3 Ways to Organize Your Morning Routine With Preschool Aged Kids

The key to a more efficient morning routine with preschool aged kids is to organize the night before as a habit. While not foolproof, it certainly makes mornings easier knowing the prep-work has been done in advance.

1. Set the agenda and use visual aids.
By making a list of the tasks that need to get done, you set the stage for your routine and let your child know what to expect. If your child is needs extra reinforcement, try using visual aids to help. If you’re on Pinterest, you could get morning routine printables and go over this with your child the night before school or after she or he wakes up.

If he or she might need further explanation and is more iPad inclined, you could do a short intro video tutorial on the agenda, showing the tasks and a rewards chart for good behavior.

2. Prepare the night in advance.
Clothes: Check the weather report for potential delays if it’s winter, or if there may be rain. It will make deciding what to wear the next day easier. Lay both your own clothes and your kids’ clothing the night before so you have one less thing to think about when you wake up. Your kids could choose their full outfits the night before and get their coats and backpack ready.

Food: Know what you will eat for breakfast. If you’re opting for something hot, make sure you have enough time for food prep. To save time you could either pre-make the food the night before and store in the fridge overnight to reheat the next morning or pick something easy like frozen waffles or bagels you could pop into the toaster. Otherwise go for simpler choices, like cereal, cereal bars, yogurt, fruit, cheese and boiled eggs. You could also have your child pick out what they want in advance.

3. If Running Late, Work Your Plan B.
Not everything always goes as planned. Plan B is basically your “Do what you gotta do” plan. I know for me, the moments that I don’t organize or at least have a mental idea of what to eat or what to wear does cost some time because those decisions have to be made. For those days that I totally forget to lay out stuff, I opt for the simplest choices, or the path of least resistance working the Plan B.

Clothes: Minimalist styles are easiest. Go for the simplest shirt and pants or skirt, simple dress. Have a “go to” outfit to fall back on.

Food: No time to make coffee for yourself? Take a Clif Shot Blok that has one equivalent of espresso. Or have an energy drink or bottled Starbucks Frappuccino on hand in the fridge. For kids’  food and drink, make choices portable like cereal bars or Cheerios in Ziplock bags or munchie mugs. Use travel bottles for drinks or milk or juice boxes with the straws that kids could have in the car.

With these three tips, you should be more organized and mentally prepared for an easier morning routine with preschool aged kids.