In the Morning:
- Clean out your makeup drawer: throw away the makeup that you never use and store the makeup that you wear only when going out at night or on dressy occasions. Keep just the basic supplies you need every morning readily available. Do the same for your jewelry and hair products.
- Buy an alarm clock that has a back-up battery in the case of a power outage.
- Wake up a half-hour earlier than you currently do, which may mean going to bed earlier too. Before waking anyone else, grab a cup of coffee or tea, shower, and get dressed so at least one person in your family is ready to go. Then begin the morning wake-ups. Use the extra time to take care of a few household basics, such as switching a load of laundry, pulling out food to defrost for dinner, or emptying the dishwasher.
- Engage your partner's help with morning tasks. If your partner begs off because he's trying to get to work on time, suggest that both of you wake up earlier so he can help you with the advance work for the day.
- Banish television to avoid the lethargy that it causes and the battles that come when you turn it off half way through their morning show.
- Share cereal box jokes or write goofy captions for newspaper photos with your child.
- Mount an outdoor thermometer where your child can easily see it, and teach her how to read it and dress appropriately.
- Have your toddler eat breakfast in pajamas to avoid staining her clothes for the day.
- Have her sleep in sweats or another comfortable outfit that she can wear to day care or school the next day. For a baby this means only a quick diaper change in the morning.
- Give up caring whether anything even remotely matches.
- Take your child to day care in pajamas with clothes to change into if getting dressed is always a drawn-out battle. Hopefully, a day or so of this, along with the power of peer pressure, will inspire her to get dressed at home.
- Let your preschooler color at the kitchen table, giving you time to clean up after breakfast.
- Make getting ready a contest: can your child beat you when getting dressed, or putting on shoes?
- Put on some music if everyone is sluggish and needs some energy.
- Gradually add morning responsibilities for your child, such as helping you clear the table and clean up breakfast dishes.
- Have toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a towel in the kitchen for quick access if you are running late.
- Keep barrettes, hair bands, and a brush in a basket near the front door.
- Keep a basket of extra socks with shoes by the door.
- If part of the reason your family runs late in the morning is because your in-home child care provider is frequently late, sit down to discuss with her the importance of arriving on time in the morning, and consider moving her arrival time to a half-hour earlier.
- Set your kitchen timer for five minutes before you have to leave.
- If too many incidental delays make you late most mornings, move your goal departure time up fifteen minutes, so unexpected traffic or difficult good-byes with your child will not be a problem.
Stacy DeBroff is a dynamic national speaker, consultant, corporate spokesperson, and writer. Stacy is President and founder of Mom Central, Inc. Stacy has also written several best-selling books on household and family organization including The Mom Book Goes to School, The Mom Book: 4,278 Tips for Moms, Sign Me Up! The Parent's Complete Guide to Sports, Activities, and Extracurriculars, and Mom Central: The Ultimate Family Organizer. Stacy has appeared on network television including NBC's Today Show and the CBS Early Show. Stacy holds a B.A. in Psychology and Comparative Literature from Brown University, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa; and a J.D. from Georgetown University, magna cum laude. Prior to launching Mom Central, Inc., Stacy founded Harvard Law School's Office of Public Interest Advising, which still serves as a model for law schools across the nation. Stacy lives with her husband, Ron, and their two children, 12-year-old Kyle and 11-year-old Brooks, outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Visit Stacy at www.momcentral.com.
Copyright 2007 Modern Mom, LLC. All rights reserved.
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