Question About Morning Routine on School Days

I get my boys (9 &12) up 45 minutes before they to get on the bus. They take their showers at night. In the morning, they eat breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed and out the door. If they are completely ready (shoes on and have backpack in hand) with a few minutes left, they get the reward of watching some cartoons before they get on the bus.

My son, who will be in the 1st grade this year catches the bus at 8:34am.
We wake up at 7am and he watches some cartoons while I make him some breakfast. He is not a get up and eat right away type of guy...so I take my time and make him either hot cereal or eggs and toast...sometimes its pancakes..sometimes its just cold cereal and juice.
He then brushes his teeth and takes a shower and gets dressed. We usually have some extra time before he has to leave and this is when i go over any and all stuff that he is supposed to take back to school or re-read the library book or study his spelling words.
I have found that laying his clothes out for him on his dresser the night before is the easiest thing...thought about buying one of those clothes caddy's for the closest but his dresser works just as well...and it was free!

My 4 yr old starts preschool at 9am but it is only 2 mins from our house and he is a grouch in the morning and needs to eat as soon as he wakes up. I let him sleep till 8am, then feed him, he brushes his teeth and I get him dressed and then he gets to watch cartoons until it is time to leave! He showers at night and I also leave his clothes on the dresser the night before.

Hope this helps!
~I occasionally make a whole box of pancakes on Sundays and then freeze them and nook them for breakfast and it works great!

I rush to lol! Why not try getting them up a few minutes earlier and already have breakfast made? Thats been a life saver for our family :) Also try doing the majority of things the night before like lunches, getting there stuff laid out and depending on BF maybe cook the bacon or whatever and let it sit in the fridge to save you some time! Good luck I hate mornings lol...

First let me say my son is nearly 4 and "school" to us is preschool, but I've been doing this for 1 year and preschool vs school really doesn't change anything about the schedule (I know this because I've also done the drop my neighbor's kids off at elementary thing). You can see we still do the same things everyone else does. One thing I suggest is to prepare NOW for it. I keep my son's schedule close to the same all year long. (He goes to bed about 30 minutes later in the summer because we're always out swimming, but no more than that because it's pretty hard for young children to change their schedules). He goes to bed early and gets up early. I get up at 5:50am now so I change the baby's diaper, heat up a bottle, put him in the playpen while I take a shower (he's now 7 months old and can hold his own bottle, then play with his doll while I'm in the shower). My husband gets up at 6, watches headline news while ironing and drinking a cup of tea and then gets in the shower and does his own thing, getting ready for work. I pack lunches (2 sandwiches and fruit, or leftovers for husband; 1/2 sandwich, veggie sticks or fruit, a little snack, juice, and water for my son), then fix a quick breakfast that we eat at the same time: cereal with strawberries or bananas, an eggo waffle, or a yogurt poured in a bowl with a little granola cereal poured on top. Another thing that we do for school days is quiche cups that I make ahead on Sunday evening (pour the egg/vegetable/cheese mixture into aluminum cupcake cups and bake, then you can store them all in a large ziploc and heat 2 in like 15 seconds, serve with a little salsa). We have a short devotional time and Bible reading during breakfast. My son gets up between 6-6:20 (I will wake him at 6:20 if he hasn't gotten up on his own yet....this is where going to bed early enough the night before helps so much). He goes to the bathroom, eats his breakfast with us, we make sure hands/face are clean from breakfast, brush teeth, and then he gets dressed and watches a few minutes of PBS or Nick JR while I pack the lunchboxes into backpacks, brush my own teeth and get dressed, and we do our "bye daddy" hugs and waving. Then we leave for school at 7.
To make this work smoothly, we do a few things all the time, and I learned from Flylady.com that your night routine is even more important than the morning routine for a successful morning/day. In the evening before going to bed: the house is straightened up, basically clean. Nothing worse than stumbling around and not finding things or having a mess to put people into bad moods. (Shoes are always on the shoe rack by the door, that kind of thing). After hitting the hot spots (straightening the house), dinner is eaten, showers/baths are taken, and bedtime story and prayers are done. I check the calendar one more time before sending my son to bed, to make sure there's no "crazy hat day" or "red shirt day" junk I'm supposed to know about. I give my son a couple choices and let him "choose" his outfit for tomorrow (do you want the brown pants or the blue jeans? which shirt would you like to wear?) and then lay out the whole outfit on his shelf. I make sure my son's backpack is packed up and sitting on the counter by the door we walk out of. My husband also has a backpack that he brings to work and it's on the same counter. Really, anything you need to leave with needs to be packed up and on that counter (or in the front room, wherever works best for your family...but make it a place that doesn't have clutter around). Lunchboxes are wiped down and open, sitting on the counter, with a fresh papertowel. Fruit and veggies that I will pack for lunches are washed and if needed, cut, and placed into storage bags or containers,drinks are poured (to save money and throw away less, I buy a large container of juice and pour it into small lunchbox size bottles, with a little splash of water in it, and also include a small bottle of water that I pour from our Brita). I make sure the freezer packs that keep the lunches cool are back in the freezer so they'll be cold in the morning and no surprises there. I also keep a couple lunchables on the top shelf, at the BACK of the fridge (so my son doesn't see them) for "emergencies" or "bad mornings" (slept in? one of us is sick? etc) just in case.....but that's not a weekly event, more like a 1x/month kind of thing, if that much. Also, either I or my husband make a bunch of bottles (4 or 5) so all we have to do is warm a bottle for the baby....I don't like thinking or making things at 3am or 6am if I can help it. I do not think mornings are the time to get organized!!! You could be sleepy, there's a time limit, potential stress, etc. Get organized in the evenings instead, while you're still awake and less stress. That way everyone just kinda stumbles along and does their thing and it all works out just fine, 95% of the time. Also, starting a good month before school starts with the bedtime and waking up time will help SO much. You might not like it now, but it's sooo much better than trying to fight them the last 2 days of summer and trying to get them on a new bedtime routine, a new morning routine, AND go to school, all at once. A shock to their system! My husband works whether it's summer or not, so we just kinda stick to the same basic plan (though we do have a 30 minute flexibility since it's summer, and I don't go wake my son up but he does wake on his own (a) because he's had enough sleep and (b) he hears us moving around and talking in the mornings)...right now in the summer we get up same time about, I fix breakfasts for us (and if son wakes up in time, him too) and we eat, talk, watch headline news together, play with the baby if he's crawling around, but often he eats his bottle and goes back to bed for an hour. My son watches his morning PBS or Nick JR show while husband gets ready to go and then we do hugs and wave at him until he's gone, same as always. But then instead of school we have our own summer routine and events that we do for fun. Good luck! We're not nearly perfect, but mornings don't have to be bad things if you prepare a bit.

my son is 3.5 and he is great with his routine.
i wake him at 7am(he is usually already awake) b/c he goes to bed at 7:30pm. then we go potty,wash face&brush teeth.
then get dressed and watch cartoons for 5 mins while i make his hot cereal. then he eats and watches about 10 mins. more of tv, then we are out the door at 7:35 to go to preschool.
we have had the same morning & nite time routines since he was a baby :-)

We get up at 6am when he takes the bus. He has 45 minutes to wash up, eat, get dressed and he is off. I do not like to rush and I do not like to be rushed.

Now on days I drove him he slept in until 630am. He had 45 minutes to do all the things he needed to.

Now on occasion we overslept.......these days were horrible, no breakfast, no time to do anything. So this only happened maybe twice.

We rush too. My son or myself are not morning people at all. I wake him 45 minutes prior from the time bus comes. I give him about 5-7 minutes in bed to slowly wake up while I warm up his milk and get his breakfast ready with supplements. I usually give him oatmeal during the week and eggs, pancakes, waffles, sauage on the weekends.
Once he gets up he goes to the potty and wash his hands and face, gets dressed and eats breakfast and if he doesn't give me any trouble he gets to wash cartoons while eating breakfast.
After breakfast, we brush his teeth and I wet his hair down and brush his hair with still a few min to spare.
I usually have his clothes laid out, lunch prepared the night before for daycare. If I still need to make his lunch that is when I wake up about 10 minutes earlier to finish preparing his lunch.

I hope this helps. I am not sure how this year will pan out since my son will be starting Kindergarten in Aug and it will be all day. Last year he was picked up by the bus about 7:20-7:30 and was going 1/2 a day.

I hope this helps.
M.

I get my son up 1 hour before he has to be on the bus (that means I'm up at 5:30 am). That was 6am for the bus at 7am. I'd have him eat, dress, brush teeth, then I'd read to him before the bus came. That means his bedtime was 8:30pm and he had his school clothes laid out before bedtime.

I will limit my answer to true school days, Kinder to High School. When my oldest was in K I noticed that he was sleepy no mater what time I got him up so I concentrated on our attitude when we went out the door. Were we rushed and flustered? Were we calm and prepared? I have since been convinced that the difference between a good day and bad one was fifteen mins. Is fifteen min of sleep better than going out the door with a smile for the day, no way! I have a boy in college and one a sophomore in HS. I have seen stressed out moms "kick their kids to the curb" to get them there on time and kids that have kept their class from having attendance parties and their guilt from it, when fifteen min would have made a real difference
in their life. I urge you to take time now to analyze the results of your morning routine not whether you have guilt for getting him up early. It really does matter for his everyday life. While my routine for getting my child up has not changed, I now take fifteen extra mins up for me. I use it to do my prayer journal and center myself for the day. It also helps me have good priorities for the day and a little extra patience for the morning.
best of luck!
B.

I have 4 kids. I wake them, or mostly they wake up on their own an hour before we have to leave. We snuggle, they potty, get dressed, brush teeth, do hair, then go downstairs for breakfast and some cartoons. While they eat, I finish getting myself ready. I put my kids to bed at 7:30 on school nights. (8:30 during the summer) I know it sounds early, but I have always done it and it works for us. They may not go right to sleep, but they read and write stories until they do. It usually takes 10-20 minutes for all of them to go to sleep.

I have one child in school and one at home. Also, I'm a sahm. Our school will begin this coming year at 7:50. I will get up around 6:15 because I like to have at least 20 minutes to drink a cup of coffee and watch the morning news. I will wake my son at 6:45. I make a chart at the beginning of the school year. Actually, more of a checklist of things he needs to get done before we leave. It goes something like this and I post it on his closet door. Get up, make bed, bathroom and wash face, put clothes on, eat breakfast, brush teeth and hair, get things together, leave for school. I put a time by each so we keep track of what he's to do and when. Of course, I'm flexible and sometimes he may eat before he dresses, but at least we have a flexible routine to follow. We are out the door by 7:30 and out of the driveway by 7:45, so we have plenty of time. We only live about 3 blocks from the school. We go over the routine and even practice it a few days before school actually begins and I let my son have input on what he wants to do first, second, third, etc. I will admit, I do not cook breakfast for my kids. We just aren't big breakfast eaters, but my son needs something in his tummy before school begins, so it is usually a breakfast bar or Poptart. It's better than nothing and we make up for the lack of nutrition at lunch and dinner. Hope this helps!

You have to figure out what works for your family. I'm with you in that I used to let my kids sleep as late as possible, but my hubby is of a different mindset. Now, the kids alarm clocks go off at 6AM. My daughter gets up, watches TV and vegs for about 30 minutes to wake up. My son stays in bed until the last minute when I tell him that he's going to miss breakfast! I try to have breakfast on the table between 6:30-6:45AM, then they have until 7:25 to eat, get dressed & get ready for school. We put all school stuff back into backpacks the night before and they are hung on hooks by the door, lunches are packed the night before and are in the fridge, where they grab them. This usually works for us. Frankly, by the time they finish eating (between 6:45 & 7), they only have 25-35 minutes, but they really don't need more than that to put on clothes, brush their teeth and get their shoes on. They are both in elementary school and have to be at school by 7:35 (tardy bell rings at 7:45), so we aren't into the fixing hair too much just yet. I've also had them put clothes out the night before - works for my son, by my daughter usually changes her mind by the next morning, and I've also said that the kitchen closes at 7, so finished or not, dishes are picked up and if they miss breakfast, they can grab a granola bar or bag of dry cereal for in the car, but the car leaves at 7:25. I've also had them put shoes on the in the car b/c they are running late.

When my son was in PS I woke him up apx 1 hr before we had to be at school (so I woke him at 7am)... and we had to leave the house 30 minutes before school started... so we had 1/2 an hour to get ready.

- wake up
- pee
- hot chocolate
- dress
- teeth
- backpack
- car
- breakfast (we always ate breakfast in the car... usually scrambled eggs, potatoes, yogurt, & more hot chocolate -aka whole milk + hersheys)

The caveat to all of this is that if he was sleepy... I let him sleep. He went to bed @ 8pm... but there were many mornings (maybe 2-3 days a month?) where he'd sleep until 10am and we'd come to school at lunchtime. To me, it was more important that he got enough sleep than that he was in class on time. His teacher (30+ year veteran) was more than fine with this arrangement... although the school district was *ticked* at us... she ran interferance for those of us (about 5 parents in a class of 24) who wanted to let our kids sleep longer. In K we only had 2 options: a 2 hour day or an 8 hour day... and 8 hours was just waaaaay too long for most of the kids. They were falling asleep, having tantrums, getting wild/goofy... you name it. So our teacher was actually very encouraging of any of us who wanted to pull a 2/3s - 1/2 day here and there. But the school only got their $ for days the kids were there full days.

I have 2 kids in school, older one wakes up at 6:20( I wake up at the same time or a bit earlier so I can wash up and have a glass of water), dones his morning hygine, gets dressed, I make sure he made the bed and put his closes away, eats breakfast, has 5-10 min to check if he has everything for the day ahead, I give him his lunch and he goes out (bus arrives at 7:55).
I wake up the little guy at 7:15- 7:20, wash his face, teeth, butt (he sleeps in diapers), usualy that routine wakes him up. Get him dressed. He eats breakfast afterwords and I walk him outside (his bus is coming at 8:10).
Then my DH comes into the living room looking for his breakfast and cup of coffee.

All breakfast and lunches freshly made from scratch, sometimes different for each family member.

And after they all out I experience a moment of piece and bliss while I eat my breakfast!

:))

How well do your kids 'wake up'. My son just pops out of bed with no problem when I wake him up. Me, I like to hit the snooze button over and over and contemplate the fact I have to get out of bed...lol! I get up at 6:50am and fix his breakfast. I wake him up at 7:00. He eats, gets dressed, brushes his teeth and does his hair He is out the door at 7:32 to catch the bus. In the winter I wake him about 5 minutes earlier because it takes a few minutes to get all bundled up.
The night before: he showers, picks out his clothes. Backpack and shoes are ready to go by the front door. If he is taking his lunch I fix it the night before and pack it up before he is out the door.