How to create an easy and stress-free school morning routine

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Inside: Are you looking for the best school morning routine for kids? Check out these 5 easy tips that will help you enjoy stress-free mornings with your kids!

I am a big fan of having a morning routine for kids ever since my son was a toddler. It saved my sanity during many busy periods of my life, and it also helped my son become more independent and responsible.

In time, our routine went through several changes depending on our schedules, but we tried to keep it as consistent as possible because I believe that consistency is the secret to making any routine work.

My son will start kindergarten soon, so making sure that we get out of the house on time is more important than ever! Luckily, he is already used to a morning routine because he went to Pre-K in the last year, so the start of school won’t be such a big change for him from this point of view.

Still, I wanted to update our old checklist and create a school morning routine checklist for him. If you are looking for a helpful tool to encourage your kids to get ready for school on time, this checklist can really make a difference!

In addition to the printable checklist that you can download at the end of the article, I want to share with you some of the best tips that help us eliminate the morning stress and make our routine easier to follow and more fun!

The best tips for a stress-free school morning routine

When my son started attending Pre-K last year, one of our challenges was making sure that he gets ready for school on time. My husband drove him to school, so any delay was also affecting his work schedule, and we didn’t want this to happen.

Luckily, we implemented a few tips that helped us make the morning routine work for us. With school starting in less than a month, I’m determined to put all these tips into practice again to make our mornings as smooth and stress-free as possible!

School morning routine tip #1: It all starts the night before.

The secret to keeping your morning routine easy to follow for you and your kids is to minimize the number of tasks on the list.

So make sure that you prepare as many things as possible in advance, the night before: choosing your clothes for the next day, choosing your child’s clothes, planning what you’ll have for breakfast, getting the child’s backpack ready, preparing the lunch box in advance (if possible).

Also, make sure that your kids go to bed early the night before and have plenty of time to rest! A tired child is more likely to engage in power struggles in the morning or delay the completion of every task on the checklist.

School morning routine tip #2: Create a checklist for yourself as well.

School morning routine checklists for kids are very popular. On the other hand, just a few of us have our own checklist to help us stay focused in the morning. If you often feel overwhelmed in the morning, write down a list of all the tasks you need to do before your kids go to school.

Then use that list to see if you can simplify some of the tasks, move them to other times of the day (like the night before), or ask for help in completing them. After “decluttering” your list place it on the fridge and use it to help you stay focused and organized.

School morning routine tip #3: Create a school morning routine checklist and be consistent about implementing it.

The secret to making any routine work is to be consistent about following it every single day.

It can be more challenging at first if your kids are not used to following a routine, but your efforts in staying consistent will certainly pay off in the long run.

School morning routine tip #4: Create a morning ritual that focuses on connection.

Children don’t like to be rushed through a big list of tasks the whole morning. If things get too overwhelming for them, their behavior will reflect that! The best way to avoid morning power struggles is to include more connection into your morning routine.

The easiest method to do this is to create a morning connecting ritual to include either before the routine (if your kids have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning) or after the routine (to make sure that they get to school in a good mood).

You can set the alarm clock 10 minutes earlier and spend them cuddling in bed with the kids instead of hurrying them to get up. Or you can agree on a fun thing to do together after getting out of bed (like singing a song or dancing together in your pyjamas).

School morning routine tip #5: Add more playfulness into the morning routine.

Here are some easy ways to do this:

Use a timer and challenge your kids to finish a set of tasks before the alarm sounds. (e.g., challenge them to dress up, brush their teeth, and comb their hair in less than 5 minutes)

Use a timer to time how long it takes for your kids to complete the morning routine. Write down the daily times to see what is the record of the week. (Don’t use this idea as a competition between siblings because it can lead to sibling fights. Each child will only compete with their previous times to establish a new record. Or invite all the kids to work together to get the whole family ready as soon as possible.)

Use a song to accompany the morning routine and encourage your kids to finish a set of tasks before the song ends. If they manage to do this, you can play a “victory song” and dance together to celebrate.

How to implement a school morning routine checklist for your kids

The school morning routine checklist contains the list of the main tasks your child needs to complete before leaving for school.

To get started, create the checklist, display it in the house, and guide your child to follow it every morning.

In time, you can encourage your child to take ownership of the tasks. This will help them gain more independence, and you will be able to focus more on the tasks you need to complete every morning.

I hope that your kids will enjoy the checklist and that the tips above will help you enjoy stress-free school mornings!