Making Mornings Easier
Probably due to my denial about the summer's end, I'm a little stunned that today is Laurel's first day of school (and other than some morning grumbling, it went off without a hitch...no tears at drop off!). I know many of you have already started the school year or are starting this week so I wanted to share a few of my favorite tips for making mornings easier, plus some excellent back posts to help with transitions. Because experience with Laurel has taught me that transition can be easy (last year) or challenging over many months (two years ago). Good luck everyone!
Here are five tips to making mornings easier:
1. Wake up 10 minutes earlier. Without fail, whenever we give ourselves 10 extra minutes of breathing room, mornings feel more calm.
2. Prep two days of lunches at a time. We find that lunch making is less painful in the mornings when some of the pieces are already in place a couple of days a week. On Mondays and Wednesdays I pack Laurel's fruit and vegetable containers and set aside snack options (e.g., yogurt, granola bars) for two days. I'll make the main course (e.g., sandwich, mac and cheese, etc.) fresh the morning of school depending on what Laurel is in the mood for.
3. For those with kids with long hair. Laurel has very long hair and it's prone to major tangling. And dealing with a super snarly head in the morning is time consuming and does not help morning grouchiness. I comb out her hair the night before (and sometimes braid the hair) to minimize morning tangles.
4. Lay out clothes the night before. This is an easy task that you can have your kids take care of. They'll love the autonomy and it will help avoid clothing battles in the morning. I also recommend being OK with whatever your kid picks (i.e., not worrying about things matching) so long as the clothing is weather appropriate. Laurel tends to pick combos of patterns and colors that I might not assemble but if the clothes make her happy and make for an easier transition, why pick a fight when it's really not necessary?
5. Remain calm. I feel as if I give this advice a lot when it comes to parenting but it never fails me! I find that if I get sucked into the drama and get cranky in response to Laurel's behavior, the bad mojo escalates, whereas when I can remain calm and redirect, we can diffuse the situation quickly.
Do you have other tips? I'd love to hear them in the comments below!
And here's some great back reading regarding back to school transitions:
Image credit: nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Comments
I am a big fan of picking out clothes the night before.
We look at the lunch menu on Sundays, and both kids get to pick two "buy" days a week, so I know when I will need to make lunches. If I have to be out the door myself early the next morning, I will make lunches the night before and pop them in the fridge. I wish I could make this a nightly habit.
As for remaining calm in the face of cranky children...teach me, Yoda!
Posted by: Carole | September 7, 2011 10:20 AM | Reply to this comment
Ha, Carole! I literally take deep breaths and just remember that the behavior is age appropriate and that in a half hour all will be peaceful again. :-)
Great idea about the lunch menu. My daughter has never been interested in buying school lunch but I will pose it as an option. Actually, that would be perfect. If she wanted to buy lunch one day of the week, I'd only need to do my advance prep trick twice instead of three times.
Posted by: Christine Koh - Editor replied to comment from Carole | September 7, 2011 10:29 AM | Reply to this comment
I love your tips. My tip? Setting the table for breakfast before I go to sleep. It takes 2 minutes, but feels like a big time saver in the a.m. Often it's simply bowls, spoons, napkins and our cereal selection, awaiting only milk and a piece of fruit. Or it's plates, knives, peanut butter, honey, and a glass, so in the morning we can easily make peanut-butter toast with a glass of milk.
Posted by: Ellen | September 7, 2011 11:26 AM | Reply to this comment
I love this tip Ellen -- I'm going to try it tomorrow! Thanks so much for sharing!
Posted by: Christine Koh - Editor replied to comment from Ellen | September 7, 2011 11:29 AM | Reply to this comment
My daughter is older (first day of third grade today) but in our house she is responsible for whatever needs to be in her backpack. If she got to school without water bottle, library books, guitar whatever it's bc she didn't pack it. We help her with systems, lists etc but it is her job to round up everything she needs (and to know what that is!)
Posted by: AmyB | September 7, 2011 11:39 AM | Reply to this comment
I sometimes make steel cut irish oatmeal in the crockpot the night before. Then in the morning, I don't have to wait the requisite 20-25 minutes to make my steel cut oatmeal. It's hot and ready for toppings.
(this is a good link for knowing how to do make overnight oatmeal correctly):
http://annkroeker.com/2008/03/25/overnight-crockpot-steel-cut-oatmeal/
Posted by: CJM | September 7, 2011 6:35 PM | Reply to this comment
When I'm super organized (hey, it does happen sometimes!) I make a batch of yummy and healthy muffins over the weekend. Our favorite is the Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip from Angry Chicken (http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2007/09/mackin-good-yal.html). This recipe makes a double batch, and one batch goes right into the freezer for the future. The rest are in a container on the counter and the kids can help themselves at breakfast. One less thing to do each morning -- and also prevents me from being a short order cook each day!
Posted by: Jennifer | September 7, 2011 8:33 PM | Reply to this comment