What do your morning routines look like - getting ready for school...

[Timetheworldsaysicantafford]

I'm thinking ahead to next week and school starting again... Hoping for a bit of a fresh start routine wise. Currently our kids get up about 7am ish, and eat breakfast on the sofa and put the TV on straight away... They have 45 mins or so of "waking up" and then go get dressed, teeth brushed etc when we ask /nag them to. I'd love us to sit and have breakfast as a family but that's just a step too far given work and timings. How can I manageably make the mornings a bit better/please tell me what your mornings look like?? Kids ages 7 and 9 🙂

Our rule has always been up, showered, breakfast, teeth brushed and then TV or phone and not before. 45 minutes of sitting in front of the tv for breakfast feels like the rest of it must be a bit of a rush?

Same rule as above. No tv till fully ready. Mine sort their breakfast and get themselves dressed, and do their teeth. I come down in time to make packed lunches and tidy hair. Usually pretty relaxed process. Mine are 9, 7, 6, 4.

No I don’t think you’re being unreasonable…

… oh wait, you didn’t actually pose a question.

other than the kind of question that could be answered here:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/parenting

They eat at the table and we sit down for bits.

Can you stick out cereal etc the night before and just put them there? I don't think kids need TV in the mornings.

Interesting thread to pick on considering the sheer number of AIBU threads that aren’t relevant to the topic.

I'm up at 6.30, put toast on, then wake ds up.

Back down to make coffee, put breakfast on table, then back to haul ds out of bed.
Then shower, dress, out of house by 7.30.
catch school bus at 7.45.

We don't have tv in the morning or we'd never get to school. Ds is 14.

DH and I get up around 6am. I make coffee, finish preparing the packed lunches (mostly planned and prepared the night before), get myself dressed (I select clothes the night before), check emails on my phone and consult the calendar and weather forecast to remind myself what is needed that day. I do a quick check that bags were properly packed and coats/shoes out ready the evening before, with gloves and hats etc on the radiator.

DH and I share unloading the dishwasher and putting out laundry if any (washing machine is on a timer overnight).

Around 6.30am-7am the kids get up
They dress themselves right away (clothes are put out for them the night before), then i have breakfast with the kids while DH dashes about doing things In fairness I only sit for about 1 minute then I'm up and moving again, maybe getting things ready to go in the slow cooker for dinner. My older DD tends to put the iPad on during breakfast and I interrupt with annoying but important questions. When she was age 6 to 11 we would then learn and practise her spellings or times tables while I did her hair. Then 10 or 15 mins of her music practise. Then last thing is cleaning teeth just before we leave (DC like fruit juice for breakfast so I like to wait a while before they brush).

I do still nag the kids, and some mornings unravel but usually the consistent routine runs fine, and we each sort of know what jobs need to be done without really having to think too hard.

Depending on how well things are working out on any given day, I might then read to my other DC or play for a while. In summer we go in the garden to water plants or even have a ten minute bike practise round the block.

By 8.15am everyone is ready to leave and we are out of the house.

Yep same. And they get their own school.stuff ready by 9.

Kids 6 & 8 so they do own cereal and top them up with toast/ anything else as apparently they're starving already! All bags etc ready night before. They get dressed, teeth hair etc. I then leave for work and they get a bit of tv before dh does school run. We use to do you routine but the tv was distracting from everything so no tv until 8 am ish and they leave about 8:20am

6.45 I get up and get ready.

7.00 do a quick job round the house (empty dishwasher/put a wash on)

7.15 get children up (6, 4, 2) if they aren't already

7.15-7.45 get children dressed, brush teeth, make beds (in any order based on who I grab first). 6yo and 4yo make their own bed, 6yo gets herself dressed, 4yo needs a bit of help

7.45 breakfast. They can watch tv while eating. I do the girls hair while they are eating

8.15 get shoes on, grab bags and out the door for 8.20

45 minutes of wake up time is something I can't really imagine (but whatever works for you) that seems like the easiest thing to lose if you want breakfast together.

Not in the UK and I'm currently a SAHM. Get up at 6:15. I wake the kids (12 & 10) get the downstairs sort breakfast and coffee and make packed lunches while DH showers and kids eat. DD goes up to get washed and dressed as it takes her ages. DS has 10 minutes tv/iPad then gets dressed. All ready and out of the door for around 6:55/7am. We did the routine in half an hour (without breakfast which kids had at school) in our last place as we had to be out of the door at 6am so we were up at 5:25 every day.

6.30 - kids wake up, uniform on, teeth brushed
6.45-7.00 - breakfast, TV/iPads
7.15 - shoes on, in the car
7.25 - dropped at school gate.

Bell rings at 7.45 here (hot country)

They're nearly 11 and 8 and they're still in bed with lights off by 7.30pm because they don't cope well on less than 10-11 hours sleep!

6am - I get up, washed, dressed and makeup (we shower at night).
6.30am - Eldest up and eating breakfast (no TV).
6.40am - I get younger two up, they have milk/juice.
6.45/7am - Uniforms, face washed, teeth for all kids.
7.20am - I set off for breakfast club (7.45am drop off) then 8am nursery drop (they eat breakfast here).
7.40am - Eldest goes for bus.
8.10am - I get bus to work.

I put the younger ones uniforms out night before and make sure eldest has too, they have school/nursery dinners so that’s one less job, I make sure everyone’s bag is ready to go including mine and line shoes up by the door. Usually all this helps but god it’s stressy and monotonous, life will be loads easier when I’ve finally passed my driving test.

kids are six and eight.

No tv until everything is done. If they break this rule by saying it’s all done when it’s not, the child who hasn’t got ready properly misses tv for one day.

they have it down to a fine art. Breakfast at seven, they then unpack the dishwasher, pack their school bags (we make their lunches), fill up their water bottles, brush teeth, and get fully dressed including shoes and hats by about seven forty.

that means 30 minutes tv as we leave the house at ten past eight on the dot.

Mine get 20 mins to watch tv in the morning and that includes the time it takes me to make their toast. After that it's teeth brushed and uniforms on.

I lay the youngest DC uniform on their bed, eldest can sort themselves now.

Any messing around, no tv the next day.

It works for us but it's still like herding fecking cats and I just spend the morning repeating, repeating, repeating the steps (finish up now, tv off, teeth, get dressed, pack your bags).

It's about 45 mins from wake up until we leave for school.

I make beds while they're eating and shower then too. I WFH so after drop off I clean the kitchen, unpack dishwasher etc then finally get to start work.

Awake about 7. Tele for a bit together in my bed. Cup of tea and breakfast in bed. Up about 8. Out the door by 8:25.

Feel a bit lazy by comparison but it suits me.

i think every household is different, but organising book bags etc night before, laying out uniform etc night before and making packed lunches night before makes the morning run more smoothly, and mops up the no clean shirts/I need £2 for the cake stall or whatever school has dreamt up that week.. it also reduces stress if there is an alarm fail. As pp have said, kids coming down dressed for breakfast makes all the difference. Personally I prefer to get up 30 mins earlier than DD so that i’m ready for the day. Everyone trying to get ready at the same time is just stress all round IMO. Small changes can be game changers…the telly doesn’t have to go off, just watching it in a different order. Good luck for the new term!

We use the breakfast club at school which opens at 8am. School is a 5-10 minute walk.

Kids up at 7:30am, dress themselves and we're out the door for 5-to.

Uniform is laid out the night before. Water bottles are filled, and snack is prepared in the morning.

For DC who is 7. Everything laid out the night before. Up at 7, teeth brushed, dressed, down for breakfast, eat breakfast for 10 mins, piano practice for 20-25, any spelling/times table practice at the breakfast table and then out the door by 8:10.

8yo is up and dressed at 6:30. He has 30 minutes of TV.
DH or I make his packed lunch if he’s having one.
Breakfast at the table. Then 10 minutes of “brush your teeth and put your socks on”. He plays if there’s time.
We cycle to school at 8:30.

DC’s are 7, 6, 5 & 3. I get up at 5-5.30am. Often have 30 minutes on treadmill/cross trainer in the garage. 6am packed lunches. DH gets up & walks our dogs (alternate with him). Quick shower, dressed. Kids up 7-15am. Make beds. Breakfast together or DH out for work. Kids go up and dress, I load dishwasher. Upstairs to do hair, brush teeth or help older two. Get 3 year old dressed. Downstairs, if time they play, practice anything that needs doing I will do a bit of tidying/laundry. Out the door for 8.20/25 depending it’s walk or cycle to school. Drop 3 at school then youngest at preschool or we head home. Uniform out night before, any stuff they need. No Tv in the morning on a school day and they run smoother without here.

7 and 9 - they wake up 7 am, they get themselves dressed, and they help get breakfast on the table. I come down to do the difficult bits and generally chivvy them along. 9 year old brushes teeth and washes face. 7 year old usually has a tantrum at some point so needs a lot of handling/attention. Out of the house by 8am.

if they get stuck into tv or a toy, it would be game over. They’d snot good at transitions. So we have no tv whatsoever.

615 - my alarm goes off
620 - DC's alarm goes off
630 - I go in to check they're up.
Somewhere between 640-650 lots of get up, get dressed breakfast is over in 20 minutes etc.
Usually 645 ish I sit with them for breakfast
700 - brush teeth, hair, I make snack, they pack bags
710. - leave for school which starts at 720

I'm a sahm at the moment, when I worked it was shifted 10 mins earlier so I could get the morning bus and I left them on the playground for 10 minutes. School is not considered childcare where we live so Dc come home for lunch every day and twice a week there is no afternoon school. Kids are Yr 5&6.

We have a flat 'no screens until you're ready to walk out the door' rule. It's fairly effective at getting them to get a move on as they want to watch something.

I'm up at 6.15. I like a cup of tea, my breakfast and Wordle in peace.
Children (11 and 9) are up at 7 at the latest.
I make packed lunches (me and DS2 only as as of today, DS1 is off to secondary and is switching to school dinners) and put them and their water bottles in their bags.
All other bag related things are sorted the night before by both them and me.
DC up at 7am at the latest. Breakfast, dressed and teeth done before screens can go on. This includes putting socks on!
I generally get myself dressed whilst they're doing that too.

Once they're ready, I'm not bothered about them watching TV etc until we walk out the door. They also know to turn it off the second I call them to leave. Any moaning or 'I'm just finishing xyz' will lose them the screen the next day.

DS1 out of the door at 8.05 to walk with a friend. DS2 and I out at 8.15.

I wake up with the kids coming in for a cuddle, then they start jumping on me, then DP takes them into the living room, telly on. He makes them breakfast, makes me coffee, does their packed lunches, gets them dressed, then drives them to school, whilst I lie in bed on mumsnet. 😂 I am very lucky.

In all honesty, my 'routine' is about to get a revamp. There was a while I couldn't wake up in the morning without coffee. Turns out my iron was low. Think it's back to a good level now, which is why I came here for ideas 🙃