The Morning Rush for Working Parents – how to get out the door ready for work, school and childcare

Many families struggle with the morning routine of getting themselves and their children ready for the day ahead and out the door on time for the trip to school, childcare and work. They find themselves rushing around trying to do ten things at once, skipping breakfast, forgetting important papers or the children’s lunch, yelling at each other and generally getting very stressed.
It’s not a great way to start the day for parents or children!

So please read and enjoy these tips for reducing the stress of The Morning Rush:
1. Plan ahead
Know what you and your children need for the activities of the day ahead. Is it library day at school? Do you need to take a change of shoes for a lunch-time walk? Are the children dressing up at crèche? For regular activities, make a weekly chart with your children using pictures to remind you of what you need to take. Put this in a conspicuous place where everyone can see it.

2. Be Prepared
Do what you can the night before. Pack your bag, make the lunches, have the sport clothes or library bag ready, get out the breakfast things, check the weather forecast so you know what to wear.

3. Have a routine
Work out the best way for you to get the important things done each morning. Children like routines, where they know what is expected of them and there are no nasty surprises. You can make a picture chart of each child’s morning chores and refer your child to it if he/she forgets.

4.  Get your children involved
If your child is old enough to help, let him/her be part of planning the morning routine and carrying it out. Children are more likely to co-operate when they’ve had a say in what they have to do, and they are often more capable than we realise.

5. Give your children some responsibility
Young children can put away toys or fold their pyjamas up; older children can get their own breakfast, tidy their beds and pack their school bags. Increasingly, children can be responsible for their own belongings and self-care.

6. Have some flexibility in your routine
Don’t stress if your child wants to get dressed before breakfast one morning, instead of after, or brush her hair in the car rather than at home. Accept small changes as long as you can still leave on time with all that you need.

7. Allow children some choice
When choosing breakfast cereal, ask “Would you like muesli or WeetBix?” When getting clothes ready – “Do you want to wear the red jumper or the blue one?” For children under five years old, offer only two choices; older children can choose between three or four options.

8. Communicate with each other
Rather than issuing directions and commands – “Joshua, clean your teeth then get dressed!” – have conversations, chat about the day over breakfast, talk on the way to school or childcare. Remember to listen with empathy and focus when someone else is talking.

9. Teach your child
At times when you are not rushing, show your child how to pack her bag for kindergarten, how to pull up the doona on his bed, where to put the toys they’ve played with. You can’t expect your child to do something if you haven’t shown him/her how to do it.

10. Prevent problems
Think about what you could say or do to prevent something becoming a problem. For instance, if your daughter takes forever to choose her clothes in the morning, organise this the night before and select a couple of options for her to choose from. Say to your schoolboy ten minutes before you need to leave “Have you done everything on your list for this morning? We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

And a bonus tip:
Keep It Simple!
Do what has to be done to get yourself and your children ready to leave home, and don’t worry if you haven’t got time for other things that are nice to do – like making all the beds, unpacking the dishwasher or hanging out the washing.

It’s better to have happy family relationships and an imperfect home than a stressed family and a perfect house.

© Copyright Janet Powell, The Parenting Coach, 2011