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Original poster

Is the only way to a calm morning to get yourself ready before DC wake up?

38 replies

HolidayDjinn · 20/09/2022 19:36

I just can’t do any of my own getting ready if they’re already awake. Three DC under 6 and on my own during the week. It’s just absolute chaos.

Is there a trick I’m missing? We don’t even do breakfast because I drop them to breakfast club at 0745!

OP posts:
Decafflatteplease · 20/09/2022 19:38

Yes! Game changer here since I started to get everything ready before DC wake up

endofthelinefinally · 20/09/2022 19:41

Yes. You just have to get up early. It does get a bit easier as they get older. Make sure absolutely everything that everybody needs is prepared, packed and ready to go, before you go to bed. Clothes, coats and shoes all ready. Put a list on the back of the front door of anything that isn't already in the bags - like lunches in the fridge, for example.
Easy breakfast, table set. No screens of any sort in the morning IMO. I just found it was too much of a distraction.

Numbat2022 · 20/09/2022 19:41

Yes. I hate when he wakes up early, it messes up my whole routine. And I only have one three year old, I can't even imagine having three under 6.

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Mumoftwoinprimary · 20/09/2022 19:43

If you are on your own and they are under 6 then I’m afraid so. It is temporary though. Mine are 12 and 9 now and apart from occasionally bellowing “have you got your PE kit” and “get off the IPad until you are ready to go!” I have little involvement in their morning routines…..

MiddleParking · 20/09/2022 19:44

I don’t think I would ever get out the house with three DC under 6. Certainly not at 7:45.

ladygindiva · 20/09/2022 19:45

Yes. My twins wake about 615-630. Ergo I set my alarm for 6 and get myself showered etc before they wake. Puts a whole different better complexion on the horrors of the mornings.

Findahouse21 · 20/09/2022 19:48

How old are they - under 6 is a huge spectrum. From school age I would expect them to be able to get themselves dressed and ready, and only minimal input from the last year of reception.

Findahouse21 · 20/09/2022 19:49

I also do the big stuff for me the night before - bath etc, so only need to wash, brush teeth and get dressed d.

Skethylita · 20/09/2022 19:50

No. But you have to train them.
Spend the next holiday practising. Everything that can be sorted that day before (bags, paperwork etc.) always gets done the night before. Sandwiches, too, if they don't eat FSM. The only thing I prepare in the morning is a fresh drink.
Clothes are laid out and ready, so they just need to be put on.
I shower while DC eat breakfast, then I help with clothes where needed (mostly not). Then it's just shoes and coats.
It helps that I hate eating breakfast, though.

Savingpeoplehuntingthings · 20/09/2022 19:51

As pp said do as much as possible the night before.
Get up before them, brew and brekkie in piece and all you have to do with them is teeth brush, dressed and out.

Puddlelane123 · 20/09/2022 19:51

I need to do this but mine wake up at the crack of dawn as it is so I’d need to set my alarm for 4.30am to get up before them!

distracta · 20/09/2022 19:52

Yep. And makes it easier if you can shower before bed …

AperolWhore · 20/09/2022 19:53

Yes, it’s a game changer! I get up at 5am, shower, get ready and have a coffee in peace before getting absolutely everything ready to leave the house. Once all that’s been done, I get my daughter up and do her morning routine.

it makes for a very relaxed morning.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 20/09/2022 19:54

Yes. You gather and calm yourself before the chaos takes over

Skethylita · 20/09/2022 19:57

distracta · 20/09/2022 19:52

Yep. And makes it easier if you can shower before bed …

Hah, I have very curly hair and would look like the well-used end of a broomstick if I didn't shower and condition my hair in the mornings. But yes, anyone with ruly hair could do that, too 😁

AiryFairy1 · 20/09/2022 19:59

Yes. I’m also a very recent convert to showering the night before, prepare everything then as well - myself included.

Going to bed early and getting up early has been a game changer- by 5pm I’ve still got enough in the tank to sail through arsenic hour (mine are older so not as dependent, but we do have homework dramas 😅)

Original poster
HolidayDjinn · 20/09/2022 20:00

I have two in preschool and one in Year 1.

It’s the constant battle to keep momentum and break up fights then it’s all thrown off when someone needs a last minute poo or can’t find their cardi.

I need to get more organised. But then I am dead after putting them all to bed and just want a cup of tea and then sleep.

OP posts:
LONDONGALGO · 20/09/2022 20:01

@HolidayDjinn Tell me about it, the worst happened this morning getting daughter ready, bag, packed lunch , homework, pe kit and in to the car. Mum I need a wee😥

Kinderbuenos · 20/09/2022 20:03

I sympathise with the exhaustion at night but you need to have everything ready the night before and you need to be up and ready before you get up. There is just no other way to get out of the door

NCHammer2022 · 20/09/2022 20:05

I only have 1 and I still have to get ready before she gets up or I’m chasing after myself all morning and start work feeling frazzled!

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 20/09/2022 20:06

Basically yes, though I used to put my make up on in the car, after dropping them off. 5 blissful minutes to myself.

Agree with PPs about prep the night before. The most crucial bit is to frisk them as they come through the door from school the previous afternoon. You need:

  1. Shoes off and ready, coat hanging up (only takes an average 16.5 years of nagging before they do this without you standing over them 😉);

  2. Bag emptied of lunchbox and, in my day, checked for notes about random activities the school has invented to make your life harder (assume this is all by email/WA now);

  3. Ask them about anything they need for the next day. They will still forget sometimes, and tell you at 10.30 pm about the scale model of the Sistine Chapel that they need for the next day, but they are most likely remember if you ask them straight after school.

  4. Get sports kit/musical instruments ready now.

  5. Get uniform ready for next day. During primary school, I used to bath them when they got home from school as well, so that it was done before I totally lost the will to live, later in the evening.

I quite like making packed lunches (weird, I know), so I used to do them in the morning, as I didn't find them a hassle, but I tried to do everything else the night before.

Whatadayyyy · 20/09/2022 20:09

I have as much as I can ready the night before. Clothes ironed and laid out, if a school day then bags packed, shoes at the door etc. I get up an hour before the kids which lets me get showered, breakfast and dressed. A million times easier if I’m already up and ready before them. Preparation is key! Do as much as you can the night before

Twizbe · 20/09/2022 20:15

I wake up at 5:30 to be showered ready and organised by the time the kids are up at 7.

Then we use CBeebies to help organise us. Breakfast is after Bluey during gojetters. Going out wees and school shoes on after Peter rabbit.

Out the door by 8:10.

Pinkandgreentrousers · 20/09/2022 20:16

No TV or tablets in the morning. I had 4 under 6. They used to paddy when I let them watch TV as they wanted to finish what they were watching, ever since I've banned both it's much calmer.

RomainingCalm · 20/09/2022 20:18

If you have space I recommend having everything ready in one room, ideally the kitchen. Uniforms lined up on the radiator, shoes and bags ready, table set for breakfast the night before.

DC come down in their PJs, have breakfast and then get dressed without leaving the kitchen. Teeth are brushed at the kitchen sink (toothbrush and paste kept on windowsill).

No one leaves the kitchen until they are dressed and ready to go. We have the radio on rather than the tv so fewer distractions. Just needs PJs to go back upstairs.

It was a game changer for us. No losing clothes or children around the house and it stopped DC getting distracted back in their bedrooms (and then finding them sitting on the bed in their pants colouring when we should be leaving 😂😂😂).

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