game.”
“We do this!” a third wrote.
“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.”
“This is an amazing idea, I do this with my kids and they are 10 and 7 now,” someone else commented.
“It’s nice to include them but also go to bed early.”
“This is the best way!!” another wrote.
“The kids still get to celebrate and we don’t spend the three weeks trying to get them back into a sleep routine!”
“That is such a good idea my 6yr old always wants to wait up till 12am definitely doing this, this year,” someone else said.
“This is genius! I’ll be doing this for my daughter this year!” another added.
“She’s nearly 7 but she never makes it to midnight she’s always exhausted by then!”
“My mum used to tell us that if we weren’t asleep by midnight we’ll get left in the old year!” someone else laughed.
But others insisted there’s nothing wrong with letting little ones stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve.
“Nah my 20 month old was up till 3am last year partying the night away with us,” one wrote.
“Wow!! How did she do it! My kids would be shattered!!” Rochelle replied.
“Even if I was to change every single clock in our house to 00:00 my son is too clever and would 1000% know it’s not midnight yet,” another admitted.
As a third said: “No, this is only one night a year I’m sure you can be tired on night!”
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