NOW CLOSED: UK MNers with a child aged 5-15: take a short survey for Warburtons - & share your best morning tips/breakfast recipes - £300 of Love2Shop vouchers to be won

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by Warburtons to find Mumsnetters to:

~ Complete their survey all about the morning breakfast routine in your house - this is open to all UK MNers with at least one child (of approx school age) aged 5-15 years - complete it and add your details at the end and you could win a £150 Love2Shop voucher - here's the link

and also for all parents (whatever age child you have) to please

~ Share your top tips for making mornings run smoothly, your top breakfast recipe tips or top advice on how to get your children eating breakfast - everyone who adds a tip etc will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win another £150 Love2Shop voucher.

This is all in advance of a new book which Warburtons are producing, so please note your anonymous tips/ advice may well appear in the book - as well as stats from the survey. The book will be distributed free of charge next year and there will be an opportunity to get a copy via MN.

Here's the survey link again (at the end you will be redirected to this thread so you can add a comment then)

thanks
MNHQ

[CMOTDibbler]

We need to be out of the house by 7.40 at the latest, so things are a bit rushed in our house in the mornings. The week is written on the whiteboard in the kitchen, with what ds needs to take each day and anything else specific. If it is a week when I'm away for work, then we sort out a week of uniform at the weekend so it is ready to just grab.

I have no shame about breakfast though - ds frequently has choc chip brioche or bought waffles for breakfast which also have the advantage that they can be eaten in the car if time is tight. TBH, he would naturally rather get up, pootle round, then eat an hour after he gets up than eat straightaway, just like dh

[dotcomlovenest]

No tv, playing in general till they are washed dressed had breakfast and ready to go.

[m0nkeynuts]

Do as much the night before as possible - eg school bags packed, uniform laid out - so that morning is just about getting up, dressed, fed and out the door!

[Liska]

My dd is only 5, so I find that breakfast is best before dressing, because you can bet she'll end up with milk down her front otherwise. Clothes are always laid out the night before: for some reason she is much more amenable to my rules on suitability for the weather/season that way. Her school doesn't have a uniform, and if the decision on what to wear is left for the morning, tantrums and chaos will ensue.

[gilliancd]

I work quite a lot of early shifts so I can be home in time to pick the kids up. Also means I'm up and out the house before anyone else gets up. Makes my mornings a lot easier!

[helcrai]

Against my better judgement I let the kids watch tv in the morning, only so they will hurry up and eat breakfast! They then have this twenty minutes or so to sit quietly and let their breakfast digest before they get washed/ dressed/hair done for school. Gives me & husband some time to dash round getting our stuff ready without them under our feet.

[jennywren123]

Make door hangers with a list of morning jobs for each child - cover them with sticky backed plastic. Hang them on bedroom doors so that children can get on with getting ready with less nagging.

[TheProvincialLady]

It's not a very novel tip, but getting everything ready the night before so that there are no clothes to be found, book bags to be hunted down, sports kit to be packed, school trip money placed in envelopes etc makes the whole thing more bearable.

[MothershipG]

Get up early!

[SecretSantaSquirrels]

I have a 14 year old who gets himself up, fed and off to school without my involvement.
The survey seems to assume chaos reigns everywhere, my answers would of course have been different when I had two under 3 to get up and drop off at childcare before work.
I don't miss that.

[lisad123]

Ensure you have right food in for lunch boxes and breakfast, nothing worst than dealing with shops at 8am.
Iron everything the night before.
Get kids involved, our eldest earns her pocket money from getting hers and sisters breakfast.
Buy a instant kettle, so nice to have a hot drink ASAP.

[cather]

No TV in the morning and sort out school bags the night before.

[SuzysZoo]

I do packed lunches the night before with pre-frozen sandwiches. School bags also packed the night before!

[RockinAroundThePigeonsTreet]

I have been known to make breakfast for dd the night before as she can be very very slow at breakfast time if she is not keen on what she is eating. So I make up a 'lunchbox' of marmite sandwiches with a pot of cut up fruit. She tucks in really easily in the morning without any fuss, leaving me more time to organise toast or cereal for the rest of us.

[Zavi]

Once out the door, if driving ensure car is...

Already pointing in direction of travel
Has sufficient fuel so no garage stops needed on way
Defrosted on icy mornings by starting car 5 mins before set off

Take "car breakfast" (eg banana sandwich) if really tight for time

[YourHandInMyHand]

I have all the clocks and alarm clocks in my house set 5 minutes ahead. I'm aware of this but my son isn't.

I get as much ready as possible the night before (outifts hung out ready, school kit packed near front door, packed lunches made, etc).

[ScienceRocks]

I do as much as possible the night before, including laying out the DCs clothes (sometimes making a decision takes both DDs literally hours, yet in the evening they are quick to decide and never argue the next morning over their choices), packing bags, making lunches (if needed, which is hardly ever).

[IAmSheWhoMustBeObeyed]

Erm. This survey brings some interesting points into sharp focus for me.
My tips are:
Try and get up at least 45 minutes before leaving the house. This means that you should at the minimum, be able to have some tea to fortify you on the school run.
Have a bath in the evenings because on the 85% of times you don't get up until 25 minutes before you leave the house you will not have time to wash in the morning.
Tesco sell Just Ham sandwiches, crisps and basics cartons of juice for when you have forgotten to buy in packed lunch supplies.
Portable breakfasts like chocolate chip brioches are great for those mornings when you are running late.
At a minimum have at least one clean set of school clothes available for each child, in a place which is familiar and easy to access whether that is their wardrobe, the kitchen radiator or a box on their bedroom floor.
Hairbrushes, hairbands etc at the front door. Spare hairbands in your bag.
Try (I know it's actually impossible) to convert all of those parentmails, PTA newsletters and school bulletins into notes on a calendar and feverishly check them three or four times a day in an effort to remember to send in money/child in roman outfit/party food/reply to birthday invitation on the morning of the required day.
Above all, when your temper is fraying, your pulse racing, your head throbbing and you may scream or burst into tears, remember: it's not the end of the world. It's not that important. You will all live if a. b. or c. does not happen.

[CarrieDon]

School bag packed the night before and double check about homework needed to be handed in.

I tend to decide what dd will eat (knowing what she likes) as she's not a breakfast person and needs "encouragement" to get something inside her. Twice I've let her go school on an empty tum and both times she's spontaneously said how tired she had been all day without me asking. So having something to eat is non-negotiable, and it has to be fairly healthy - eggs, cheese, whole meal bread - to keep her energy levels up till lunchtime.

[BardOfBarking]

Cereal boxes and bowls, spoons, cups laid out the night before (by the children 4,8,9 yrs)

Sort through school bags whilst children in the bath the night before.

Lay out school uniform.

Our mornings are relatively calm - but I am a morning person and they are at an age where they wake up naturally at the crack of dawn, so no dragging reluctant children out of bed. Our morning routine is fairly clockwork.
(smug emoticon)

Homework, music practise, dinner, hearing 3 children read etc in the evening however.... that's another story.

[Emandlu]

We home educate so mornings take as long as they need to take. On days that we need to be out by a certain time everyone is reminded before we go to bed what we will be doing and told to be up and ready to leave.
The kids sort themselves out and have for years. (They are now 9 and 12) I don't need to harangue them or shout at them. If we go out and they've forgotten something then they deal with the consequences.
Occasionally if it is really early I will wake them up, but once woken they sort themselves out.

[choccyp1g]

DS is at secondary school now, and as soon as he got his timetable, I took several photocopies, put some aside as spares, and LAMINATED one. It sits on the fridge, right next to where he eats breakfast, and he has a look at it every morning to check he has all the right books, PE kits etc.

The spares have also come in handy, as the copy in his blazer pocket lasts about half a term before disintegrating.

[Roses12s]

Yes go go go is a big part of our routine too. I do lay everything out the night before but find keeping them moving works best. We have tried getting up earlier and being more leisurely but ended up late.

[ginbob]

i always find if you buy an extra loaf sometimes and pop pairs of slices in freezer bags in the freezer, it helps prevent those packed lunch or breakfast emergencies when you've run out of bread - a quick sandwich or plate of toast can be produced very quickly.