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How do you manage in the morning?



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amother
Pink


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 6:10 am
How is your morning routine?
What's your coping mechanism?
How do you manage to get your kids (and yourself) out?
Do you prepare ahead of time?
What time do you get up?
What time do your kids leave? You?
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amother
Pink


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 6:16 am
I prepare the kids clothing at night and food for lunch for DH and DS the night before. As well as all vitamins/Meds for each child.
I get up between 6-7 and all are out by 8:30. Take baby to Gan at 9:00, then start my day as SAHM. I'm much busier than many moms who work outside. Many appointments needed.
My coping mechanism is a 20 minute power nap before the kids get home.
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amother
Lime


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 7:27 am
I have two kids and it's a mad rush. Wake up, (hopefully Daven), drink coffee, feed kids breakfast, make lunch for everyone, eat breakfast myself, get myself and everyone dressed, pack lunch, leave right on time...
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amother
Bisque


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 7:51 am
My life is a bit crazy.

I wake up at 6:30. Prepare boys food. They eat breakfast and lunch in school. I prepare breakfast for my youngest. I drive the them to their bus, while wearing PJs under a skirt and coat.

(I have other self sufficient kids that take care of themselves...bh)

Once I get home it's my coffee time. I prep my youngest kids lunch. I get dressed and am out the door by 8:20 to put her on the bus.

My crazy time is after work. I come home at 4:45 with a DC. Everyone else is home 1 hr later. I need to have dinner ready. I recently got an IP, which helps a bit.
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amother
Tangerine


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 7:56 am
Prep the night before, ie find everyone's shoes. Pack briefcases, lunch. Put out all clothes, even socks
Start the am with a clear kitchen
Laundry on the weekends
Bathe and shower night before
Do the heavy-duty brush and floss with kids before bed
Breakfast is yogurt, instant oatmeal, or something heated from fridge or brine kids with desired breakfast of there ready on time.
Keep girls hair simple
Send to schools that require uniforms

Plan as if everyone must be out 10 minutes before they actually need to leave

Get dressed all the way before starting the kids up and out. It sends a strong "its time to go" message
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amother
Azure


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 8:20 am
I prepare everything right down to breakfast cereal in bowls the night before (covered with a plate of course). That includes all clothing and accessories laid out, backpacks packed and near the door, coats on the rack, fare cards in pockets, lunches bagged and in the fridge in labeled bags, overshoes near the door if snow or rain in forecast.

I get up an hour and a half before anyone else to have time for my morning routine which includes exercise and showering.

My friend who is a sahm told me she wishes she had time in the morning to exercise and use the bathroom at leisure without anyone knocking on the door. I was too polite to tell her that she could have it all just like me if she got up at 4.30 a.m. just like me. Also I know that if I were a sahm I wouldn’t be getting up at 4.30 even though it would make sense to.
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amother
Burgundy


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 8:26 am
I force myself to get up 2 hours before we need to leave. That's the only way to make sure everybody gets what they need and calmly.
Sometimes I rush through the routine in an hour because I'm so tired.
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amother
Emerald


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 8:44 am
I have two kids that need to go to school.
my dh recently made a schedule for them down to times and it is working shocking well! They get up around 6:50 and leave by 8:15. They are ready around 7:55 and then they exercise with him. It's adorable. I don't have to nag them anymore. they just look at their chart and what time it is. The only problem is that sometimes the 4 year old flips out if she's a minute late to something or if her sister dares changes the order because she had to go to the bathroom or something but overall it's working really well.
I make lunches while they get ready. Sometimes my baby doesn't cooperate so well but the my older kids (8 and 4 are kneina hora doing great.) I actually just made a chart for after school to see if it helps the 4 year old since that is still not so smooth...

some things I could do the night before like make tuna fish or egg salad but some things really need to be done the morning of like fish sticks.
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amother
Lemon


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 8:54 am
I'm not a morning person and really struggle. My kids BH wake up early on their own but they don't really do anything to get ready without reminders. Most of the time I can't drag myself out until around 7:30, and we all leave together at 8:10 so it's unfortunately a rush by then. I do try to have everything prepared the night before- including my own stuff, since we leave together and I go straight to work. Clothing, accessories, food, snacks, backpacks.

My coping mechanism besides preparation is that I only talk quietly in the morning. If I didn't have that rule for myself I would probably end up yelling because the kids really don't manage their time well (even the ones old enough to do so) even with reminders. So I need to give out lots of instructions and break up arguments but it all happens in a very quiet voice. That way we can get a more pleasant start to the day.
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amother
Mauve


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 11:02 am
I get up extra early so I can be dressed and coffeed up and functional when the kids get up. I'm not naturally a morning person and this is the only way for me.

My kids are big enough now to dress themselves and get their stuff together. I mainly just have to remind them about brushing their teeth and also gently push them to eat their breakfasts a little faster. I have some slow eaters that could spend 45 minutes eating a bagel if allowed.

We're all out the door at 7:20.
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Surrendered




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 11:06 am
Wow, talking quietly and calmly to the kids in such a morning rush is the best coping skill you can master! Hakol Hakavod.
I prepare as much as possible the evening before.
I get up early, get the kids bathed and dressed an hour before they need to leave. Make sure all is done and ready by half an hour before they leave, that's breakfast time. I need them to be relaxed and calm before leaving.
I do struggle with keeping my voice calm, I do tend to raise it under pressure Can't Believe It
Please teach me your trick on staying calm and keeping a cool tone, while under pressure.
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ShishKabob




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 11:19 am
Coping trick is to wake up more than an hour earlier than my kids. Meaning like 6:00am. The third bus comes at 8:40 which are the kids that I need to help get out. I take my special cleansing drink, brisk walk, daven, drink my coffee and start preparing breakfast and lunch. I daven a special prayer that I should be happy to see my kids in the morning and that I should speak calmly to them.
If I don't have my me time in the morning I have to work extra hard not to growl at the kids who wake up early and disturb my peace and the work that I'm in the middle of doing. Smile
I also make a goal for myself that the only thing I need to accomplish is to get them to the bus in a calm fashion. So if the entire bottle of milk spills, I try to breathe and see my goal in front of me. Wiping up milk is easier than getting a tantruming 5 year old to calm down and go to the bus.
I also try to prepare dinner the night before. This is a huge must. I can't manage to do it in the morning before I need to go out.
I think it's basically planning ahead. Making sure that the kids have their clothing prepared so that I don't have to go searching for their shoes/ socks/ favorite pants and so on. I try to take stock the night before to see what the clothing situation is, like that if I need to I can throw in a load of what I'm missing.
Disclaimer: this is for a large family and life is not predictable, so that's why..
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ectomorph




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 11:30 am
amother wrote:
How is your morning routine?
What's your coping mechanism?
How do you manage to get your kids (and yourself) out?
Do you prepare ahead of time?
What time do you get up?
What time do your kids leave? You?

I do everything lunches clothing etc in morning
We get up at 6 or earlier
We all leave at 8am
I don't expect my husband to help except very minimally which makes things less stressful.
I do not prepare much ahead of time. I'd rather go to sleep earlier.
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mha3484




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 12:03 pm
My kids are 2,4 and 8. So all are semi to fully independent. I am not a morning person in that I am up at 5am but I am in the sense that once I am up I am up and able to get stuff done. I find the time after bedtime to be more exhausting so other then folding some laundry or very light cleaning I am done.

I set my alarm for 6:15 but I press snooze a few times and am usually up between 6:30 and 7. DH gives oldest his meds around 7 which usually wakes him up. I give him 10 minutes and I go hand him his clothes. It makes him feel good even though he could choose his own stuff.

While hes dressing, I change and dress my two year old. My 4 year old depends on the day. Some days hes all into dressing himself and others he wants me to do it. Usually by 7:30 I go to make breakfast, lunches and clean the kitchen up so when I get home from work I can make dinner without cluttered counters.

Breakfast is a huge variety. I try to stick to easy stuff like instant oatmeal (trader joes makes one without sugar), meatless breakfast patties, potato latkes, apple and nut butter, yogurt and grilled cheese were favorites for a while but some of my kids take that for lunch so they dont want to eat it 2x a day.

I have a child that you can see directly the connection between sleep, breakfast and behavior so if I feel that he didnt sleep well or eat enough breakfast I will put that before being on time to school. I feel if hes 10-15 min late but is having a productive day with good behavior then who cares. To me, being on time but being a mess is way way worse.
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amother
Lemon


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 12:15 pm
Surrendered wrote:
Wow, talking quietly and calmly to the kids in such a morning rush is the best coping skill you can master! Hakol Hakavod.
I prepare as much as possible the evening before.
I get up early, get the kids bathed and dressed an hour before they need to leave. Make sure all is done and ready by half an hour before they leave, that's breakfast time. I need them to be relaxed and calm before leaving.
I do struggle with keeping my voice calm, I do tend to raise it under pressure Can't Believe It
Please teach me your trick on staying calm and keeping a cool tone, while under pressure.


I actually don't feel that calm internally, but letting my stress show just gets the kids stressed, and it ends up backfiring and taking more time! I used to raise my voice in the morning. And every day felt so bad after dropping them off at school, because I knew that their day didn't have a nice start. School is so long and stressful, they really deserve to feel an overdose of love from their mother to start the day. So I just decided, no more. The more stressed I am, the lower my voice gets. Hang a sign on your bathroom mirror to remind you in the morning Smile
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amother
Denim


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 2:40 pm
The clothes are laid out the night before. The snack is packed the night before. Including breakfast to be eaten on the bus. All that's left for the morning is put on clothes and brush teeth. My coping mechanism is to wake up about 30 minutes before the kids so I've shaken off the sleep before I try to wake them. So I wake up at 6 AM. Kids wake up at 6:30. They're out the door at 7. That's another coping mechanism for me and them - they can move a little more slowly in the morning without me barking at them to rush. Its a little less sleep for all of us but we all agree it's better this way.
After they leave I get ready for work.
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amother
Turquoise


 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 3:06 pm
I’m not sure that having clothing prepared and bags packed the night before is a coping mechanism. That’s what I do or else the kids would all miss their buses! It’s a necessity...

It helps me that my most difficult child leaves early before all the other kids.

My youngest who is kindergarten age and needs me a lot in the morning leaves before my other kids. I ask the others to wait before coming in the kitchen so I can just give my all to this child.

We then have a half hour to get every else out. It’s much easier after the 2 others are not around.

Oh, and no matter how crazy it is, I always drink my coffee!
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mha3484




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 12 2019, 3:13 pm
One thing that helps me a lot is getting 95% of my kids snacks pre packaged. I go to trader joes and get mini bags of chips, popcorn, rice krispy bars, granola bars. If you eat chalav stam there are even more options. I can easily grab a mix of things when I am making lunches and it saves me a ton of time. Some mornings my oldest takes his own.
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