Getting ready for school doesn’t have to mean the end of the
world
Mornings are not pretty in my household.
Of my four children, three are still in school. The 16 year old
is very independent
– he wakes up on his own, fixes his own breakfast and lunch and
walks to and from the high school without any help from me.
My daughters are another story. They wake up ugly
– not in looks, but in mood. The youngest, 10 and going into
fifth grade, wakes up quickly, but she likes to dawdle over
breakfast, reading until about 10 minutes before we have to leave.
Then she rushes to get dressed, brush her hair and teeth and gather
her stuff, all of which makes her a bit cr
anky.
Getting ready for school doesn’t have to mean the end of the world
Mornings are not pretty in my household.
Of my four children, three are still in school. The 16 year old is very independent – he wakes up on his own, fixes his own breakfast and lunch and walks to and from the high school without any help from me.
My daughters are another story. They wake up ugly – not in looks, but in mood. The youngest, 10 and going into fifth grade, wakes up quickly, but she likes to dawdle over breakfast, reading until about 10 minutes before we have to leave. Then she rushes to get dressed, brush her hair and teeth and gather her stuff, all of which makes her a bit cranky.
Then there’s the challenge of getting my 12-year old daughter, who will be in seventh grade, out of bed at all. It takes her minutes just to open her eyes, let alone move. She’s also more fashion conscious than her sister, so she often forgoes breakfast in favor of finding the perfect outfit. Add in a stressed out mom trying to get ready for work, and we’re lucky if we get out of the house with all of us speaking to each other.
At the start of each school year, I make several promises to myself. I promise to make lunches the night before, and said lunches will be nutritious yet tasty so the girls won’t feel the need to trade granola bars for Oreos. I promise we will be in bed by 9 p.m. and up at 6 a.m. I promise to set out clothes the night before. These promises tend to last about a week before some thing beyond my control forces me to break one.
This year, I’ve talked to the girls and we agree – we’ve got to do better. So with some tips from local teachers and Robin McClure, a childcare professional with About.com, I’ve come up with a plan to ease the pain of getting to school.
Create a routine and stick to it
This means the routine is required, not optional. Once the routine is agreed upon, there will be consequences for not following it (if someone doesn’t get up on first call, bedtime is 15 minutes earlier that night). Allow extra time for inevitable “emergencies” such as misplaced homework or a lost library book.
Bring an end to the “getting dressed” blues
Set out clothes the night before. I start out a school year by having the kids do this, but fall out of the habit. It really works, though. Clothing, including clean socks, underwear and shoes, can be laid out each night. Let the kids choose the outfit, but emphasize no changes will be allowed once they are in bed. The only exceptions should be an unknown tear or stain, or surprise changes in weather.
Breakfast – it’s the most important meal of the day
I never ate breakfast when I was in junior high and high school, and I still skip the meal most days. But I don’t recommend it, and I don’t let my kids get away with it.
While I don’t get up and fix eggs or pancakes, I do build time into the morning schedule for breakfast. My kids favor cold cereal (there are lots of healthy cereal options out there, and makers of some of the sweeter ones have lowered their sugar content), but they also like instant oatmeal, frozen waffles, bagels or toast. Another favorite is apples and peanut butter, but it really doesn’t matter what your child eats, as long as it helps them start the day the right way.
Grab it and go
There is more to getting ready for school than breakfast and getting dressed. Lunches need to be made, backpacks need to be packed. So do what you can ahead of time so in the morning you can just “grab it and go.” My kids sit down with a snack and their homework as soon as they get home from school. The work is checked over by an older family member, put into the proper binder or folder and then packed into backpacks right away. We always do this, in an attempt to avoid the misplaced homework-permission slip-teacher’s note scenario.
I make lunches the night before. This way, lunches are ready to be “grabbed” out of the refrigerator first thing in the morning. To avoid soggy sandwiches and lunchtime boredom, I often make little kabobs – cheese cubes, salami and cantaloupe on toothpicks – or turkey wraps on flour tortillas. My youngest daughter loves soup, and I found this great thermos – I can put soup into it the night before, heat it in the microwave in the morning and it stays warm all day. We eat lots of yogurt, baby carrots, snap peas and granola bars, but even items such as pudding or cookies can be healthy if you make them yourself.
Teach responsibility and punctuality
I hate being late. Unfortunately, most of my family follows what I call “Castañeda” time, which is about 15 minutes to an hour later than actual time. It is hard for my kids to grasp the idea of punctuality, so I usually get up an hour before everyone else, shower and dress before waking up everyone else. This year, we are going to try something different. My oldest daughter has an alarm clock, so the plan is for her to get up and wake up her sister so they can dress and eat while I’m showering. If they wake up late, we’ll follow the 15 minutes earlier bedtime rule stated above. After all, I’m not going to be hovering above them when they are 30 shouting “Hey! You’re burning daylight!” They need to learn how to wake up on their own.
Be a good role model
I’m a morning person. I usually get up right away (although on Monday, I slept through my alarm after waking up at 2 a.m. and not being able to fall back to sleep until after 4:30 a.m. thanks to a few pet problems), shower and do what I need to do to get ready for the day. When I say good morning, I mean it. I’m hoping this attitude rubs off on the girls, who tend to be more like their dad in the morning.
My girls enjoy being at school, and are good students involved with many activities – martial arts, soccer, basketball, tutoring, Girl Scouts, church youth group. Long days and late nights are inevitable. But hopefully, if we follow our plan, we can end the madness of school mornings.
