School-Aged Children

Tell me about your mornings ...

What time do you wake your kids up?  What time do they have to leave the house to get to the bus/school? 

Do your kids make the bed before school?  If so, when did they start doing this? 

Any advice on how to get breakfast not to take 40 mins?  My kids are downstairs w/in 20 mins of waking up, but then take f o r e v e r to each breakfast.  Turning off the TV has done nothing. 

DS1 age 7, DD age 5 and DS2 born 4/3/12

Re: Tell me about your mornings ...

  • My son can be very slow at getting himself together as well. I started setting time limits. Like, he has 10 minutes to eat, then 10 to get dressed and ready and he needs to be downstairs ready to by a certain time or he would be punished - like no treat that night or something. I was tired of battling with him. I also would start waking him up earlier if he was late. If he continuously was ready on time, he got an extra treat. It helped when I got him an alarm clock and he had to wake up himself too. Sometimes I still had to nudge him along but he felt more independent.

    He's up at 6:30 and is ready and out the door by 7:30. 

  • I agree with pp about setting time limits.  My DS takes forever to do anything too and the time limits has helped a lot.  I just let him know if you don't get eating by such and such time then oh well, you're done anyways.  He wakes up at 7am if hes taking a morning shower and 7:20am if a night shower and is off to school at 8am. 

    We do the same time limit thing after school.  He has about 15mins for a snack and then its off to homework. 

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  • Forgot to put, we are not bed makers at our house unless we know company is coming over or when he cleans his room every couple days.

  • Yah, I'm going to have to set the oven timer to go off at 8:10 from now on so that we have time to get ready. 
    DS1 age 7, DD age 5 and DS2 born 4/3/12
  •  Lately my mornings start at around 5:30 am when the baby wakes up. We play in my bed for about a half hour then I go downstairs where DS1 is usually up watching cartoons. DH is always up around 4:30 and he turns the TV on news. Hunter changes the channel when he wakes up, which is around 6. After I get the baby changed and come downstairs, I go strait to the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. While my coffee brews I make the kids breakfast. Then I sit down at the computer while I drink a cup of coffee.

     Honestly, I have a pretty easy peasy morning. The boys play, and I either play with them, or play on the computer while they entertain themselves. We leave around 8:40 to drop Hunter at school, and Logan falls asleep for his first nap of the day on the way home.

     Edited to add that I am not the bed making type, and our beds aren't made unless we are cleaning.

    Effing crazy people.
  • Our breakfasts take forever too so we wake up pretty early.  DD1 gets up around 6:45 and leaves the house at 7:50.  Most of that time is for breakfast since she only takes about 20 minutes to shower and dress.  DD2 and 3 get up around 7:30 and leave the house at 8:40.  Most of their morning is also for breakfast since they shower and dress pretty quickly too. 

    We don't bother with bed making unless we expect company.   

    .
  • Kids up by 7.  They have to be at the bus stop at 8:30. 

    They don't make their beds.  We have limited time in the mornings and this is something that I don't care if they do at this age (7 and 6).  They dress themselves and get backpacks together on their own.  I have to help brush their hair-they tend to get tons of tangles. 

    I give my kids a time limit at breakfast.  They need to be upstairs and getting dressed by 7:45 whether they have finished breakfast or not.  If they get up multiple times from the table, they're done.  We start breakfast between 7 and 7:15 so they have plenty of time to eat.

    I've come to realize that I'm fairly strict at meal times.  I can't stand when kids run around and goof off during meals.  You're there to eat and not play.  You start playing you're finished eating.  I'm very laid back about most other things but fooling around at meals really gets to me.   

  • DH is gone by 6:30 so I am on my own for mornings. It took a while to get a good routine established though. I would say once T1 was about 7 is when he really starting becoming more independent in the mornings.

    T1 is a very early riser so waking him up is never an issue, he is usually wide awake in his room when I go in at 6:30. He is old enough now to brush his teeth and get dressed, I just lay his clothes out the night before. He is up, bed made, and dressed no later than 7. T2, not so much, he is a sleeper and I usually have to wake him up. I start around 6:30 with the lights on and just putting his clothes out and hope the movement and noise will wake up but I am not always so lucky. And he is mserable when he is woken up.

    I usually shower and then run down and make breakfast before I get dressed and do hair/make up. T1 decided on his own a little weekly schedule and then T2 just eats whatever he eats: Mon- pancakes, Tues- toast, Wed- cereal, etc. It makes life a little easier not having to wait ten minutes for them to decide what they want to eat. Plus, if they are deciding maybe they will be quicker to eat it?  T1 is pretty good with eating and cleaning up on his own. If T2 doesn't eat, I will wrap it up and he will eat on the way or he can eat at daycare too if he wants.

    We are out the door by 7:45, I expect breakfast to be done by 7:30 so I can clean up and they have time to put on shoes and jackets which is a production in our house every morning.

    David John 4.19.01
    Jonathan Dean 4.5.08
    Anna Capri 5.4.11
  • I get up at 6am, take a shower and get myself ready. I than start breakfast and get DS backpack ready and sign his folder, etc. I wake him up at 7. He brushes teeth and goes to bathroom than gets dressed. 

    That takes about 15 minutes. I then wake up DD and change her and get her dressed.

    We all head down to eat and we're out the door by 7:30-ish. Sometimes they take breakfast in the car if we're running late, waffles or a bagel.

    Before they get up I always find their shoes and jackets/sweatshirts and lay them on the bench we have in our front hallway, that way we're not looking for them and rushing around to get out the door by 7:30. 

  • At night they always lay their clothes, backpack etc out.  I got sick of the folder hunt in the morning so their bags are put together as soon as they are done with their homework at night.  Doing that and having them pick out their clothes at night have really helped our mornings.

    I get my girls up at 7 (if one showers in the morning then it is 6:45) and they get dressed and everything right away.  Usually they don't play around or take forever doing it.  Then we go down for breakfast.  If they want to bring their lunch I get it together while they eat (I prep some things the night before like cutting veggies).  After they eat they usually have a few minutes to just relax before it is time to leave.  I am loving our mornings now!  Often last year mornings were rushed and stressful.  They walk out of the door at 7:55 for the bus.

     Oh, and my girls are 6 and 8. 

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