Hi everyone,
To stay organised during the busy school year, creating systems around the family’s routines and habits can really help. Morning and evening routines are a way to do that.
Here are four organising tricks that will establish an effective morning routine for the family.
1. Wake up a Little Earlier:
If you can get up before the kids, this may help you in the mornings. Having 15 minutes to yourself to either get dressed or wake up with a cup of tea can be a nicer treat than staying in bed.
Setting the kids alarms ten minutes early might also help. Rather than insisting they get up and out as soon as you call them, waking them up that bit earlier so they can have a little doze, might make them feel less under pressure from the minute they open their eyes. Kids don’t want to get up to go to school. So if the clock is ticking from the minute they wake up, it’s not gonna help their mood.
By setting alarms ten minutes earlier, you might even be lucky enough that they’ll get up immeadiately…giving you extra time!
2. Bathroom Relay:
Once you get everyone up, now to get them dressed and down for breakfast!
If you have one bathroom and several people waiting for it, schedule bathroom times with a relay/ tag team system!
For instance, if you have three kids in a relay, by the time the last child who got up is in the bathroom, the second one up should be getting dressed while the first one who got up is already eating breakfast!
3. Limit Breakfast Options:
A great tactic to avoid school is trying to decide what to have and not being happy when you don’t get it!
Limiting what’s on the breakfast menu might avoid rows. Too many different cereals and you could be there all morning choosing the one that makes everyone happy!
4. Dial down the Noise:
Turn the TV off and I’d even go so far as to recommend turning off the radio too. Less noise equals fewer distractions for everyone. If you’re asking for things to be done during the course of the morning, excess noise can make you shout over it, or you mightn’t even be heard. In fact, even thinking above the noise might be a challenge.
Having the TV on distracts everyone from what they’re doing and there’s plenty to do before getting out to school. There’s also a great chance that just as you want to leave, their favourite cartoon will come on, and then they won’t want to go at all!
If there’s a lot of stress and you really want to reduce it, keep noise pollution switched off all morning!
Let me know how you are getting back into the swing of things now school has started again. Are you on top of it all? Struggling? Trying to get new routines started? Why not share how you do it in the comments below?
Happy Organising!
