Joyful morning routines - Page 2

[meemee]

i have an onlie - so that makes a difference as to what works in our house.

so what i do is i am awake an hour before dd wakes up. we both have the 'wake up and stare into nothing' personality so we just CANNOT be up and run out the door. we NEED our peaceful time.

and yes more time means a peaceful transition. and yes for us not doing too much is good too. so no showers in teh morning.

of course in our case the BEST solution is going to bed on time the evening earlier but alas that is hit and miss.

HOW we wake up is v. important. so i wake dd up an hour before and then cuddle. if she is still v. sleepy she tells me she wants to sleep some more. now she knows she CAN sleep another half an hour, but once she wakes up she has to rush. and she is willing to do that.

but having the time early in the morning really makes all teh difference. i put on music for her. and then leave her with her clothes out so she can get up, put on her clothes and then do her ablutions. we like the option of choosing our breakfast based on what we want as opposed to what we have time for. even with the hour dd usually eats her bfast in teh car - no matter what it is because we have a 20 min drive. instead of eating she prefers to read the comics section of the newspaper every morning. its a bonding time for us because she shares her favourite ones for that day and i read them and share with her if i agree or not.

sadly if school began at 9 instead of 8 life would be much better for all of us.

even for me. i am not a 7:30 am get out the door person. so if school started at 9 am, dd would wake up naturally and not have to be woken up.

i am in school fulltime. 7:30/8 am classes are tough ones. not just for me but for the majority.

when she wakes up on her own the mornings go much smoother.

[pianojazzgirl]

I haven't read many of the responses, but I do agree with one pp who said that the less time we have to get ready the better it tends to go. For example, right now dh is out of town and so the other carpool parents are doing all the morning driving (my car is too small to fit the 3 school kids plus my ds). So our routine is: dd is already dressed in her clothes (she changes into them right before bed), so we wake up, go pee, she sits down and starts eating her quick-to-make breakfast while I brush her hair and put it in a ponytail and also put on her shoes (tying the laces takes her a bit of time so I do it for her to make it go quicker). Then she brushes teeth, puts on her jacket and it's time to go out the door. Lunch was made and bag was packed the night before. The whole thing takes maybe 15 mins. We just kinda go go go and there's no time to stop and think about getting in a bad mood. I help her a lot so it's not a matter of having to nag her to go faster. Honestly this works way better than if we take an hour and she gets distracted with toys/drawing/whatever that I have to drag her away from, etc.

[Norasmomma]

For myself and our family I find it very hard to be peaceful with a DH who is rushing to get ready, and 2 kids who will.not. leave us alone to get ready.

With DD I put on a timer and say put your shoes, coat, socks-whatever needs to be done to get going.

Seriously it makes me want to homeschool. We live an hour bus ride from school, the kids get on the bus at 7:25, I'm barely awake at 7:25.

[Altair]

I just have a toddler, but I WOH full time and I'm a teacher and I usually need to be at work by 7:15 or so. Ugh, I'm not a morning person, but I am VERY efficient in the morning! When I got myself out of the habit of being slow in the morning, I'm now able to get myself and son ready in 20 minutes.

Alarm goes off at 6:30, son had probably woken up at 6 to nurse so he's back asleep. I get up and get myself ready quickly (really just brush teeth, put in contacts, mascara, clothes, smooth down hair, get coffee ready to go, I don't drink it here, grab something quick for breakfast for me to go) and throw a smoothie in the blender for my son (a high protein and veggie one... usually something like frozen banana, whole milk, almond butter, few pieces of frozen kale, few pieces of frozen veggies). Wake him up about 6:45, change him and I'm out the door by 6:50 with his smoothie in hand. Drive to my in-laws by 7:10 and at my work by 7:15. Quick, quick morning! My commute is actually much better that early, I live in Manhattan and commute to Brooklyn so any later and it would be a loooong process.

Luckily, I only have to do that 1-2 days a week and the other 3-4 days the baby stays sleeping in bed curled up with daddy until 9AM or so and Daddy stays home with him, then works when I get home at 3 or 4PM. I am SO jealous though as I leave them all sweaty and sweet smelling in bed while I'm getting up and staggering to the subway in the dark!

[gmvh]

Oh, OP, are you walking past my house?

We are in serious need of a morning makeover.

We're up 630-7, need to be out the door by 735-740. Children in uniforms but are not of the mindset to hurry, at all.

I hate our mornings. Keep on with the ideas, mamas.

[mama_y_sol]

After a year of really tough mornings, they are very peaceful now.

We wake up at 6:20 and leave the house at 7:30.

I get up, wake up 2 yo ds and then 6 yo dd. DD hops in the shower and spends 5 minutes in nice hot water "waking up." This morning shower has saved the morning. DD is much calmer, happier, alert. While DD showers, I get ready and get ds ready. Then we head out into the dining room. I make breakfast, the kids play. We all eat, and then spend 10 to 15 minutes doing whatever we feel like. Sometimes the kids go outside and play on the swing set, sometimes they play with the dog, sometimes they need the extra time to finish getting ready.

I have found it very helpful to pack lunch and choose clothes the night before.

[Dukey25]

i haven't read the rest of the replys so forgive me if I repeat. The number one way to have a good morning is to give yourself enough time so their is no need to rush. Now that being said my DD takes as long as she is given and still is never ready on time so I am still figuring what will work for her
Another trick I have learned recently that when I feel like yelling I sing. I am not a good singer but it sure sounds better than being screamed at and I find the results are about the same in fact they may listen to me a bit more. More importantly I don't feel so guilty.

[SilverLace]

We have never had an issue with mornings here. I think it might be, in part, because DD wakes on her own and I like mornings.

We used to be more relaxed when she was younger, but now we are both in school all day and leaving for the whole day when we go.

Our routine is:
wake up
get ready (dressed, brush hair, brush teeth)
eat
gather everything (most of which we get ready at night)

If there is time I sit and have coffee before all this. I make lunches when I make breakfast. I am a big believer in a healthy, solid breakfast so I make time for that. We all eat together.

My DSS is at his mom's most school mornings. When he was with us half of the school mornings it did require my DH and I to get up earlier than we do now because his SN made everything take much longer and we had to account for that. Rushing was simply not possible, and created way to many problems.

There is no TV, computer, or playing. We visit and get ready, sometimes we have music on.

[Quinalla]

With little ones, I find that getting up extra early helps a lot, then you have plenty of time to get everything done even if they are having a bad morning. No experience yet with older kids myself, but I think working with your kid's personality is key. Some need more time, some less time works better, some need a chart, some might just need to be left alone, etc.

[gmvh]

A successful morning! I was up before them and while I showered, I opened the bedroom doors and turned the hall light on. I progressively turned more lights on and got breakfast on the stove. Lastly, I turned on They Might Be Giants Children on Pandora and turned it up. Pleasant morning! Will try again and see if the music did the trick. Fingers crossed...

[littlemomma]

my 10 yo and 5 yo sleep in their school clothes!

[jellybeanandkids]

I try to prep the night before, have lunches etc ready. Getting up earlier also helps.

[*bejeweled*]

Great thread...

[*bejeweled*]

Ladies, do you shower at night or in the morning?

[meemee]

we dont shower everyday. both dd and i prefer showering at night as opposed to morning.

it would be too much for us if we had to shower in the AM.

dd and i are not morning persons and i recall even i never showered in teh morning before going to school. i always came home and showered in the afternoon.

[~PurityLake~]

Bathing happens after dinner, before book and bed. It helps calm them down and everyone sleeps better when they're clean.

[Ornery]

To the poster who said that a shower first thing really helps, I second, third and fourth that! My oldest ds had huge issues with getting up in the morning. It was a constant battle to get him going. Finally, we started doing showers as soon as he woke up in the morning at age 8ish and it transformed our mornings. No more running out the door late for his walk to school, no more yelling, no more morning misery. He has been fully self-starting in the morning since age 9ish.

I have a really hard time starting to move in the mornings and find I am the same way. If I get out of bed and go straight to the shower, I move much faster.

Now my youngest two seem to need food first thing or else disaster strikes. As a pp said, every family is different and every child is different!

[~PurityLake~]

Morning baths would take far too long and I'd have to wake up at least a half hour earlier than I do. They still think of bath/shower time as 90% play, 10% clean.

[sewchris2642]

Originally Posted by *bejeweled*

Ladies, do you shower at night or in the morning?

The only time I shower at all is to wash my hair. And that's only about once a week in the winter, twice a week in the summer. And only on days that I don't go anywhere. I take a bath before I go to bed so I'm all clean and warm when I hit the cold sheets. I find that giving the kids a bath before bed helps wind them down before bed.

Dh does take a shower every morning before he goes to work. But then he gets up at 5 am every day even if he doesn't have to go to work. So he has time as he leaves for work at 7 am. He gets up has breakfast, checks his email, washes last night's dishes, walks the dog, showers, packs his lunch, and leaves.