• Get yourself ready first.Although you might be desperate for some extra shut-eye in the morning, getting up first can really pay dividends. Try to shower and dress before the children get up.
• Work with your partner. One of the key aspects to having a calm morning is working with your partner, rather than barking orders at each other. Adjust your schedules so one parent is always a bit less frantic than the other. Make sure if one is snowed under the other is free to spend extra time with the children.
• Get a good night’s sleep. Another key element to getting out of the door on time is you and your children getting enough sleep, the average amount of sleep for pre-schoolers is around 10 to 12 hours, dropping to 10 hours as they enter their tweens, according to modern-day experts.
• If you’re stressed, your children will be too. As hard as it sometimes seems, try not to lose it if your toddler wants to change her clothes for the third time in half an hour. If you let things get on top of you, your children will pick up on it and act out. You have to remember, you are doing all of this work for your family, so if it gets in the way something has to give and that can never be the children.
• Have a healthy breakfast. Nutritionists recommend children should eat three of the five food groups for breakfast for optimum energy, mood and performance, meaning a slice of toast and butter won’t really cut it. Stick to cereal, fruit and toast, starting the day with a good breakfast always sets children up well.
Also read: How to help your child get a great start in school
• Move fast and change their focus. Of course, when you’re in a hurry, a tantrum is inevitable and you just have to rip the plaster and go. Get out quick, the less time spent focusing on the drama, the quicker they are to move on to happier things.
• Keep a bag packed by the door. While bags are packed somewhere between brushing hair and putting on shoes, keeping a ready-to-go schoolbag hanging by the door will save frayed nerves when you’re almost ready to leave.
• Get children to help themselves. Half the morning battle is feeding, brushing and dressing your children so teaching them how to do it themselves is essential. In the morning they should go and get their breakfast, get their cutlery, wash their hands, set it up at the table, then clean and put away their bowls and utensils.
• Keep hair and make-up simple. Amidst getting children ready for the morning, how does mum find time for herself? Have your favourites and stick to them. Have a fairly run-of-the-mill beauty regime, a great moisturiser, foundation, eye shadow and eye liner, from there anything else is a bonus. Hair involves using good products, which means you need less time with the hairdryer. A great hair tip when pressed for time, is forget about it – tie it up.
• Information obtained from www.kidspot.com.au
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