Tips For Easier Mornings With Kids

If you’re a parent, then you’ll opine that early morning routines can be hectic and frustrating. It gets worse when you have many kids who barely cooperate in any of the morning activities. Their heavy dependence on you can easily make you abhor mornings.

If you’ve found yourself in such a situation, then it’s time to streamline your early morning routines! Use the following tips to transform your mornings for the better:

Establish An Implementable Morning Routine

Lethargy is typical immediately after your children wake up since the body is adjusting to the active morning life. As such, there is a high likelihood that the children will remain sluggish unless there is a mandatory routine.

While most parents have a spelled out morning routine, they fail to realize the desired benefits due to poor implementation. You should be firm to ensure that everybody follows the routine.

To enhance compliance, it’s advisable that you involve your kids when crafting the routine. Let them give suggestions and ensure that you consider them when making the final copy. This inclusion gives them the burden to comply without complaints. They’ll feel wholesomely obliged to follow the rules since they are a party to them.

Ensure That Your Children Gets Sufficient Sleep

The body needs sufficient time to rest after a busy day. Pediatricians recommend that kids should sleep for at least 8 hours a day. If your children are not getting adequate sleep, then you can be confident that your mornings will always be hectic.

Also, it’s necessary that you establish a regular sleeping pattern for your kids. For example, let the kids sleep and wake up at almost the same time every day. The predictable routine adjusts the body, thus ensuring that they get active pretty fast after waking up.

Make Sure That Dinner Is Served Early

You could be confused about the relationship between dinner and morning routine, right? Well, research has shown that taking dinner at least 3 hours before sleeping result in a fresher morning.

The body’s organs get adequate time to rest, thus preserving energy for your morning activities. If your children appear excessively tired in the morning, then you could be serving your dinner late. Always ensure they take dinner at least 3 hours before sleeping. This will undoubtedly transform your morning routine, and you’ll no longer force them into performing basic activities.

Prepare The Night Before

Performing some activities at night will significantly reduce your morning to-do-list into something manageable. You need to evaluate all the activities critically to determine those that can be conducted at the preceding night. They may include:

• Cooking Breakfast. Making breakfast at night gives you all the time to prepare your kids in the morning without much pressure

• Sorting Out Clothes. Selecting the clothes that your children will wear to school the following morning will save you from cluttering. You should ensure that you involve the kids to avoid morning arguments which can be devastating

• Packing the Stationery. Immediately after your kids are through with the assignment, ensure that they pack all their books, pencils, and any other item that they may require in school

Always Wake Up Before The Kids

Waking up before your children gives you time to strategize and think on tactics that will make your kids’ day a success. Immediately you wake up, ensure that you counter check the stationery, clothes, and everything else that the children need during the day. Once you wake them up, remind them to follow the preset morning schedule.

Offer Rewards For Meticulous Work

Motivating your kids is one of the surest methods to have a flawless morning routine. You can start by promising a gift to the child who complies with the morning schedule within the shortest time and with minimal omissions.

This simple exercise develops an intrinsic desire to wake up and complete the morning activities which will significantly simplify your work. However, ensure that you involve them in the entire exercise.

Let them understand the reason behind the gifts to avoid a feeling of discrimination in the slower kids. In fact, it’s advisable that you gift everyone with the fastest getting the gift with the highest value and the slowest getting the one with the lowest value.

Keep It Fun And Simple

Kids hate an environment that’s too formal! As such, you should try to make the morning routine fun and enjoyable. Make sure that you give them the liberty to make choices which will avoid unnecessary arguments. For example, let them choose the pair of socks to wear the following morning. That way, they’ll feel like you’re imposing things on them, thus making it easy to comply.

Also, you should avoid assigning duties that are out of the ordinary routine. Some parents mess their children by assigning them unexpected duties in the morning. If it wasn’t planned, it’s likely that the kids will start to complain which will consume a lot of time leading to frustrations.

If you really need a task out of the schedule done, you should approach the kids creatively. Let them understand that it’s necessary to do it and that it’s for their good. Ensure that you use a persuasive tone as opposed to a commanding one which would otherwise result in resistance.

Prepare A Checklist

One of the crucial requirements for a successful morning routine with kids is to have a checklist.  Ensure that you prioritize such that the most crucial activities are performed first. You should arrange the activities in the order of priority. If you can, carry out the highly involving activities at night. For example, polishing the kid’s shoes, packing the stationery, ironing the clothes, and cooking breakfast. This eliminates the chance of forgetting crucial items in the house, which will make their day horrible.

Bottom Line

While handling children in the morning can be a nightmare, you can eliminate the difficulties by establishing a clear morning routine. Involve your kids when setting up the routine to enhance compliance. Also, make sure that you follow all the tips that we’ve given herein for an incredibly fulfilling morning!