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When you’re after the best parenting advice who better to turn to than someone who has kids, and if that someone is a father of eight, then you know the suggestions are more than likely to be pretty solid.
Kiwi actor Jay Laga’aia, who lives in Australia with his wife Sandie Jane Laga’aia, has his hands pretty full these days.
As well as his movie and television acting roles, the star presents hit children’s show Jay’s Jungle and on top of that spends his days raising his brood of eight who are aged from seven to 33.
Recently, Laga’aia opened up on MamaMia and shared on managing life with his hectic horde, as well as revealing a few smart strategies for getting kids off the couch and into their chores.
Take back the power
Laga’aia says that when he wants something done he simply switches off the Internet. Nothing gets the kids moving faster, he says, than not being able to get online. He does confess he tells his kids he’s turned it off, but drops a less than subtle hint that while they’re up, they can tackle a simple task like the dishes.
Don’t be afraid to make them feel bad about their mess
This one works wonders if they’ve got a planned sleepover with friends, the actor says. You can take advantage of the fact they won’t want their friends to see how they really live and “shame them into cleaning their room”.
And if all else fails?
The actor takes a pretty relaxed approach to parenting on the whole; noting genius comes from a messy room. Failing that, he jokes, there’s always the electric cattle prod…
