Weekday mornings can be a bit of a blur in our house, with a constant stream of activity and far too many trips up and down the stairs. More often than not we’re guilty of running back home to pick something up that we’ve forgotten the first time around, too. This year I’m determined to get things in check and have been looking up ways of better organising my mini troupe before school.
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Get the kids on board
Involving your children in the preparation process helps to teach them independence and lighten the burden for you. A good starting point is to encourage them to prepare their backpack or book bag and lunch the night before. There are lots of ways to make this a fun night-before-school activity. Pinterest offers plenty of recipes for lunch box creatures that can be made in advance, while this Mum has taken making pretty packed lunches to a whole other level.
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Prep lunch ahead
If you have a large family like me and want to be super-prepared you could even make a week’s worth of sandwiches with different fillings, label them up and pop them in the freezer. This also means they’ll be thawed but still cool after a morning of sitting in the kids’ lunch bags at school.
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Quick breakfast
Breakfast is important but can take up quite a lot of time, especially if each child wants to eat something different. Choose what you’re having in advance each day and you can even lay out cutlery and crockery on the table the night before. For something that can be eaten straight from the fridge, make these tasty overnight oats in the evening.
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No TV rule
You might ban TV after breakfast or for 15 minutes before you leave the house so the kids can get their shoes and coats on without distraction. If that’s not enough, you can always tell your kids they can have the tablet as soon as they’re ready for school and watch them whizz around at super-speed getting ready.
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Easy dressing
Lay clothes out the night before and you’ll know everything is together and clean. For younger kids, make sure clothes are easy to put on without fiddly buttons and catches. Some easy-on, velcro up shoes like these black shoes from Tu make the task of getting boys’ school shoes on in the morning that much easier.
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School zone
I’m going to get a storage box for the hallway that I can keep school items in so that everything is together for when we leave in the morning. Something I already do is to make sure permission slips and newsletters are removed from bags each day after school, while any money for trips or dinners is popped back in their bags ready for the new day.
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Day-by-day
If you have to remember multiple kits and other items on different days, you could get a hanging organiser or storage drawers with five compartments and label them for each day, placing things in the right day at the start of each week and swapping in and out of school bags.
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The get-go
Always check your alarm is set before you go to bed and – if your kids are old enough – get them their own alarm clock so they get up without multiple shouts at the door. For a little more encouragement, go in and open the curtains to let some daylight in as soon as the alarm goes off.
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Take it in turns
As my kids get older the bathroom is only going to get more congested in the morning, so I have a feeling it won’t be long before a bathroom rota is needed. If you can, get them to wash the night before so the bathroom is left for you in the morning.
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Break them in gently
By the end of term you’ll have a well-oiled machine, but things are always a little slower when kids first go back after a break. At the end of the summer holidays it’s a good idea to ease your kids back into the routine a week or so before school starts, by moving their bedtime and gradually reintroducing tasks.
What will you be doing from my list, or do you have any other weekday morning hacks that you swear by?
