Elementary School Morning Routine - Please tell me yours
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Anonymous
If did this, the front door of our house would be left wide open or otherwise unlocked 75% of the time. I'm not will to risk a burglary to find out. They leave it open ALL THE TIME when they go out to play even though I remind them. |
Anonymous
| Problem with making lunch the night before is that sandwiches get soggy. |
Anonymous
Well you do what you have to do. But my kids remember to lock so that isn't an issue for me. |
Anonymous
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Wakes up at 8 am.
Eats breakfast while watching cartoons. Gets dressed and brushes his teeth 8:25 am We are out the door at 8:35 and at school 8:40. |
Anonymous
| DD and I get up at 6:30 a.m.. We each shower the night before. DD dresses first while I get ready in the bathroom. Then I get dressed while she brushes her teeth, hair and flosses in the bathroom. After I'm dressed I throw together her lunch, and we leave at 7am. |
Anonymous
We have a Kindergartener and a 3rd grader, both girls. Clothes and backpacks are prepped/laid out the night before. I assemble lunches in the mornings and leave the house at 6:45 when everyone else is still asleep. Girls get up at 7:10, cuddle in bed with daddy for a minute, go downstairs to pee, make their own breakfast (usually cereal), put on music, and eat. Meanwhile, Dad gets up and showers. Girls put dishes away, brush their teeth, get dressed and comb their hair starting around 8am. If they are early and jobs are done, they get to watch a little bit of TV. This is a big motivator. Youngest is picked up by car pool or gets dropped off at 8:20, then oldest leaves for bus at 8:25. Dad is on the road to work by 8:30. Putting them in charge of their own destiny in terms of eating and getting ready in the mornings has worked wonders for cooperation and staying on task. They are pretty much on their own (with an adult in the house though) and they rarely get off-track. We used to have a list posted so they would remember all the things they need to do, but by now (been doing it this way for over a year now) they are pros 
On the rare occasion that I am home in the mornings, things usually end up spinning out of control. If Mom is there, they ask for special breakfast, forget to put their bowls away, and need to be reminded of each step. It's like Mom-induced helplessness. Therefore, not being there and having very little adult intervention seems to be the best way to go for us
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Anonymous
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Bedtime is important for a good morning.
Make sure the kids are asleep at the same time everyday. I am always amazed as to how rough the mornings are after evenings where we ran late - even if just by 30 minutes for lights out. The kids just have trouble waking up and are much slower we run in the morning. |
Anonymous
I tell mine to make everything except sandwich, that's made in the morning. |
Anonymous
If you it a thin layer of butter or mayo on the bread and pack the veges separate the bread won't get soggy. |
Anonymous
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We have 3 kids, a kindergartener, 3rd grader, and a junior. My oldest gets herself up and ready.
For the younger 2, I lay out their uniforms, make sure backpacks and lunches are ready at night. In the morning I leave before everyone else, but this is dh's routine... 6:30-wake up/alone time 7:00-wake up the younger kids, they get dressed, brush teeth, etc. 7:30-breakfast 7:45-dh does their hair, helps with shors, etc. give 15 min warning to older child (she takes forever to get ready) 8:00-out the door. Drop off younger kids at 8:10, older one at 8:20 then dh goes to work. |
Anonymous
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Actually...my prep starts much before the night before.
3:45 pm - 5:30 pm As soon as DC gets home from school (3:45 pm. It is 4:45 pm if DC has after school clubs)- 1) Wash hands, change clothes, and put dirty school clothes in the laundry basket. 2) Snack 3) Finish Homework, forms etc. Pack bag and put it by the front door. Pack water, snack box in the lunch bag and keep on counter for next day. 4) 10 minute of musical instrument practice 5) Change into activity uniform if required. 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm 1) He is driven to extracurricular activities 2 - 3 times a week. He reads magazines or plays on the IPad in the car. Else - 2) This is his free time for shooting hoops, playing with friends, cycling, watching TV, reading a book, playing on the laptop, school projects...or anything else he chooses to do. 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm 1) Finish Dinner. (from snack to dinner, I make sure DC eats quite a bit of fruits and veggies so that going potty in the morning is not a 45 minute long ordeal!) 2)Takes Multi-vitamins 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm - 1)Brush teeth (floss, gargle), 2)Shower (including - shampoo, lotion), change into PJs 3)Shoes - laces untied, 4)Read a book in bed. Lights off. MORNING 1) 6:30 am - I wake up, shower, dress. Make my coffee. 2) 7:00 am - wake DC up with a warm glass of milk 3) 7:30 am - DC gets ready - uses bathroom, brushes teeth (no flossing), dresses, wears shoes 4) By 7:30 am - I have made breakfast and lunch. Pack DCs lunchbox and clip it to the bag. 5) 7:30 - 8:00 am - Both of us eat breakfast, watch TV. DC likes cooked breakfast (though will have cereal or bar in a pinch) - so toast, eggs, juice, fruit etc. or pancakes. Same for lunch - mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwich, pasta, hot dogs etc, PBJ in a pinch...so the 1/2 hour of cooking is by far the most work in the morning. My kids will make the menu for each week on the weekend. If they want something special for lunch -they need to tell me the night before. 6) 8:05 am - We leave for the bus-stop. |
Anonymous
You SAH right? |
Anonymous
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When I worked, as a single mom:
Me: Night before - Make lunches, prep whatever I could for supper. Get clothes out for both of us, make sure any papers for DS were ready to go. Make sure anything I needed was out to grab or in my purse. Write check for daycare payment etc. 5:30AM - Out of bed to do a 30 min exercise tape 6:00 - 6:45 - Shower, dress, hair, make up, coffee and make my bed. 6:45 - drag ds out of bed 7:00 - breakfast (cereal, toast with fruit, or scrambled eggs) 7:20 (hopefully!) get ds dressed, teeth brushed and "stuff" on. 7:45 - Grab lunches, get into the car 7:45 - drop at daycare, and head to work. Things were more interesting in the winter when the sidewalk often needed to be shoveled, the car cleaned off and started so it could warm up. I was up earlier in the winter *just in case*. If it hadn't snowed I had more time for coffee. I find even as a SAHM mom now, with a 12 year old, that I need to be up ahead of him to have coffee in peace. |
Anonymous
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PP here - I knew a woman at one time who made sandwiches a week in advance and put them in the freezer. Both of her kids said they were soggy.
Do as much as you can the night before. If you don't like to pre-make sandwiches, try to make sure that is the only thing left to do for lunches, and have everything together in the fridge so you can just make and pack them. |
Anonymous
| Honestly. I don't care if the sandwiches are soggy. I make lunches, sign paperwork, write checks, and enforce the packing of the backpacks the evening before. Children shower after dinner. Clothing is laid out after showers down to socks, underwear, and shoes. In the morning, I stay upstairs out of the way. My husband handles the morning routine from beginning to end. He also drives the school carpool. After they leave, I get ready for work and walk the dog. |