It’s almost that time of year again, back to school. I can silently hear all the parents cheering. With school starting again, the dreaded school mornings start again! The kids don’t want to get out of bed, lunches are not packed, it takes 20 minutes for someone to put their shoes on, all while mom is about to have a nervous breakdown and at times screaming like a lunatic. You know what I’m talking about.
We are going to give you some tips to make school mornings smooth sailing.
Tip #1: Pack lunches the night before!
I know you are tired at the end of the day, but believe me, it makes the morning so much easier if you make lunches the night before. You could even pack lunches a few days at a time if you really want to be an overachiever.
Some days I pack cute little lunches in our PlanetBox. They are pricey, but they are extremely durable and will definitely last more than just one school year. They do a great job at keeping foods separate and they don’t leak which is great. I also use edible markers to draw cute little faces on the sandwiches.
Other days I just throw whatever I have in ziptop bags and call it a day!
Tip #2: Go through their stuff every night!
Open up their backpacks and go through the endless amount of papers that come home in there every night. Yes, every night or you will end up with an entire tree stuffed in there. Sign whatever needs to be signed and make sure their homework is done. I know you all love your kids, but when they say their homework is done, don’t believe them! You don’t want a morning filled with craft supplies all over the house while you are trying to build a volcano that was assigned to them 2 weeks ago!
While you are going through the piles of papers, secretly throw away the 75 doodle drawing in there of the same exact picture.
We then pile each child’s backpack and lunch bag together on our kitchen counter. This makes it so easy to just grab lunches out of the fridge in the morning and throw everything together.
Tip #3: Meal plan/grocery shop weekly!
I can’t even explain to you how much I hate and dread grocery shopping. I’m telling you I would rather scrub the toilets! For this reason, I plan our meals for the week and grocery shop only once a week. In reality, it does save so much time during the week when I don’t need to make 4 trips to the grocery store. It also saves us money because I definitely fall victim to impulse purchases. In the morning I don’t have to try to figure out something for dinner. Also, I always know what we are going to eat so it’s not the dreaded 5 o’clock “what’s for dinner?!”
Tip #4: Pick out your kids’ outfits for the week!
When my kids were in kindergarten and really couldn’t dress themselves without help I started to pick out their outfits for the week, complete with socks and underwear and put each outfit in a clothes organizer in their closet. We are now entering 4th grade, and we still do this. Now the kids pick them out instead of the parents and they put them in their organizer for the week. It saves us from the “what to wear” argument every morning!
Tip #5: Get up before your kids do!
This tip is my favorite. I get up 30-40 minutes before my kids do. I know us moms all need every bit of sleep we can get but trust me it will help you ease into your day. I shower (without an audience), eat my breakfast, have a cup of tea and check my email. I can’t tell you how much this reduces my stress in the morning!
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