How do people manage to get into work??????????

[fairyfly]

I want to go to college, three days a week, thats it. Everything in the world stops me. All ready to go today, loads of work done and my son has a sore throat and can barely talk. My other one only got better yesterday so i have been off with him. Before that all sorts happened to prevent me going. How do you all do it withpout getting fired, it's a nightmare.

Inspirational

It is usually a good idea to find those jeans before leaving the house, I should add.

MI you dress them before breakfast? We'd need to do it again if we did that here!
Popsy, it will take you twice as long with two...here is our routine to illustrate!
6.40 dh showers. 7am dh downstairs and prepares breakfast for all. I change ds2 then into shower. I dress and come downstairs with ds1 clothes, leaving ds2 clothes by change station. We eat breakfast together (ds2 needs spoon feed which takes ages). Ds1 to toilet (sometimes with someone reading book to him to help). Ds1 dressed - requires total supervision and much nagging. I'm afraid apart from washing hands he doesn't get anything else cleaned in the morning - no teeth, no hairbrush, nada. Once he is completely dressed (shoes and coat) he can watch a video. Dh is upstairs dressing himself and ds2 while I do my lunch. We are usually ready to go by 8.20 ish, depending on whether ds2 needs another change...
If I do it myself I have to get up before ds's wake to be completely ready before I start on them...

My trick is that I need to be out of the house pedalling my bike by 7.30am sharp, so I just leave everything to dp - tee hee hee!

Seriously though - night before preparation is the answer. I pack myself a breakfast to eat on the train (after by bike exploits). Make sure my panier is packed with EVERYTHING in it - keys, purse, etc etc. Clothes are laid out down to the socks, knickers - otherwise you can bet you discover they're all in the wash at the crucial moment. Ditto dd's clothes (she's 2.4).

Oh and I loathe getting up in the morning so I even have my shower the night before to buy me that extra 25-30 minutes in bed!

Still can't imagine doing this with 2 kids - need to work on reducing my 1.5 hour commute I think.

night before :-
ds1 lunchbox prepared
my lunch for work made
ds1 and ds2 clothes laid out on their chairs
book bags and childminders bag checked and left on hall table
any other bags needed checked - football or swimming

in morning - if up they watch telly till 7:00 while i get dressed. Dh leaves before I get dressed so he is no help whatsoever !
Get them dressed
Give them breakfast
Clean teeth & wash faces.
Shoes and coats on
Bags in car
Leave for childminder 7:55 latest

Obviously in between there is time for them to go to the toilet - but not long !

Oh and I eat my breakfast when i get in to work - much less stressful

You sound similar to me Kayleigh - my rountine for the night before is exactly the same.
I get myself up at 6.30, showered (can't face the world without a morning shower!), make up on and hair done. Feed cat. Wake DD's up at 7am. DD's toileted, washed, teeth, dressed and hair done and downstairs by 7.30. Then prepare their breakfast (often hot!), I get dressed whilst they are eating. When I am back down it is shoes and coats on and out tothe car by 8am prompt!
No TV - isn't time!!
DH gets himself up, showered, dressed, breakfasted and goes to work - dosn't understand why I make a fuss!!

The only problem with "get as much ready as you can the night before" rule is that sometimes you just don't have an evening!!!

a tip for getting things ready the night before.....after tea, ds watches tv or a video for 20 mins or so and that is when i try to run around getting stuff ready for the next day.

Then it is books, milk, bed etc

but popsycal, if i do it before they are in bed something invariably gets moved or taken out a bag. I do get all the food stuff ready before they go to bed, while they are playing or watching TV but the books and clothes don't get sorted till all little hands are safely tucked away

Have a nanny!

I get up at 6.20am or so and leave for work about 7.07am (not precise or anything). In between I have quick bath, dress and brush hair (no make-up tho); get all smalls (3) downstairs and eatign breakfast; have mine and get DS1's fruit snack ready for school; then fetch clothes I have got out nigth before and get them dressed. DS1 (5) and DD (3) dress themselves, I get DS2 into his stuff (some protests). Try to do DD's hair (it's a girl job) before I leave.
DH finishes off, just has faces and teeth and hair and shoes then off to childminders and school.
what fun!
Like your Inferiority Complex MI!

BTW am amazed how many people have kids dressed before breakfast! Certainly with DS2 that would be a no-go. He uses weetabix as a glue substiute i think...

All clothes are sorted the night before, breakfast laid and hairbands/clips/shoes sorted out. I get up at 6.45am and have a shower and do my 'base'- underwear and work top and a bit of make up - then put grotty walking to school in the mud clothes over the top (fleece and jeans). Then get 2 dd's up, change dd2's nappy and all downstairs for breakfast - eating by 7.15am. Breakfast usually goes on for about half an hour, dd1 reads us her reading book for school (we've already done it the day before this is a second go at it). I run around making snacks/packing bags while dh gets dd2 dressed. Then dd1 gets dressed in her uniform and I do her face and hair. Then if they are both ready by 8am they get 10 minutes of Dora The Explorer while I pack up the buggy for the trip to school. We leave house at 8.10 for the 10 minute walk to school. I wave bye to dd1 at 8.30 and walk home - home by 8.45, change for work while dd2 watches tv, childminder arrives at 9am, chat to her for 5/10 mins and in the car to drive to work for 9.30am.

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I find it an absolute nightmare too. I can just about cope with the day to day routines and even then I'm regularly late, but it's the 'out of the ordinary' situations that really faze me. For example this morning, I had to put bacl a meeting I had arranged because I had to take ds into school (he normally goes straight from his childminders) and explain about him not being able to go out at playtime/do gym etc because he has broken his collar bone. This is after being wakened up three times during the night by a baby with a terrible cold who has coughing fits and sounds like she's drowning in her own snot.
Last week, I had to take the afternoon off because dd2 had had a fall at school and they thought I should take her to Casualty to get it checked out as the School Nurse thought she might be concussed and the week before that I had to pick up my father from hospital after hd had a biopsy as the hospital wouldn't let him out if he was going to be on his own and my stepmum (a lecturer) couldn't get away from her work.
To be honest, I think that I would sack me sometimes.

Only at work/nursery 3 days a week but do try to get as much ready the night before as possible (have to be very strict with myself and not sit down til I've done it) ie. packed lunch for me, clothes for dd and me laid out the night before. Dh sorts himself out. Get up at 6.30 for shower and breakfast etc - whoever is finished in the shower gets dd up (if she's not already awake) and dressed then she sits in our bed and has some milk while we get dressed. DD has breakfast at nursery so we have to be there (walkind) before 8 am. Don't have it at home cos she faffs about and takes so long that we'd never get out the door. Doesn't always work and quite often dh leaves before us which is when the fun starts - ie. that last minute wee or refusal to put her shoes on etc. etc...

I can't function without breakfast. Admittedly I don't function brilliantly WITH breakfast, but honestly I couldn't get out of the door without it.

Don't know why the inferiorettes can cope with breakfast while dressed, but I suspect that in DD2's case this is because her mother has amazingly low standards. I did get them to the childminder the other day to realise the flannel stage of fur fangs and faces had been somewhat perfunctory and she was still bright orange. CM opened the door and said 'baked beans for breakfast, eh' in cheery appreciation of their nutritious start to the day

lisalisa ! Surely you can drop that cooking for the evening meal thang? Cant you do some the night before and finish it on the night? Or do a big cook up at the weekends and freeze it?

Lisalisa, are you a single parent?

Mine getting dressed before breakfast was a a case of "they have to or get up 30 mins earlier", which actually would mean me too!! DD1 is not a breakfast person and needs to be up 30 mins before she can face food!. DD2 gets a clean tea towel tied round her!!

MI - you give them baked beans for breakfast in the week? Thats a domestic goddess in my book!

I find having a certain routine in the evenings helps. So eg when I get in first job is to change out of work clothes - so while I'm hanging up, laundry binning one lot I get the next lot out. I get DD's out while I'm getting her undressed for her bath and getting her pjs out etc etc.

Our routine is complicated by the fact that DS has breakfast at home but DD has it at nursery so normally DH and DS go downstairs for breakfast with DH dressed and DS in pjs (DS has weetabix and then yoghurt religiously) while DD and I stay upstairs. I buy toast at work. But when DH is away (like tonight) I have to take them both downstairs and stand over DS (dawdling champion) and so then DD has to have a rice cake (or big protest) although she is not hugry because she has been breastfed at 6.30 am while DS was still asleep.

I get up at 6.30 am to be out of the house for 7.40 with the children ready at this point but DH helps. Get up at the same time when he's away to be out at 7.55 but its more stressful. 6mo DD easy, 3yo DS a PITA.

I am amazed how many people make packed lunches. we go for school dinners (and nursery provides food there) to save time and effort (If not nutritious, school dinners can at least be a social experience, I tell myself).

we're lucky if the food stains are from breakfast rather than the night before - washing faces sometimes gets omitted from the morning schedule.

the packed lunch I make is for me

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