That time of year is quickly approaching, back to school season. I am aware of it because so many bloggers are sharing their back to school tips, tricks and must haves. Just the other day I decided to share a few back to school essentials. Today I am going to discuss how to be prepared for back to school mornings.
We all get a little lax in the Summer season, there’s no school and while some may work outside of the home, we here work from home so the schedule is a minimal one for the length of Summer break. I sort of think that’s a good thing, letting the kids get some much needed relaxation after a stressful school year. With that being said, back to school season means getting your morning routine back on track to ensure those kids are dropped off on time for their first days back to school.
Don’t be that parent. You know, the one running behind every single day. I have been that parent, it stinks. Here are some tricks I learned as I played trial and error with back to school mornings the last 9 years.
How to Be Proactive for Back to School Mornings
- Have kids set out their clothes the night before and instruct them to get dressed and brush teeth before they do anything else on a school morning.
- Be sure any middle or high school students have their backpack all packed up the night before, otherwise you know they will forget something and be calling you from the school mid-day.
- Prepare breakfast the night before, whenever possible, consider making breakfast burritos that can be kept frozen to quickly heat up in the microwave.
- Parents: prepare your coffee the night before, ah yes; nothing makes my morning go smoother than having that coffee ready to brew ASAP upon wake-up.
- Allow for no electronic time unless the kids have completed all responsibilities and have extra time. This means backpacks ready by door, breakfast eaten, teeth brush, all clothes on, etc.
- Pack all school lunches up the night before; enlist the older kids to do this on their own. Nothing wrong with giving kids a bit of responsibility.
- Set a timer when the time to head out to school is nearing, this will give a visual to ensure the kids move faster to meet the time-frame.
These are just a few of the ways my family has learned how to prepare for back to school mornings. I hope that this works for your family too!
What are some tips you have for back to school mornings?
We make sure clothes are clean and ready, as well as having backpacks by the door. Those two steps save us a lot of running around in the am.
Great ideas! Yes, I have been that mom… and guess what… I was also the teacher! For the last 4 years, I taught at the school my children attended. School mornings are tough! I don’t know how many times we got out of the car at school and I realized that I hadn’t seen what my daughter was wearing until that moment. I hate being rushed.
These are great ideas to make each morning a more peaceful start to the day. In one of my workshops I learned that it takes a child 45 minutes to regain their normal learning capacity after a stressful event. Imagine how we can help our children succeed in school by cutting down on the school morning rush!
The most important tip for back to school is to always have your ducks in a row. It’s pretty much the only proactive tip you need. When you get your ducks in a row, everything else falls into place.
These are good tips. My fav is letting older kids pack their own lunch.
I always tried to do as much as possible the night before. It really streamlined our mornings when the kids were in school.
These are all wonderful ways to keep the ship sailing smoothly! Electronics are totally off limits before school in our home, and are actually not allowed at all until after homework is complete each evening.
I had never thought of preparing coffee the night before but it’s actually brilliant. I often have to skip out on my morning cup o’ Joe because I never have time to prepare it.
I think these are good ideas. I never liked having to rush too much before taking the kids to school.
Ugh. Back to school is so hard. My kids started back this week and we are struggling to get back into our groove.
Some great tips. We also check the weather the night before to make sure we know what we need the next day for coats, hats, umbrellas etc.
These are great tips. My son will be going to school next year and I’ll be needing these.
We always try to do as much as we can the night before school. I have never thought about freezing some breakfast burritos. I will have to give that a try this year.
It’s so much easier to prepare everything the night or the day before so you don’t have to worry during the morning! I love your tips! It’s really effective!
I think you covered all the ways to make mornings runs smoothly. The only additional thing the hubby and I do are tag team the mornings so that neither one of us get burned out.
This is so great and it’s so true, you gotta be prepared. I like teaching my girls to also be prepared so back to school is a great time to model that.
We have a morning routine for each of our kids and I even got them laminated. I also gave them their own clipboards to keep them on so they can get things done without me nagging.
That coffee pre-made and ready to go is a good one. I love to wake up to the smell of coffee brewing.
Packing backpacks the night before will make a huge difference to us this year. I’m going to try to stay on track.
Nice ideas. My son will be in school next year. I will save this post!
That is a great idea, I need to keep this in my mind my son will going in a school next year