As any parent will attest, trying to deal with a four-year-old and keeping our cool can be a near-impossible task at the best of times. But one clever-thinking American mum has come up with an inventive way to not only manage her relationship with her young son, but also make it stronger than ever.

Sharing the news of her experiment to her Facebook page last week, Shauna Harvey began, “Today, I tried something new. Something that required me to exercise patience with my oh so testy 4 year old. I wore 5 rubber bands on my wrist from the time I got up, to the time I tucked him in just now.”

The mum, who tested the hairband theory originally dreamt up by The Reformed Idealist Mom, explained that the five rubber bands represent her temper and that every time she loses her cool or says something she regrets she moves a band to the other wrist.

"To "gain the band back"," Harvey continued, "you must do 5 kind/positive things with your child (dance party, singing a song together, reading together, etc)." 

The reason for the experiment, she says, is that science shows that every bad reaction a parent shows to a child requires five positive reactions to rebalance the relationship.

Now, Harvey says, "I'm going to be using this method until it becomes a habit and basically turns into an auto pilot ritual. 

"I've found myself so incredibly stressed out, I beat my head against the wall daily because I don't understand why my 4 year old insists on being disrespectful and a non listener."

Listen: Holly Wainwright and Jay Laga'aia talk the possibility of a tech-free household. Post continues after audio. 

"I was to the point of crying at least every other day. I have finished the day with all 5 bands on the original wrist. I'm very proud of myself for exercising patience with him. I know it's only day 1 but I'm hopeful this will help our communication skills and our relationship."

She ends the post, "If you find yourself being that "Angry Mom", try this!"

This idea originally appeared on The Reformed Idealist Mom, and was tested out by Shauna Harvey.

Would you try the five band wrist trick to help control your communications?