PRE CHALLENGE TASK 3

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’]

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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.

Please share your progress in the comments below