The Secret to having an Organised Morning!
Want to know the secret to have an organized morning at your house?
Are mornings hectic at your house? Does it feel like a battle every morning trying to get organized for the day and the kids out the door for daycare or school?
Today I share the secret that works in our household and makes mornings less stressful!
My family dynamics
There are 5 people in my family, 2 cats, and a dog, so mornings are definitely busy. My husband works full time, I’m a stay at home Mum and work from home Mum. We have 3 kids aged 3, 6 and 7. The two older ones go to school, and my 3-year-old goes to kindergarten 5 days a week.
Our mornings
Our kids have a rule that they are not allowed out of bed (unless for an emergency or they need to go to the bathroom) until 7am, this works most days. If they wake up before 7, they either go back to sleep or they can do reading quietly. They each have a clock in their rooms, and the younger one has learned to recognize the number 7. I will do a post shortly explaining how this all works if it is something you want to try in your home so keep an eye out for that.
The secret to an organized morning
The secret to having an organized morning that is stressfree is… Routine… I know it seems obvious, but it truly works!
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Why Routines work
We have used routines with my kids since they were about 3 months old, and it made such a difference. Obviously, when they are 3 months old, the routine is very different from a 3-year-old. At 3 months of age, the routine might be a bedtime one. For example wake, play, change, feed, nap, etc. As the kids grow older, the routine just gets added too. We still do the same nighttime routine that we did when our kids were young of dinner, play, bath, story, bed.
Routines are great and work because kids know what to expect or what is coming up. They can drastically prevent meltdowns, frustrations and Mum or Dad going crazy.
Our morning routine
Here is an example of our morning routine and what works for us. As mentioned above 7 am is out of bedtime and we leave to go to school/kindergarten at 8.20am. This gives everyone 1 hr and 20 mins to get sorted and organized.
So, our morning looks like this
– Wake up
– Breakfast (while kids eat breakfast I make their lunch)
– Kids get dressed for school
– Children make beds
– Kids pack bags
– Kids brush teeth and wash face
– Kids Feed animals
And then if they have spare time they play a game or draw before school.
I help my 3-year-old complete his jobs and while we are eating breakfast etc. my husband showers and then we switch, and I go shower, and he carries on helping the 3-year-old and making sure the other kids have done their jobs.
After my shower
We usually have 15 minutes left before heading out the door, so I will throw a load of washing on and stack the dishwasher, turn it on and wipe down the kitchen bench.
Every morning in our house (apart from weekends, we are more relaxed then) looks like this. I make my kids responsible for sorting their own clothes for the day, sorting their school bags out, and it is their responsibility to ensure they don’t forget anything.
How to start building a routine
Write it down or make up a chart on the computer and place where everyone sees it. This is a chore chart I found on Amazon just to give you an idea of what you can either purchase or recreate and make at home.
For my kids, I made a job board with words and pictures which they would check on. You can do this for younger kids too.
After a few days, I just have to say to my kids “after breakfast go do your jobs”. If they come back asking me what else to do, I say ” go and check your job board” They found it fun following the pictures on the board and they also got excited that they had time to play before we headed out the door.
This works for us
This is something that you can implement at a young age. Our routine has always worked for us and has just benefits of making smooth, easy mornings.
What your secrets are to an organized morning with your family – please pop your comments below! 🙂
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