Back to School Transition Tips – Morning Routines
August 13, 2008
How long does it take for your kids to get up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush their teeth, and grab their back packs? If you don’t know this you could be looking at a stressed and disastrous first day or several days of school. Whether you have one kid or several kids that have to go through all these steps every morning before school it is a good idea to know how long you need to allow for these morning activities. A week before school starts I start having them go through all the motions of their morning routine so I can figure out if we are going to be rushed every morning or even have way to much time on our hands. If the kids are taking too much time getting through their morning rituals I adjust their wake up times a bit in order to make sure they have enough time to get through everything they need to do. If they are left with too much time on their hands before we would need to leave then I give them a few extra minutes to either sleep or lay in bed before making them get up. I don’t like them having too much time on their hands in the morning because they start to make messes or whine for television or just give me too much grief about being bored. One of the other things I have done if they are left with too much time after getting ready is to sit down with a timer and read a story to them until the timer dings. Setting a timer is especially important so I don’t get too wrapped up in the book and forget to get them to school on time!
I have found that if I routinely read them a story before school every morning that it encourages everyone to get dressed and moving more quickly so they have time to listen to the story. This also keeps me focused on their morning routines rather than getting lost in the morning e-mails and not paying attention when they start to dawdle.
Sign up to receive my posts in your in box so you don’t miss the rest of my back to school tips!
