De Stress Your Mornings

DE STRESS your mornings
Having one Kindergartener and one 3 year old can make mornings a little hectic. Hectic is okay, stressful, not too much. The following tips have been extremely helpful to make my mornings run a lot smoother. Hope you can find them useful as well.

1. Shower at night- Showers can take a while, and it has a tendency to cause delay in the morning especially if sharing the bathroom.

2. Layout clothes the night before- This lessens the mess and tossing of clothes everywhere in search of that one matching pair of socks.

3. Check the bags/backpacks at night- Look at your child’s bag to see if they have any notes from school you may have missed.

4. Make sure your cell phone is charged- Nothing can start off a stressful day than missed calls from people you needed to talk to because your phone was dead.

5. Make Portable breakfast (sandwiches, cereal with milk in cups, dry cereal in bags, breakfast bars, etc) Have a couple of options open for picky eaters.

6. Have a Calendar to write down important events- Jot down all school, work and family events to avoid any conflicts in schedule and commitments.

7. Have a pen and notepad close to the door- A dry erase board can work the same way. Useful for posting a quick note to yourself or to another person in the house.

8. Sleep earlier, wake up earlier- A well rested body is more ready to tackle a busy day. Waking up earlier can give you time to relax and put your thoughts together for the day.

9. Have a TO-GO station in the morning- This is where your bags, lunch boxes, folders, mail, etc you have to carry out of the house are located.

10. Have a couple of bags ready by the door- Just in case for those last minute items you didn’t plan on but need to gather and bring with you on your way out.

11. Have spare clothes/ toiletries/ shoes/ water in the trunk of your car- No need to stress about a stained shirt or a thirsty child right when you get to the car.

12. Settle for efficient, not perfect- Don’t expect everything to go perfect all the time. Know your priorities and do them well.