getting ready for school...

How long do you give your Dc (5+) to get ready for school in the morning.

What is your routine?

I feel like I am waking Dd up so early but some days she takes so long to eat and then is quick others.

Also what do you give your child for breakfast?

getting ready for school...

DS (7th grade) gets up at 6:45 and out the door by 7:30.

DD (1st grade) gets up at 7:30 and gets on the bus at 8:50, but she definitely doesn't need that much time to get ready. We have to drive DH to the 8:42 train so she really only has about an hour to get ready.

Re: getting ready for school...

My kids wake up early year round. DD wakes up around 6:30, DS around 7. We have to leave the house by 9am, so they always have plenty of time. If we are running late it's usually that I'm dragging around and have to rush to grab a shower and make lunches.

Breakfast - they usually ask for cereal & fruit.

Re: getting ready for school...

I get him up between 7 and 7:30. I make him go to the bathroom and brush his teeth. I was making him do it after he ate but he gets toothpaste all over, so now it's the first thing we do.

Right after he's done, he goes and gets dressed. He showers at night and we lay out everything he needs for the morning.

When he's done he eats breakfast. Then he washes his face, uses mouth wash, and we're out the door.

Breakfast depends on the day and how much time we have. Today he had waffles and sliced banana with a yogurt drink. Sometimes he has cereal, a breakfast bar, sliced apple and nutella, graham crackers and apple sauce, pancakes, french toast, etc.... Most of the time he wants a breakfast bar and yogurt smoothie or juice.

Re: getting ready for school...

DS just started kindergarten. I get him up around an hour before he has to be out for the bus. He has breakfast, gets dressed, brushed teeth and has my DH do his hair. If he finishes he gets to watch TV till we leave. I iron his clothes and make lunches the night before.

Breakfast can be: oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, french toast sticks, cereal (cheerios, kixs, rice crispies, etc), muffin or muffin top. I try to encourage a fruit with it so peach slices, strawberries, blueberries or a banana. Some days ge only eats the breakfast so he will have a fruit with lunch or for a snack

Message edited 9/6/2012 6:55:46 PM.

Re: getting ready for school...

So far DS has been asking for (eggless) pancakes or toast and he has insisted that he doesn't want anything else. I think I will add in some yogurt, though. He is a very light eater. It takes him forever to eat but he wakes up early on his own. DH gets him started and then I get up when DH leaves . If I had a girl I would need a lot more time to do hair! I love fun little girl hairdos but my schedule would be a lot different.

Message edited 9/6/2012 7:07:07 PM.

Re: getting ready for school...

I get ready first and then I i wake dd at 7:20..... bathroom, teeth, get dressed, do hair and out the door at 7:35. She eats breakfast at before care.

Its such a quick routine, that she doesnt have the chance to question the clothing I put on her or dilly dally around.

Re: getting ready for school...

They wale up at 7:10 every day for the most part and we don't have to leave until 835ish for the bus so we have plenty of time. Although not for my K son since he takes forever to eat.

Routine for kids - wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, wash up, do hair, put on shoes. If they do all this before we have to leave they can play or watch tv. I get up early like 615 and get myself mostly ready and relax. While they eat, I prepare lunches and snacks for the day and pack their school bags up, finish drying my hair and throw in laundry or whatever. Breakfast is usually eggo pancakes or waffles or toast with some kind of fruit (usually 4-5 strawberries are the favorite) nand a cup of soy milk.

Message edited 9/6/2012 8:26:00 PM.

Re: getting ready for school...

DD's bus comes at 8:05, so I have been waking her at 7:15. Could probably let her sleep another 10 minutes or so, but I don't want to be crazy stressed in the morning.

Breakfast is usually cereal, or this morning she had 2 gogurts.

Clothes are laid out the night before and lunch and snack is decided on the night before.

Re: getting ready for school...

I get ready first.

Ideally clothes are laid out the night before, backpacks are packed with homework that's done.

Now that they're older, I give them 5 minutes to get dressed before they have to come to the table as is. So if you're half in your pjs, you better eat your breakfast quickly so you aren't going to school in your pj top & underwear (this only started working once they were horrified of going to school in pjs before that I dealt with a kid lying & telling me it was pajama day).

Then they have 10 minutes to eat breakfast. A minute or two to clear off the table.
5 minutes to brush their teeth.
Anytime that they have after that is spent getting themselves ready if they didn't finish.

I used to wait until they were completely dressed before breakfast because they were usually hungry.

For breakfast, I will sometimes make extra french toast on the weekends & use it for during the week. Today was a 3 egg omelette & ham. Yesterday was a bowl of oatmeal & a banana shake. My son is on medication which makes him not hungry during the day so he power-eats his breakfast. My daughter will be the one that just has coffee in the morning when she gets older. She's usually good for toast & jelly or one egg.

The key for me is getting ready before them. If I'm not, it changes how I interact with them & makes for a miserable morning.
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Right now my daughter is making a hot peanut butter sandwich for herself.

Message edited 9/7/2012 7:19:16 AM.

Re: getting ready for school...

I wake them at 6:30 am. They get up, eat breakfast, get dressed and need to be ready for the bus at 7:15.

Breakfast can be anything from cereal, pop-tart, frozen waffles, pancakes, bagel, cinnamon raisin toast, etc.

Re: getting ready for school...

Ideal day:
Wake at 7:30. We get down stairs by 8. They for some reason hate to get dressed upstairs so they do this while they eat or right after.

They eat cereal, waffles, or oatmeal with a banana or yogurt if I can get them to eat it.

We have to get out the door by 8:45 for the bus.

normally this does not happen. if I am not ready to go down by 8, since I got up later, or they slept late, I will bring breakfast up to them and they an eat while they watch a show. My boys need to be able to do something else in the morning besides getting right up and getting dressed and eating. Other wise I am fighting with them to get them out the door.

Ideally I also have their bags packed from the night before and lunches made, but again, in 3 days, I only did this 2x so I am not great with getting it all done at night.

Message edited 9/7/2012 12:31:49 PM.

Re: getting ready for school...

I get ready first.
Then, I get DS up at 6:40.
He has cereal for breakfast. He loves TV, but, my morning rule for him now that school is back in, is, NO TV.
We did this today (he started K) and he was ready and even had 10 mins. to play.
We'll stick with this routine.
(his bus comes 7:35AM).
I also have clothes planned out the night before. I packed his lunch as he sat at the table and ate.

Re: getting ready for school...

DS just started kindergarten this week. He wakes up at about 7:10 am. Goes to the bathroom, then down stairs for breakfast, then back upstairs to brush his teeth, and gets dressed. He is done with all of that by about 7:50. DH and I supervise to make sure he is doing everything properly. Yesterday he was great about it, but today he needed more help. He hurt his cheek so I put scar cream on it, and he did NOT want me to do it. DH had to hold him while I put the cream on his cheek. At 7:50 DS helps make his sandwich. I prepare the rest of the lunch box and snack bag with him the night before. He can relax and play from 8-8:25 when we go outside to wait for the bus. The bus stop is directly across the street from our house and the bus gets here at 8:30. HTH I know I am going to have a slightly harder time for DD because she likes to get up at 7:25 but I am going to have to eventually wake her once she is old enough for kindergarten.

ETA: Breakfast is either cereal (fiber one with raisins, Cheerios), Eggo blueberry waffles, English muffin, or left over pancakes. DH makes pancakes over the weekend with some left over. We can microwave them for 10 seconds and they are perfect.

Message edited 9/7/2012 1:48:34 PM.

getting ready for school...

Wake-up is 6:45AM. He has until 7:10AM to finish breakfast. Then he goes to the bathroom (which may happen during breakfast time), brush teeth and get dressed (eats breakfast in PJs just in case he spills milk, etc on his clothes). Bus comes at 7:30AM so if he's ready to walk out the door and the bus still didn't come, then he can play.

My routine varies whether or not DH is home in the morning. If not, I get up and get dressed before waking DS. If DH is home, then I get DS and DH up and they go downstairs for breakfast while I get dressed. I usually make lunch whether or not DH is home, while DS is eating breakfast and getting ready.

Re: getting ready for school...

Thank you! I just feel like I'm waking her so early - but most mornings she is ready early (up at 645 ready by 735-745 - we leave around 805-810 - we are walkers). But I have to sit with her and say EAT, EAT, EAT, etc. Otherwise she takes forever! We eat first then brush and get dressed. I just worry that it is TOO early because I could tell she was tired this morning - which resulted in a smiley happy child who did great until she tried her shoes on and they didn't fit right - so I told her we would return them and get her new ones - and she just melted down crying and all upset. Which ate up a lot of time and we then had to rush out of the house.

I would like to give her more time - but she has trouble eating breakfast - and I can't not give it to her because then she gets what we think is a bit of low blood sugar. So I need her to eat a good breakfast. She is a tiny eater normally who eats more often. Getting her down earlier is not going to happen. She goes down between 720 and 730 - any earlier and she just plays and won't go to sleep.

Etd to add that next week her sister starts preschool and will be at school at 9. She is usually the big distraction to DD#1. So I know she will take longer once she starts school. I try to keep DD#2 sleeping longer but DH is usually like a bear in a china closet and cannot be quiet and often wakes her up early.

Message edited 9/7/2012 7:21:38 PM.