BACK TO SCHOOL: MORNING ROUTINES
I gotta be honest…
I sorta waited to write this post, well, for 2 reasons, really…
1. I needed to make sure that I could STICK with our morning routine before I actually wrote about it. So, good news! It’s working so far!
… and …
2. I really wasn’t sure how long my kids would be in school for, thanks to Coronavirus.
Now, I know that not all of you have kiddos in school. Maybe you decided to homeschool for the year (which is AMAZING, by the way, and something I definitely admire you for doing because I am NOT that mom…). Or, maybe your kids are still virtual or hybrid.
But, no matter how your kids are doing school this fall, I truly believe a good, solid morning routine can make or break your day.
How do I know this?
Because at this time last year, my morning routine SUCKED. I thought I had a really good morning routine in place, but it became a daily occurrence that I was running behind, pissed off, and yelling at my kids because we were, once again, running late for school.
And as much as I want to put the blame on my kids, let’s be real… us running late for school on a regular basis had NOTHING to do with them.
It. Was. All. Me.
*womp womp*
But, now that we are 3 weeks into the school year, things seem to be going a bit more smoothly this year. There’s only been 1 day so far where we’ve really been running late and that’s because it was School Picture Day and our routine was thrown off by an almost 9 year old who wanted to have her hair curled. But, again… us running late was still not her fault because I KNEW she wanted her hair curled ahead of time and I didn’t plan that into my morning routine.
OK, so let’s break it down now…
What should a morning routine include and how do you make it work for YOU?! There are a few principles I truly believe can make or break your morning.
Do as much as you can the night before to make the morning run more smoothly.
This is probably the HARDEST thing for me to do, because by the end of a LONG day of working and caring for kids, getting ready for something that doesn’t happen for another 10-12 hours seems kinda silly.
But, let me tell you, having things ready to go the night before has made ALL the difference this year. And it doesn’t have to be much.
For me, that means packing the kids lunches the night before. That’s. It. But, those extra 5-10 minutes in the morning can truly throw off our entire system.
So, after dinner every night, I get out everything I need to pack their lunches (protein, fruit/veggie, grain, dessert, drink), I put it IN their lunch box (one less step to do in the morning), and then all I have to do is stick an ice pack in it before we leave and BOOM! DONE.
I just saved myself an extra 5-10 minutes in the morning.
Maybe for you, you need to have the kids’ clothes out the night before, or make sure their backpacks are completely ready to go. Whatever will save you a step in the morning, try to do the night before!
Have the kids (or your partner) help out as much as they can.
I’ve gotta admit, I’ve raised some pretty co-dependent children. We do a little too much for them, and we know that we do. But, it’s been SUPER helpful having a 3rd grader where all I have to do is tell her it’s time to get ready, and she does it ALL herself. Get dressed, brush her teeth, do her hair, put on her shoes, etc.
A Kindergartner is a little harder. He’s not quite as independent as she is and I have to help him with a lot in the morning. But, I also know that if I take 5 seconds to put toothpaste on his toothbrush, he can go do that and take care of business while I get their lunches in their bags.
Shoot, you could even take this as far as having you kids pack their lunches themselves, but I’ll leave that to all the Pinterest Moms out there to help you out.
Ask yourself how you want your morning to “feel” like.
OK, that sounds a bit too much like my Cognitive Behavior Coach talking, but really… this was a BIG deal for me. The one thing I didn’t want in the morning was to feel rushed, but I also knew that when I came home from dropping them off at school that I wanted to be able to get right to work.
Because of that, I knew that I needed to allot plenty of time for me to get my workout in, get ready in the morning, and do all the necessary things to get the kids ready for school.
My workout takes approximately 60-90 minutes every day, and taking a shower and getting full hair + makeup ready (because that makes me feel my very BEST everyday) takes about the same amount of time, I knew that I needed to have a good 3-hour “on-ramp” before having to get the kids ready for school.
Now, please note, my kids’ school starts at 9AM, so a 5AM wakeup time doesn’t seem too bad to me. We leave the house at 8:40, which means by 8AM, I am personally ready for the day, and then I have 40 minutes to make sure the kids are dressed, fed, teeth cleaned, bags packed, etc. before we need to leave.
If your kids’ day starts earlier than that, then you probably need to rethink how your morning needs to look if you take just as long as I do to have “me time.” (And I value that “me time” SO much in the morning!)
Maybe for you, you’d rather wait until after the kids are at school before you go workout. GREAT! Then, what do YOU want your morning to look like BEFORE having to get the kids ready for school? If you want to sit + drink coffee in peace and quiet, what time would you need to wake up? Do you want some time to work before getting the kids ready, how much time do you need?
The point is, there is no one “right” way to do your morning routine, but if you want a morning where it doesn’t feel rushed and you don’t yell at your kids, figure out what needs to happen when, what you can do the night before, and what you can have the kids (or your partner) help you out with. Then, pick a time to wake up and start your day in a way that works for YOU.
And because I know some of you will want to know what our morning looks like exactly, here it is…
5AM - Wake up, potty, devotional, get ready to workout
5:15AM - Workout (usually lifting weights for 40 minutes followed by a 30 minute run)
6:30AM - Shower + get ready
7:30AM - Make sure both kids are up + have breakfast (we don’t do a family breakfast thing - they eat Poptarts while watching TV and I am 100% OK with that)
8AM - Pack bags with lunches, water bottles, folders, and masks
8:15AM - Get Miles dressed
8:30AM - Make my smoothie or coffee to drink in the car
8:40AM - Leave for parent drop-off
8:55AM - Drop kids off at school (yeah, we wait in line for AWHILE)
9AM - Home + working
And 3 weeks in, I am loving our mornings. I don’t feel rushed, I get time to myself, and ultimately, I feel like we are all starting the day off so much happier.
And that is really all I can ask for right now...
