Morning routine

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Please share your morning routines. I need ideas, seems to take me ages to do anything!! Do any of you include makeup?

It's all about being organised the night before isn't it, so that you have as little to do in the morning as possible. Saying this, I have come to bed tonight without having made packed lunches, ironed school uniforms or bathed the baby, all of which should have been done tonight and which will now make tomorrow even more awful than usual. I hate the mornings until they've all gone.

over the years we've worked out a number of things that make mornings easier:

• work out the crunch point - used to be shoes were total tantrum time in our house, so we got shoes on before breakfast as then there was less time pressure and wanting breakfast motivated them to get shoes on

• everyone dressed, beds made etc before breakfast, toothbrushes in kitchen - stops the faffing in and out of bedrooms and going back upstairs just before leaving home (also means I can supervise toothbrushing while loading the dishwasher/putting dinner on/finishing my breakfast), also cuts down on the sibling fights when they are out of sight

(napkins/tabards mean the school uniform stays clean while they eat, and I have 2 very messy eaters!)

• get them to do stuff - my oldest 3 make their own packed lunches (and even the 3 year old can get her lunchbox out and put basic components in), we have a chart on the fridge with 5 columns and they have to have something from each of the first 4 columns and then the 5th column is cake or something else from the first 4 columns - means I know they get a balanced lunch and also more chance of them eating it

• they clear their breakfast stuff off the table and put it in the dishwasher so I don't have to, means the kitchen surface is usually clear before we leave for school/work

• they make their own beds (even 3 yr old can manage it, just don't expect House Beautiful style perfection!)

• very restricted breakfast choices - 2 types of cereal and NO TOAST (too messy, too slow, even a 4 slice toaster can't keep up with my 4), sometimes if I'm organised then something nice will go in the slo-cooker overnight or I'll make an apple crumble or something and that goes in the oven when I get up.

• an organisation station with school-bags, hats, notes, homework... so I (and they) can instantly pick everything up and see what they need

• bribery - we have a deal that they can have time on the iPad if they are totally ready for school by 8.15 (leave at 8.30)

always happy to hear other tips!

makeup only happens if I have a client meeting and can be done in the 5 minutes it takes them to squabble whilst getting their stuff and getting out the door!

I have 3 and work and now have achieved make up! I have found the only way it works is to have a strict draconian timetable and bags ready the night before. I wake up at 7, 3y old normally wakes up first and messes about in the bathroom with me while I shower, when I get out I shout up to the 6 and 9y old to get dressed and then get dressed myself and do my makeup. Then I shout up much louder are you up yet to them (they are on floor above). on a good day they'll be grumbling yes and starting to get dressed (uniform left out night before) on a bad day I will have to go up and man handle them out. Then I start herdingbthem down, everybody to the middle floor where I get the 3y old dressed, help 6y old with tie, correct backwards jumpers etc and supervise teeth and hairbruahing til everyone is dressed and ready.Then lights off, doors closed and everyone down to the kitchen for breakfast, as someone else said, you have to herd them in the direction of the door and no one is alowwed back upstairs to FAFF about except in exceptional circumstances. DP leaves the breakfast out and feeds the cat when he leaves before us. breakfast is cereal, the one that makes it to the table first can choose but all 3 have to have the same (incentivises getting dressed quickly). Then everyone herded to the hall, shoes and coats on and out (I put bags in car while they are eating breakfast). It is usually 5 to 8 now and we leave at 8 to miss school traffic.

This is the breaking point where it often goes wrong and major shouting occurs as they often start fighting/standing still and staring into space/need a poo/rememeber some vital bit of homework. once all 3 are in the car, one or two usually crying or fighting by now, I drive to school (hell) come back past my house and drive to Nursery then onto the train station and work.

It sounds awful but as I get on the train, sit down, with a cup of tea and open the paper, I breathe a massive sigh of relief that its over for another day and everyone is where they should be with the right bits of kit (on a good day, on a bad day I am close to tears!)

I do face powder before the school run (so that I don't shine) but the rest of the make up when I get back (if at all). My theory is the sooner I get into the shower after I wake up the better. If I am lucky I can shower before all 3 are awake, usually though DC2 wakes me up, he watches a bit of tv.

Breakfast is porridge with a choice of toppings, boring but cheap filling and fast. At the moment they eat early and in their p.j's, they are still small and DC3 is usually covered in porridge by the time he is done.

I hate getting everything ready the night before so I get a weeks worth of clothes ready and keep it on a rail with one of these type of things on it to store all those irritating bits like hair bands that make you late when they get lost. I also try and keep a 5 days of outfits on it for me if I can, on a good week the rail gets filled up on a Friday afternoon for the following week.

I also love this thread for making life easier in general.

I'm also training the DC's to do as much as possible, my oldest helps her younger brothers put on socks and shoes. My youngest gets all of the socks and shoes out.

It's all going to change again in July when DC4 is due...who knows what I will look like when I leave the house!

We're totally out of whack after moving countries but this is what ours looked like; I have a 4yo, 2yo and 1 yo twins.

Around 5.30am twins get up I feed them and change them and give them to DH to put in their room before he heads out to work, while I get their clothes ready.

• I get dressed. Well, throw something on.

At 6.30am or there about the eldest two get up, wash and brush their teeth w/ supervision.

I take down their outfits for the day. Then I send them all for breakfast. Usually cereal, eggbread or porridge.

After breakfast, they play while I get a bowl of soapy water with a bath flannel. I give them all a wipe down naked, then my eldest gets dressed, I dress DD, they play while I change and dress the twins.

I shove the pots in the dishwasher while eldest two put coat and shoes on. I put nursery/school stuff in pram, then put the twins coats and shoes on.

Twins in stroller and we are out the door for around 7.45am.

Comw home, the nap. I tidy up then nap. Wake up around 11am. Take twins and dog for a walk, come home make dinner while they play.

That's what our week morning rountine would kinda look like.

Though now I have two more little munchkins to add into the chaos! I'll be glad when school starts in August when I'll have to drive them to school instead :/

flatmum your post made me cry with laughter. I remember the stress of having to get everyone fed, dressed and in the car, with bags packed by 7am, to get to work on time.

Lunch boxes, PE kits, school bags, nappy bag etc all need to be done the night before. Breakfast is cereal at the table. I quickly get ready after feeding the baby, (with him often hanging off my legs screaming for more boobie), while my painfully slow eating toddler finishes her breakfast. Teeth cleaning is usually over the bath because it means all 5dc can fit at once. Toddler is dressed as older dcs get in car or she often removes her clothes again (just to see if she can make my head explode).

It always seems so peacefull when I return home with just 2.

I don't wear makeup unless I'm going out for dinner or very occasionally when I can be bothered.

My DCs are 6, 5, 3 and 16 months.

School clothes get ironed on sunday night and they all have enough T-shirts and trousers/skirts for the week, I usually leave Monday's clothes hanging downstairs and put the rest away. I get homework and reading books in school bags and hooked on the pushchair the night before.

I set my alarm 6.30, 6.45 and 7am so I feel like I'm getting more time in bed. Sounds daft written down but it works for me as I don't have to jump out of bed as soon as the alarm goes.

I get kids up between 6.45 and 7 and take them downstairs and get them their cereal. They know they have till 7.30 to eat their breakfast. While their eating I go upstairs and get dressed, then take their school clothes down and get ds2 ready.

I help dd2 get ready while dd1 and ds1 get dressed then I do the girls hair and get teeth brushed. This has to be done by 8.

Then it's coats and shoes on while I put ds2 in the pushchair and get lunch bags hung on the pushchair and its out the door by 8.10 latest as dd2 starts nursery at 8.30 and we half a half mile walk.

When I get home ds2 is usually asleep and stays that way for a good two hours so I get housework done then while I have peace and he's not trashing the place as I'm tidying it.

I gave up trying to get a shower in the morning as DH leaves at 6am or before and I was exhausted getting up at 6am just to have a shower. Now I get in when I've taken the kids to school or before bed.

I make lunches the night before and put them in the fridge.

In summer I freeze yogurt tubes and throw one in the boxes first thing so it keeps their lunch cool.