Morning Rush Hour

Some mornings everything runs smoothly — books and homework are ready and waiting in book bags, no milk gets spilled at breakfast and there’s no surprise announcement that your five-year old needs to collect leaves and acorns for a class project. But most mornings, we rush to get the children dressed and fed in time to get to school, church or dance lessons. We spend too much time looking for book bags and car keys. The morning struggle has become so common that it seems to be a ritual in our house.

My kids are starting to think that their names are “Hurry up or you’re going to miss the bus.” How can I expect my kids to calmly get ready for their day, when I add stress to the routine by putting their shoes on while they eat their oatmeal? I always thought that working at home would make me more organized and better able to manage the ups and downs of our daily lives. Not so much.

My children are complete opposites—one is a sleepyhead and one is a morning person. My daughter (the sleepyhead) enthusiastically eats her big breakfast at a snail’s pace. My son can’t sit still long enough to eat anything, leading to another clash of wills. Of course, these delays mostly happen on days that my husband or I have early-morning appointments.

The experts say to lay out clothes the night before, make lunches and breakfasts the night before, let children get themselves up with an alarm clock, don’t allow children to change their mind about clothing or breakfast choices (that’s a tough one for me).  Some even say to put kids in their clothes before bedtime (I can’t do that)!

Do any of these ideas work for you? Do you have any tried-and-true tips that help you get through the morning rush? I’m all ears!