I put my kids in a box when I need some alone time

A mum has shared a “genius” hack that keeps her little ones entertained so that she can buy herself “30 minutes of unbothered cleaning”.

A mum has shared a “genius” hack that keeps her little ones entertained while she cleans the house.

As reported by Kidspot, Gabrielle Lynn Dunn shared on TikTok how she buys herself “30 minutes of unbothered cleaning” by giving her kids some pencils and then putting them in a cardboard box.

Meanwhile, she goes about doing the household chores completely uninterrupted, as her preschoolers scribble away the afternoon.

Sounds delightful, doesn’t it?

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A mum has shared a 'genius' hack that keeps her little ones entertained while she cleans the house. Picture: TikTok

She puts her kids inside a cardboard box so that she can get in ‘30 minutes of unbothered cleaning’. Picture: TikTok

Thinking inside the box

Sharing the “genius” hack to her account, @mrs.gabidunn, began by reposting a clip from the original viral video. TikTok creator @abbyfranco6 initially discovered the hack in 2022 and her video went viral at the time with 3.7 million views. Her clip was captioned, “Work smart, not hard”.

She inspired thousands of mums around the world to do the same, including Gabi.

After watching the clip, Gabi exclaims, “wait a dang minute”, before putting her shoes on and racing outside. The mum-of-two then grabs a cardboard box from the bins and returns inside.

It then cuts to a peaceful scene of her toddlers happily playing inside the box, enthralled by the pencils and crayons.

As they draw on the sides of the box, Gabi is seen cheering and happy that the trick worked … just as it said on the box.

With her toddlers fully absorbed in their activity, she continues to vacuum undisturbed.

We could think of 135,748 other things we’d do with that peace and quiet, but anyway …

Thousands of people commended the mum on her ‘genius’ idea. Picture: TikTok

‘Whatever works! A win is a win’

Her video has been viewed over 10.3 million times and has nearly 9000 comments.

In response to the clip, fellow mums expressed their appreciation in the comments section, with some sharing their own experiences of using similar tactics with their kids.

Viewers also remembered that their parents used to do the same with them when they were younger.

“Honestly some mums are so genius,” someone remarked, while another added, “Whatever works! A win is a win.”

“OMG this is amazing!!!’ another shared. “My little girl is an absolute nightmare with crayons, pencils etc and wants to draw everywhere!! I know what I’m going to go get!!”

Gabi replied with more hacks for that mum: “Look up Colour Wonder Mess Free markers and colouring books on Amazon! Perfect for littles that are still learning to not colour on things!”

And this person reflected on their childhood: “My mother used to just get us giant boxes as kids. I lived in a fridge box for weeks.”

We can think of other ways we’d use the down time. Picture: TikTok

“My dad used to get boxes from an appliance store and he made a supermarket with one and a checkout stand with another one. We had so much fun!!” a second wrote.

A few other users replied with tips of their own.

“Push that box near a TV, turn on Bluey, and give ’em apple slices,” one woman remarked, noting, “it’ll buy ya extra time too!”

And according to someone else, this trick also works with pets.

“It works the same for cats and children!!! If it fits, it sits!!!” the TikToker joked.

But others weren’t convinced by the hack, saying it wouldn’t work for them.

“My boys would get bored of that and start wrestling and pulling each other around in it,” one wrote.

“My son would be demanding to let him out to vacuum,” agreed a second.

But overall, most people loved the simple trick. Even people without kids got involved.

“I don’t even have kids and still watched this whole video,” admitted one, while another wrote, “Saving this for when I become a mum.”

This article originally appeared on Kidspot and was reproduced with permission