It’s well known that children do best when routines are regular, predictable and consistent. Easier said than done, right? You’d think that getting to school every day would be “predictable and consistent,” but when kids wake up moody, or you’ve run out of breakfast cereal—or, perhaps, your toddler refuses to put on trousers—getting out of the house can often seem like an insurmountable task.
Ask any parent about the trenches of hectic school mornings, and they’ll tell you it’s all about preparation. My husband and I tag-team our toddler’s routine from wake-up to nursery school drop-off. As my husband gets in a morning workout, I trudge half-asleep down the hall to wake our son up, make him breakfast and get him dressed. By then, my cheery husband arrives all showered and ready to take our son to nursery—coincidentally just as my coffee machine timer goes off—and I settle in for my morning “me time” before heading to my home office to start the day’s work.
It’s a great plan we have in place, but let’s face it: things rarely go to plan when there’s a kid involved! For those of us who feel like we’re barely treading water at this parenting thing, we’ll take all the tips and tricks we can get, and just hope our kids get to school on time. Here are some of our favourite hacks for getting kids out the door in the morning.
Trick 1: Get everything ready the night before
Sounds simple, but it’s super effective. It stands to reason that if you cover all your bases the night before, you’ll have less to worry about when everything is chaotic the next morning. That means if it’s a school night, everyone in the family—yes, even the parent(s)—should have had a bath or showered, laid out clothes and packed a lunch, along with any work or gym bags and kids’ school bags. And made sure any homework or projects the kids need are actually inside their school bags, of course!
Here are some key things you might forget:
- When putting out clothes the night before, make sure to include socks and shoes. This will help avoid the dreaded “I can’t find my other shoe!” fiasco when you’re running out the door!
- The more kids you have, the more organised you’ll need to be as the chances that something will “go wrong” in the morning are multiplied.
- For breakfast, prepare what you can the night before. For example, cut fruit, soak porridge or fill the coffee machine up and have your mug ready so all you have to do is press start in the morning.
Trick 2: Set clocks ahead or alarms earlier than usual
Always give yourself the most time possible in the morning—even if it means sacrificing those precious 30 minutes of extra sleep. In my house, we typically set our alarms 15 minutes earlier than we know we need to get out of bed. That way, my husband and I have time to check our phones or doze off again before we absolutely need to get our son up and ready.
Think how nice it would feel to have oodles of time in the morning so you can enjoy your tea or coffee, chat to your family and not feel the stress of the typical morning rush. This might mean getting up at 6/6:30am when you need to leave at 8am. Or it might mean getting up after 7am if you’re super organised the night before. Struggle with getting up early? Try going to bed earlier to get in those valuable hours of sleep.
You can also use a timer to keep everyone mindful of the exact time they need to be ready and at the door. Try setting one on your phone and telling everyone, “Be at the front door when this goes off in five minutes!”
Trick 3: Turn it into a race to the finish line
Some kids are motivated by competition. If they think they’ll get to be the winner just for being first—even if it means being first at getting their teeth brushed or their shoes on—they’ll do it, and they’ll do it fast. Another example: if your kid hates going to the bathroom, you could race them to see who gets there first (and let them win, obviously!). If you need to, add in a pretend “pee pee dance” that you do when they inevitably beat you to make it fun and light-hearted.
Of course, this same competitive trick can be used to get kids to come to the breakfast table, get their shoes on or get into their car seats, too.
Trick 4: Come up with creative rewards
Simple, positive reinforcement in the form of extra playtime, stickers or other “rewards” can go a long way for kids.
One idea is to use a sticker system on a calendar or chart, with a sticker awarded for following directions and good behaviour. That way, you can motivate them to get all the essential things done in the morning and start the day on the right foot. If you want to motivate your kids to move quickly, you could offer a reward of play time or a car snack once they’re totally ready to go. This could see them eating their breakfast, going to the toilet and putting on their shoes in record time!
You could even try moving breakfast to the last thing your family does before leaving. That way, everything must be done before breakfast, and it’s amazing how much more quickly your kids might move with breakfast as the end goal.
If you have multiple kids, you could challenge them to be the first one to get in the car and buckle their seat belts. The winner can pick the music you listen to—a reward that kids will move mountains for!
Trick 5: Make late starts embarrassing
My mum once told me a story about how she skived off school once, only to have her own mother follow her to class the next day and take the seat directly behind her. She stayed there the whole day, too. Needless to say, my mum never skived off again. I always said that when I had kids, I would use the “embarrassment method” of discipline. That’s why this next trick is one of my favourites.
If this sounds intriguing, read on for a creative idea that might just work. To get your kid moving in the morning, try telling them that if they miss the bus, you will drive them to school in your dressing gown and when you pull up, you’ll get out and let everyone know that you’re their mum by singing it operatically at the top of your lungs, and then giving them a huge, wet, sloppy kiss in front of everyone. If this version doesn’t sound like something your kid would believe you would do, try creating a similar threat that they could realistically imagine you carrying out!
Trick 6: Take away their screens
Parents want their kids to be tech-savvy and, in turn, most kids love every minute of screen time they get on their devices… which also makes them the perfect tool for morning motivation.
One thing to try is taking their phone away while they’re getting ready and offering to give it back only when they’re in the car. You might be surprised by how quickly they’ll want to be ready and sitting in the back of the car waiting to be handed their reward!
It’s also possible that their devices might be slowing them down in the morning with distracting alerts and the temptation of games and videos. In this case, try locking their phones away until everything is done and see if this helps things go more smoothly.
Trick 7: Delegate tasks
When you’re getting ready against the clock, you can use all the teamwork you can muster. They say it takes a village, after all!
For example, if you have a partner to share the “getting ready” tasks with, one of you could be in charge of breakfast and bathroom activities, while the other prepares bags and lunches for work and school. Having designated tasks means there’s less chance something will be forgotten because you’ve assumed someone else has it covered. It can also be a great idea to build in some time for each of you to have a moment to yourselves to get ready alone.
With limited time or multiple kids to get ready, task-sharing might be the only way you can get out the door on time. And make sure to delegate some tasks to your kids too, such as brushing teeth and getting dressed. The idea is to work as a team with your partner and kids.
A supportive spouse is handy, but even an eager grandmother, beloved aunt or paid babysitter can step in to share the burden. We all need an extra pair of hands sometimes.
