The kids are finally back and school, I here you... that sigh of relief - The mornings in my house were chaos for the first few days, there was one morning that was particularly bad where there was fighting, breakfast being thrown around, screaming - and me with practically no hair left at all trying to have a slurp of tea whilst wrestling toys out of there grips and trying not to stand on sticky jam that was being trodden into the carpet, it can be an absolute nightmare, as you probably already know. Well it was in that moment I decided I was not going to have another morning like that again.
I started to make a list one that was practical and something that would just make mummy things easier, as you probably already know organisation is the key, here is my list that helped my house descend into calm rather than the chaos it was.
- Have a good bedtime routine, making sure the kids go to bed at the same time every night makes sure they are alert and awake the next day, this also makes them a lot easier to manage, also make sure you have a reasonable night sleep if your tired and grumpy the children will know and this will upset your morning.
- Get up half an hour earlier, try and get up half an hour earlier than the kids just so you can have some quiet time before the rush begins - I find it helps to have a cuppa organise lunches if they need them and just have a bit of time to breathe.
- Organise breakfast, get breakfast ready the night before ask your child if they have different things each day what they would like and stick to it this way you only have to put milk on cereal or hot water in your cup in the mornings anything that helps save time so you are not rushing and getting in a flap.
- Prepare there lunch - If your child has a packed lunch put there bags/boxes on the side and put in any items that don't need refrigeration or things that will be alright on the side if they have school lunches make sure there dinner money is to hand.
- Make sure there school uniform is ready - There is nothing worse than going to a wardrobe and realising that they have no jumpers or that someone has been in and scrunched all there clothes up at the bottom, so make sure that everything they need is where it should be and its ironed and pressed right down to there underwear - there have been so many times I have been searching around for some socks because what I thought was a pair actually wasn't.
- Get them to tidy there mess - There is nothing worse than having to run around taking breakfast pots out putting dirty clothes in wash baskets, get your children into a good routine so they help in the morning it all saves time especially if you have little ones you have to tend to as well.
- Keep instructions to a minimum - I use this a lot especially as Liam struggles with instructions, children don't need to know the hows and whys, when you are getting ready in the morning, I have found that singular or two work tasks work better for example if I wanted them to get there coats I wouldn't confuse them with a sentence like get your coat while mummy does this or get your coat we are leaving soon, I simply say coats please or shoes I have found it works so much better than trying to explain the ins and outs, it can be confusing for them.
- Paperwork and bags - Make sure school bags/book bags/P.E bags are packed the night before, they are somewhere you are not going to forget them and that all bags have been checked as children have a great way of producing a letter or reminder about something in the morning when your just about to go out the door, meaning it throws the morning back into chaos.
- Keep calm and breathe - Sometimes it doesn't matter how much time you have or how much planning you do there will be things that happen that throw the morning into chaos things you cant predict like illness etc but take a moment stay calm and rational it will keep the children calm!
- School walk tactics - Always give yourself five minutes more than you need - allow time for things that may happen like a little one tripping over - laces coming undone, coat zips getting stuck and again illness these things cant always be predicted but are things that have happened to us on numerous occasions - also try distraction things for when you are walking so they don't try to run off for example how many blue cars the can see or how many birds they can count you could even try giving them a list of things to spot on the way.
I hope this list is helpful to any mums that like me that have found the school mornings a struggle some days or even a battle of wills, I know you cant plan for every event but I hope a little bit more organisation will lead to the majority of mornings running smoothly!
Can you think of anything I have missed? or are there any situations that regularly upset your morning run? I would love to hear your thoughts.
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