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Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that you need a busy basket. Toddlers aren't the only ones who can benefit from an entertainment kit. Put one together and you will never find yourself at a loss or what to do.

Today's tip comes from Before Breakfast listener Farida Elkoff.

She has a 19-month-old daughter and notes that she has prepared a busy basket full of activities,

such as blocks and stickers, to keep the little girl independently occupied. Anyway, while editing her home office,

Farida came across books she had been meaning to finish,

new books she hadn't touched,

crochet and cross-stitching projects,

art material, and so forth.

She says it occurred to me that grown-ups need a busy basket too.

So she found herself an unused basket and threw in it a few half-read books, her half-done

crochet project, a couple of new adult coloring books and pencils, a journal, and a nice pen. She says,

I've been meaning to cut down on my screen time, so this came at a perfect time. It now sits in my

home office, so if I have a spare minute or after hours, I can use it to read or create.

It's already working.

I spent a good 15 minutes coloring at the end of the day instead of scrolling on my phone.

I love this idea.

We have explored the concept on Before Breakfast before of creating kits,

that is, keeping things together, as a way to encourage fun or progress

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