Working parents, stay-at-home parents, parents of all ilks — we all need a few minutes in the morning to get ourselves together. Unfortunately, young children don't always cooperate with that plan.
My 4-year-old, for example, is a tornado in the morning. She might wake up at 5:30 ready to party or sleep until her alarm goes off. Anything goes. On those early mornings, it can be really tough to roll into the day when we're trying to juggle getting her set up with breakfast before we're even dressed ourselves, let alone caffeinated!
Apparently, we're not the only one who has this problem.
Morning Baskets are the solution to morning chaos currently taking the parenting world by storm.
What is a Morning Basket?
It's a basket full of toys, games, activities, or books that you set out for your kids the night before.
When they wake up the next day, they excitedly look through the basket to see what you've added, and then enjoy playing by themselves for a little bit while you get dressed, drink coffee, make breakfast, or tend to other responsibilities.
(Or just stare into the abyss until your brain wakes up.)
Photo by Robo Wunderkind on Unsplash
Morning Baskets seem to be an adaptation of a popular idea from the homeschooling world, where the first lessons and readings of the day are placed in a basket the night before. Now the basic concept has been adapted to fit the needs of working parents, work-from-home parents, stay-at-home parents, and everyone inbetween.
Working mom Abigael Lanai recently made a TikTok explaining her approach to Morning Baskets.
Abby says her almost 3-year-old daughter always has free reign over all of her toys, but narrowing down the choices helps focus.
"I feel like first thing in the morning, specifically, she has a little bit of decision fatigue. She doesn't know where to start or really where to go. And having this basket with just a couple of items has really helped kind of focus her and lead her to having some independent play without me having to facilitate it."
Without having to facilitate it being the key phrase here.
"To me, that's the whole point of the morning basket," Abby says. "I need 10 minutes to myself, to drink my coffee while it's hot and let my brain fully wake up."
The baskets may not buy you a ton of time, but sometimes just a few minutes can make a world of difference.
Some parents worry that filling Morning Baskets with a never-ending rotation of new games and toys sounds expensive. Abby says — not so!
"I didn't buy anything new," she says. "I found this basket in my house and everything in it, we already own."
Abby recommends filling with items your kids used to love or have lost interest in, things they haven't played with in a while. Just as long as you keep it fresh so the kids are always curious to see what they'll find inside.
Watch Abby's full video for an amazing breakdown and FAQ on using Morning Baskets.
@abigaellanai Replying to @nicolebasi.13 i change things out every weekend, would that be helpful to see what i include in tue basket each week? 👀 #momsoftiktok #morningbasket #toddlersoftiktok #toddlermom
People in the comments loved the idea — even if they don't have kids!
Though Abby didn't invent the idea of Morning Baskets, her excellent explainer went viral to the tune of nearly half a million views and counting.
Clearly, parents were resonating with the challenge of hectic mornings, and this unique solution.
Photo by Aedrian Salazar on Unsplash
"Morning baskets have saved my LIFE with my toddler while I feed my twins in the morning," wrote Alyssa M.
"Heavy on the 'drink my coffee while it’s still hot' It’s a struggle over here," said petitecrevette04.
A lot of adults with no kids even chimed in that they wanted someone to set up a morning basket for them. (Honestly, same.)
Crucially, Abby adds that Morning Baskets are not anti-screen time. They're just a judgment-free alternative.
We use screentime in the morning in my house sometimes. But it's sometimes more trouble than it's worth, to be honest. I have to set up the show, skip around to find the right episode, and help change to a new show when my daughter inevitably gets restless.
The beauty of the Morning Box is that it's set up the night before and ready to go to work the second your child opens their eyes in the morning.
Morning routines are hard to get right, and hard to stick to, but that doesn't mean they're not important. Having a rushed, chaotic morning in your household stresses everyone out, including the kids.
Kids with a peaceful and calm morning routine show better attentiveness in school and develop a positive association with going to school each day.
And us parents? We're just barely holding it together a lot of the time. A few minutes to wake up and enjoy our coffee can go a long way to making us feel human in the morning.
American portion sizes are colossal.
Tax shouldn't be a not-so-fun surprise at the end of your shopping trip. 
A trip to the doctor shouldn't break the bank.
This totally isn't weird at all. Right?
It's a choice. 
America loves extra sugar in savory foods.
Princess Odette Girl GIF by The Swan Princess 
Rose GIF 
sailor moon GIF 
river phoenix 80s GIF 
All of this will be ours one day. Yay. 
Elderly woman with white hair on phone, sharing a story about a dead person her child has never met. 
Surprised elderly man in blue shirt against a yellow background.
Elderly woman in pink shirt using a smartphone on a garden swing.
TV for waking. TV for sleep. 
Elderly man using a magnifying glass to read a piece of mail
Mom is totally humiliated after her kindergartner tells the teacher what she does for work
She was clearly mortified.
A mom is embarrassed by her child.
One of the great joys and stresses of parenting is that you never know what will come out of your child’s mouth. When you have young, inquisitive kids, they can say really inappropriate things to people without realizing they were being rude or possibly offensive. TikTok influencer Aurora McCausland (@auroramccausland), known for her DIY cleaning tips, recently told a funny story on the platform about how her son believes she makes a living. The problem was that she heard about it from her child's teacher.
Mom is embarrassed by her child
“The other day, I went and picked my five year old up from school and when I get to his classroom his teacher pulls me inside and says, ‘Hey, today he wanted to tell us about what Mommy does for work and said that Mommy makes videos in her bedroom but only when I'm [he’s] not at home,” McCausland recalled.
Given her body language while telling the story, McCausland was clearly mortified after hearing what her child said to his teacher. It makes it look like she may be posting videos to adult sites while her child is at school, which most people wouldn’t want their son’s teacher to know about.
The good news is that another teacher was there to clarify the young boy's comments by adding, “I think she makes TikTok videos.” The uncomfortable situation was a great invitation to chat with her son about what she does for a living. “So I have to have a conversation with my son about how he tells people what I do for work,” she finished her video.
The funny video went viral, earning over 1.7 million views on TikTok, and inspired many people to share the times when their children had funny ways of explaining their careers. The commenters were a great reminder to parents everywhere that if your child says something embarrassing, it's ok, just about everyone has been through it.
Moms share their most embarrassing moments
A lot of parents spoke up in the comments to show McCausland that she's not the only one to feel embarrassed in front of her child's teacher.
"My son told everyone that we were homeless (because we don’t own our home, we rent)," KBR wrote.
"I work in ortho.. my daughter told her teacher I steal people's knees bc she heard me talking to my husband about a knee replacement," Aingeal wrote.
"My son told a teacher we were living in our car over the summer. Camping. We went camping," Kera wrote.
"In kinder, my son thought Red Bull was alcohol and told his teacher I liked to have beer on the way to school," Ashley wrote.
My niece told her teacher her mom and dad work at the wh*re house. They work at the courthouse," Ellis wrote.
"My husband works as a table games dealer at a casino. Kindergartener, 'Daddy's a Dealer!' We now start every school year clearly stating he works at the casino," CMAC
"My son said we lived in a crack house…There’s a tiny chip in the wall from the doorknob," KNWerner wrote.
"My dad is a hospice chaplain and officiates a lot of funerals. My son and nephew were asked by their preschool teacher if their papa was retired or had a job. They told her his job was to kill people," Tiffyd wrote.
"My son said "my dad left me and I'm all alone" to a random person at the zoo. My husband was just at work," Shelby.
"I am now in my 70s. In my gradeschool, during the McCarthy era, I told my teacher my dad was a communist. He was an economist," Crackerbelly wrote.
"In Kindergarten, my daughter told her teacher that mommy drinks and drives all the time. Coffee. From Starbucks," Jessica wrote.
"Well I once told my kindergarden teacher a man climbs over our fence to visit my mom when her husband is not home... It was a handy man who came to fix gates when they were stuck," Annie wrote.
Ultimately, McCausland’s story is a fun reminder of how children see things through their own unique lens and, with total innocence, can say some of the funniest things. It’s also a great warning to parents everywhere: if you aren’t clear with your kids about what you do for a living, you may be setting yourself up for a very embarrassing misunderstanding. So, even if you think they know what you do ask them as see what they say, you could save yourself from a lot of embarrassment.
This article originally appeared last year and has been updated.