You have breakfast, lunch, you are dressed and ready to walk out of the door but what about the children? Are they ready? Are they even awake yet?
Yep – I’m the mom who pulled up to the drop-off point at school while my son asked, “Hey! Where are my shoes?”
Which is better than my friend Kay who got pulled over in her PJs and barefoot (and was asked to step out of the car.)
Or maybe you are one of those moms that has dropped their child off at school only to realize they are still in their pajama’s, or the child does not have their backpack, lunch or homework.
A goal for many wives and moms is to make mornings smooth and get everyone where they need to be on time…even dad! How does that get accomplished? Many of the tips that I have shared all week can be used on the kids as well. For those whose children are out of the toddler stage in elementary school, you can begin to incorporate them into the nightly preparation times and teach them how to get their things ready.
- Get yourself ready first. This way you can focus on the children!
- Pack back packs before bed: Do they have their homework, library book, show and tell item; all papers are signed and checked?
- Fill their water bottles and pack lunch items before bed as well.
- Have the children set out their clothes and shoes the night before on their dresser. This will lessen morning temper tantrums and in decisions.
- Do all baths and showers the night before.
- Make sure they have decided what they want for breakfast.
- Tuck the children in bed at a decent hour. Children usually need 10-12 hours of sleep so plan accordingly. This will help ensure they get up easily too.
- If you have several children or several family members but 1 bathroom delegate bathroom time. If more than one is brushing their teeth at the same time it will more likely turn into play and a mess.
Here are some other thoughts on getting kids ready on the morning.
Top 10 Morning Madness Tips for Getting Kids up and Ready
What have I missed? My kids are older now and can take care of getting out the door on their own. As the saying goes it takes a village, so tell me what works in your house for making sure the family is up and ready to go on time. I am sure all my readers can benefit from all of the great input.
Kathi,
I love all of these ideas. The one thing that helped me the most was to be up early enough to have my coffee and create peace for myself before the kids got up. This was usually only about 30 minutes ahead but worked great. With the kids in school I taught them they got one “forgot” day per semester. Meaning I would bring in one forgotten item per semester. They really are careful about this and have learned to use it only for emergencies and they learned to make sure they have everything when we leave in the morning.
I am a stay at home mom to a 3 yr old. Things aren’t too hectic for us but when we are getting ready to go somewhere I always use up all of our time for myself (unintentionally). I have found that hanging his clothes in outfits helps tremendously. We have about 10-15 outfits hanging so when we are ready to go we aren’t searching here and there for matching shirts and pants that actually fit. It has also helped to get my husband involved in getting our son dressed. They like it when things are as easy as go in pull it down and go.
I’m agreeing with everything you’ve posted! Getting out the door in the morning starts when they get home from school. Homework done, assignment notebooks signed (I HATE DOING THAT!!!!!), lunch boxes cleaned out, lunches packed, uniform laid out and instruments (and books!) set by the door. In the morning things are rushed enough just making sure four kids brush their teeth and have on shoes!
My boys have to leave the house by 5:30 in the morning. We plan, plan, plan ahead. It is a schedule that does not alter M-F. The night before: do homework right away when they get home at night, check backpack for notes/etc, make lunches (unless I am heating up leftovers to add to their thermoses in the morning), lay out clothes for the next day, showers, and to bed by 8. Mornings: Wake up at 5, get dressed, grab a breakfast on-the-go (microwave breakfast burritos, oatmeal breakfast bars, etc), feed dogs, and let them out, grab backpack and shoes and go. It has worked very well for us.