Therefore, below I have listed 5 tips to try to help make your before school mornings run a little smoother. As you will see, most of it has to do with getting stuff done the night before.
1 - Make lunches the night before. Its pretty plain & simple. However, by doing this, you can also take snacks that might not be so great to eat once they get warm, and stick them in the freezer. Like Go-Gurt tubes. We keep them in the freezer. Then when they are put in the lunch, which is then put in the fridge, they stay mostly frozen, and are not warm and gross by lunch time.
Also, I have picky eaters, so doing lunches at night, allows me the extra time to let the kids pick out their own snacks. Then all I need to do is make sandwiches and throw it all together.
2 - Try to get the kids to pick out their clothes the night before. Or at least as them what they want to wear, so it makes them think about WHERE the outfit is. I have a house full of girls, and too many times have we had meltdowns in the morning because they can't find their favorite shirt, and there is "nothing else to wear".
3 - Have an On The Go breakfast selection. (This one I know might bother some of you mom who are really into cooking a healthy breakfast for your kids each morning, but if that's the case, this post is not for you. ) In our house, we are late nighters who sleep in, so we are not into breakfast either too much. None of us can really eat as soon as we get up. But there are times, where the kids pass out early the night before, so they wake up a little hungry. For those times, or times when someone actually gets dressed fast and has extra time, we have quick healthy choices.....like yogurt tubes, or granola and cereal bars, or even the quick heat & go mini pancakes. Finger foods. (Disclaimer: my kids schools provide snacks mid-morning and afternoons, so they are not starving)
4 - Don't wake everyone up at the same time. I have 3 girls and one bathroom. Although they are all still fairly young, My almost 11yr old is starting to want "privacy". So, typically, I will take care of my bathroom duties before I wake them up. Then I wake up the almost 11yr old so she can get in real quick. Once she is in the bathroom, I then wake up the 7 yr old twins. I try to make sure that they all get in the bathroom as I am waking them up, to prevent a bathroom traffic jam and morning yelling.
5 - Have last minute get ready items, in the room where everyone is right before you leave. That might sound confusing. Let me explain. We have a 2 story house. When we first moved in, I thought it was great that we could get the shoes out of the LR and keep every kids items in their own rooms. Well, that just made for a large search party every morning. So, we keep all of our shoes in the LR, by the front door, in a generalized area. That way there are no questions as to where the shoes are. Also, the twins still need my help a little with hair in the morning. So instead of going back upstairs and clogging up the bathroom, all while I can't see IF the 11yr is getting moving, we have a hair bin on our LR shelf. This hold brushes, leave in sprays, headbands, and hair ties. So as we go out and they all realize they might want to pull their hair up later, its not a big long trek to the bathroom upstairs. ( these shoe and hair bins are hidden in decorative baskets)
Just a few little tips from our morning routine, to help maybe make yours a little easier. Happy Back to School!!
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