How to get kids up in the morning: Does your child have trouble waking up early?
Getting the kids up and off to school sets the tone for your whole day…and theirs. That’s why it is important that you have a wake up routine in place; a routine that consists of more than “Get your shoes on in the car and you can have a breath mint since we don’t have time for you to brush your teeth!”
Here are some very useful tricks on how to wake up in the morning. Enjoy!
It starts the night before
A smooth wake up routine starts the night before. It starts by:
- Having a consistent bedtime for your children. It’s a lot easier to wake your children up in the morning if they’ve had sufficient rest. Not only will your wake up routine be easier and more pleasant, but your children will benefit from a restful night’s sleep all throughout the day by being able to think more clearly, maintain their energy level and focus on the tasks at hand.
- Laying out clothes for the next day-yours and theirs. Laying out clothing the night before gives you one less decision to make in the morning. And one less decision to make gives you a little more time to start the day off right.
- Waking up to packed bags. There is less stress to your routine if you wake up to back-packs and brief cases that are ready to go out the door when you do. Morning wake-up routines shouldn’t be cluttered with trying to find homework, signing permission slips and packing science projects.
- Having as much of your lunch packed as possible if you or the kids are taking a lunch to work or school.
‘How to wake up in the morning’ strategies
But what if you do all the night-before preparations, but you still find your kids struggling to get out of bed or lagging behind? You don’t want to be the mom who yells and threatens your kids. No, that’s definitely not the way you want to leave them each morning. Besides, if you’ve tried that you know it doesn’t work. Don’t panic. Instead, try one or more of the following mom-tested and kid-approved ‘wake up in the morning’ routines. There’s bound to be one that’s just right for your family.
- Play some upbeat music to get everyone going and in a good mood.
- Set a timer for slow-pokes. When the timer sounds they have to move from the bedroom to breakfast and then on to the bathroom and then out the door. No questions asked and no arguing.
- Change your route or adjust your time to miss heavy traffic. One mom left 10 minutes later but actually arrived 5 minutes sooner than she had been-all because of less traffic congestion at the school.
- Let the kids eat healthy cereal or hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. Concentrate on a full-course meal at dinnertime.
- If you have a child you know is going to lag behind everyone else, require them to get up 10 or 15 minutes earlier.
Why it matters how to wake up in the morning?
They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And I believe that. But I also believe that wake up time and wake up routines are just as important. To send your children and husband off and to get yourself off to work or involved in the jobs of being a stay-at-home-mom with the feeling that everyone knows they are loved and valued is more important than just about anything. To start your day knowing you have the love and support of your family gives mums, dads and kids the power to face the day with strength, hope and self-confidence.
Do you have more tips to share on how to get kids up in the morning? Share them with us by leaving a comment below!