Moms all over the world often spend the morning frustrated because their children run behind. They know there has to be a better way. Using these sure-fire tips to make your morning routine for school run smoother, your day can start on a positive note rather than a sour one.
Sure-Fire Tips to Make Your Morning Routine For School Run Smoother
Your day will run much smoother if you do as much as you can the night before. It will reduce the amount of time everyone takes to get ready and there will be much less stress. Here are a few things you can do the night before to help you be better prepared to have a great morning.
Shower or bathe
Schedule showers or baths for all of the children. If they can get clean the night before, that will be one less thing they’ll have to do in the morning. Having the children bathe the night before will also ensure you have plenty of hot water for your own bath or shower.
In addition, bathing at night is a terrific part of the nighttime routine in getting your kids to calm down and get ready for sleep. I know my children don’t do as well if they don’t get a good soak in before bed.
Set out clothes
Teach your children to choose and set out their clothes the night before. You can approve each outfit (or at least tell the younger ones how you love what they picked out) and ensure there are no sewing repairs to be made. If you have girls, don’t forget to have your children find their shoes and socks to place with the outfit so all they have to do when they get up is get dressed. I can’t tell you how many friends have said their daughters take forever in just picking out their shoes.
Pack their bag
Look through each child’s book bag when they bring it home each day. I immediately recycle anything that isn’t important. Be sure to ask them what homework assignments they have and ensure they work on them. You’ll also want to check to see if there are any important papers you need to see. Transfer any significant dates to your family calendar. Sign anything which requires your signature and then place everything that goes back to school back into your child’s book bag. Place their book bag by the door so it’s ready to pick up and go.
Check the family calendar
It is very helpful to have a centralized family calendar that is easily accessible to everyone. I work on a Mac and each person in the family has their own color so I can immediately see who has what the next day. Check the calendar the night before so you won’t have any surprises. There may be doctor’s appointments or your children may have after-school activities to attend. By checking the calendar before you go to bed you’ll be able to make any necessary car pooling arrangements if necessary.
Make lunches
Prepare lunches the night before if possible. If you can’t pack the entire lunch, do what you can. Keep refrigerated items in the refrigerator until morning. Grab what you need to finish up what needs to be done and then pack each item in your child’s lunch container. I use the top shelf in the door to hold easy-to-grab lunch items to make it even easier to get ready, such as juice boxes and applesauce pouches.
Set the table
Before heading to bed, set out the dishes you’ll need for breakfast in the morning. Depending upon what you plan to prepare, you can also do some of that the night before. Pre-scramble the eggs or make the egg and milk mixture for French toast. Keep the milk or orange juice on a lower shelf so your younger children can help take things out of the refrigerator.
I keep frozen waffles from the weekend in the freezer so they can easily be toasted the next morning.
Get kids to help with breakfast in the morning
Unless your children are very young they can, and probably should, help you with breakfast. Teach them to get the things necessary for the meal such as cereal, and bread for toast. we keep the boxes of cereal on a low shelf so they can easily help themselves. We also “cheat” in the morning and have wholesome granola bars (not the sugar-infused kind!) or English breakfast bars.
Finally, as you’re working toward a morning routine that runs smoother, keep some often-needed things in your car. Hair brush, pencils, juice box and extra socks can be kept in a box and easily accessible if your children aren’t being particularly helpful. Good luck at having a morning that runs smoothly!
My kids are grown now, but I used to love to go clothes shopping for back to school. The kids would be so excited to get new clothes and wear them the first time.
Hmmm. Perhaps that means you could do some “back to school” clothes shopping just for you 😉
Back to School Time is always so hard because we have to get back into a bedtime routine even though the sun is still out. Getting back to a set schedule is so difficult for my family.
As a preschool teacher and mom, I think this is great advice. Having a plan and a good routine can greatly ease the transition back to school for both kids and families. 🙂
Back to school here in just 2 weeks. Good to get a routine going again.
Great tips, Jenny! Usually, my younger son has his shower the night before while the older one prefers to have his in the morning! At least the bathroom doesn’t get crowded up all at once that way!
That’s one way to keep the bathroom fights to a minimum 🙂 My older one is still addicted to baths… and because of allergies as well, they both get clean the night before.
We go back to school in two weeks. It’s going to be hard getting back into our old routine
As a kid I really loved getting new shoes for school!
We go back to school in the beginning of September. The kids will find out who their teachers are soon.
I’m excited to find out who my kiddos’ teachers will as well (and a little nervous)
My daughter goes back to school in September. The most stressful thing about back to school for me is getting my daughter to do her homework.
the grandkids get nervous about going back but after the first day they love it and seeing their friends.
vmkids3 at msn dot com
We really enjoy back to school time. We get the house organized, go school clothes and supply shopping and plan fun snacks and lunches. It feels like a fresh start.
I always consider back to school the start of a new year, so it’s interesting to hear you say that you think of it as a fresh start. I’m excited for my kids to start the school year and for us to really start a new year.
My daughter started school this year it has been scary but exciting for all of us.
I certainly understand that! My youngest son is finally starting kindergarten this fall. I’m both excited and anxious for him 🙂
Back to school time with kids is my favorite time of the year. It’s like having a new lease on life. Thanks for the giveaway!
Great tips, another tip of mine is have a spot to hang backpacks and spot to keep homework and papers, that way it’s not a scramble in the am.
Really good tip! We actually have a place to hang backpacks when they get home so we’re not searching for them 😀
I love seeing their excitement on the first day…
I do, too! Most people have these wonderful picture perfect photos of the first day… but not my boys. And I just love it 😀
I had a table by the front door where we put homework, backpacks, library books, etc. This way nobody forgot anything.
Great idea. I wish our house was set up to have that kind of station. So I put everything in front of the door. That way you can’t leave the house without having your backpack 😀
I do this already except make the lunches the night before.
I think you’d be surprised at how much easier it is to throw lunch together while working on dinner than trying to get it together that morning. Let me know if you try it and if it makes things easier for you.
My daughter hasn’t started school yet but she is very excited about getting everything ready to go.
My kids have gone back. Planning is so important. We always pack their lunches the night before.
Helping to ensure your child is well rested for school should be a priority. Set a regular bedtime and be vigilant about enforcing it.
I’m with you on that one, Lisa! If we get off our schedule, it ruins the morning routine.
We head back to school in 3 days!! I’m going to miss my little guy
The back to school shopping is fun.
I dread back to school time it is so crazy busy!
This time of year definitely is crazy, but I’m always glad to get back into a more set routine 🙂
Finding out how the day went- so much fun
I think that for me and my daughter. It is going back into a more laid back routine. We live at the beach, and during the summer it becomes so very hectic and very out of order with people coming in. My the 2nd week in Sept. most people have gone home and the kids are back at school. We go back to her being in school and walking the beach after school.
My daughter isn’t old enough to go to school but I look forward to the day she does.
I love the tips! Back to School time is always trying as we try to struggle back to a routine.
My boys struggle as well Trisha. The first year we were a mess trying to get everything together. Once I figured out these tricks, it lowered the stress level in the house of getting out the door.
Life gets hectic for us, especially since I now have one in middle school, one in elementary and one in preschool!
Younger kids can make the morning time routine go slower than you’d like. Get your little one as involved in the process as much as possible to help things run that much faster in the morning. Good luck!
I now take my grandkids back to school shopping individually to make it a special day before school starts.
Great tips – it never occurred to me to get breakfast ready the night before but that would really help!
It saves a lot of hassle and headache!
Thanks for useful tips, I am wondering how I am going to handle back to school routine.
I am definitely going to steal the idea of prescrambling the eggs the night before – every 30 seconds saved counts to get our family out of the house in the morning!
I actually try to get my bags in the car the night before (in a garage of course) including my laptop and purse – keys sitting in the center console right in the car waiting for me to come to them…
Happy Back-to-School time to you and your family!
Wow! You’re very organized! I line up the kiddos’ backpacks in the cubby center and get as much ready to grab and dash as possible.