MORNING ROUTINE
Our mornings are usually like groundhog day when the kids are at school. However, there are so many benefits of having a routine in place:
- Having a regular and consistent routine ensures that I get the kids out the door with everything they need, clean clothes, lunches, notes for school
- When we have a hectic morning, our routine makes me feel less stressed as I know what needs to be done
- As your children grow they will learn the routine and want to help (my kids are currently at this stage and I am LOVING it), which is a perfect way for them to learn about responsibility
- If I go out for the day I enjoy coming home to a tidy house
My morning routine
This is morning routine I had when the kids were all in primary school. Now that my kids are older (all in high schoolnow) I have adjusted it slightly, they wake themselves up, I make lunches the night before and I make myself presentable before breakfast.
6.40am – wake up and have a shower
6.55am – make my bed
7.00am – wake up kids
7.05am – kids make their own breakfast
7.10am – start preparing lunches for kids and hubby (lunchbox ideas here)
7.20am – kids unpack dishwasher
7.30am – kids start their morning routine
7.30am – put away dishes washed the night prior, pack dishwasher, wipe benches
7.40am – eat breakfast and relax for 10 minutes, I check my to-do list and calendar
7.50am – brush and style (braids or ponytails) girls hair, ideas here
8.00am – put washing on the line if I didn’t do the night before
8.10am – time to get myself presentable for the day (hair and a little make-up)
8.25am – give the kids countdown 5 minutes till we leave
8.30am – in car driving to school drop off
8.40am – go to the gym or home, put the kettle on, while kettle boiling wipe over kids bathroom basin
8.45am – My day begins, either doing housework, working on the blog, running errands or catching up with friends
Create your morning routine
Use the blank morning routine list printable to create your own routine. Every family is different so please consider your schedule, the help of a partner and the ages of your kids when creating your morning routine.
- Be realistic with the time you have available
- Can you partner help with morning tasks?
- The ages of your children
- Add into your routine the areas that you know you/your family need help with eg. time for chores for the kids, putting dirty clothes into the laundry, washing dishes, preparing for the evening meal in the morning
You may also enjoy this post on creating a stress free school morning routine.
Create a morning routine for the kids
This is my kids morning routine chart pictured below, they started using this chart when they were in kindy (aged 3). This promptly removed the chaos out of our mornings and was a great visual reminder for the kids to know what they needed to do each morning.
I have tasks in a specific order, eg brush teeth before uniform/clothes goes on so they don’t get toothpaste splatter over their clean uniform (as kids do). I also like them having their socks on so when it’s time to go all they need to do is put on shoes not spend an extra 5 minutes to put socks on.
This chart is available in my shop along with the option to create personalised charts. View range of kids routine charts here.
[wlchecklist name=’PreTask3Createamorningroutineforkids’]
DOWNLOAD
Print the morning routine lists to help you create your own morning routine that suits you and your family.
- MORNING ROUTINE – file behind ‘Routines’ divider – click to download.
- BLANK MORNING ROUTINE – file behind ‘Routines’ divider – click to download.
270 comments
Sorted! 🙂
Love routine.When I stick to it and don’t get sidetracked I have a productive day and achieve a lot.
My procrastination sometime takes over and then everything seems to get behind.I try and set time limits for starting and stopping which tricks me into doing it quickly.
Ooh yes that sounds like a good trick!
Doneski
Creating a routine with a 16 week old and a 3 year old seemed daunting at first. I have completed the task and have decided i will tweak it as i go.
But you did it, love it, have faith in yourself!! You may find it needs tweaking as you go through it you’ll find you may need to add to it or move tasks around.
Mater I’m in the same position – 3yr old and 5 month old. Routine seems to change weekly ?
*Maree
Hmmm … routines, this is where my wheel falls off, even though I know how much they will help and do make a big difference. I have the best of intentions, set the alarm, write out what I have to at what time.
Then I put the alarm on snooze 2 or more times, wake up fuzzy headed, spend way too long drinking coffee and willing myself to get some energy.
But, I will give it a good go this time, see if I can push through it. the irony is, when I am in a routine, I have more energy.
Good luck everyone.
At least your honest haha I hope I can encourage you to make changes as they will benefit you in the long run. I saw this quote the other day ‘You will never change your life until you change something you do daily’
I used to do this too until I read somewhere that its going back to sleep after the first alarm, no matter how tired or how little sleep, that gives you the fuzzy head…I still have to do the coffee coffee, but no more hangovers!! “Never use snooze” is something I am also working on! I should change my wake up message now from “Good morning Sunshine” which never fails to raise a smile, to “Good morning Sunshine! No snoozing today!! Reminder to self…Keep the first commitment of the day, and it will set you up for success!
Morning routine is done we will see if it needs to be fixed tomorrow!
Your smashing through all the pre-tasks!! You may find over the next few days, and even weeks you may need to tweak your routine, that’s normal, you’ll work out the best way for it to suit you and your household 🙂
I’ve created my morning routine. Don’t need to do one for the kids, mine are all grown up 🙂 More time for me in the morning!
Morning routines done but may need tweaking. I had to make 2 for myself depending on the days
That’s a good idea having different routines for different days. You may find over the next month that you may need to tweak them, once you get into the rhythm you can add or eliminate some tasks 🙂
I think my routines might need a tweak but we will see how they go!
Once you start on them you may need that they need adjusting, you’ll find what suits the rhythm of your day and family, but you’ve at least created a starting point 🙂
I signed up for the 20 Day Challenge on Monday and am actually looking forward to getting organised, declutter, set up routines and make up the natural cleaning caddies.
I have printed up the paperwork and will put it in a binder tomorrow. I have done my antibacterial wipes and made up the all purpose cleaner.
I have had the flu this week, but this evening I was feeling a little better and managed to clean our grotty microwave, it came up sparkling clean in less than 15 minutes.
I also did the toilet and wiped some benches.
Love the antibacterial wipes and the all purpose cleaner.
We have a visitor coming from overseas in November this year, so I have made this my timeline to do the challenge. I may finish earlier, but I work full time and don’t want to put pressure on myself.
Thankyou Kat
I absolutely love your enthusiasm already Vikki. The wipes are brilliant aren’t they, so easy to make and clean everything in the home up so well! I had my youngest cleaning her footy boots with them on the weekend.
Finally completed.
I used have a routine like yours fifteen years ago for my daughter through primary & half of high school. She really had a different interpretation of time to everyone else.
But now it seems life was so much easier when they (our two) were at school. They are now at uni, have placement and part time jobs and one day is never the same as the other, not to mention last minute social plans!
So my routine often ends up going from plan A to B to C and sometimes D.
At least it keeps life interesting.
some people have made routines for different days, which is also a great idea. But just keep adapting them to suit your current commitments x