How to Optimize Your Morning Routine with Kids
If you’re juggling work (especially if you’re going into the workplace) and kids, morning routines can be stressful. If you have a nanny or caregiver at home, it may be a little easier, but you may still be dealing with separation anxiety or last-minute instructions for meals and schedules of the day.
Here are some tips to reduce the morning chaos and start the day on a positive note.
1. Establish and stick to a disciplined sleep schedule for you and your kids. Having to drag yourself or your kids out of bed each morning when you didn’t get enough sleep is a surefire way to derail your schedule. Getting enough sleep is critical to being ready to face the day in a positive mood. Kids of different ages need different amounts of sleep. For some general guidelines, refer to this summary from Caring for Kids developed by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. It may be more challenging to return to an earlier sleep schedule after the summer holidays, so you can try advancing the “lights out” time by 30 minutes each day until you’re at a comfortable hour that allows for enough sleep based on when you need to start your day. To ensure that your kids can wind down when it’s time, electronic devices should also be put away at least an hour before bedtime. Anything that stimulates the mind too close to bedtime will make it harder to fall asleep. And the blue light from electronic devices may affect your circadian rhythm by disrupting the natural production of melatonin.
2. Prepare everything you can the night before or over the weekend. You may be tired after work. And once you’re done with dinner, there’s barely any time left to walk the dog, get some exercise, help kids with homework, or simply spend some time with them… let alone if you’ve brought work home with you. The last thing you feel like doing is prepping for the next day. But knowing that you have the bare minimum to do the next day will let you rest easier and sleep better.
Here are some ideas:
- Have your clothes and that of your kids ready. This is an age-old piece of advice that still applies today. Not knowing what to wear and scrambling in the morning takes up too much mental energy, let alone time. If your kids are old enough to choose their own clothes, get them to set aside their outfit for the next day in a designated spot.
- For lunches, try prepping at least 3 days of ingredients in advance (or longer depending on the freshness of your items). Ideally, choose foods that will stay fresh and taste good at room temperature after a few hours. You can pre-cut different types of snackable veggies (e.g. broccoli heads, peppers) or buy pre-cut versions (e.g. baby carrots, baby cucumbers) over the weekend and then store them in individual containers in the fridge. Sandwiches can be pre-made and frozen. If you pop a frozen sandwich into a lunch bag in the morning, it will be ready to eat by lunchtime, with the texture still as good as when it was freshly made. If you and your kids prefer hot lunches, consider portioning out the hot lunch into a microwave safe bowl or container the night before. Then you can do a quick reheat in the morning and transfer it directly into a heat-keeping container. For the ultimate in grab-and-go when you’re not preparing a hot lunch, consider pre-packing the entire lunch bag and putting the bag in the fridge.
- Have your kids pack their backpacks the night before once homework is done. All that should be left to put into the bags in the morning is the lunch bag.
- Have a breakfast meal plan. On the weekend, get your kids involved in planning what they’d like to eat for breakfast for the week. This lets them have a say in grocery shopping and takes away the guesswork each morning. Every minute saved counts towards your well-being during the morning rush.
3. Organize your space. Think about how you navigate your home in the mornings. Create organized storage of essential items in logical places so you don’t have to search for them each day. For example, make sure your keys and bag are stowed away in a consistent spot and somewhere along your morning path. Have hooks, bins, and cubbies for you and your kids near the doorway for backpacks, winter accessories, umbrellas, and other daily essentials.
4. Create a routine, but remember to build in some flexibility. There is comfort and efficiency in routines. You can build a routine for yourself and work with your kids to build theirs (with greater or less input depending on their age). Try to sleep and wake up at the same time each day, since this helps keep your circadian rhythms running smoothly, which is key to physical and mental health. For younger kids, you can create a visual schedule that you post on the fridge and award points to them for following it. You can maintain this incentive until it becomes second nature and then build new challenges from it, such as a evolving it into a schedule for chores.
5. Build in at least 15 minutes of buffer time so that you’re not worried about every minute of the ticking timer. Expect the unexpected. Maybe the dog will vomit up his breakfast or nothing you do to your hair looks right or your child needs more time to do their bathroom business. As long as you have this extra time, you know you’re covered for most days.
The morning routine will never be easy. You may still be late or be off-schedule on some days. But following these tips will help you take the stress out of most mornings. So go ahead. Take a few more deep breaths of relaxation as you sip your coffee in peace. You’ve earned it with all your preparation.
And if you have a nanny or caregiver, reach out to us today at 1-877-626-6982 to offload your domestic payroll and reclaim more of your time to focus on family.
Credits: Photo by Providence Doucet on Unsplash
