Up and At'em: Getting Ready for School Day Mornings

Save to notebook Email article Print article More articles

By Rachel Derry
Staff Writer LIFamilies

With summer vacation over, parents and children alike are filled with a mixed sense of anticipation and dread. Children, obviously, because their vacation has come to an end, and no matter how much fun school can be, they'd rather be off. Parents, on the other hand, although they are looking forward to getting some time back for themselves, they are all too aware that going back to school means school day mornings!

Can you think of anything more stressful than waking up, everyday, and trying to get your whole family ready to go? The running around, dressing, eating, and preparing; even the most on-the-ball parent can easily get overwhelmed.

School mornings don't have to be the pandemonium that you are anticipating. With just a couple changes to your usual schedule your school get up and go mornings can run as smoothly as they did.well, before you had children.

First off parents, you need to learn to handle the truth about the morning. You need to think about how long you all actually need to get up and ready in the morning, and follow it. Maybe not everyone should get up at the same time. You may decide that everyone should have different wakeup times. (No fights for the bathroom!)

You should try getting up first. More often than not we decide to get up with our kids, or they may even get us up. If you try getting up a half hour earlier than the rest you will find yourself more refreshed and ready to face the crowd. Grab a cup of coffee, read your newspaper, or do some yoga: with you relaxed and ready the feeling will spread.

Make sure to avoid any seek games in the morning. Make sure your children have everything they may need for the day prepared before they go to bed. They will have their homework done, of course, but make sure that they have also gotten you any permission slips or letters that you need, as well. Set out every ones' clothes before bed too. If your "independent" little one likes to pick out their own clothes, have two or three choices fully laid out for the morning.

Last, and possibly most importantly, always prepare for weather. Even if no foul weather is expected, make sure you have the time and utilities necessary to not let weather slow down your morning.

Long Island Family Life & Parenting Articles > Up and At'em: Getting Ready for School Day Mornings