Babysitter asks toddler to pick a book for her bedtime story — the kid chose an instruction manual
Bedtime stories are designed to fill children with awe and wonder. But this 3-year-old toddler switched up her nap time story with a twist. Megan Mordaunt (@meggmordaunt), an au pair who takes care of the toddler while her parents are away, shared a now-viral video on TikTok revealing the little girl’s extraordinary book choice for bedtime. Mordaunt filmed the toddler quietly listening to her reading a coffee manual, as requested, for the night. The clip has turned heads for the odd choice, receiving over 3.3 million views.
As insinuated in the viral TikTok, the 3-year-old, whose name was not disclosed, had handed Mordaunt the coffee machine manual to read to her. In a note on the video, she wrote, “I asked which story she wanted for nap time and she requested the iced coffee machine instruction manual.” The creator reads the manual in a monotone voice while the little girl lies on the bed, peacefully chilling with a pacifier in her mouth. “Slide, drip, stop, switch to open. Using the coffee spoon, pour one level scoop of grounds into the provided reusable coffee filter,” Mordaunt reads on.
The toddler’s exploits were a hit among viewers, gathering 642,000 hearts and several comments about her fun personality. “Smart. She cares nothing about it, so she’ll eventually get bored and fall asleep. She’s a genius!” wrote a person (@theplanninggal). Another (@spaceykaceye) stated, “She’s going places. Probably to Starbucks, but places.” “It’s so sweet though, because you know she just wants to fall asleep to your voice,” noted someone else (@alyc.elizabeth).
A viewer (@mallorylauren26) related, “My toddler claimed the HVAC manual and ‘reads’ it before bedtime every night.” Turns out, manuals are quite popular among kids. “My daughter loves instruction manuals. She keeps them on everything!” wrote @vbradford465. Meanwhile, @atribecalledparents joked, “Parenting is the most wild ride ever.”
Mordaunt shed light on the girl’s quirky personality in an interview with Good Morning America. “At nap time every day, I let her go choose two books out of her shelf,” she said, adding, “Maybe she’s bored with the books we always read.” Usually, the toddler excitedly brings a book out of her shelf for Mordaunt to read. One day, she decided to “change it up.” Mordaunt recalled, “She bee-lined for the kitchen, grabbed the pamphlet, and just handed it to me.” Intrigued by her unconventional choice, Mordaunt agreed to read it out. “I was reading the coffee manual, she was like, lying there about to fall asleep. I was like, ‘This is working. I should do it more often.”
However, this is not a one-time experience for the au pair. Mordaunt revealed that the toddler once handed her a recipe to be read out during the day. “What does this say?” Mordaunt mimics the little girl. Next thing she knows, she is sitting on the couch reading out a recipe for the toddler. “I was like, ‘What am I doing?” she laughed. The toddler’s interesting personality is admirable, and Mordaunt said she looks forward to meeting her after work every day. “She is probably the craziest, funniest three-year-old I’ve ever met.”
You can follow @meggmordaunt on TikTok for more videos.