The most nerve-wracking thing (to me) about starting kindergarten is the 8am start time

[mommyshoppinghabit]

This week and next week, I am visiting schools for the 2011-12 school year. I have to start now b/c we might be moving house according to which school we feel ds1 would do good in. I just had to come on here, though, and admit that I have a fear of making my son the perpetual late-comer every morning and missing out on a lot of important stuff. All the schools that I have researched have an 8 or 8:15 am start time. Both my kids go to preschool now but have a 9 am start time and I'm lucky if I can get them in the classroom by 9:30. I know it gets easier with bigger kids but I'm thinking even if I get the kids to bed by 8pm (which is going to be near impossible in and of itself especially if dh doesn't come home early), they'll wake up at around 7 or 7:30, but I need an hour and a half to have them to eat, get dressed and heat up lunch which means that I might have to switch to really fast breakfast foods eaten super fast, and have them wake up by 6:30 (but there's no way I am waking them up, I just won't do that). Am I just worried over nothing?[/LIST]

[Alyantavid]

Um, yeah probably.

My kid goes to a school about 20 minutes away. When dh drives him to school, I think they leave the house at 7:45ish and he gets there right in time for breakfast. My kids do go bed at 8 though.

Breakfast doesn't have to be a big huge deal. At both my kids' schools, breakfast is part of the day. The bell rings, they line up and head to the lunch room. Of course they'll eat something small before they leave too, but that's still an option. I do lunches and everything else I can, the night before.

[Teensy]

8:00 sounds good to us. Our late bell rings at 7:30. We try to leave the house by 7:05 each morning.

I do have to wake my kids up to get them to school. They don't sleep in much later on weekends, maybe an extra 30-60 minutes, so I think they are getting a manageable amount of sleep.

You may find that kindergarten (assuming it is not a half-day program) is so exhausting the first few weeks that your DC will fall asleep early enough to self-adjust their sleep routine.

If your DH doesn't get home until near bedtime, you might also have to feed the kids early and then you and DH eat after they go to bed. Or at least get them bathed and in pjs before dinner.

We do eat mostly quick breakfast foods (lots of smoothies) and I prep as much lunchbox packing the night before as I can. I have an electric kettle I can quickly heat water in to preheat Thermoses, then I heat soups or whatnot in the microwave (or make their sandwiches) while the kids eat breakfast. I also set the coffee maker the night before (for me) and often even set out my coffee mug and the kid's breakfast plates/cups/etc. the night before to save time in the morning.

[laohaire]

We don't do early mornings around here but I think you can work with this.

What kind of breakfast do you usually make? Are we talking a bacon and egg breakfast? I vote you keep on doing that Cereal is a staple in my house, and I don't recommend that to ANYONE.

But getting dressed should be a pretty quick deal. Make it a habit (and include kids in the habit) to lay out everything the night before.

You heat up lunch? Do you mean like warming up soup to put in a thermos? That's all I could think of, since otherwise lunch is always going to be cold by the time it gets eaten. Well, I think healthy food is important, so I'm not going to recommend cutting back on that.

[Drummer's Wife]

I am grateful that my kids don't have to be at school until 9:00 (9:05 is the tardy bell), b/c we just aren't morning people. That said,if the start time was a lot earlier, and it was a school I loved (ie the Montessori program they are in now), we would find a way to adjust our sleep schedules accordingly, and try our hardest not to be late. Most elementary schools aren't tolerant of tardies or absenses - so we'd comply.

It definitely helps that my kids usually eat breakfast at school, as well as buy their lunch so the only thing I'm sometimes scrambling to do is throw together something for their snack.

[mommyshoppinghabit]

For breakfast, I pretty much rotate hot cereal, scrambled eggs, smoothies, and (if I really get ambitious the night before) homemade muffins. I don't use the microwave and we try to avoid most breads for health reasons so nuking stuff and sandwiches are out for lunch. It's not a big deal to reheat something like frozen chicken nuggets in the toaster oven for a half hour while kids eat breakfast. I think it's actually the after school to bedtime time-period that needs the most changing for me in order to make the 8 am school time manageable the following morning. Like give them something to do after school but not something so time-consuming that it cuts into an early dinner time (like 5:30) and being very strict and successful at the early bedtime. It's just that if I have to wake them up, it breaks my heart. DS1 who is 4 now gets about 9 hours, sometimes less, and I can see him yawning by 12, but he never takes a nap. DS2, who will be 3 when DS1 starts kindy, will probably still need a nap but even now at age 2 he is resisting and gets only about 9 or less per night. I could never wake them up when they were babes and even now, even if they sleep past 8 on a school day, I let them.

[EviesMom]

We homeschool, but I've had this same dilemma with summer camps and other events that start earlier than my night-owl child usually wakes up.

Some advice for early mornings: breakfast in the car (smoothies in good cups would work), or that doesn't need cooking in the morning (muffins baked the night before), or laid out with plates and napkins, etc. the night before (a bed an breakfast owner I know does this to cut down on her morning time--she lays out the napkins, plates, muffins, and fruit like bananas--the night before. Then she stashes filled creamer jugs, and cups of juice in the fridge so she can add the fresh coffee, creamer, and juice to the trays in the morning.) You can streamline scrambled eggs with plates and all out and ready to go in the morning; get the pan onto the stove before you go to bed, etc. So first thing in the morning, you can get eggs started in minutes. You can also do many hot cereals in a crock pot overnight.

Make it easier to dress everyone, especially early in the year before coats and hats and boots become an issue: put the kids to bed in clean t-shirts, underwear, and socks, and if need be, even sweatpants that can be worn to school. No need to change them before school then. Especially the younger, who doesn't have to be really awake before big brother gets dropped off at school.

Stick brush, backup breakfast choice (fruit and nuts; granola bars), bottles of water, and an extra sweatshirt in the car so you have them if/when you need them. Pack up the child's backpack the night before too, with schoolbooks, etc. and put it in the car so there's no forgetting it.

We're vegetarian and my kids don't like most sandwiches, but some of the easy lunches we do for camps include: hard boiled eggs, pasta salad, crackers/carrots and nut butters or hummus or white bean spread, cheese and crackers, nuts, chilled edamame, quinoa and chickpea salad (eaten cold). Do the chicken nuggets stay warm until lunchtime with what you're doing or do the kids not mind them cold? If they're eating them cold anyway, then you could cook them the night before and just refrigerate for lunch the next day.

Right now, at night, I do baths before dinner so that we can wait on dinner until DH is here (you'd have to choose this or the "clothes to bed" option though). We go largely dinnertime to bedtime routine. The kids eat a more substantial snack at 5-5:30 (DD is eating a ton of yogurt and strawberries right now) which does cut down on their dinner calories at 7, but to me how much they eat at dinner is less of an issue and sitting together as a family, sharing some food and talking is the key.

Lastly, when they start school, you may have to start waking them up. There often just isn't another choice, and schools are usually much less forgiving about morning timing than preschools. Sorry, but it's true. You can make an event of getting a child-friendly alarm clock and getting used to it though.

[journeymom]

I'll just say that I think school should start no earlier than 9:00, all grades. It's much more civilized and gentle. I'm only sort of exaggerating.

Originally Posted by mommyshoppinghabit

This week and next week, I am visiting schools for the 2011-12 school year. I have to start now b/c we might be moving house according to which school we feel ds1 would do good in. I just had to come on here, though, and admit that I have a fear of making my son the perpetual late-comer every morning and missing out on a lot of important stuff. All the schools that I have researched have an 8 or 8:15 am start time. Both my kids go to preschool now but have a 9 am start time and I'm lucky if I can get them in the classroom by 9:30. I know it gets easier with bigger kids but I'm thinking even if I get the kids to bed by 8pm (which is going to be near impossible in and of itself especially if dh doesn't come home early), they'll wake up at around 7 or 7:30, but I need an hour and a half to have them to eat, get dressed and heat up lunch which means that I might have to switch to really fast breakfast foods eaten super fast, and have them wake up by 6:30 (but there's no way I am waking them up, I just won't do that). Am I just worried over nothing?[/LIST]

You have a fear of it, then don't let it happen! That flippant remark from the mom whose kids were late to school more than half the time one year. We were perpetually late for several years. My kids are 15 and almost 11 y.o. and are doing much better. Unfortunately I think mornings are always going to be a struggle for the 15 y.o.

What are you heating for lunch?

Why do they need an hour and a half to get ready?

Are you keeping the kids up late enough so they can spend time with their dad?

[MJB]

My kids have to be at school at 8:48 and 9:10 this year, but will have to be at school at 8am next year (we're moving.) I am really dreading it too! Right now, they go to bed at 9 and we wake them at 8am. We'll have to wake up at 7 next year so we'll have to move bedtime to 8pm. Ugh.
Mornings don't really take us long-- my 7 yr. old makes them breakfast (eggs, oatmeal, or cereal) unless my husband makes pancakes or muffins. They brush their teeth and get dressed, which takes about 5-10 minutes. They can be ready in 15-20 minutes total. If I have to pack a lunch I do that while they're eating and getting ready. I usually heat up leftovers or canned soup/chili and throw in a simple salad or veggies, and a fruit (usually an apple).
If your morning is taking an hour and a half, you're making it too hard. Laziness is your friend.

[nextcommercial]

When my daughter was young, they had half day kindergarten. I requested PM kindergarten for this very reason. The school staff practically threw themselves in my arms, because nobody requests PM kindergarten. LOL. I can't imagine why not. Who'd want to purposely request early morning???

She's a junior in high school now, and still wishes school didn't start til 10:00 AM.

[34me]

Originally Posted by nextcommercial

When my daughter was young, they had half day kindergarten. I requested PM kindergarten for this very reason. The school staff practically threw themselves in my arms, because nobody requests PM kindergarten. LOL. I can't imagine why not. Who'd want to purposely request early morning???

She's a junior in high school now, and still wishes school didn't start til 10:00 AM.

I was going to ask if they had afternoon k for you as well, but since you are packing lunch, I kind of assumed it's full day. The lates we have to be at school is 8:25am the older two have to be there before 8. We had to majorly adjust our lifestyle when my oldest started K. In our district you can only have 9 absences a year and every 2 tardies is an absence. Then you have to have a "plan" in place.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by nextcommercial

Who'd want to purposely request early morning???

I would. I'd much rather get up and moving early and have my afternoon free. It's not THAT crazy .

[lolar2]

People whose children are Morning People From Planet Chipper.

[PlayaMama]

Originally Posted by lolar2

People whose children are Morning People From Planet Chipper.

i have one or two of those around here

[ChetMC]

Early Mornings

You adjust surprisingly fast. There was a time when our oldest used to sleep in until 10am or 11am and I wondered how we'd ever do school. Our school also starts closer to 9am, but I'd gladly have it start earlier for DD to be finished earlier.

The trick is to be organized. Pick out the clothes the night before. Make lunch before. Have breakfast waiting on the table before the child gets out of bed.

[homew/two]

When I taught (private school pre-k- 8), I had this fantastic family (the mom taught the pre-K) and this mom would put her younger 2 (pre-k and 1) in comfy school clothes and let them sleep in school clothes. That was one less thing to do in the am.

[amma_mama]

Originally Posted by MJB

If your morning is taking an hour and a half, you're making it too hard. Laziness is your friend.

This. You really need to simplify your mornings - there is alot that you can do before the kids get up, or the night before. An hour and a half before leaving is a long morning for them. While I need 1.5 hours to shower, get dressed and get DD ready, there is no reason for DD to be up at the same time (and is easier if she is not so that she is not asking me a lot of questions or putting on a song and dance performance that I "have to" watch. LOL. We get DD up about 30 minutes before it is time to go at 7:30 - out of bed, into school clothes (she has a uniform otherwise I woul dhave her sleep in part of it like other PPs suggested), into the bathroom to brush teeth and hair, then breakfast while pack up her lunch and get myself dressed for work. Sometimes, breakfast is something mobile for her to munch on the way - they have a mid-morning snack so I do not worry too much if it is something "light". Yes, I do have to wake her most mornings for school (she remains a night owl). I understand why you hate to do it, but you do what you have to do. As other PPs mentioned, tardiness is OK as an exception but not as a rule, starting in Kindergarten.

[Drummer's Wife]

I also don't wake the kids until about half an hour before they have to leave. I've found that any longer amounts of time, and we have issues. Like, they seem slower and are more prone to irritate one another (or me). It's like I have to time it just right so they can get dressed, brush teeth, brush hair, get their stuff (and on the days they eat at home - have breakfast), but not time for anything else b/c that tends to mean time for trouble! I also don't like to send them to the bus stop until right before the bus arrives, b/c the kids waiting there seem to have he same issue. They mess around and get crazy if there is free time.

It definitely helps that I don't have to be ready to go anywhere most mornings, though that will change in the fall - but on the days I have to leave, DH will have to get the kids ready and out the door (four of them at that point!). Yeah, not so sure how smoothly that will go, but I'm sure we'll find a routine that works.

[philomom]

Originally Posted by ChetMC

The trick is to be organized. Pick out the clothes the night before. Make lunch before. Have breakfast waiting on the table before the child gets out of bed.

This is also a great time to establish a good bedtime routine and have them in bed by 8 or 8 :30 p.m. It will make a world of difference if they get enough sleep.

[meemee]

i hear you.

school starts at 8 am and even in second grade it hasnt got any easier.

it IS still a struggle getting her to bed, and it is STILL a struggle waking her up in teh morning.

here is something to take note. is your child a wake up take it slow child? then wake them early. believe it or not that makes a huge difference.

i can wake my dd up at 7:30 and be out of the house by 7:50 while she finishes eating breakfast in the car (though nowadays she tends to skip bfast a lot, she is just not a morning person, waking up or eating) but that makes her day go by really badly. so i wake her up no later than 7 so seh can take her time.

of course i am awake way before that and have her stuff and bfast ready.

however just for adventure somedays we have taken it slow and been 5 to 10 mins late. and it has not taken much away from her day.

dd did a pm k and that was v. v. helpful.

i have no idea WHY school starts at 8 am. 9 would be a much better time for us.

this was one of the reasons why school was difficult on dd. so during first grade we took a day off every month to go do fun things. it gave her the mental break she needed to adapt to school easily. i think we did that for half the year and we didnt need it anymore. her teacher knew and approved.