ISO tips to avoid yelling at your kid in the morning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone. I'll try the chart idea, as well as incentives.

Q: for those of you who have your kids get dressed before breakfast, how do you avoid getting outfits ruined? I feel like the cereal milk, yogurt drink, ketchup for the eggs, syrup, jam, etc., always gets spilled or on them. Having them eat in PJs has been my solution.

I'm an adult who has a beach towel in my car to put over myself while driving because I've been known to spill coffee on myself. Do I look ridiculous? Probably but it works. Try it in the kitchen with the kids. Also, change the password on the iPad so no more kids sneaking it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone. I'll try the chart idea, as well as incentives.

Q: for those of you who have your kids get dressed before breakfast, how do you avoid getting outfits ruined? I feel like the cereal milk, yogurt drink, ketchup for the eggs, syrup, jam, etc., always gets spilled or on them. Having them eat in PJs has been my solution.

I have boys so maybe it is different but I just assume every new article of clothing will get stained. I actually love it when they come home muddy because then I know they weren't sitting around all day. If it's a big wet spot from breakfast I let them change if they want, otherwise they just go to school like that. For white shirts I have a bleach pen I use at laundry time; I don't really bother with a special cleaning for other colors.

[Anonymous]

No breakfast until dressed. No screens until they have finished breakfast and have shoes on and teeth brushed. If they don't turn the screen off after I tell them it's time to go, they lose all screen for the rest of the week.

[Anonymous]

I give warnings, then when ready, I head out the door. I usually wait on the front porch for a few seconds before they're running out the door with backpack, shoes on, jacket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone. I'll try the chart idea, as well as incentives.

Q: for those of you who have your kids get dressed before breakfast, how do you avoid getting outfits ruined? I feel like the cereal milk, yogurt drink, ketchup for the eggs, syrup, jam, etc., always gets spilled or on them. Having them eat in PJs has been my solution.

You need to teach your kids to be less messy. I have one that is naturally a neater, slower eater, and I have another who has to work a bit harder. Teach them to wait for drippy stuff, make sure they are eating over the table, etc. You could by an art smock, or even just a cheap men's shirt to wear over their clothes in the meantime.

[Anonymous]

Mine get to watch their favorite YouTube videos for a while once they have gotten dressed and eaten. Then they know we turn off the videos 10 minutes before we leave so they can brush teeth and get out the door.

[Anonymous]

You shouldn't have them brush their teeth before breakfast. Kind of misses the whole point of brushing. This should be the last thing they do before leaving the house. Clean breakfast off the teeth so plaque can't grow during the morning.

[Anonymous]

I used to be worried about the messes too, but it has been much better having them dressed before breakfast. The way I did it before, and still do if it is picture day or something where they need to stay looking nice, is I bring their clothes downstairs and have them get dressed in the family room after breakfast. That way they aren't running up and getting distracted by something upstairs while I am down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You shouldn't have them brush their teeth before breakfast. Kind of misses the whole point of brushing. This should be the last thing they do before leaving the house. Clean breakfast off the teeth so plaque can't grow during the morning.

This. Brush teeth before breakfast? Why, so your morning breath doesn't insult the food?

[Anonymous]

Put the iPads and devices and game controllers away the night before. They don't come back out if the morning doesn't go well.

[Anonymous]

My kids eat breakfast, then pee, then brush teeth, then put on clothes. I'd rather they pee and get dressed first, but at least they can't spill on themselves the way they do it. Some people have their kids sleep in their clothes so they don't have to get dressed. Sometimes I will have the kids change their underwear at night so they don't have to in the morning. My one kid is an early riser. He usually has a half hour to kill but I have him clear his cereal bowl and make his bed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have three young elementary school kids I need to mobilize each morning. I try to be organized, eg., picking out clothes the night before, making lunches beforehand, packing backpacks, refilling water bottles, etc., all in advance. But I can't seem to get my kids to follow an entire morning routine without incident, which brings out the demons in me and makes me yell each morning.

For example, I'll be cleaning up the breakfast and send the kids to get dressed, only to find them in PJs watching iPad videos; or I'll tell my youngest to use the bathroom, and she'll instead run into the other room laughing and hide, or I'll tell my oldest to put on her shoes, but instead she'll run upstairs to search for a favorite necklace. Examples like this happen throughout the morning.

So, how do other people get through the morning without yelling?

The yelling's not good for them or me...

I think maybe having a little family meeting and letting the crew know that the morning chaos is disruptive and have them help brainstorm morning rules--with your input, of course. The rules can include, all kid electronic devices such as ipads are put in a special drawer in parent's room at the end of every night until mom/dad gets home from work the next day and gives to go ahead.
I personally love and use the star system. Stars are given for exemplary behavior and traded in after collecting 10 or 20 for some cool privilege like seeing the latest movie with a pal.
Stars are deducted if you have to give more than one reminder about behavior, ie...pulling out ipads, not putting on clothes...
So for example,
The rule is everyone dresses before breakfast. You don't dress, you lose a star and you'll take whatever is handy to eat on the way (mom is not a cafe).
The rule is all bedrooms must be vacated and doors must remain shut at XYZ time. Go back in and you lose a star.

Also, positive reinforcement works tons--especially on the way to school "Larla you and your brother did an awesome job getting dressed and out of the door on time today. I'm super proud of you and you definitely earned a star.

[Anonymous]

For starters, anyone looking a screen/device before school loses it for a week. NO screens before school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone. I'll try the chart idea, as well as incentives.

Q: for those of you who have your kids get dressed before breakfast, how do you avoid getting outfits ruined? I feel like the cereal milk, yogurt drink, ketchup for the eggs, syrup, jam, etc., always gets spilled or on them. Having them eat in PJs has been my solution.

I agree with your way. We eat, then get dressed and brush teeth. Why would one brush their teeth before breakfast?
The chart and no screen time and also letting them fail some (to realize they may end up at school halfway in pjs if they aren't on the ball) are good ideas. Right now, they rely on you to make them do everything because they can. Shift more responsibility to them with natural and/or inflected consequences for non-compliance.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, we eat first, then get dressed, then do teeth & hair. Shoes are kept in the mud room next to the garage. Backpacks packed up the night before. No screens, but if caught with an iPad, the password changes. Usually runs like clockwork.