Our morning routine is getting ridiculous but I have a plan to change things.
How lovely it would be to have written this post from the point of view of a mother whose children are thoroughly cheerful, organised and compliant in the morning. How nice it would have been not to tell you that I spend my morning bellowing out orders and instructions like a Sergeant Major.
However currently my mornings go something like this:
I get up at 6.00 and get into the shower and flatten my hair into an appropriate style for leaving the house. At around 6:30 I wake up the children, please note they are invariably bad tempered. This ranges from mild grouchiness to full blown tantrums. I usually commence chivvying at this point in desperate effort to move them into the kitchen for breakfast.
Breakfast is a long drawn out affair which usually involves the children sitting staring blankly into the distance with their breakfasts untouched. In the meantime I'm jumping up and down in the background screaming pleads of “eat your breakfast!” and “just pick it up and put it in your mouth”.
As for the actual getting teeth brushed, faces washed and uniforms on the whole process has become farcical. Uniform disappears with no effort made to find it, they sit half dressed reading books or playing with toys, whilst I rush about threading parts of their bodies into relocated uniforms.
Then worst of all the final last minute scramble to brush hair, not just brush it but create an elaborate hair style. Whilst doing hair I'm finding shoes, schoolbags, reading books, homework and that special piece of wasps nest she just has to take to show her teacher.
Eventually nearly three hours from start to finish we leave the house. The utter chaos and disorganisation is beyond tolerable and it has to stop. We must become more organised and we must speed up. So I'm thinking of trying the following ways:
- Getting the children up later by which time I will be completely ready and therefore I can focus my entire attention on helping them to get ready. I'm also working on the principle that if they have less time they will just have to be faster.
- Stop bellowing instructions and orders as clearly they make no difference.
- To be more organised. The night before I shall get out the uniforms, find the shoes, lay out the schoolbags and find everything single thing we need.
- I shall stop chivvying them to eat breakfast – if they don't eat it they will be hungry, then perhaps the next morning they will remember that and eat.
- I shall also start a reward chart, giving a star for each day they are ready on time and a small treat for getting all five stars at the end of the week.
Do you struggle to get your children moving in the morning? Do you have any tips, advice or ideas on just how I can make my morning easier? Are you the mummy or daddy who has the whole thing sussed? I would love to hear how the morning is in your house.
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19 May, 2010
We had full on melt down this morning over grapes! I kid you not. This was because 6YO wanted them in the packet & 14YO gave them to her washed and in a bowl. Ungrateful so and so. I then launch into my regular rant of how there are children in poor countries who would eat those grapes from a dirty bucket! I long for a Mary Poppins start to the day, and joyous school run.
mum
19 May, 2010
Blimey, you get up early. I suppose it is easier here as there are only two of us. We both wake up at 6.30 and then start getting ready at 7am. We have just over an hour then until we have to leave and IJ knows she has to get herself dressed and ready to go while I do the same. If we mess about or starting reading emails (me that is) then it becomes a last minute panic. We've been following this routine for about 2 months and it works. When we got up later as we used to, it was a nightmare.
mum
19 May, 2010
Mornings can be *so* stressful. Wasn't there that survey (as if we needed one to tell us) that 8.30am is the most stressful time of a mother's day?
Once I got so fed up with the nagging (that was having no effect) I drew up a chart with pictures of what they needed to do (shoes, teeth, breakfast etc) then they just had to tick it when they'd done it. They seemed to like it and it took me out of the equation.
Generally though I think we have a fairly stress-free morning. The children have about 1.5 hrs to get ready and there's no tv, It goes a bit pear shaped when the 5yo disappears and we can't find her (sulking under the sofa).
admin
19 May, 2010
@ Wendy - I had to giggle at this one because it sounds just like mornings in our house! Ours starts at around 6.30am and follows exactly the same pattern except for the inevitable stinky nappy from the baby just as we are walking out the door!
We have also vowed to start organising ourselves a bit more in the evening before so that we just need to get dressed and eat in the morningsm, and your post has motivated me to start that tonight! Watch this space :-)
Leigh
Ready for Ten Team
admin
19 May, 2010
@ Wendy - I had to giggle at this one because it sounds just like mornings in our house! Ours starts at around 6.30am and follows exactly the same pattern except for the inevitable stinky nappy from the baby just as we are walking out the door!
We have also vowed to start organising ourselves a bit more in the evening before so that we just need to get dressed and eat in the morningsm, and your post has motivated me to start that tonight! Watch this space :-)
Leigh
Ready for Ten Team
mum
19 May, 2010
Our house too. I can't stand the last minutes scramble. So we get ready to the point of school bus early, the reward is they can have the telly on.
My husband came down the other day and was astonished to find the boys in coats and with school bags on their backs watching telly 10 minutes before they were due to leave.
19 May, 2010
I've started trying to ensure kids are dressed and with shoes on before they are allowed to turn on TV. I also make use of BT Vision to record what they are watching for later.
DD 6 sometimes gets her uniform ready the night before - need to insist on that one.
Used to have the joy of DS 3 wetting himself just as we are about to leave...
20 May, 2010
@ Cara - awww nothing better than a complete meltdown in the mornings!
@ Rosie - I really need to work on the getting self ready bit with my kids
@ Deb - ooo my children would like a little tick chart
@ Leigh - hope your organising went well :)
@ Ellen - mine don't do TV in the morning typically - but maybe I could offer that as a reward!
@Becky - ahhh I remember the lovely joy of boyo wetting self seconds before we were due to leave the house :)