If you’ve ever tried to get ready for the day with a toddler loose in the house, you know—it’s less “calm, productive morning” and more “DEFCON 1” by 8 a.m. It can even look like the PX during a clearance sale…after a hurricane.

That’s why we started doing Morning Toy Rotation Stations—a tactical maneuver in my ongoing campaign to drink coffee in peace.

Here’s the mission: my son’s playroom is closed in the mornings. Locked up. Off-limits. Why? That’s because I’d like to make it to breakfast without my house looking like it failed a surprise barracks inspection. Instead, I set up four to five toy “stations” in the living room the night before…if I haven’t already passed out by 9pm trying to catch up on Netflix. The whole operation takes three minutes—five if I stop to question how we own 47 toy dinosaurs and still can’t find the blue one?!?!

When my son wakes up, it’s like Christmas morning—only quieter, and no one’s crying because I gave them socks. The toys are new (to him), exciting, and designed for open-ended play—blocks, cars, animal figurines, art supplies (washable only—because Sharpie-gate 2024 still haunts me).

Most mornings, it works like a charm. I can catch up on emails, make breakfast, and even put on real pants so I look like an actual human when my workday starts. As a stay-at-home, full-time working mom, that’s about as close to me time as I get before 0900.

Now, full disclosure—this is not a perfect plan. There are definitely mornings when my kid decides his only mission is to be permanently attached to my hip while I attempt mascara with my non-dominant hand. However, when the stations are already set out, he usually calms down faster and finds something to keep himself busy. It’s like giving a bored soldier a deck of cards during field downtime—morale improves instantly.

Military mornings are unpredictable enough—your service member might be out the door for PT before sunrise, prepping for deployment, or just “had to be at work early” (again). Having a low-effort system to keep your kid entertained means you start the day on the offense—not scrambling in crisis mode.

So tonight, take three minutes to set up those stations. Tomorrow morning, enjoy your coffee while it’s still hot, because some victories aren’t medals or ceremonies—they’re warm coffee, a calm toddler, and mascara applied with both hands.

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