How to Get Your Kids Ready and Out the Door Faster in the Morning

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When school is in session, isn’t it amazing that while your kids’ schedule is pretty
much the same, knowing if they will stay on that schedule can be a daily (unwanted)
game of “hit or miss”? For a variety of reasons, it can be really challenging to get them
out of the house so that they can get to class on time.

If you’re a parent who has been struggling with finding ways to get your kids ready
and out of the door faster in the morning, here are some tips to make it easier on both
you and them:

Plan the night before. Let’s face it. The evening time is not much
less hectic than the morning. This is because while the a.m. hours are about getting the
kids off to school, the evening hours are about taking care of all of the things that they
were assigned while they were in class. This can cause us to forget to plan for the next
day. However, in taking a few minutes each night to pick out clothes and iron them, as
well as reorganize backpacks and pack lunches, you have shaved off at least 30 minutes off of the morning hours that can be devoted to doing other things.


Have breakfast preplanned. If you are a pretty good planner, you
are probably already in the habit of having your kids’ lunches prepared; yet, have you
ever noticed that mornings in the kitchen can tend to be pretty hectic while everyone is
running around trying to figure out what they’re going to eat? Make things less chaotic
by posting up a breakfast menu very similar to the one that you may have for dinner. If
you sit down on Sunday evenings, discuss the eating options and everyone comes to an
agreement, you can already have the bowls of cereal, pieces of fruit and yogurt or even
scrambled eggs and toast already prepared before they even walk into the kitchen in the
morning.

Make sure they come down with everything. If you used an online clock, it might surprise
you how much time is wasted just running back and forth in between rooms or up and
down a flight of stairs. So, make it a rule within the home that when everyone comes
into the kitchen, their faces must be washed, teeth must be brushed, clothes must be
on, beds must be made and backpacks and shoes must be brought down for breakfast.
That way, once they have finished eating (other than perhaps brushing their teeth again)
everything that needs to be done before getting into the car has already been taken care
of.

When it comes to what you can do to get your kids ready faster, these three
suggestions should definitely help to pick up the pace. However, there is one more
recommendation that needs to be made. As the kids are in the midst of their morning
routine, don’t forget to make sure that you are ready to go. While they
are having breakfast, finish getting dressed, warm up the car and go down your own
checklist to review the things that you may need to do after dropping them off. It will
keep you from feeling so frazzled and when things are calmer, they tend to go more
smoothly (and quicker) as a direct result.