Do you dread the morning rush? Is your house completely chaotic in the morning? Do you struggle with getting yourself and your kids ready and out the door, whether it’s for daycare, school, appointments or errands? Here is your go-to guide on how to make mornings easier for back to school and get your family out the door without losing your mind!
Tips for How to Make Mornings Easier
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We all know mornings can be rough for moms. Between nudging your kids along, packing lunchboxes, making breakfast and getting everyone out the door, mornings can be downright exhausting!
There is hope. Below you’ll learn 11 tips and strategies to make mornings smoother, just in time for back to school! Start the school year off right with these hacks to make mornings smoother.
Tip #1: Get up before the kids
The absolute best way to to make mornings easier is to get up early and get ready before everyone else.
You may cringe at the thought of losing valuable sleep time (I know I do), but it’s worth it in the long run. This way you can dedicate your attention to getting your kids (and maybe husband?) ready and out the door.
You might think you’re adding time to your morning, but actually, you’ll probably save time in the long run because you’ll be able to accomplish more in the time when your family is up if you’re ready for the day.
Bonus: you might also feel less grumpy if you’ve had a change to fully wake up and maybe grab a cup of coffee already!
I wake up half an hour before the rest of my family and am able to get myself ready and pack my daughter’s lunch before anyone else is up. I’m able to get breakfast started for everyone. Most days I even have had a cup of tea in peace. By the time my kids wake up, I’m awake and ready to face them with a smile.
Related Posts:
School Lunch Tips from a Teacher
9 Surefire Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables
How to Take Your Toddler to a Restaurant…Without Going Insane!
Tip #2: Timer for Coffee
It’s the little things that sometimes save the most time. Having the coffee on a timer and ready for you when you wake up just takes care of one more task in the morning. Plus, the delicious aroma just might make getting out of bed that much easier!
Tip #3: Pack EVERYTHING the Night Before
Another important tip in order to make mornings easier is to be prepared! Be sure to have lunches, book bags and diaper bags all packed and ready the night before. Again, taking the time to do some of the little things can save you major time in the morning. You can avoid the last minute panic of running out of diapers or someone misplacing their homework.
I don’t know about you, but it’s much easier to get my kids accomplish things like pack book bags (or almost anything) when they are fully awake in the evening. It becomes almost impossible when they’re little half-asleep zombies in the early hours of the morning!
Tip #4: Organize Clothing by Week
Organize a week’s worth of outfits for your littles and yourself on laundry day. Lay out clothes for the week so you’re not searching for a pair of socks or a matching sweater in the AM. If they’re old enough, have your children help you decide on outfits (that way you’re not arguing about what to wear at 7am).
A great tip is to purchase a 5 drawer organizational caddy like this one. You can place outfits for each day in each of the drawers. That way your little ones can dress themselves without having to pull clothes off hangers that are too high for them to reach (I don’t know how many plastic clothes hangers we’ve broken this way).
It also helps with theme days or activity days where the kids need to dress in a certain way. You won’t be searching for a funky hat or jersey in the wee morning hours.
Tip #5: Stick to a Routine
Routines are very important for children everyone in the house. If you know what to expect and what comes next, you are more likely to accomplish tasks fast. You’ll make mornings so much easier with clear routines and expectations in place.
Tip #6: Divide Tasks Between Parents
If two parents live at home and are present during the morning rush, both should help out with the kids. This is a given, but doesn’t always happen. The key is to designate which parent is to do which task in advance, so both parents know what to expect (in other words, don’t expect your husband to read your mind in the morning).
Tip #7: Breakfast Prepped Night Before
One game changer for making mornings easier in our house is to have breakfast prepped the night before. Popping something in the microwave (or even better, eating it cold) is so much easier than cooking a big breakfast, or worse, making a different breakfast for everyone in the family.
Prepping ONE breakfast the night before means no more short order cook, and you won’t wind up with an entire sink full of dishes.
If your kids don’t like the breakfast you’ve prepared, have some fresh fruit on hand to for an alternate (that doesn’t take time to prep).
Here are some breakfast ideas to prepare the night before:
- overnight oatmeal
- breakfast casserole
- slow cooker oatmeal
- smoothies
- breakfast sandwiches
Check my Pinterest board for more ideas:
https://www.pinterest.ca/livingforthesunshine/make-ahead-breakfasts/
Tip #8: Shower/Bathe the Night Before
This is an important way I make mornings easier in my house. Sharing the bathroom in the morning is tricky enough without throwing showers into the mix.
Make sure all children are bathed the night before. This will save you so much time in the morning. I also wash my hair in the evenings because I have very thick hair that takes a long time to dry and style.
If you don’t feel fresh enough in the morning, pop into the shower for a quick rinse without doing your hair. Your husband or any teenagers can do the same.
Tip #9: Visual Schedule and Visual Timer
This is the perfect hack to use with little ones. As a teacher, visual schedules and visual timers are incredibly helpful in the classroom for a multitude of reasons, the main one being to keep our schedule on track. The same can work to make mornings easier at home.
Visual Schedule
A visual schedule is simply a list of tasks that need to be accomplished with a picture attached to each one. This way your children know what needs to be done and in which order. If they finish a task and get distracted, you can refer the back to the board.
I have some examples on this Pinterest board:
https://www.pinterest.ca/livingforthesunshine/visual-schedules/
Visual schedules can help even toddlers and are used right up to high school if children are really struggling with routines (not high schoolers who just want to sleep in, but those who truly have trouble with organization and focus).
You will have to introduce the visual schedule together and walk your child through it for the first few days, but it will help them become more independent in the long run.
Visual Timer
Similar to a visual schedule, a visual timer is another tool teachers use all the time to help keep kids on track. Young children have trouble with the abstract concept of time. A visual timer gives a visual of how much time they have left makes the concept more concrete for kids.
You can choose to use the visual timer in a few ways. You may want to simple set it for half an hour and say that is how long your child has to be ready for school. A race against the clock is enough motivation for some children.
Some kids might need more guidance, so you can break down the tasks even more. Set five minutes for getting dressed, then fifteen minutes to eat breakfast, then three minutes to brush teeth, etc.
Using Rewards With the Visual Timer
You might start a reward chart if your child can beat the timer for x amount of days in a row. You can give them a sticker for each day they beat the timer, and then a big reward once they fill up their chart.
Tip #10: No Screens
If your kids are slow in the morning, definitely do not allow screen time. Even having the television going in the background can be too much of a distraction for kids. Let morning time be screen-free.
Alternately, you could use screen time as a reward for being completely ready for school. If you have more than one kid, you should probably make use this reward only if all kids are done on time.
Tip #11: Consistent Expectations for Children
Finally, if you want your kids to get ready quicker, you need to be sure your expectations are consistent. You can’t expect them to get ready all by themselves one day and have you do everything for them the next. Stay strong and you’ll see results in a few weeks!
So these you have my top tips on how to make mornings easier. I’m confident that following these recommendations will give you more time and peace of mind in the morning!
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