Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

Tomorrow starts full day school and I am kind of freaking. Megan is SO SLOW in the morning. She takes forever to get up, forever to come downstairs, forever to eat..you get the picture. Last week when we were going in a little later I was doing this:

Waking her
She eats
Then gets ready (brushes teeth, washes face, gets dressed, hair, etc.)
Then she would sit and watch one show and we would leave.

Now though, I am wondering if I am doing it backwards? Should I just get her all ready before she eats? Then we can just walk out the door? I am scared of something spilling on her (she wears uniform) but it may make more sense. Just wonder what your schedules are like in the morning?

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

My kids get dressed, then eat, than brush teeth. They have to be fully dressed (inlcuding shoes) in order to eat.

The main reason for it is my kids are usually hard to get up in the am. One of the hardest to get ready is also the hungriest. Eating is the motivation to get dressed fast.

I would throw a towel over her if she's a messy eater.

Now for the other side of the coin, I know if I'm up earlier, I'm dressed, I'm organized, the mornings go a lot smoother.

If I'm hunting around for shirts for me or them, trying to find their shoes, on some level it's my issue & not theirs.

Having them lay out their clothes the night before helps tremendously.

One other thing, in my house TV is not allowed on at all in the am. If you do have one on, I'd change that too.

As they've gotten older, they also get more shy. The "If you need me to dress you, I will" gets them moving faster.

Here's the mean tip. There is one way to get a kid out of bed faster than anything else. It's to say "is that bug?" when they're in their bed They leap out of bed & I say "Oh wait. I'm sorry it's just lint" Yeah I used it until they caught on, but it worked like a charm.

HTH.

Message edited 9/11/2011 5:02:34 PM.

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

At that age, I definitely think eating should come before getting ready, especially if she has a uniform, and therefore, your options are limited if she spills something.

Honestly, if she had enough time to watch a show, it sounds like you are doing pretty good, so relax!!

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

I wake them. Tell them they got 5 minutes to be in the kitchen for breakfast. I make their food, then they eat.

After they eat, they get dressed, brush teeth, and they need to to have their bags with them to go wait outside for the bus.

In the morning, there is NO TV, no iPad, no computers, etc. Just eat and get ready.

Their clothes (uniforms) are all ironed and laid out the night before. The bus comes at 7:15.

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

Wake up, get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast, put shoes on, leave.
I try to skip TV most mornings, it goes a lot smoother and they use their extra time to just play a little bit.

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

Madeline needs to be at the bus stop by 8:35. If she wakes up early enough, she can come down and eat her breakfast first while I"m preparing her lunch and getting the little guy's breakfast together.

this AM she was up at 7.30 so she came down, had cereal and I got lunch and her backpack together. I let her watch a cartoon while she was eating since I couldn't sit with her.

After breakfast we went upstairs and I laid out 3 outfits she had her choice of. She picked one and got dressed. While she was dressing I put on my makeup (I showered before she was up). Once my makeup was done I did her hair. Then she goes and brushes her teeth & wipes her face with a washcloth. While she is doing that I blow my hair out quickly.

Then I throw on clothes, wake up the baby, dress him quickly and we all go downstairs. He gets put in the stroller and gets a sippy of milk and a breakfast bar for the walk!

Out the door by 8.30!

Sometimes DD doesn't wake up so I do all MY stuff between 7-8 (shower, makeup, hair, lunches, outfits, breakfasts, etc) and I wake her up at 8am and we fly through dressing, etc.. But she's pretty fast. I would say if your DD is slow maybe start off w/ more time (say 1 1/2 hours) and whittle it down as you hone your routine.

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

We sleep upstairs and their dressers are upstairs so they wake up and get dressed. Then downstairs to eat and brush teeth.

We pack up before bed so we have less to do in the morning. They are not allowed to watch tv or anything else until they are 100% ready to walk out the door.

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

DS usually wakes up within 15 minutes of me getting up at 6:30. I usually let him hang out and watch TV until 7:15. He has breakfast, then gets dressed. We are out the door around 7:50. He is an early bird and super easy. Ask me this again next year when my daughter is in Kindergarten She's the tough one!

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

I wake up between 5:30 and 6. I get myself ready, their clothes ready, breakfast and lunch made.

I wake Lance around 7. He gets right in the shower. He eats breakfast in his underwear and robe, or blanket. Then we brush teeth and get dressed.

I wake the baby, give her milk, change her diaper. Then we leave.

The key is me getting up before them.

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

My daughter was a ridiculously slow mover in the morning until about halfway through last school year. Then she realized I meant business. Now what I do is I get myself all ready for work, then I wake her about 20 minutes before we leave. I get her dressed as soon as she's out of the bed, bring her downstairs, like as in I actually carry her down because she's still half asleep, haha, put on her shoes, do her hair, wash up her face, brush her teeth and pop some french toast, waffles, toast, etc. in the toaster, grab it and she eats in the car. We have a bit of a ride in the mornings because I drop her off, so it works for us. I learned the hard way that any tv in the morning slows her down, so we're all business and do as little dilly dallying as possible. The less wiggle room she has, the less chance she has to move slowly.
It works for us. You'll find your groove with her as the year progresses, though

Re: Ok, I know I am neurotic, but what is your schedule like in the morning?

Everything is ready for them...we need forty min.