Your help required - top tips on surviving the school run

Sobernow posted exactly what I was going to say!
My other tip was to let the children eat their breakfast before getting dressed - certainly saves sponging cereal from school sweatshirts!
(Do I get any extra points for alliteration? )

Which reminds me, don't bother dressing the baby if you're running late - no-one will know she's still in pjs if she's wearing a snowsuit!

oh and HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN

buy a good longish coat and a big scarf and keep lip gloss and a hairbrush in the car or by the front door

OMG no way when DH has a day off he keeps well out of the way, until we our out of the door, otherwise no-one would be ready.

Don't have anymore than one child if possible, less to iron, less lunches to make.

Walk to school so avoiding traffic queue if possible. If not then make sure car has enough petrol to avoid busy petrol stations (couldn't believe how busy mine was at 9am this morning!)

Lay out all breakfast items night before - including tea bag in your cuppa.

Pack lunch boxes night before.

Lay out all clothes night before ready to step into - including yours, and yes include underwear and shoes.

Don't actually do a school run but I do start work at 6am so have the same principals with getting my things ready night before. Dh meets me from work at 9am so I get ds stuff laid out night before too. Can't wait to have to fit school run in around it too lol.

Do not rely on the baby to wake you all up in time, just cos he is always up at 5.45...

If you have to lug a baby everywhere too, make sure you buy two nice snowsuits.

These are ESSENTIAL - then you can whip a shreddies covered baby into a clean snowsuit - voila you look like supermum.

Get dh to help! With three or more young LOs who need a lot of help or supervision, having two adults to do this makes a huge difference.

If they're at the stage when they can, just about, manage to wash/undress/dress etc, but easily get distracted, then it's faster to just do it yourself, without comment, than to keep nagging at them and reminding them. Also more peaceful! There are plenty more opportunities in the week to practice these skills unassisted.

Get whatever you can ready the night before. This is a good opportunity to involve the child in getting ready to take responsibility for him/herslef.

We keep outdoor shoes by the front door, so the last thing is to send the LOs to the front door in their coats to put on their shoes and then to stay by the front door. That way I can rush around doing the last-minute jobs and not have to then run aournd again rounding them up when I'm ready to leave.

I dont have a problem with kid in the car as we walk and always have. We live painfully close to school now but previously the walk to school was an opportunity to chat, look at things out and about, count cars or worms practise spellings etc.

When-ever possible I would carry their bags so kids where free to run, skip, hop etc without feeling weighed down.
Occasssionaly we would take scooters or skipping ropes along with us too. (if I could manage them on the way back)

Oh, alright, please do enter me, but if I win send it to marina!!!

Leave it to DH to do....

But as mentioned by others - no TV until breakfasted and dressed and start "going" 10 mins before you really need to go.

To stop them squabbling in the car - walk instead

My biggest tip (and the one I really, really need to implement myself) is get up earlier than you think you have to. For me this would be 7.30 am prompt instead of 8.00 am to 8.15 ish it was prior to the holidays. To implement this I also have to go to bed early (which considering I went to be at 2.45am last night/this morning, it's going to take a bit of work).

The DSs however are pretty good at getting themselves ready. My tip there would be to teach them how to get their own breakfast in the morning so that even if I am struggling with the routine they can get on with it themselves.

iron and get all uniforms ready on Sunday, stacked and hung so you can just grab what you need in the morning - I include tights and pants, hairbrushes and hair bobbles in the uniform pile which I keep downstairs.

Keep a toothbrush and toothpaste in your downstairs loo if you have one or kitchen if you don't (stops children fannying about upstairs when they should be cleaning teeth).

Always have apples in the house. They are healthy and, more importantly, clean so make the ideal breakfast top up for slow eaters.

Get up half an hour before everyone else does - have a shower and lay out the breakfast things. Decant milk into an easy pour jug then even the four year old can make her own breakfast. If you have a willing 7 year old breakfast is a doddle as they think its amazingly good of them to put out the spoons.

When they are fed and dressed, with clean teeth and brushed hair, put Cbbc on to keep them stuck in one position for 5 minutes while you stack the (car if you drive or in our case the buggy) with school bags, lunch boxes etc.

Oh and you can freeze cheese sandwiches very successfully.

My tips for getting everyone ready and out on time are:
1)make sure bags are packed in the evening.
2)uniform ready on hangers in front of children no routing through cupboard and getting easily distracted
3)NO TV -NO EXCEPTIONS even if one child is on a TD day they dont get to watch TV until after school going children have left.
4)Make up lunch boxes the night before as much as possible.
5)And my favourite one is the bedroom clocks are set 10 mins fast and the one in the kitchen is 5 mins fast so the kids see it and get a move on but I am not rushing about like a looney!;)

The ability to walk to school in five minutes really does iron out those morning glitches I find.

Things that stop the squabbling in our car are:

• Story tapes
• Games (require parental involvement sadly)
• A good burst of the Kings of Leon or similar
• Stopping at a Moto service station (my kids love the balloons and the kids tv area) - this may not work for a school run though!

Agree totally with Roisin on giving them responsibility and having a timetable - visual ones have always worked when mine have been younger.

But torty, if you win, you can give it to me

Have a very strict timetable, and stick to it, no chat, no games till everyone has shoes on , coat on, breakfast eaten, book bag in hand. Make packed lunches the night before, load book bags night before. Have clothes ready on bed.

Please don't enter me into the competition - I really don't want a Wii!!!

For longer car journeys, pack a small bag with a variety of toys and snacks. Keep the bag in the front of the car and distribute "new" toys at regular intervals.

My top tip is move to a house from which you can throw your child, dressed and cleaned or not (up to child) straight into the playground.
We are so lucky to have a two minute walk during which we can all squabble to our heart's content.
Otherwise our mornings would resemble Blu's.

• Sort out school bags - notes, swimming kit, etc in the afternoon after school each day. (Train the children to do it themselves as soon as possible)
• Pin a weekly timetable on the wall somewhere with a checklist of things to remember each day
• Lay uniform out the night before (ditto above)
• Buy the children an alarm clock with a snooze button, and set 10 mins earlier than they need to get up. When it first goes off, go into their room, press snooze, open the curtains and/or switch the light on. When it goes off for the second time they have to get up, switch it off themselves, and get dressed
• No-one comes downstairs until they are dressed
• No TV/computer/tamagotchi or whatever the latest craze is until dressed, downstairs, breakfasted, and teeth clean.
• If timings start to slip, then put up a sticker chart in the dining room with 'race' timings of how many mins it takes them to get downstairs from the second alarm. (Only children can race against themselves each day.)

The main important things are

• Have a strict routine and stick to it
• Teach the children to take responsibility for themselves, and reward them for doing so

MO2.

Oh dear.
This is my way:
Lie in bed with a coffee while encouraging your child to read school reading book.
Plonk child in front of CeeBeebies with some breakfast while you shower.
Dress compliant non-wriggling glued-to-Ceebeebies child in front of TV.
Then inject some urgency and co-operation in getting CeeBeebies turned off by shouting 'let's see who will come past our woindow first' in the dash to join school friends walking to school.
Time your exit from front door very skilfully so that another Mum shouts 'Oh, I'll walk him round today, shall I?'
And above all, never ever pander to the idea that a packed lunch is an option. School lunches are excellent for mental health - Yours!

Hmmm, you see I find TV quite useful in the morning.

I take them out of the room to get dressed and they are sooper dooper quick because they want to get back to Lazy Town

All the usual

Lay clothes out the night before
Make packed lunches the night before and put in the porch
Get up as soon as alarm goes off
Allow children to brush their teeth in downstairs bathroom (saves trying to drag them up and down stairs)

I don't really struggle with car journeys it has to be said. Mine are good travellers.

On long trips you can't beat a DVD player.

• Make sure your children are dressed and up before they are awake

• 'Lift' them at 11pm to take them to the toilet and give them breakfast

• After lifting them, put them into the car to go back to sleep, together with the book bags and water bottles...

simple....