This morning i lost it, it wont happen again because this is my plan....what do you think...oh and what the hell do you all do to remain calm during the morning scrabble to get out of the house??

[mrsnesbit]

Grrrrrrr i admit it, i was, a fecking banshee, but i just got to the end of a very long tether.
So, i am going to make a list with boxes to tick (for some unknown reason, ds LOVES to do lists and ticking boxes)

1. Put school uniform on
2. Get breakfast & drink
3. Take vitamin
4. empty dishwasher
5. Check shoes, if dirty..clean school shoes 6)Read 5 pages of reading book with me
6. Check school bag has everything you need
7. coat on, shoes on
8. Go to school......

Its the same routine every morning, he knows this, yet he faffs and messes and dawdles.
On the occasions that he has done all of these things without me asking him, he has had time to watch a cartoon, no shouting, no nagging, no bother. Huge cuddles and loads of "i am so proud of you, you are such a grown up boy" nice stuff.

He is 8 btw, i am a huge advocate of self sufficiency & learning responsibility. He has his role within the family, he is paid pocket money for doing his jobs so that he can save up for what he wants. (This works really really well, and has done since he was 5)

It just needs to be in black & white & in order.

What method do you use to have a smooth running home in the morning?

I would move checking shoes and bag to the night before, same with reading. Just focus on getting dressed and fed in the mornings, then there is a lot less to go wrong and make it stressful.

With my DCs I have uniform in the bathroom, first stop on getting up is to brush teeth, wash faces and get dressed. While they do that I would usually have laid out breakfast (vitamin pill by their cup of juice) so they can eat straight away on coming downstairs. Since their jackets, bags and coats are sorted and by the door, they are now ready for school.

Total time taken 30-40 minutes. Plus 5 minutes for getting outdoor stuff on.

Jobs I would ask him to do after school too. First thing on getting in.

yes, great idea about bags and coat at night.
Uniforms for the week all laid out complete with socks & undies , he just has to put the buggers on..all in one go, not jump around the sofas, and root in draws in between sock applications!!

He has the choice of 3 items for breakfast, i get that ready while he empties the dishwasher.
It should run smoothly, but he is easily destracted...always has been. (DH says he has a curious mond...i say he faffs)

Move shoes, book, bag to night before. Have dishwasher last on list, with cartoon after it so he h an incentive to pull his finger out.

Good luck, morning schedule plus dinnertime faffarseing are my Points of Rage.

The night before -

Check shoes
Find clean uniform and underwear. Leave in a pile on a specially bought chair/stool.
Empty and wash lunch boxes.
Check school bag
Read reading book

On the morning

Have a coffee
Wake children.
Instruct them to get dressed inc, shoes
While they get dressed pour cereal and milk into bowl
While they are eating breakfast prepare packed lunch
Instruct them to clean teeth, face and brush hair
While he is doing this get his coat ready, locate the already packed bags and lunch boxes.
Give him his coat.
Leave house.
Come home.
Drink more coffee.

faffarsing.. LOVE it!

i was expecting a flaming for making my poor little 8 year old do housework, but ive seen a thread on teaching kids life skills..not that i am bothered, we do what we do in our house, and it is a very strong belief of mine that they work as part of the family team and learn to be self sufficient.

like your routine DOin,
if only it was that simple in our house!

Won't having a chart just give him another thing to faff about with (find specific coloured pen, colour in boxes, count number of boxes left, add extra items like "brush Barbie's hair)? I have bitter experience of a faffy child.

It's only like that on nights I don't work. Tomorrow it will go more like this:

Drink coffee
Wake children and instruct them to get dressed
Children come down undressed.
Attempt to locate clean uniform
Spend 10 minutes looking for shoes

My DS is younger (4.4) but we have a flat out ban on toys/books/TV before nursery. That sounds really harsh but once he starts playing with something I'd never get him to do anything else! Even the promise of a story if we have time would lead to whinging the whole time we were getting ready about wanting a story NOW and then faff and indecision about which book to read, then he'd choose the longest story in the world and throw a strop if I said no....so we do nothing in the morning except just what needs to be done.

I totally agree with everyone who's said do what you can the night before. I make sure everything is ready to go so it's just a case of doing what needs to be done in the morning (get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, wash face and use toilet) and then just GO! It doesn't entirely stop the faffarsing but it does decrease the liklihood of DS getting distracted by something.

I try not to shout but I do do a lot of repetition "DS, shoes on please. DS, shoes. Shoes, shoes, shoes. Are your shoes on yet? Shoes!"

DOin..you are my beacon of shning light girl!!
When i do a night shift, i barely grunt..i tend to point in a pathetic way towards stuff and then, drag my carcuss for coffee. DH does the school run as i dont feel safe driving.

i cant be arsed to be arsed if he has socks on, or a twix for breakfast, or a coat in the snow.......
I HATE night shfts me!

Screaming Banshee here too quite regularly on a bad day.

Second doing as much as poss the night before.

If he's easily distracted while getting dressed could you move the clothes to a downstairs radiator (still his repsonsibility for laying out the night before) shoes under so nice & warm on cold mornings. Then at least while you are doing luncheboxes etc you can keep up the running commentary.

"Well done, now the jumper NO you don't need to do that now JUMPER, Ok now your shoes, then the breakfast will be ready here look"

At least you can cut off the fartarsing around before it starts.

I did a list for my DD's.....the buggers just walk past it now

I have a memory like a sieve, DD1 is away with the clouds most of the time, and DDs has Short Term memory problems which unfortunately is her excuse for not even TRYING to remember to do things.

What gets me to red rage on a regular basis is how they just don't SEE the mess & their own stuff.

Trying a new tactic tonight, don't have to remember certain things, just LOOK around you before leaving a room/going upstairs and THINK about what you could take/tidy/do to help in the general routine.

I won't hold my breath!

This mornings faffarsing extended to covering the Marmite pot with his detachable hood to keep it safe whilst he's at school.

I have long scratches under the table where I rake my nails at moments of extreme faffarsing pressure.

I physically wrestle DS into school uniform before breakfast. He is 6. There is no reason he can't dress himself, apart from a glorious combination of laziness and stubbornness.

I agree with grownup I get everything ready the night before I find it much easier

There's a massive thread on morning routines today which I'm finding all the tips very helpfully