It’s no secret that the mornings can be a bit chaotic, well it is in my house anyway!
In the mornings before I would know it, children would be bouncing off the walls and arguing about one child touching another child’s breakfast bowl.
Apparently, this is disgusting because said child has germs. Needless to say, we needed to take some drastic action. Introducing the morning routine.
Having a morning routine will help you to keep the structure in the midst of the craziness.
Trying to get 4 children, fed, bathed and out of the door can sometimes leave me feeling completely frazzled and left feeling somewhat defeated before I’ve even begun my day.
Over the years I’ve taken the time to monitor the children and tried to put different things into place to make for a smoother morning routine.
***Please note that this site uses affiliate links. If you would like to read the legal stuff you can do so here
Here are some really great tips on having a smooth morning routine
1. Make Sure Your Children Get to Bed on Time.
There is nothing worse than a tired grumpy 6 going on 18-year-old. This tip may sound very simple but it is loaded with truth.
Allowing your children to go to bed late means that when you wake them up in the morning they are not fully ready to start the day due to lack of sleep.
Just think about the days when you have had little sleep. If you are being honest without that cup of coffee you may not have made it through to the other side.
My eldest child is 9 years of age and he goes to bed somewhere between 7.30/8.00.
If I allow him to go to bed any later than this I can see that he doesn’t perform well during the day.
I get lots of yawning during homeschooling and it makes my job of teaching them that much more difficult. Late nights are completely counterproductive.
Related Content:
2. Prepare the Night Before
Preparing the night before for me is key to having a smooth morning routine. Once the children are asleep I go over all the things that I need to get done.
I really like lists because they help me to get things done quickly. There is something completely therapeutic about being able to check an item off a list.
I tend to think about things like what they will eat for breakfast and lunch, what they are going to wear.
If your child is old enough then get them to pick out their own clothes the night before.
Anything that needs ironing, do it the night before. If we are going out anywhere then I also make a list of any items that I will need to have packed in their backpacks.
I know this might sound a little bit funny but it’s also a great idea to have the children’s shoes matched up in the morning.
I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve had a crisis of no matching pair of shoes!
I’ve even left the house a few times with one of my children wearing different shoes. We tell people its a style, haha!
3. Have A Bedtime Routine as well as a Morning Routine
Having a bedtime routine is just as important as having a morning routine.
Your bedtime routine will determine what happens in your morning routine.
I encourage my children to wind down playtime at around 6.30/7.00 and will usually dim the lights in the house.
This helps to create an atmosphere of calm.
The last thing you want to do is be telling children who have been jumping around on the sofa to now go and brush their teeth and get to bed.
It will be no easy task!
4. Wake up before your children
If I’m being honest this is usually where I fail horribly. I’m a night-time person and I love to have “me time” at night.
Homeschooling means that I don’t get too much of a break where I’m on my own and have time to think through my thoughts.
Once the children are asleep this is my time. I’m often astonished at how much I can get completed in the few hours that I have before the baby wakes up for a feed.
because I am a bit of a night owl it makes it extremely difficult for me to wake up in the mornings.
I’m not much of a morning person and every morning I’m always trying to work out potential ways to sleep in for a few extra minutes.
Needless to say, I usually wake up when the children do. Don’t be like me!
On the few occasions where I have managed to wake up before the children my morning had been great.
I had actually managed to brush my teeth, shower and get dressed before they had opened their eyes.
Every time I’ve done this I promised myself I would do it again the next day only to fail. One day I will get there.
5. Allow Enough Time
Allowing enough time to get things done is very important. If you don’t allow yourself enough time for the children to eat breakfast or have a bath you will end up with extreme levels of stress.
The mornings are a sensitive time so the last thing you need is to be rushing to get things completed before you leave the house.
I’m pretty sure that 5 seconds to eat a bowl of cereal is not long enough.
If your family is anything like mine, you probably have that one child that takes forever to finish breakfast so you need to allow ample time in your morning routine.
6. Stay Calm
Children are very sensitive people, they tend to pick up on our energy and follow suit.
For this reason, it is imperative to remain calm at all times especially in our voices.
Usually, if we are getting stressed the children know about it and act accordingly.
Don’t be afraid to hand out suitable disciple if you need to.
Let the children know that if they do “X” then “Y” will happen. Eventually, it will settle down in the mornings.
Final thoughts on having a smooth morning routine
No family has it easy in the mornings there are only families that work on having BETTER mornings.
It may seem difficult now but if you work at it can never be impossible to achieve. Keep going mama, you’re doing a great job!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.