If mornings are a stress-inducing nightmare in your home, it may help you to know that you are not alone. For many families across the globe, mornings are chaotic – and the more kids you have, the harder it can be. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to make it that little bit easier and transform your mornings into a peaceful and enjoyable time of the day.
Here are 6 simple school morning hacks guaranteed to make your life easier.
Mom, where are my shoes…
If you hear this phrase daily, then it’s time to do something about it. Kids, in particular, tend to leave shoes lying around the house. It can make rushed mornings even harder and has the power to raise your blood pressure before you even set foot out the door. One of the best ways to combat this is to place a shoe rack or some form of shoe storage beside your front door.
When the children get home from school each night, have them put their shoes away. After a few weeks, it should become second nature and, in turn, reduce the need to go hunting for missing footwear when you haven’t even properly woken up yet.
Homework
Most kids would prefer to do anything but homework, so they may either conveniently forget to do it or not bother to tell you. This may result in you having to deal with it the next day, which may be enough to ruin your mood entirely. If this is a regular theme in your household, adopt a policy whereby schoolwork must be done as soon as they get home. Once complete, have them tidy it away and pack everything they need into their school bags, ready for the next day.
If they use book bags for school, be sure to have them pack those away too once any homework is finished.
The Most Important Meal of the Day
Many people would say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It helps fuel your body for the day ahead, so if breakfast time in your home is usually chaotic and unpleasant, you need to change that. Instead of dealing with it all in the morning, prepare what you can the night before.
Lay the table with cutlery and crockery and put any breakfast cereals and any other unperishable items out on the table. It will substantially reduce your preparation time and make mornings a lot less stressful.
If you want to learn more about the importance of a good breakfast, have a look at this article here.
Rota the School Run
As if getting yourself ready for work on time wasn’t a big enough chore, you may also have to contend with the school run. If this sounds like you, why not consider talking to some of the other parents from school and put together a rotation?
Everyone takes a turn to ferry the kids to school, giving other parents get a bit of a reprieve when it’s their day off. Car sharing is also beneficial for the environment, so, as well as helping you out a bit, it can do wonders for the planet too!
Lay Out Clothes in Advance
If you usually go to bed and hope that your kids will be able to find two matching socks or a clean polo shirt the next day, it may be time to reconsider your methods. It’s always a good idea to look out the next day’s uniform the night before, and it can make a big difference to your morning routine. Another option that many parents are adopting is to buy a set of five drawers labelled with days of the week and put a full uniform in each drawer.
Every morning, your child retrieves the clothes from the drawer for that day and gets dressed. It’s not rocket science, but it is a fool proof way of making sure that your kids are up and dressed as soon as possible every morning.
Get Up Earlier
There are many ways to make mornings and bit more pleasurable and save yourself time, but if all else fails, you may find that simply getting everyone out of bed half an hour earlier does the trick.
It might not seem like a good idea at the time, but when you realize how much more enjoyable your mornings could be, it could be enough to tempt you into changing your alarm.