Tricks for saving time on school mornings anyone?

[bijou]

I get Ds's school snack ready the night before and even put water in the kettle sometimes, ready for morning tea.

I'd get my clothes ready the night before but who know what the weather's going to be like...and, well, getting clothes ready the night before is just too nerdy for me.

We're always the last ones at the school gates.
Anyone got any tips on how to shave a few minutes off the morning rush?

Ds uniform is so enriched with Teflon it could walk to school on its own. I am a natural-fibres-requiring-ironing type of gal so it's a good job these crease-proof clothes were forced on us or I'd be like Mieow, ironing away at 6.45...

Well last night i had my friends 2 girls to stay as she is in hospital this morning to get induced and we are all so hyper and excited,this was on top of my 3 and i am a single parent so no extra hands.
We got up at 8:30 and i had ds9 dressed,fed,washed and out in his taxi ,he is disabled and goes to a special unit,I then had to organise the other four,2 2years olds and 2 7 year olds,they were all dressed,clean,fed and i washed my hair and got ready myslelf and we were all out the house to drop the toddlers at playgroup for 9:10 not bad going if i may say so myself!!

I am always super efficient , uniform ready for ds to put on as soon as he gets up, has to have it on before he comes down, lunch box/book bag armed and ready to walk out the door at 8.30.... what I can't do anything about is ds's body clock, he WILL NOT poo to order and wants to 'go' when I want to walk out the door!

Agree with Roisin about consistently late ones, I always pass the same mum with her son when I am on my way back up the road after the class has gone in - she lives 2 mins walk from school.

not very organised myself but always always have ds's clothes laid out the night before..right down to socks,pants and shoes.Have his book bag packed ready, give him his bath the night before so he just needs his face washing and teeth cleaning.leave the baby asleep until the last moment and then just scoop him into the pram and whizz him up to school.,and then sort him out when we get back.
If i don't get the uniform ready etc, we will almost certainly be late.

oh and ds HAS to eat breakfast in his pjs otherwise his uniform would have breakfast spilt down it!

I don't do anything the night before ... can't be ar$ed ... am too busy on MN
I get up at 6.30 every day. DH gives DS (an early riser) his breakfast while I get showered and dressed. DH also gets DD up. I give DD her breakfast while DH gets ready for work. I then make lunches while DS gets dressed. DH leaves for work at 7.30am. We then have 45 minutes of 'faf' time (do DS' reading, do the washing up etc etc) and are out of the house by 8.15 every morning.
It helps that my children wake up early ... the only plus side of early risers.
I hate getting out of bed in the morning but I equally hate going out without a shower and make up so I sacrifice that last half hour in bed so I am not stressed.
And my DH does his 'bit' ... and so he should!!!!

I am with roisin here - I have 3 to get to school and we have a strict routine which works great if I keep it up. There is no longer a big choice for breakfast - weetabix or Bran Flakes. I make lunchboxes whilst DP does breakfast. the boys have to be dressed before they come downstairs and DS3 has just proved he can do it himself now!
I still end up shouting to get them to put their shoes on though...........

motherofboys - "..while DP does breakfast.."

I think that is the secret weapon I need. will nag him.

TV is our incentive to co-operate! It stays off until both kids breakfasted, dressed, teeth cleaned hair brushed and shoes on. They ususally have time for 20 mins before school/ nursery.

I'm a night before girl. Clothes, bags packed, lunch made and in fridge ready for bag. If I don't then I spend all morning feeling frazzled. On the three days I work the mornings are the only time I have with my children until bedtime so don't want to spend it as mother-from-hell shouting at them to get a move on.

My problem is fitting in DS's 3 x bowls of cereal.

We have a very nerdy super-strict routine too. When I went back to work after having DS3, I actually wrote out a timetable, starting with my departure time and then working backwards, iyswim, to make sure we would have time for everything. So it goes e.g.

8.30 a.m. Leave house
8.25 a.m. Put shoes and coats on
8.15 a.m. Teeth brushing

and so on and so on back to when I get up. Mind you DS3 and I overslept this morning so the first thing on the timetable (Mummy shower) has sadly been omitted. My poor work colleague...

Dinosaur - I wrote out a timetable too by working backwards - how supanerdy are we!

I got a tip from mumsnet about the children dressing downstairs - it stopped me sorting breakfast and running up the staris 3 times to ensure they were getting dressed and not playing with one sock on and one sock nowhere to be seen

as dh works away i have to do mornings on my own...thats why a shower for me doesn't figure into the equation! usually fit that in around 10 or 11 after doing everything else!

sadly my kids (5, 4 and 1) get up at 6:15 every morning so I always seem to have bags of time, for all I care school & nursery could start an hour earlier. So yes, I think getting up a bit earlier is the answer, as well as getting into a schedule and sticking to it, as has already been recommended. Moving the clock a bit forward is also a very plan.

very good even.
I shower whilst the children watch cbeebies at 8:15. dh leaves the house at 6:45.

I also find mornings run most smoothly when dh is not here
Does anyone else have that experience?!

Roisin, definitely, yes!

God yes! dh always seems to cock up my routine and get in the way. Much easier doing it on my own

rosin, in agreement with you again today!