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It’s 6:30am, your alarm is beeping, it’s go time! Children to wake, dress and feed, lunches to be made, cat to feed, kitchen to clean, washing to be put on… oh and yourself to get showered, ready and fed for work too, all before you drop them at school at 8:30AM!
At Easy2name we understand that the mornings can be stressful, so we have put together a number of ideas to make your AM run smoother, keep everyone happier and even give a little time for yourself to enjoy a coffee before your day even begins!
1. Cook with your children
You can never be too organised! Always carry out your time consuming activities, when you have more time, like a Sunday night. Making everyone’s lunches on a Sunday night is a great way to save time during the week when you can bulk prepare for the week. This way you can get your children involved in the making of their foods, helping to prepare and learning more about where their food comes from and the preparation involved in something as simple as a packed lunch! From sandwiches to salads, pack their healthy lunch boxes full of nutrition to keep your children going all day long. Keep refrigerated throughout the week, then simply take out each lunch in the mornings.
2. School Homework
Get into the habit that every day after school, after a quick healthy snack, homework is done, as soon as it’s set, from a spelling test to a large project, get it done as soon as possible. This will make both bedtime and mornings less stressful, no panic that work hasn’t been completed. Reward this with extra TV or games time after, or a Friday sleepover with their friends.
3. Check Your Children School Bags
Once homework is completed, sit with your children and go through their school bags, check there are no notices reminding them to make a donation or a non-uniform day on Friday, or even that there aren’t any rotting fruit left over from break time... you don’t want to find that at the end of term! This way in the morning you aren’t sprung with any surprise show and tell or fancy dress day you weren’t prepared for! Put their school bags by the door the night before to ensure nothing is forgotten in the morning.
4. Prepare Your Children Clothes
Always running around like a headless chicken in the mornings trying to find a pair of matching socks, or a missing polo shirt? Each night, after their bath and teeth clean, get your children to put all of their uniform in a neat pile at the ends of their beds so everything is laid out and ready for them in the morning. This also gives your children their own responsibility for their belongings.
5. Time to Sleep
Sleep is so important for the day ahead, if you have a bad night sleep its game over. For both, you and your children, it’s important that you have a great night’s sleep to give you the energy needed and to set you up for the next day. You will also be able to sleep better knowing that you have prepared everything in advance, with less to worry about when your alarm goes off in the morning!
6. Organise Yourself Before Waking Up Your Children
Set your alarm just a short time before you wake your children up, allowing yourself time to wake up, have some breakfast and your morning coffee too. This will help your day run smoothly, ensure you are less stressed when you wake your children up. Let’s be honest, your children aren’t going to get up and ready for school unless they are told to!
7. Create a Daily Routine
Nothing works better than a daily routine! Once your children are used to doing their homework as soon as they get in from school, preparing their bags for the morning and setting out their uniform before bed, they will soon realise they have more time for their rewards. Use things like TV or game time or a healthy snack to reward their helpful behaviour!
8. Have Fun In The School Journey
Ultimately, when you keep your children happier and engaged on their school run it’s going to go smoother for you. Make the school run as fun as possible, then they are going to be more motivated to get up in the mornings and want to go to school. Whether your children prefer to travel by bike, scooter, or just walking, then allow them to do it, let them take with them a toy or wear their favourite flashing trainers until the school gates, it will improve the moods of both you and your children!
9. No Rush
Most importantly, stay calm and don’t rush. We know that no matter how prepared you are, sometimes life just happens, things go wrong, people are poorly, your car won’t start or the washing machine breaks down. Your children will react best when you’re calm but assertive, as soon as you lose your temper, they’ve won. They will be willing to help you the less stressful the school run is.
10. Label Your Children’s Items
Lastly, label your children’s belongings with Easy2name’s fantastic range of
school labels. From school jumpers, shoes and PE kit to lunch boxes and water bottles – ensure your children don’t lose their belongings so you know exactly where everything is early in the mornings. Also, helping to differentiate each of your children’s belongings from one another’s, so there’s no confusion to who’s Peppa Pig lunch box is who’s!
We hope you found our school run inspiration both helpful and fun. We would love to know which tips worked for you, or any new ideas you may have too!
Keep your mornings simple, be sure to label your children’s lunchboxes, clothing, shoes and stationery with our assorted designs of dishwasher, microwave and washing machine safe name labels. We have a variety of fun themed name name labels they’d absolutely love, from iron-on, stick-on to woven labels, we have a name label for everything!
