Monday, February 22, 2010

Anyone offering Mom Tutoring?

Somewhere in my motherhood preparation course (riiiiiiiiiiight), I must've fallen asleep during the organization and time management portion, so I'm turning to you, dear internet, for help.

How do you get your kiddos up and moving in the morning?  My current routine is turning on their lamps around 6am, coaxing them out of bed around 620am, letting them sit on the couch and drink their milks until about 650am... and then it's all downhill!  I can't seem to get them dressed, teeth brushed, hair brushed, and loaded in the car in a consistent timeframe. I need your advice and best tips on morning routines to get them up, ready, and out the door by 715am.  At the latest.

I thank you in advance for your expertise!

Oh, and keep in mind my girls are almost 3 and 5...

*** BTW... please tune in tomorrow night to support Canada's Joanie Rochette, who unexpectedly lost her mom on Sunday.  She's competing for her mother - all of us moms (and daughters) need to be rooting for her to win the Gold.


3 comments:

Peggy said...

I'm not sure how our routine changed from one of stress and nagging and chaos to one that is infinitely less so of late. During the weekdays that B leaves for school from home (as opposed to when he's spent the night at my mom's due to a nightshift worked by me) we wake up at 6:45 and come upstairs. He goes to the bathroom and then eats breakfast while I pack his lunch (because I still haven't started the habit of doing most of it the night before). Once he's done breakfast it's time to get dressed and then brush his teeth. Once those things are done he's free to play until 8, when we get dressed to leave the house. I wash my hair (super-short hair = guaranteed bedhead) and get dressed once he's all ready and while he's playing.

It works for us. I think I finally just started saying to him as we were heading upstairs how things were going to be. And I think, after a few times through the new routine, he realizes that it's so much nicer to have playtime without me begging/coaxing/impatiently telling him to eat and get ready "because we're going to be late blahblahblah".

I hope you find something that works for you!

Jennifer said...

I have no plan. I have chaos. Baby Girl starts kindergarten in the fall and I HAVE to do better by then.

Wendy said...

Well, Jack wakes up w/his alarm at 550 am (yep, started in Kinder) and I wake up Nora at that time. We sit and snuggle on the couch until 6 or 605, then we're all up and eating breakfast, then done by 625. I get Nora dressed and finished up and out the door. Jack comes downstairs dressed, so he just has to brush his teeth and put on shoes. This week was a different story--we really had to set some boundaries and take some stuff away! Good luck! Better to start now than in AUgust!