Do you manage not be shouty mum in the mornings?

[Gardenwalldilema]

If so, how?

The mornings here always descend into chaos. Wake about 6.30 / 7, by 7.30 the toddler is like a loon, charging at people and raring to go, upsetting the 5yo, she's whining about having the wrong colour yoghurt, what's in her packed lunch etc.

No fucker wants to brush their teeth or put suncream on. DP gets online upstairs, the dc are trying to barge his office etc to complain about various things.

My children are fairly normal and well behaved, but turn into mini dictators in the morning.

I'm usually a sweaty angry mess by the time we leave for the school run.

How do you achieve calm, serene mornings?

How are the mornings going OP?

Don’t worry about the posters being dicks op. It says much more about them then you. They must have very sad little lives to try and make someone who is obviously struggling feel worse.

I didn’t know what to suggest but just want to send you

Strict time schedule and routine.
Wake up at 7, immediately get everyone dressed before we go downstairs.
Downstairs for breakfast and playtime. If they eat breakfast without a fuss it means they have longer to play.
Alarm goes off at 8am that means time to brush hair and teeth.
They can then watch TV until its time to leave at 8.30, so the less fuss they make over toothbrushing, the more TV time they get.
Make packed lunches, put out uniform etc the night before.

I don’t manage. I try to get uniform and nursery clothes/bag sorted the night before. It’s the luck of the draw as to how it pans out. This morning was disastrous…

Only with DD9 .. she starts getting ready 20 minutes before we need to leave and is never ready on time. She’s always messing around with hair bands or dolls or something she’s not meant to be doing at that time. I can’t even blame the IpAd as she puts that down when she starts getting ready. Thing is DS is autistic so I’m having to make sure he’s ready as he only listens to me and my mum not DP so much so he needs to be ready before I leave with dd.

I delegate as much as possible to my husband?

If DH even tries to do anything for himself or logs on to start work before i leave for school with DCs, I give him hell and make it clear that this isn't acceptable. We're both still WFH most of the time and it makes the mornings not only plausible but actually quite nice. I do sch runs in the mornings because I like to get out for a walk and to pop to the supermarket before starting my day. He does more pick ups. Like pps we get everything ready night before so we're ready to cope with any last minute school morning texts (ie things we've forgotten or don't know about having once again failed to read the end of week newsletter) about wellies/ craft crap/ a pound to dress as a clown etc.

Yeah, does your husband really have to log on before you set off for school? Seems a bit early for a desk job, why isn't he helping?

By working from home, hence getting up later, and kids needing to be at their respective installations later.

Fuck getting out the door with two kids by 7am in middle of Feb

I’ve just gone back to the office a few days a week so mostly on those mornings I leave DH to it! And on the other mornings he likes to take younger DS to school as he likes the fresh air before work (he’s still almost entirely WFH), The main shouting is to get older DS out of bed which is always a struggle. Morning routine goes something like this, if we are both WFH: 7am younger DS (8) gets into bed with us. 7.20, alarms go off. Give DS1 first poke, adults get washed and dressed. 7.30, give DS1 second poke, DS2 getting washed and dressed. 7.40 shout at DS1 until he crawls out of bed and gets washed and dressed. Make packed lunch, help DS2 get himself breakfast. 8am, put breakfast in front of DS1 and persuade him to eat. 8.10am, rush around getting last minute bits into school bags. 8.15, push DS1 out the door. 8.25, adult leaves with DS2.
DS1 is not a morning person…

Everyone who seems to have a good routine in the morning also seems to have kids who sleep until at least 7am, or need waking up.
Any tips for those of us who are always, every day, woken up by 6am (and yes, we had gro clocks!) so getting up earlier to get myself ready or do housework isn't really an option?!
It also means that by 8am the kids have needed two hours of entertainment/occupying, and we've all collectively lost our minds...

Our DCs are ruled by their stomachs, so we insist they are fully dressed with teeth brushed before they are allowed downstairs to have breakfast. This generally motivates them to get a wriggle on. Downstairs the rule is no playing until after breakfast, although they usually would prefer a second helping over play time. We don't allow any TV before school as it was making them eat at a glacial speed, and they were ignoring the requests to turn it off and get shoes on to go. We did allow TV when younger though (preschool age. They're currently 5 and 7yo), as the above downsides were eclipsed by the benefit of keeping the DCs out from under our feet whilst we ran round and got everything packed!
I still shout sometimes, but much less often now.

Get absolutely everything ready the night before - shoes lined up, coats ready, lunches in bags. We let them have drink & toast in bed & wake them up about 45 mins before we need to leave.

@Lotsofpots our 6yo gets in bed with us nearly every morning. Usually tries it on between 5 and 6. We try to take him back but sometimes our resolve fails.