Setting Up a Morning Routine

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Day 11 of #Write28Days Challenge

Let’s talk about morning routines today. We will cover midday and evening routines in the next few days.

What is a Morning Routine?

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, a routine is a usual or fixed way of doing things.

So a morning routine is a usual or fixed way of doing things in the morning.

In every household, there are certain things that are done every morning. And certain things that are done at night.

For example, a weekday morning routine for a working adult may go like this:

wake up >>> brush teeth >>> wash face >>> eat breakfast >>> go to work

This almost never varies. Perhaps breakfast may be skipped if one overslept. But generally, that is how each morning goes.

Why Have a Morning Routine?

Setting up a morning routine is very useful when you have young children.

By establishing a morning routine for the children (and ourselves), we remove many unnecessary battles with the children be they young or old.

Because everyone knows what to expect there is way less friction. Of course, there will be push back in the beginning if they are not used to it. But this is where consistency wins the day. Keep at it and soon it will be just automatic.

Must I Wake Up Early to Have a Morning Routine?

The short answer is “it depends”. It depends on what time you want to start your day.

Since this is a series for those of us who are homeschooling stay-at-home-mothers, we have a lot more flexibility than someone who works out of the home or who has children who attend public schools.

A mother who wants her homeschool to start at 8am will have to wake up earlier than one who wants to start at 11am.

It also depends on how many things you want to accomplish before you start your homeschool.

Setting Up a Morning Routine

Start with the time you want your homeschool to start. Then work backwards from that time.

Also, you have to determine what are the things you need or want to do before you start.

Example 1: You call the shots

In this scenario, I am assuming that you call the shots and you do not have a nursing baby who still wakes up multiple times at night.

Let’s say you want to start school at 9am and you want to do 5 things before you start (eg. prayers, breakfast, vacuuming, laundry, exercise).

First, you determine how long each of the activities take. Then you then work backwards from 9am.

• Prayer 30 min
• Breakfast 30 min (coz one needs to enjoy one’s coffee!)
• Vacuuming 20 min
• Laundry 10 min
• Exercise 30 min
• TOTAL Time 2 hrs  >>>

Therefore, to start school at 9am, you need to wake up at 7am.

Example 2: You don’t call the shots

But what if you have a nursing baby or a toddler who still wakes up at night? Or, if you are like me, have a child or two who would always wake up when I wake up, regardless of when they go to bed at night.

Pare down your routine to the basic minimum and learn to do things WITH the baby. For example,

Wake up with the baby >>> nurse the baby >>> brush teeth >>> shower >>> breakfast >>> school

When I had a nursing baby (and my babies nursed until they were past a year old), my morning routine was to wake up with the baby, nurse him, put him down in his cot while I shower, get everyone their breakfast, put a load of laundry into the washing machine and start school.

I never woke up before the baby. My day started with the first morning nursing session.

What to Include in your Morning Routine?

This is your call. I suggest activities that do not take too much brainpower. Unless you are a morning person who has children who will cooperate and do what they are told. So throwing in a load of laundry is something that can be done, so is pulling out food for lunch prep.

Setting Up the Children’s Morning Routine

So far, we have been talking about setting up our morning routine. But if you want your homeschool to proceed smoothly, you will need to help your children set up their own morning routine.

Wake up >>> brush teeth >>> wash face/shower >>> breakfast >>> school

This way, they know that they are to start school immediately after breakfast and will not wander off to read a book or play a game.

A Timer

I suggest using a timer to keep everyone on track. You could set it to ring 5 minutes before the start of school. This way, it gives them time to wrap up what they are doing without stopping abruptly.

Ready? Go!

Tomorrow I will talk about how a midday routine which includes naptime helps us regroup.

Related Links

Struggling to Spend Quiet Time with the Lord?
Start Your Mornings Right

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