School morning routine

[TeaAndTalesMama]

Hi,

With the kids going back this week I'm wanting to start a new routine for school mornings in our house. Towards the end of last term things became a little chaotic and we were rushing most mornings and I don't like that the kids are rushed and I'm stressed before dropping them off for the day.

My DDs are 7 and 5 and we need to leave the house at 8.20am. Anyone willing to share their routines?

Thanks 😊

Uniforms laid out and bags packed and by the front door the night before.

No tv until they have had breakfast and are ready.

If you need to have at 8.20 then you need to be ready for 8.10... Someone will need a wee/ forget their gloves etc last minute.

Most importantly get them to bed early otherwise no morning routine will work on tired kids

Good luck!!

My daughter and I are both not morning people and are on our own in the mornings so we have to be efficient!

Our routine is
7.40 I get up, wake her up and turn the light on. Ask her to come down to breakfast
I go downstairs and start breakfast and coffee
7.45 she comes down or I go up and bring her down we eat breakfast
7.55-8.00 we go back upstairs to get dressed, laid out the night before with two options. Her preference is trousers so these are saved for later in the week when it gets harder to get her ready.
8.10 teeth and hair
8.15 shoes and leave the house.

Bags are sorted then night before.

I have alarms that go over through our the morning to make sure we are keeping to time and moving from breakfast to getting dressed to getting ready to leave on time as it's so easy for each section to slip by a few minutes and then there is greater time pressures.

We did start with getting dressed before breakfast as that would avoid a trip back upstairs but she needs a bit more time to wake up before cooperating with getting dressed.

We did pretty much as Lemon did right down to no screens until they were ready.

What made it easier for me was getting up an hour before then and showering myself and sorting out the DDog.

Also agree on the early nights. Trying to corale tired DC is not fun!

We’ve created a new one as oldest needs to leave much earlier now for middle school. My advice would be to work backwards for planning
8.20 - leave the house
8.10 - snacks and water bottle in bag (kids can do this themsleves) coats and shoes on

We have the same routine every single morning and it never changes so that helps. Mine are 9 and 5 and I also have a 1 year old to sort. They are all up and downstairs by 7 and having breakfast. Then dressed and upstairs at 8 for teeth and hair. We aim to leave about 8:25 and I always aim to start getting shoes on etc by 8:15 as things always seem to get lost/nappy needs changing/shoes don’t fit etc etc. I think our mornings are usually fine as the kids are awake so early, usually about 6/6:30 so we always have lots of time. I’m dreading them starting to wake up later!

Early and consistent bed time routine. Uniform, coats, shoes, bags, packed lunch etc all sorted the night before.
You wake up earlier than the DC ti get yourself ready.
DC up about 7:15/7:30ish. Breakfast, ready, downstairs to chill. Check if anyone wants a wee at 8:10, and shoes on.

I think prepping as much as possible the night before is best. If you have kids that take a while to get going in the morning then I'd be prepared to get up earlier.

If you need to leave at 8.20 I would plan to be ready at 8.10, gives that extra leeway time and reduces the rushing.

We leave at 7.30 I drive them to school and they start at 8.15.

Up at 6 am. I wake the DC s at 6.15. Night before bags are packed. They are 13 and 15 so need to do that themselves.

We all shower the night before. They get a fresh set of uniform daily, except for trousers which they wear 2 days running. Fresh shirts daily - 'cos teenagers. I wash it all at the weekend then they hang it up as a complete set with knickers and vests etc.

One of my DCs has medical issues and is on medication that affects his eating very badly. So I try and get a cooked breakfast in before he takes his first set of medication. It's mainly things like eggs and bagels and bacon. I have that down to a fine art and can do scrambled eggs, bacon and bagels or pancakes in under ten minutes. However before I got into that routine I often prepared breakfast that they then ate in the car. I would do sausage and egg muffins and wrap it in foil.

I have a pretty good routine now.But they key part to it all is that the DCs are older and mostly can sort themselves out. And by Sunday afternoon I have the entire week of clean ironed uniform all hanging up so they just grab it.

Oh and my top tips - have second sets of toothbrushes and toothpaste and hairbrushes downstairs. The number of times the DCs have come down and not brushed their teeth or hair. Wastes valuable time going back upstairs etc.

They have school lunches so no more packing of snack bags but I always used to do that the night before too.

I used to:

Wake up earlier and get myself washed and dressed and ready.

Only then did i wake them up.

Into the shower one after another - alternating who goes first each day.

Quick wash, moisturise, uniforms.

Downstairs for breakfast.

Vitamins and then teeth.

Then kids into the car.

No screens at all in the morning. Any “spare” time - they can read but absolutely no screens.

Same routine every single day

Things that were critical:

Uniform hung up / PE bag packed night before. Everything hung up; dress cardi rain jacket socks pants all laid out for younger DD, hung up and accessible for older DD.

All bags / instruments / etc by the door night before

Breakfast set up - started the night before

Lunch bags - all laid out night before so the 20 mins they are showering is when I quickly make the fresh bits and fill the water bottles.

Calling out to them letting them know what time it is - ie its 7am now we need to leave in 10 /15/20

Same routine every single day.

It’s nice for me now they are me 9 and 12 - they set alarms and get on with it with little input. Just mentioning that to let you know it does get better.

Everything ready the night before. Everything. Mine brush their teeth/wash face downstairs. They get up at 630 have a shower and get dressed. Once downstairs they have no need to go back up. No tv until shoes and coats are on and they are 100% ready. We have done it this way for years and the youngest are now 12 and 15 and it is so ingrained in them I can leave for work at 7am if needed knowing full well they will get ready without issue and in time to leave for school at 750am.

Definitely get bags packed night before, that’s what helped us the most. I think in all the years I did the school run, only twice was anything forgotten. I was very lucky that apart from 2 years, both my DC had school dinners, so only has to put water bottles and snacks in on the morning. We also had a rule, after breakfast the eldest would go and get ready and then the youngest got ready, if they went together they would mess around. Once they were ready, they could watch tv whilst I finished getting ready. Our routine worked really well, but I did lift share with a neighbour’s DS who was in the same class as my eldest, he was always late, it really annoyed me but it helped my DC know about how important time keeping is.

Exactly this. Same routine everyday so e eventually they are doing it so automatically they need little input from a parent. My youngest found setting alarms very helpful too.

Ours is:

• Up at 6am, dressed before coming downstairs
• Breakfast and free play until 6:45. I make pack lunches and get myself ready
• 6:45am teeth, hair and shoes/socks
• 7am learning (maths/reading/spellings)
• Leave the house at 7:40 for school at 7:45

Sometimes I set the alarm for 5am so I can wake more slowly on my own