Mornings in our house are crazy. It doesn’t matter if I get up two hours before I have to take my son to preschool, things are always crazy the 15 minutes before we head out the door. Now I’m a firm believer in routines and schedules, so I don’t know why mornings are chaos!
Here are some tips I’ve recently implemented, or found that I want to implement, that will help get our mornings running smooth.
To Do Chart For The Kids
In the morning, the only thing that my kids want to do is watch cartoons. Prying them away to say, brush their teeth, is nearly impossible. An easy fix for us was to create a morning to-do chart. Now my 4-year-old knows that he can’t watch a cartoon until he’s had breakfast, brushed his hair and teeth, and gotten dressed. It’s amazing how much more quickly things get done when he knows he can’t do the fun stuff until the things he has to do get done!
Premeasuring
What?, you might be asking. Well, I love this idea and boy has it helped! The night before, I premeasure out milk (and leave it in the fridge of course) and cereal so that my son can “make” his own breakfast. This is not because I’m lazy! It’s because he is at the stage where he wants to do everything himself. Bonus points if I let him make his sisters’ breakfast too!
Brushing Teeth
It seems like no matter how many times I remind him, my son will inevitably come down stairs without brushing his teeth. Instead of getting all of the kids back up the stairs (after taking 10 minutes just to get them down the stairs!), I now keep extra toothbrushes and toothpaste in the bathroom downstairs for those times that he forgets to brush his teeth.
Make Lunches in Advance
Sounds simple, but it’s something I always forget to do! So I’ve finally set a reminder on my phone to remind me every evening to make my son’s lunch for school. That way, in the morning when we’re rushing out the door, I just grab his lunchbox and go!
Cleaning Up
My son tells me he doesn’t know how to make his bed and straighten up his room. This was an easy fix. I helped him clean up his room and make his bed, and then we snapped a photo! Now he knows what his room is supposed to look like when it’s clean. Note: He’s 4, when he makes his bed, it means that he’s pulled the covers up over his pillow and straightened out his blanket . . . we haven’t gotten to military style bed making yet!
What tips and suggestions do you use to keep your mornings on track?
