Morning Routines
This month we were given the gift of 10 days worth of childcare so we could celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. While we were away, Popop and Mimi mentioned school morning routines were a breeze!! "The kids knew exactly what to do and the mornings went so smoothly." I was thrilled to hear our morning patterns continued even though I wasn't their. You see, it wasn't always this way. There was a key milestone in our familys' life that completely changed how I structured our morning routine. That milestone was our third foster baby (our fourth child and our now adopted and youngest little girl).
1) Wake Up Time: I wake the kids up by 6:30am and we need to start walking to school by 7:45...7:50 at the latest. Waking them by 6:30am means we get them in bed early: 7pm for the Littles and 8pm for the two Bigs. This also means I need to be up before 6:30am. I try to be up by 5:30am so I can pray and workout. Having time to do this really works like caffeine for me and gives me a better attitude while approaching the morning tasks. Waking up early allows the kids enough time to wake up, get dressed, put pjs away, deal with wardrobe malfunctions (as in I can't find clean clothes), have an occasional fight with a sibling or two (or mom), make lunch, brush hair, eat breakfast and put shoes on.
2) Lunches: The first thing that needed to change was how lunches were made. There just wasn't time to fully assemble these every morning. SO, I designated Sunday afternoons for making ALL the main portions of our lunches. That means sandwiches, tortilla wraps, frozen pizzas (baked and stored), etc. The big kids and I create an assembly line and pre-make these items and store them in the freezer. Tip: to help transition your kids into this responsibility, pre-assemble the lunch items for them in zip lock bags (I'll explain this later).
3) Labeling Dresser Drawers: My Four and Three-year-old both have labels on their dressers drawers with photos. This has helped fully transition them to getting dressed on their own with very little help from us. Our four year old attends preschool that requires a uniform. So, one of his drawers is just for school clothes. Tip: work through the "kinks" on the weekend so they know what to expect during the week. AND this is also a great support for the kids when they start putting their own clothes away (all four of our kids 3yr-10 yrs. put their own clothes away).
4) Organized snacks: I have two snack bins. One in the refrigerator for cold snacks and one in the pantry for dry snacks. The fridge bin has things like gogurts, yogurts, Jell-O, cheese sticks, fruit parfaits, etc. The dry snack bin has things like: granola bars, fruit roll-ups, crackers, chips, etc. Tip: refreshing these items every couple of weeks brings the "momentum" back to packing lunches.
5) Before Breakfast responsibilities: Before the kids can eat breakfast they need to get dressed, put their pjs away and assemble their lunches. Lunch assembly includes four items: A main lunch (sandwich, wrap, etc), a dry AND cold snack plus a fruit OR a veggie. To simplify things for my preschooler, I collect all those items together in individual ziplock bags for each day of the week. He then grabs one bag in the morning and places the items in his lunch pail. Fridays have been designated as "hot lunch day" cause we're all tired by the end of the week. This becomes a nice highlight for the end of the week! Tip: If they want seconds on breakfast (this is mainly for the big kids), the time can't be later than 7:30 and their shoes need to be on.
6) During Breakfast: My goal in the morning is to send my kids off with something about God's Word. Sometimes this goal is met with a simple prayer but other times I actually get to read a story to them as they eat breakfast. We enjoy going through Our Daily Bread for Kids. This part of our morning wasn't happending until I made all the intentional changes above! AND honestly it still doesn't happen every morning. AND that's ok!!! Its my goal to make time for it and I think that's what matters most!!! Tip: if time is short, use it to revisit a memory verse or start a new one as you're walking or driving to school.
6) During Breakfast: My goal in the morning is to send my kids off with something about God's Word. Sometimes this goal is met with a simple prayer but other times I actually get to read a story to them as they eat breakfast. We enjoy going through Our Daily Bread for Kids. This part of our morning wasn't happending until I made all the intentional changes above! AND honestly it still doesn't happen every morning. AND that's ok!!! Its my goal to make time for it and I think that's what matters most!!! Tip: if time is short, use it to revisit a memory verse or start a new one as you're walking or driving to school.
7) Keep Breakfast simple: Our breakfast line up usually requires very little cooking if any. Here are some of our go-to quick before school breakfast munchies ****** cinnamon and sugar toast with bananas, cereal with orange slices, bagel and cream cheese with milk, hard boiled eggs and microwave oatmeal.
Thanks to the motivation by the addition of our youngest a few years ago, we now (mostly) have successful mornings where I actually get to finish my coffee while its hot. Our morning routine, has made our time together unhurried and has given the kids more opportunities to learn self-help skills. I hope this list of tips and ideas encourages in tackling your own morning routines. AND may you feel Christ giving you the strength to wake up motivated to delegate tasks and create a morning that works for you instead of against you.
For more Tips and Tricks with kids visit here: Mommy Tips and Tricks
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