Make your morning routine run more smoothly before schoolDo you spend most mornings yelling ‘hurry up!’ over and over again?

Is anyone even listening or have you become background noise? It is easy to feel stressed in the mornings when everyone is trying to get ready at once and everyone has somewhere to be by a certain time.

But wouldn’t it be nice if it weren’t so stressful? If everyone had time to sit, eat and talk, to make sure they’re neat and tidy, to double check that they haven’t forgotten anything and to go the toilet and brush their teeth properly.

If you’d like a less-stressful morning routine this year then have a read of our 12 tips …

12 ways to make your morning routine less stressful

1. Be organised yourself.

Get up 10 or 15 minutes before your children to ensure your day is planned out as well as your kids’. Check out our family organiser charts and printables.

2. Let the kids get themselves up.

Have an alarm that plays a cool song to wake them up and trust them to get out of bed, giving them a sense of independence.

3. Try organising everything the night before.

Have all lunches made, bags packed, and uniforms laid out the night before. This saves time finding shoes or books or homework that mysteriously get lost from the previous afternoon.

4. Stop yelling.

Try to avoid yelling in order to make things happen quicker. This can often have the opposite effect if the kids are now frantic about getting ready.

READ: 5 reasons parents get angry with their children

5. Don’t expect too much at once.

Give instructions one at a time so you don’t overload your children with tasks. Once one is done, move on to the next.

6. Cut down on breakfast options.

Or have the options for breakfast all worked out in advance to save time on indecision or a fight.

7. Ask the kids to help clean up after breakfast.

Get the kids to bring their plates to the sink and maybe even rinse their own breakfast plates/bowls so you don’t come home to hardened-on cereal or cheese later.

8. Don’t get dressed too early.

Put on uniforms after breakfast to avoid spilling on school clothes and changing them anyway.

9. Avoid turning on the TV.

Don’t put the TV on to entertain kids who are ready early. Offer them a book to read or something to colour to get their minds into school-mode. Watching TV puts them in precisely the wrong frame-of-mind for learning. Plus they’ll be less likely to move if the show hasn’t finished!

10. Aim to be early.

Set an alarm to go off 15 minutes before you really HAVE to leave. This way it’s not a shock when 8am rolls around and you should have left at quarter to.

11. Leave on time – no matter what!

Don’t compromise on the time you need to leave. Send everyone to the car in their current states and take off – a dose of going to school with messy hair will motivate them the next day.

12. Use a checklist for each child.

Use a ‘are you ready for school’ checklist for each child’s tasks. This will help so you don’t need to remind them as much, and they get the added sense of responsibility.

Following these tips can keep your morning routine calm and on-time. You can find info on school routines and more in our Back to School Hub.

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