I let my kids play in the mud, and I don't mind when they wrestle. I've made my peace with dirt and we have a household safe word.

Courtesy Bethaney Phillips

As obvious as it may sound, my biggest parenting hack is that I choose my battles. For the most part, my husband and I focus on the things that matter and avoid the ones that don't. So when my kids want to play outside and get dirty, we let them — we even encourage it. Their imaginations have let them build cities, slop in mud troughs like pigs, and fill the kiddie pool with dirt — and it's all fair game.