Mum Shares Hack To Get Son Up For School: A Poo Playlist

A parent has opened up about the somewhat surprising (well, not-so-surprising if you’re the owner of a small child) hack that helped encourage her son to get out of bed and get ready for school.

In a self-titled “emergency broadcast about poo”, author Laura Jane Williams explained that on the second day back after the Christmas break, her son, who is of primary school age, really didn’t want to get out of bed to go to class. (In fairness, who can blame him? These dark, cold mornings aren’t exactly the most inviting!)

Laura shared on Instagram that she tried bribing her son with the offer of an extra five minutes playtime on his Nintendo Switch and she even offered to do a “spa night” for him with candles in the bathroom (a new favourite pastime for the youngster – again, can’t blame him), yet neither of those options encouraged him to budge.

So, she offered to play music instead.

“Sea shanties? He loves a sea shanty. No, no,” the author recalled in a reel. “Pink Pony Club? No, no. What about if I put ‘poo’ in Spotify? Shall we listen to some poo songs?”

And of course, that last one worked like a charm.

“The boy was up, the boy was laughing, the boy was getting dressed of his own volition because of poo,” said the mum, who is the brains behind parenting newsletter How to Build a Life. “So, that’s my New Year’s gift to you. If you’re struggling: [put on] the poo playlist.”

Speaking to HuffPost UK about the clip, Laura said: “I made the video because honestly, the transformation to my kid between not getting out of bed and laughing his little head off was so extreme I genuinely thought it was helpful to share.

“Refusing to get ready is such a trigger for me, and it takes everything in me to stay calm and regulated! I often share little tidbits of my life in Instagram reels, but the comments came in thick and fast on this one, with so many mums saying it was genius and they’d be trying it out themselves.

“It’s like they all instantly knew it would be a hit – which, of course it would be! Poo is hilarious!”

She continued: “My child seems to find it even funnier if I am slightly disapproving about whatever plays, which is good because I don’t actually want to encourage these songs becoming regular – no pun intended.”

Laura, who is based in the Peak District, explained she played the songs through her phone so her son could hold it while he brushed his teeth, put his shoes and coat on, and got in the car.

“It’s magic! In fact it is so magic that I have banned any poo songs from playing at any other time: it is a getting-out-of-bed and getting-ready-for-the-day privilege only,” she added. “And he can’t play them until he is actually out of bed, too. I hope to get a full half term out of this hack!”

As someone who struggles to motivate their own child to get out of bed on these dark mornings, I was impressed with the creativity – and I wasn’t the only one.

“Thank you,” replied one mum. “I suspect this will work on my 9 year old boy too.”

“I’ll be taking this tip for my nearly 5 year old!” added another.

But perhaps my favourite comment of the lot came from one parent, who simply said: “Your Spotify Wrapped must be wild.”

A parent’s gotta do what a parent’s gotta do.