Help! Morning rush hour meltdown.

[grumblingirl]

Anyone else got tips about how to handle the morning ?rush hour?? Getting ds1 (5) and ds2 (10 months) fed, dressed, watered, packed up and in the car in the morning is causing me a HUGE amount of stress. This morning I lost it big time. Ds2 is cruising and this morning pulled my (thankfully cold) coffee all over him self and the floor, and I just flipped. I shouted at him and threw the oven gloves at the pile of crockery I?d just washed up. My dp and ds1 just stood there mouths agape and poor ds2 looked totally confused. I don?t know if it?s a combination of getting into the routine (only went back to work 3 weeks ago), exhaustion (ds2 still waking several times a night) and having an hour and half journey before I get to work (two drop offs to school & childcare) but I feel like something is going to give and I know it?s going to be my head! I got up at 6 this morning in an attempt for things to go more smoothly (I don?t start work until 9.30) but if anything it was even more of a disaster. How do you lot cope with the daily struggle? Answers on a post card please!

Mine are 5 and 3 and it took all of last yr to get some sort of routine going (I work school hrs and DD goes to nursery at my work place).
Basically i have a routine (nicked from flylady) I have it written down as a checklist so I can check i've done it all before leaving the house (stops panicy feeling).
I get up 1/2 hr before DCs and get dressed/washed and load washing machine.
Wake DCs up (7-7.30) and dress/supervise dressing them both in the bedroom.
DCs watch TV/play/eat breakfast while I eat, wash up, assemble packed lunches and get together all relevent bags and coats.
8.30 TV off - brush teeth, shoes, coat, wee.
Leave the house.

I have to get me & 4 dc up and out by 8. Morning's aren't much fun. tbh there's plenty of time, but they are a nightmare (3 dss)

I get up and showered and dressed before them, then wake them up. Make breakfast and we all eat together while I bf dd, then they get dressed while I change & dress dd, then grab bags, coats, shoes & out.

It is a nightmare tho, mainly cos they won't get out of bed, or 1 sits reading for 20 minutes, one gets sent up to dress, then just doesn't..... I tried getting them to dress before they came down, but ds usually spills his breakfat & he has to get changed again....

Lists, timer, packed lunch made the night before, toothbrushes & toothpaste in downstairs toiler do they don't have to go back up.....

Ime more time doesn't nec help - ore time to drift/ dither. I hour for the 5 of us is really enough. But it's still a stressy nightmare

Get everything ready the night before (e.g. cothes out (grab them as you say goodnight to DS1), lunch box made and in the fridge (can do after work/school before or while cooking dinner), breakfast laid (as soon as dinner is over), bag packed (do as soon as you unpack it from the day) etc). DO ALL domestic chores like washing up the night before or leave it until you get home whichever is the lesser of the two evils - don't bother trying to do it in the morning - not worth the stress! I highly recommend a quick tidy up by you and DH every evening once the kids are in bed so that you only have the washing up after dinner to do before bed / to leave soaking until the next day if you can't face it.

Put nappies and spare set of clothes etc for DS2 downstairs to save going upstairs to change him again if you need to.

Toothbrush for DS1 downstairs (e.g. kitchen if no extra toilet).

Work out how long DS1 needs to get from being in bed to out of the door and then you get up 20 mins (or longer if you need it) earlier than that to get your shower in. You can get him up as you leave the bathroom and kickstart the process with him while you get dressed etc.

Feed DS2 as and when you need to amongst it all.

Mine are 5yrs 4 yrs and 8 months;

Be disciplined about organising everything the night before;
Bookbags gone through, letters signed, PE kit clean, packed lunch made. Then EVERYTHING we need (except the lunch which is in the fridge) is put under the buggy (or in the car in your case)

School clothes are laid out and the 2 eldest dress themselves BEFORE coming down for breakfast. They then do not go back upstairs for any reason! Toothbrushes and flannels kept in downstairs toilet for morning wash.

I get up at least 1/2 hour before the older children. BF baby and he is ready to eat breakfast with them, BLW means no spoonfeeding and I can grab a bite to eat myself.

This sounds a bit regimented but works for us and we need to leave at 8.15 for a longish walk

It WILL get easier

Grumblingirl, if it makes you feel any better households all over town are having the same sort of morning! I can be uber-organised and still end up screaming. "Get out the door! Get your lunchbag". Poor DS1 this morning cried and said "what do you want me to do first?" I felt terrible!

All you can do is be as organised as you can the night before. Getting up earlier to sort yourself out helps - you can actually really enjoy the peace and that cup of coffee before the chaos starts.

Everything is done the night before, a load in the washing machine ready to go, breakfast bowls out, juice in a jug ready in the fridge.

No TV until all children are ready with shoes on.

That's the theory anyway!

Thanks everyone. There are some great suggestions - especially re the lists and sorting everything the night before. I've wrote a list of everything I usually do on a night and it totals 27 jobs. I think I've found the cause of my problem. Our household is definitely still in mummy on maternity leave mode. I'm going to sit down with dp, show him the list, give him half the jobs and then negotiate a rota otherwise I'm going to continue to be stressed. Oh the joys of family life! You're right ohforfoxsake (cool name btw) this IS happening in households around the country and perhaps I better widen my perspective a bit!