How DO you get ready for 8 in the morning?

[chicaguapa]

Am really struggling to be ready for 8 o'clock for the school run. DD wakes up between 7-7.15 and DH gets her dressed and takes her downstairs for breakfast with DS (22m) while I get dressed etc. But she's never ready for 8 and we always spend a good 10 mins screaming at her to clean her teeth, finish her breakfast before it all gets done.

Next week DH is away all week on business and I'll have to go it all myself. But I can't manage it even with DH giving them breakfast. So this week is my practice run. Any tips please?

Get everything ready the night before so that you are ready to go.

O.K., I get up at 6.30 and get showered and dressed. Get ds's up at 7.00 and get them dressed before they come downstairs. Straight to the kitchen table where we have breakfast. At 7.40 they are in the bathroom getting washed, teeth cleaned hair brushed. We are ready to leave at 8.00. Ds's are 6 and 2.

DH works away alot too, so this is do-able on my own. NO T.V. on a morning unless they are ready early - EVER

you probably think im bonkers but i get up at 615 every morning, have a shower, make a cup of tea and drink it while i get dressed/put my face on, all in blissful peace and quiet before the rest of the house wakes about 7

i really enjoy having that hour to myself, and then when everyone else gets up im ready to go.

i feel if i am sorted in the morning i find it easier to get every one else ready

also, it helps that my dh leaves the house at 610, i get up when he shuts the door

i have to get dd's ready myself every morning, dh is never here

well, we have to leave the house at 7.30 to get dd to CM before we start work at 8.15

I get up at 5.30.
shower, kettle on, lay table, empty dishwasher,make sandwiches, make tea

upstairs to wake dd(40, dress myself, go back to dd and persuade her out of bed and to bathroom

(dh struggles out of bed at 6.15ish)

back downstairs to eat my breakfast and shovel dd's into her at the same time

back upstairs to dress dd

back downstairs, dd plonked in front of telly for 20-30 mins depending on how slow she's been, while I clean up kitchen, check schoolbag/ ballet bag/ swimming bag

back upstairs to clean dd's teeth, shoes and coat on, out of house at 7.30

(you may be wondering what dh does between 6.15 and 7.30. He gets dressed and has a cup of tea!)

dd is 4, btw, not 40!

Tissy 5.30 I TRY and get up and be ready before the children wake up it makes all the difference and getting everything ready the night before is a big help too!

Get all clothes (yours too) ready and out the night before.
Get breakfast bits ready too (cereal in bowls even if you know what everyone will want).
Get all book bags and bits ready too.

Have bath night before then just quick wash in morning.
Sticker chart for children or countdown - eg how quickly can you get up the stairs to brush your teeth? 10, 9, 8 etc.
Or promise of telly/story/playing for 5 mins with mummy if she?s ready in time. Rule in my house is no TV in the am until everyone has eaten breakfast and is dressed.

If you are lucky enough to have dd waking at 7 then you can do what naily says and have some time to y/self first thing.

I am the same as nailpolish i get up as soon as i hear dp close the door which is about 6.15-6.30am i then shower & get myself ready, come downstairs get dd a bottle, she then either gets up & crawls around or goes back to sleep, ds then gets up at about 8am then i get him his breakfast & he wathes some tv while i am then dressing dd, then ds goes has a wash & does his teeth & gets dressed & we leave at 8.45am (bit later than you).......

I'm on a tight timetable and I too like to be up and showered and sort of in control before seeing to anyone else, especially my ds3 who's still in night nappies and likes to do a big poo in the loo every morning before breakfast (sorry tmi!)

I get up at about 6.20 and dive into the shower.
Unless I'm totally exhausted the night before, I also put out cereals, bowls, my tea mug etc., all those saved minutes are worth it.

As of last Thursday I've had to be out of the door at 7.40am to drop dd (7) at her school bus stop, 5-6mins walk away. I also have 3 boys of 2.8, 11 and 13. The older 2 are in theory well capable - obviously - of sorting themselves out, but the 13yo still needs to be nagged to get out of bed. He has just started a senior school in cental London (we're north)and needs to be out early too. It's going to be uncool soon for him to walk out the door with me, but atm his bus (a short hop before he gets the tube) is across the road from dd's, so we go together, with ds3 in the buggy. Ds2 stays home alone finishing his breakfast for about 10 mins as I drop off dd, then ds3 and I retrace our steps and escort ds2 to his school bus stop, which is 5-6mins the other direction...He's well capable of getting himself there, but the school want them to be escorted; I suppose if the bus didn't turn up a child could in theory be locked out all day unless old enough for a key. Oh and then I walk for 20mins to take ds3 to nursery - just started, and luckily he loves it.

Couldn't you bring forward your dd's wake up time to 6.45am, if necessary by getting her to bed a little earlier ? I find the rush stressful as it is, even though I think we have enough time in the mornings. I reckon on allowing a comfortable hour between a child's waking and getting them out of the house unrushed, well fed and scrubbed up for school.

Take a leaf from flylady's book lay out clothes the night before. Get school bags etc ready and put them by the door before you go to bed.

I get up at about 6.30 get myself washed and dressed, unload dishwasher, out on washing and dryer if necessary. Then I get the children up at about 7 feed them whilst I make the lunches. DH gets up at 7.30 so I do his breakfast and cuppa then dress the children.

We all exit the house at 8am for dh to go to work and us to walk round to school. On my own the school walk would take 15 mins but with DD it takes at least double that and as I am practically phobic about lateness I can't leave it any later. Not sure how I will manage when ds wants to walk to school as well but he is a doddle atm as I just throw him in the pushchair.

i also make packed sandwiches the night before - they seem to be ok, not stale or soggy - they get soggy if i put tomato on them - so instead i put cherry toms in the lunchbox instead

at all you people "getting children up" at 7.30 or whatever. I wish. Mine all get up at 6.30am (sigh).
Still, gives us plenty of time to get ready in the am. On days when I am not working we usually have time for a quick game of junior Monopoly or similar!

I get my children up and out every morning on my own (single mum) and have done since my eldest was six months old. (They are now 6 & 4).
Like everyone else here, I would suggest you get as much done as possible the night before. Get your own clothes ready, you DS clothes ready as well as your DD's. Get your handbag & keys and all that sort of thing assembled & ready to go, so there is no stressful faffing about "looking for things". Get your kids breakfast out & ready to serve too.
10 mins shouting at your DD sounds very stressful for everyone. How about supervising teeth brushing or doing yours at the same time?
With regard to finishing breakfast, could you make her a sandwich that she could eat in the car?
No point sweating over finished breakfast if there is a less stressful alternative.
You'll be fine, you can do this!

wow @ all these early risers

i am a slovenly mummy i think

i do make the lunches the night before (or dd1 does)

and get the uniform together of the youngest

I get up at 7.30 - 7.40, wake the boys then wake the girls, get their breakfast ready, and get dressed when they are eating

After brekkie i get ds2 dressed, which takes a while as i have to squeeze him into a lycra body suit , which he has to wear under his clothes, and i harrass the others along

Ds2 has to be ready in his wheelchair for 8.25 ,so we all are because i have to take the others to their schools as well. We have left by 8.30 usually.

Get up half an hour earlier. So you're dressed and ready before she's up. Don't think screaming at her will help TBH, she's just too tired to move fast. I'd try to keep calm. If you're running late, maybe she can just eat a musli bar or sandwich on the way to school?

Dd has to be at school by 7.50. I get up at 6.30, shower, dress, make some tea, set the breakfast table, put on make-up, tidy my hair, pack her lunchbox, check the school bag in about 15 minutes (it's just practice).

Then I (try to) wake her at 6.45, she's dressed and at the breakfast table by 7. I brush her teeth myself to speed things up. We have to leave at 7.30. I find getting her to eat and drink in the morning is the hardest thing. She's tired and it takes too long.

45 - 60 mins. is nowhere near long enough to get 2 young children ready.

Takes me about 2 hours! (but like others I always do it alone as dh leaves at 6)

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Sounds to me like you will have to get dressed first thing before DD's breakfast.

I do the kids on my own when DH is working away. I get up at 6.40, shower, hair and dressed by about 7ish. DS gets himself up at 7, DD may need waking. Then they are downstairs at 7.10 for breakfast. I then sort out DS's water bottle and fruit. Upstairs at 7.30 for teeth, wash and dress. Then they should be ready for 7.45.

7.45 actually gives me some time to spare. But never any harm in that.

I have a mental timetable that I try to adhere to - what time to get dd up, what time to eat, time we need to leave the table, time for dressing/getting ready, tine to leave house. And, like others, I get everything sorted the night before - bookbags, gym kit, etc.

Also, sometimes I help dd get dressed or brush teeth/hair if I can see she's moving slowly or we're behind. In theory, she should do those things for herself, but if my help speeds things along - well, it's much better than getting shouty/stressed.

We've had those mornings yelling at ds1 to get ready. We got over that by letting ds1 'race' dh to get dressed, which seems to work. Our routine is...

Wake up 7.30ish, dh makes cup of tea then gets children's breakfast, I feed the baby, this probably takes until 7.55 or so, then dh has shower,gets dressed, ds1 gets himself dressed, dd plays and generally gets in the way. I supervise ds1 and make the packed lunch. Dh generally takes ds1 to school, so they leave the house at 8.15, I then have a shower and get myself, dd, ds2 dressed.

I was really nervous when dh was away, but I left so much time that in fact we were at school before the gates opened at 8.10 (we walk to and from school, and as its about 3/4 mile I had to factor in time for dd to mess around on the walk).

My children are 5,3 and 4 months btw.

Other things that I have discovered will speed dd along - no telly on during breakfast, and once I'm finished eating I leave the table/room. She doesn't like to sit alone so often that is what will motivate her to hurry along.

I work 7am (6am on Wednesdays) to 8.15, before doing the school run. Fortunately dh gets ds up and gives him his breakfast (and me coffee!)before he leaves for work at about 8, so all I have to do is get him dressed. Fortunately as he'll be having school lunches and the school have a policy of keeping PE kit/wellies there not bringing them home every time, there isn't actually much to get ready.

I make packed lunches/snacks, lay out school uniforms, get book bags/letters ready, shower and get my clothes ready the night before.

Now, with Flylady's help , I also get dressed as soon as I get up, so I don't have to faff about later and can focus on the DSs.

No TV or electronic games in the morning.

DS2 usually wakes about 6.30, but I am up at 7.15. I put on a load of washing, unload dishwasher, feed them and me breakfast, send them upstairs to get dressed while I tidy up, go up to supervise their teeth, and send them downstairs to put shoes on and pick up snack.

We don't leave until 8.45, though.