Your help required - top tips on surviving the school run

Home eduacte and give all this nonsense a miss ?

Failing that an egg timer for each task that needs to be completed before the alarm goes, ie brush teeth before 2 mins then reset, 5 mins to get dressed etc.
Prior planning and preparation is very important.

A sticker chart to get things like teeth breakfast shoes on etc done, with the reward when they return from school, so they are eager to leave home in the morning! That and a well practised routine.

Our children are 9, 7, 4 and 10 months. We need to be out the door at 8:00 a so I get up at 6:30 to shower and have a cuppa before we waken the older three at 7:00. The baby is left to sleep until she wakens or 7:50.

1. They eat in their jammies so their clothes can't get dirty. Generally, we offer toast and cereal with juice and only if I am organised, a cooked breakfast or baked muffins. We all eat together. I load the dw while they get dressed, brush teeth, wash hands and faces.

1. Clothes are set out for all 4 the night before so that I don't face a 'laundry crisis' in the morning.

1. Our entry-way loks more like a school kiva with this set up from Ikea and the matching bench with shoe storage. The older three always know where to find their coats, shoes, book bags, PE kits etc etc because they are always in the same place.

4: I listen to DD1 read her book a second time whist doing her hair on the stairs at 7:45.

1. We don't own a TV or game console so there are no big distractions and less need of nagging or reminding. The routine varries little, if at all, so they all know what is expected of them.

1. At 7:55, DH declares that it is time to put on coats and shoes whilst I get DD2 ready for the road.

Mine always breakfast then clean teeth still wearing p-j s. That way when they spray milk and toothpaste all over themselves I don't have to scrub it off their uniforms!

Has anyone read 'My life on a Plate' by India Someone-or-other? The 'heroine' was so disorganised that she used to throw on a coat and drive her kids to school still wearing her pyjamas!

If you meet resistance from your youngish school age child, pick up handy magazine (anything from Grazia to The Economist will meet the purpose), feign absolute disinterest and say quietly "I really don't give a damn whether you put your shoes on/brush your hair/get in the car, I'll read this until you've finished it and if we're late, I'll explain why to Mrs [slightly fearsome Y1 teacher]."

This works perfectly but only if 1. you can get yourself to the mental place where you really don't give a damn and you will live out the threat and 2. your child doesn't reply 'I don't care either' in which case you're buggered. It's always worked with mine.

buy yourself a coffee machine with a timer (or beg everyone you know to get you one for next xmas/birthday!).
set timer for strong brew 10 minutes before you have to get everyone up. makes house smell lovely, gives you an incentive to get up and also gives you valuable caffeine power for army-style manouvres. routine to the point of militia is definitely the key. ABSOLUTELY agree with anchovy that having a lengthy poo is not to be encouraged when departure is imminent (the dcs that is, not you!) - in the evil household we actually have a designated poo toilet in the morning to prevent a static situation in the bathroom.
we then march double time to school, in height order, eyes facing the front at all times.

GLASSOFWINE CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

If possible, get yourself washed & dressed before your children get up.

Powerful light bulbs & open curtains make it hard for children to get back to sleep.

Don't ever think 'Oh good, I've got lots of time, I'll just have a quick sit down/read a page of a book/chat to dp'. It will all go horribly wrong.

Become really competitive but be prepared to lose a lot - 'I bet I can do that quicker than you. Oh, I can't. Oh well, I bet I can do this quicker than you.' & so on.

Have short hair so running your fingers through it is almost as good as brushing it.

Have a spare top so if you get messy you can do a quick change & still look organsed.

As well as the kids' stuff, keep your bag and your keys on a hook near the front door.

No TV at all ever in the mornings.
Get older ones to get breakfast for younger ones.
All bags/kit/musical instruments by front door.
Make it clear that you will NOT go back for ANYTHING they've forgotten.
If younger ones won't get dressed put in car in pyjamas and get dressed outside school after older ones dropped off.
Keep calm until they're all in the car.
Turn Classic FM on very loudly to drown them out/calm everyone down.

(no I can't walk them to school, it's a half hour drive on a good day)

We had 'getting dressed races' when they were small... I was so rubbish they always beat me!

Here speaks a pacifist...

We have a 'combat readiness' rule in our house (dh's military past showing there). 15 mins before 'combat' I give a time warning. The dss have to be dressed, teeth brushed, face washed, shoes and coats on, camouflage on, bayonets sharpened etc by the time the signal for combat action is given. If they make it they get a sweety reward after supper.

Over time the rules have got more complicated e.g. if you sabotage your brother by hiding his toothbrush you automatically forfeit your own reward.

it works - man do those kids care about that little chocolate !

Buy them a Bus Pass & push them out the door

You have a point, there! I've got 2 boys and cannot believe that anyone has tv on in the morning. (Actually, I secretly think that only common people do )

Misspinkcat - do you have DDs, by any chance? I have come to the conclusion that a key symptom of men not being able to multi-task is that small boys CANNOT watch TV and do anything else at the same time - DS's spoon stops half-way to his mouth and stays there until I nag - 1 nag per spoonful makes for stressed DS and stressed me by the time any meaningful amount of cereal has been eaten - so now I am with the no-TV advocates - not putting it on is a hell of a lot easier than turning it off after the inevitable screaming row!

My DS is very easily distracted from breakfast/getting ready for school by ANYTHING - so

1. NO TV
2. All lego/other construction toys are put away out of reach every evening and are not got out until after school.... or the morning turns into a battle of wills as he demands 5 more minutes to finish this machine/find an essential part, then another 5 minutes etc....
3. Like everyone else, the school bag is checked the night before and left by the front door. Shoes are polished (if necessary) the night before. School clothes laid out the night before.

I have three children dd (11) ds1 (8) and ds2 (7). single parent, work full time. i get up at a quarter past seven. we are all dressed, hair brushed, teeth brushed, bags packed etc by ten to eight when we leave for school and work.

we have the TV on. it isn't a big thing, because when i turn it off, it's turned off for good. It doesn't rule our lives, it's just an additional thing that has to go off at a certain time so mummy isn't going to be late for work, because mummy has to work to keep a roof over our heads.

I agree with the mums saying it's a time keeper for younger children as well. it's easier to understand, 'the end of noddy' than fifteen minutes.

I have a mirror by the door to show Dd how much 'like a princess' she looks as she leaves. She moans less about hair brushing if she is enthusiastic about the end result.

Before that I used to chase her around the house with a hair brush in the style of tom and jerry - at which point she'd pull out the hair bobbles in any case. I was considering giving her a crew cut... (you laugh, but my mum had me in a boy's haircut until I was eight!).

My lot would rather be late for school and have me blow a gasket before they'd miss the end of Boogie Beebies!! Totally agree that TV is for after school.

A few years back (when my 2 were both still at primary school) I used to be a drop off point for several of their friends whose mums worked. They used to love that - a whole little gaggle of boys walking up to school together.

Mind you, we had 2 visitors who did ask...

'Can we wath Cartoon Network?'

'No'

'Why not?'

'Because we don't have Sky!' - tee hee!

En route discuss the day ahead. I think this helps them mentally prepare, and make them more positive and co-operative.

fortyplus, for younger kids the cbeebies schedule is much more real than a clock to show the passing of time.

Think mummy running around saying "gaah! Boogie beebies already?!? We're running late!"

tv works as fly paper for children in this house

Incentivise!

In my house the plan is that the whole family (dh included) sit down for breakfast at a set time, and then leave the house together with Dd strapped in the buggy for speed (first 10 mins of the walk in the same direction).

For my Dd reluctance to break a family ritual and the prospect of missing out on a chummy morning walk with daddy is a great motivator to rattle through the routine without resistance.